Perception is everything
Wow, it really has been a while ago since I wrote my last blog. A lot has happened. The COVID-19 pandemic really kicked-in globally, social distancing, working from home since March 2020, Zoom and Teams are my best two friends now, homeschooling two teenage sons,…
Today’s the day! Register for the vMA & vNS TechCon 2020!
Yes! Today’s the day that you can register for our annual vCommunity event the vMA & vNS TechCon 2020 – one event with two tracks focussing on: Management & Automation (vMA) and Networking & Security (vNS). October 29th is the date for our 3rd edition…
Gain insight in Kubernetes
In my previous post I showed how easy it is to deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters and namespaces using VMware vRealize Automation. In my case, Kubernetes is automatically installed on Virtual Machines running on a VMware vSphere infrastructure. These Virtual Machines run pods, containers, storage-…
Kubernetes as a Service
In 2017 I wrote a blog on Containers as a Service. In that time Docker containers were the next new big thing and VMware created a tightly integrated solution for vSphere, named vSphere Integrated Containers (VIC) to run containers on vSphere like a VM and…
Monitor QNAP NAS devices with vROPS SNMP Adapter
vRealize Operations (vROPS) is a great tool to monitor your vSphere environment. What’s so great about vROPS is that it can be extended with (3rd-party) Management Packs to communicate with a wide variety of infrastructure components such as servers, network switches and storage devices and…
Create Custom Names with vRealize Automation 8
In the latest version of vRealize Automation (vRA), version 8, when you create a new blueprint for deploying a Virtual Machine, you probably noticed once you deploy the Virtual Machine it gets a standard machine name something like Cloud_Machine_1-mcmxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx. But most customers use their own…
Opensource Configuration Management tools integration with vRealize Automation Cloud – Part 2
This is part 2 of opensource Configuration Management tools integration with vRealize Automation Cloud. In part 1 I wrote about using Puppet Bolt together with VMware Cloud Automation Services for installing and configuring software on a deployed VM. A lot has changed since, Cloud Automation…
Opensource Configuration Management tools integration with Cloud Automation Services – Part 1
In some earlier posts I wrote about the advantages of Configuration Management tools as Puppet Enterprise for installing software and desired state configuration and how easy it is to integrate it with automation solutions as VMware vRealize Automation and Cloud Automation Services. But what if…
The game is On! vMA & vNS TechCon 2019 Call for Papers
The game is on! On October 1st the second edition of the vMA & vNS Technology Conference (TechCon) will take place at Inn-Style in Maarssen. New this year is that we’ve combined both events on one day, so you have the chance to attend both…
Cloud Automation Services in action
On March 21 I presented at the Dutch VMUG. If you don’t know the Dutch VMUG, it’s the biggest VMware User Group event in the world and this year there were about 900 attendees. I had two sessions on VMware Cloud Automation Services (CAS), a…
Using Puppet Bolt to install vRealize Endpoint Operations agents
When you read my previous posts you probably know I’m a fan of Puppet. During the holidays I finally had the time to learn more about Puppet Bolt. If you don’t know what Bolt is I encourage you try it out asap. It’s an amazing…
Using input parameters to create dynamic blueprint requests in Cloud Automation Services
In my previous post, I integrated Puppet Enterprise with Cloud Assembly to be used with my vSphere blueprint for software installation during deployment. In this post I will walk you through how to use input parameters to make the blueprint more dynamic at request. For example,…
Integrate Puppet with Cloud Assembly
In my previous post I configured a vSphere blueprint which can be deployed to my on premises environment using Cloud Assembly. In this post I will walk you through how to integrate Puppet Enterprise with Cloud Assembly and use it in your blueprint so that…
Designing your first Cloud Assembly blueprint for vSphere
In my previous post I configured a vSphere Cloud Zone including Flavor- and Image Mappings, Storage- and Network Profiles. In this post I will walk you through how to design your first Cloud Assembly blueprint for vSphere using the Cloud Account, Cloud Zone and all…
Setting up a vSphere Cloud Zone in Cloud Assembly
In my previous post I deployed a Data Collector to connect my on-premises vSphere environment with Cloud Assembly and also configured a Cloud Account. In this post I will walk you through how to setup a vSphere Cloud Zone including Flavor- and Image Mappings, Storage-…