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User’s Guide to Deploying vApps andVirtual Appliances

VMware Studio 2.6

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2 VMware, Inc.

User’s Guide to Deploying vApps and Virtual Appliances

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VMware, Inc. 3

Contents

About This Book 5

1 Overview of Appliances Created with VMware Studio 7About vApps and Virtual Appliances 7

Components of Virtual Appliances Created with VMware Studio 8

2 Deploying Your Virtual Appliance 9System Requirements 9

Distribution Formats 9

Deploying a Virtual Appliance in VMware vSphere 10

Deploying a Virtual Appliance from ZIP 10

Deploying a Virtual Appliance in VMware vCloud Director 11

First Start of the Virtual Appliance 11

Choosing Between DHCP and Static IP 12

Configuring a Static IP Address 12

Setting the Default Gateway 12

Setting the Host Name 13

Setting the DNS Servers 13

Configuring the Network Proxy 13

Configuring DHCP 13

Configuring an IPv6 Network 14

Setting the Time Zone 14

Virtual Appliances Based on Windows 14

3 Managing a Virtual Appliance 15Exploring a Virtual Appliance 15

Using the Command Line 16

Exploring vApps in the vSphere Client 16

Shutting Down or Rebooting the Virtual Appliance 16

Setting the Time Zone 17

Network Configuration 17

Setting a Proxy Server 18

Choosing Between DHCP and Static Network Addresses 18

Configuring IPv6 Networks 18

Name Service 19

Firewall Security 19

Troubleshooting 19

4 Updating a Virtual Appliance 21Types of Updates 21

Update Tab Status and Settings 21

Checking Version Status 21

Installing Available Updates 22

Setting Update Policies 22

Setting Update Source 22

Using the Command Line for Updates 22

Specifying Update Repository 23


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5 Managing Virtual Appliances with vCenter Server 25Requirements for Update Manager 25

Virtual Appliance Baselines 26

Creating Virtual Appliance Upgrade Baselines 26

Attaching Virtual Appliance Upgrade Baselines 26

Scanning Virtual Appliances 27

Doing a Manual Scan 27

Scheduling a Scan 27

Viewing Scan Results 28

Reviewing Scan Results for Virtual Appliances Contained in a vSphere Object 28

Reviewing Scan Results for an Individual Virtual Appliance 29

Remediating Virtual Appliances 29

Virtual Appliance Recognition 30

Appendix 31VMware Platform Products for OVF and OVA 31

Compatibility for Virtual Appliances and vApps 31

Index 33

VMware, Inc. 5

This book, the User’s Guide to Deploying vApps and Virtual Appliances, describes how to deploy and manage

vApps and virtual appliances built with VMware Studio. This guide is intended for VMware users who are

installing, running, and updating vApps and virtual appliances created by VMware Studio.

Revision HistoryThis book is revised with each release of the product or when necessary. A revised version can contain minor

or major changes. Table 1 summarizes the significant changes in each version of this book.

VMware provides several SDK products that target different developer communities and platform products.

For documentation about the various VMware SDK products and the latest version of this guide, go to

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/sdk_pubs.html.

VMware Studio ForumIf you have questions about VMware Studio or want to interact with other users and developers, visit the

community forum at http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/vam/studio?view=discussions.

For information about using OVF and vApps, go to the VMware blog at http://blogs.vmware.com/vapp/.

Intended AudienceThis manual is intended for end users of virtual appliances created using VMware Studio. It describes how

appliances built with VMware Studio can be deployed, managed, and updated. For information about creating

vApps and virtual appliances with VMware Studio, see the Developer’s Guide to Building vApps and Virtual

Appliances.

About This Book

Table 1. Revision History

Revision Description

2012‐03‐02 Revision for the VMware Studio 2.6 “Faraday” release.

2011‐04‐15 Major revision for the VMware Studio 2.5 “Edison” release.

2010‐11‐17 Internal version for the VMware Studio 2.1.1 update.

2010‐07‐13 Major revision for the VMware Studio 2.1 release.

2009‐08‐31 Final version for the VMware Studio 2.0 release

2009‐06‐29 Retitled User’s Guide to Deploying vApps and Virtual Appliances for Studio 2.0 Beta.

2008‐12‐16 Corrections made to first version, but no new material.

2008‐09‐05 First version of the Guide to Deploying Virtual Appliances for VMware Studio 1.0.

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/sdk_pubs.html


6 VMware, Inc.

VMware Technical Publications GlossaryVMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For definitions

of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

Document FeedbackVMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation. Send your feedback to

[email protected].

Technical Support and Education ResourcesThe following sections describe the technical support resources available to you. To access the current versions

of other VMware books, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

Online and Telephone Support

To use online support to submit technical support requests, view your product and contract information, and

register your products, go to http://www.vmware.com/support.

Support Offerings

To find out how VMware support offerings can help meet your business needs, go to

http://www.vmware.com/support/services.

VMware Professional Services

VMware Education Services courses offer extensive hands‐on labs, case study examples, and course materials

designed to be used as on‐the‐job reference tools. Courses are available onsite, in the classroom, and live

online. For onsite pilot programs and implementation best practices, VMware Consulting Services provides

offerings to help you assess, plan, build, and manage your virtual environment. To access information about

education classes, certification programs, and consulting services, go to http://www.vmware.com/services.



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VMware, Inc. 7

1

This chapter provides an overview of virtual appliances, and includes the following topics:

“About vApps and Virtual Appliances” on page 7

“Components of Virtual Appliances Created with VMware Studio” on page 8

VMware Studio is an integrated development tool that transforms existing software applications into vApps

and virtual appliances that are ready to run on VMware platform products. With VMware Studio, software

developers can easily package applications that are optimized for virtual environments. Users can quickly

deploy these virtual appliances, and datacenter administrators can manage them within vSphere.

About vApps and Virtual AppliancesA virtual appliance is a prebuilt software solution containing virtual machines and software applications that

are integrated, managed, and updated as a package. Unlike conventional hardware appliances, virtual

appliances are easy for users to acquire and deploy as a solution. Virtual appliances simplify the development

and distribution of software applications, and shorten implementation time.

In 2009 VMware introduced the vApp, a software solution optimized for cloud computing. A vApp can

contain multiple interoperating virtual machines and software applications that you can install and manage

as a unit. A vApp uses the industry standard Open Virtualization Format (OVF) 1.0 to encapsulate the

components of a multitier application, along with the operational policies associated with it. A vApp gives

application owners a way to describe policies that their datacenter or virtual cloud can interpret and run.

VMware Studio helps developers build and maintain production‐ready vApps and virtual appliances with

applications that are not tied to particular hardware. Linux‐based virtual appliances built with Studio contain

an in‐guest management component called the Virtual Appliance Management Infrastructure (VAMI). VAMI

provides a Web console and command‐line interface to perform the following tasks:

Configure network settings and review system information for the virtual appliance

Stop or restart the virtual appliance

Check for updates and install them over the network or from CDROM, immediately or on a schedule

An independent software vendor (ISV) can customize the Web console to provide an immediate link to the

application’s Web interface. For a vApp, VAMI can enforce boot order and run priority. VAMI also integrates

seamlessly into vCenter Server and VMware vCenter Update Manager.

VMware Studio can also build Windows‐based virtual appliances, but they do not contain the VAMI agent.

VMware Studio builds virtual appliances that are portable across VMware platform products, and which can

be updated or patched remotely, if the appliance developer enabled the update repository. This update facility

does not require use of Update Manager.

VMware Studio produces virtual appliances in Open Virtualization Format (OVF), OVA (archive OVF), or ZIP.

Generated OVF files conform to the OVF 0.9 draft specification or the OVF 1.0 standard. OVF 1.0 is required

for vApps. For information about OVF, see http://www.vmware.com/appliances/learn/ovf.html.

Overview of Appliances Created with VMware Studio 1

http://www.vmware.com/appliances/learn/ovf.html


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Components of Virtual Appliances Created with VMware StudioFigure 1‐1 shows the components of a virtual appliance created with VMware Studio.

Figure 1-1. Virtual Appliance Created by VMware Studio

Virtual appliances created with VMware Studio contain the following components:

JeOS – Just enough Operating System. Virtual appliances built with VMware Studio uses the minimal

required packages, ensuring that virtual appliances have a small footprint and are relatively secure.

VMware Tools – VMware Studio installs VMware Tools during the build of virtual appliances to enhance

communication between VMware virtualization platforms and the virtual appliance.

VAMI – The in‐guest management component provides a Web console to manage the virtual appliance.

VAMI (Virtual Appliance Management Infrastructure) allows you to change network settings, update the

virtual appliance, and control the state of the system by shutdown and reboot, in addition to other

management services that an ISV adds. All the default management services provided by VAMI are

implemented as Common Information Model (CIM) Providers using Small Footprint CIM Broker (SFCB)

as a CIM Manager. CIM is a standard from Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). For more

information on CIM and other DMTF standards, see http://www.dmtf.org.

The Web console interface based on VAMI, if included in a virtual appliance, is usually available at the

secure HTTP port 5480, https://hostname.or.ip.address:5480 for example.

Application – The ISV or hardware appliance vendor (HAV) creates the application. The application

performs the intended task for which the appliance is created.

You can manage virtual appliances using one or more of the following methods:

Virtual Appliance Web console – This connection provides a Web console to perform configuration and

maintenance tasks. A command‐line interface might be available on a different connection.

VMware vCenter Server – A CIM connection enables management by VMware vCenter Server (formerly

VirtualCenter) and Update Manager.

Third‐party management software – This connection may support third party management software to

control the virtual appliance.

NOTE Some of the interfaces listed above are not included in certain appliances.

http://www.dmtf.org

VMware, Inc. 9

2

This chapter provides information about how to deploy a virtual appliance, and includes the following topics:

“System Requirements” on page 9

“Distribution Formats” on page 9

“Deploying a Virtual Appliance in VMware vSphere” on page 10

“Deploying a Virtual Appliance from ZIP” on page 10

“Deploying a Virtual Appliance in VMware vCloud Director” on page 11

“First Start of the Virtual Appliance” on page 11

System RequirementsVirtual appliances created by VMware Studio can be deployed on the following VMware platform products:

VMware ESX/ESXi 5.0, 4.1, 4.0, or 3.5 through vCenter Server 5.0, 4.1, or 4.0

VMware ESX/ESXi 3.5 through VMware VirtualCenter 2.5

VMware ESX/ESXi 5.0, 4.1, 4.0, or 3.5

VMware Workstation 7.1, 7.0.1, or 6.5.2 and VMware Player 3.1, 3.0, and 2.5

VMware Cloud Director 1.0

For Web console management, VMware Studio virtual appliances support the following Web browsers:

Internet Explorer

Mozilla Firefox

Google Chrome

Distribution FormatsYour virtual appliance may be distributed in one or more of the following formats:

A ZIP archive containing a VMX virtual machine file and one or more VMDK files

An OVF 0.9 file and one or more VMDK files (OVF 0.9 package)

An OVF 1.0 file and one or more VMDK files (OVF 1.0 package)

An OVA archive (an OVF 1.0 package in TAR format) except on vCloud Director

Your deployment method depends on the distribution format. For VMware Workstation, use ZIP as described

in “Deploying a Virtual Appliance from ZIP” on page 10.

For deployment in VMware vSphere (ESX/ESXi and vCenter Server), use OVF or OVA format as discussed in

the following section. For deployment on vCloud Director, use OVF 1.0 format.

Deploying Your Virtual Appliance 2


10 VMware, Inc.

Deploying a Virtual Appliance in VMware vSphereIf you receive a virtual appliance in OVF 0.9 format, you can deploy it on VMware Infrastructure 3 or later.

If you get a vApp or virtual appliance in OVF 1.0 or OVA format, you must deploy it on VMware vSphere 4.

You can deploy an OVF or OVA either by specifying its URL in vSphere, or after downloading the OVF and

VMDK files (or the OVA archive) to your local disk.

To deploy a virtual appliance or vApp from OVF or OVA

1 In the VMware Infrastructure Client, select menu File > Virtual Appliance > Import.

In the VMware vSphere Client, select File > Deploy OVF Template.

2 Choose either Deploy from URL or Deploy from file, based on where the OVF or OVA is located.

3 To install the appliance, supply the requested information in the Import Virtual Appliance Wizard, and

accept the End User License Agreement (EULA).

On vSphere 4 when you deploy an OVF 1.0 or OVA produced by VMware Studio, you are prompted for

OVF networking properties, which configure networking for the vApp. You might be prompted for other

OVF properties that the ISV has defined to configure the application. For the OVF networking properties

to work, an IP Pool must be configured on the vCenter Server, and this configuration must be complete

before you power on the virtual appliance.

On platform products other than vSphere, appliances try to acquire an IP address from a DHCP server by

default. If you prefer a static IP address, see “Configuring a Static IP Address” on page 12.

4 Power on the virtual machine. In the case of a vApp, you can power on the entire vApp.

5 Continue with “First Start of the Virtual Appliance” on page 11.

If you receive your virtual appliance as a ZIP file containing a VMX file and one or more VMDK files, then you

must first convert the virtual appliance. VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Tool converts and imports the

virtual appliance directly into the vSphere inventory so that you can run it immediately. Converter is free and

available from the VMware Web site at http://vmware.com/products/converter/.

Deploying a Virtual Appliance from ZIPA ZIP distribution file contains a VMX file and one or more VMDK files. If you receive a distribution in ZIP

format, first unzip the file and then open the VMX file using either VMware Workstation or VMware Player.

To deploy a virtual appliance from ZIP

1 On the VMware platform product where the virtual appliance will run, extract the ZIP file into a folder.

For example, the extraction folder might be /var/lib/vmware/VirtualMachines on a Linux host, or C:\MyVirtualMachines on a Windows host.

2 In the VMware Workstation application menu, select File > Open.

3 Click Browse and navigate to the folder where you extracted the virtual appliance software. Select

<applianceName>.vmx and click Open.

The appliance appears as an entry in the Inventory.

4 In the Commands section, click Start.

5 Continue with “First Start of the Virtual Appliance” on page 11.

If you receive the virtual appliance as an OVF file, you can import it with the ovftool, which converts the OVF

and VMDK files into VMX and VMDK files which are compatible with VMware hosted products. The

ovftool is free and available on the VMware Web site at http://vmware.com/appliances/learn/ovf.html.

http://vmware.com/products/converter/

http://vmware.com/appliances/learn/ovf.html

VMware, Inc. 11

Chapter 2 Deploying Your Virtual Appliance

Deploying a Virtual Appliance in VMware vCloud DirectorIf you receive a virtual appliance in OVF format, you can deploy it on VMware vCloud Director 1.0. However,

vCloud Director does not support OVA deployment.

To deploy a virtual appliance or vApp from OVF

1 In VMware vCloud Director Home page, click the Catalog tab.

2 Select the catalog from which you want to deploy the OVF.

3 On the vApp Templates tab in the selected catalog, click Upload.

The Upload OVF Package as a vApp Template dialog appears.

4 Click Browse to specify the OVF location.

5 Specify Name and Description for the OVF and select the vDC.

6 Click Upload.

To initialize the virtual appliance from the catalog

1 On the VMware vCloud Director Home page, click Add vApp from Catalog.

The Add vApp from Catalog dialog appears.

2 Select the vApp template from the Catalog drop‐down menu.

3 You must complete the steps in vCloud Director wizard to finish the initialization.

First Start of the Virtual ApplianceThis section describes how to power on a virtual appliance and accept or modify network settings.

To run the virtual appliance

1 On a VMware platform product, start the virtual appliance with the virtual machine Power On command.

As the appliance starts (except in vCenter Server 4) it may display the EULA. If it does, press space bar to

continue displaying more pages; at the end enter yes to accept the EULA. If the virtual appliance requests other information, such as a login password, provide it.

2 The virtual appliance’s IP address (from DHCP, an IP Pool, or OVF networking properties) may appear

on the welcome screen, and in the Summary tab of the vSphere Client. The welcome screen may display

the URL where you can access the Web console for appliance management. These menu selections appear:

LoginSet Timezone (Current:UTC)

The Configure Network menu item no longer appears in virtual appliances built by VMware Studio 2.6

and later.

3 Depending on how the developer set it up, the virtual appliance tries to acquire an IP address from a

DHCP server, the vSphere IP Pool, or with OVF networking properties.

(Optional) If you need a static IP address or a proxy, see “Configuring a Static IP Address” on page 12.

4 You can change the time zone, if the default UTC is unacceptable. See “Setting the Time Zone” on page 14.

5 If the URL of the Web console for appliance management appears on the welcome screen, you can point

your Web browser to this URL.

6 Log in to the management Web console using the same credentials that you would use for login to the

virtual appliance. You might be asked to configure a trust relationship for the self‐signed HTTP certificate.


12 VMware, Inc.

Choosing Between DHCP and Static IP

DHCP allows a virtual appliance to begin running as soon as possible. However, because the DHCP address

is temporary, it might be different if the virtual appliance is powered off for a long time before you power it

on again. The time period depends on DHCP lease expiration.

You may configure your VMware Studio appliance to use a static address, which remains the same after

restart. A static IP address allows all users of the appliance to be certain of its network address (and associated

host name) so they can connect to it predictably.

Configuring a Static IP Address

By default, VMware Studio (and virtual appliances it generates) retrieve network settings from a DHCP server.

To configure a static IP address for a virtual appliance, follow this procedure.

To configure a static IP address

1 On the Welcome screen of the virtual appliance’s text console, log in and type the following command:

# /opt/vmware/share/vami/vami_config_net

A menu appears with six choices (or more, if the appliance is configured for multiple network interfaces).

2 Type the menu number for the network interface you want to configure.

3 If the appliance has been configured with IPv6, it asks if you want to configure an IPv6 address.

a If so press y, otherwise accept the default n.

b The appliance asks if you want to use a DHCPv6 server. To configure a static IPv6 address instead,

accept the default n, rather than typing y.

On subsequent lines, enter the static IPv6 address and prefix. For IPv6 addresses you can type two

colons in a row (::) as shorthand for repeated zeros. The prefix designates the number of bits in the

routable network portion of the address.

If you answered y, the IPv6 address and prefix assignment are automatic.

c Press Enter if correct.

4 The appliance prompts you asking if you want to configure an IPv4 address.

a Enter y to configure an IPv4 address, otherwise accept the default n.

b The appliance asks if you want to use a DHCPv4 server. To configure a static IPv4 address instead,

type n, rather than accepting the default y.

On subsequent lines, enter the static IPv4 address and netmask in dotted decimal notation.

If you answered y, the IPv4 address and netmask assignment are automatic.


5 For a static IP address, you probably need to set the default gateway, host name, and DNS servers, as

described in sections below.

6 To configure additional network interfaces, repeat Step 2 through Step 5.

Setting the Default Gateway

The gateway, or router, mediates between the local subnet and other networks. When you use a DHCP server,

the gateway address is provided automatically. With static IP, you have to set the default gateway.

To configure the gateway for static IP

1 Log in and run the /opt/vmware/share/vami/vami_config_net command.

2 When a menu appears, enter the number for setting the Default Gateway.

VMware, Inc. 13

Chapter 2 Deploying Your Virtual Appliance

3 Enter the network interface to associate with a particular gateway address.

4 Enter the IPv4 address and IPv6 address or IPv4 address of the default gateway for the network interface.

5 For multiple network interfaces, repeat Step 2 through Step 4.

NOTE If any entry is incorrect, you must repeat the procedure.

Setting the Host Name

When using a DHCP server, the host name is set automatically. With static IP, you can set the host name. If you

do not, the appliance does a reverse lookup on the IP address and if successful, sets the host name on reboot.

To configure the host name for static IP


2 When a menu appears, enter the number for setting the host name.

3 Enter the host name and domain name for the virtual appliance.

4 If your entry is incorrect, you must repeat the procedure.

Setting the DNS Servers

When using a DHCP server, DNS servers are set automatically. With static IP, you should set the DNS servers.

To configure DNS servers for static IP


2 When a menu appears, enter the number for setting DNS.

3 Enter the IPv4 address of the primary DNS server. A secondary DNS server is optional but recommended.

4 If your entry is incorrect, you must repeat the procedure.

Configuring the Network Proxy

By default, VMware Studio assumes that it has a direct connection to the Internet. If HTTP and other protocols

go through a network proxy server, take the following steps.

To configure a network proxy


2 When a menu appears, enter the number for setting the Proxy Server.

3 Enter y after the Is an IPv4 proxy server necessary to reach the Internet? prompt.

4 Next, enter the network address (either an IP address or host name with dotted domain) and port number

of the proxy server.

5 If your entry was incorrect, repeat the procedure.

Configuring DHCP

If you configured a virtual appliance with a static IP address, you can reconfigure it to use DHCP instead

To configure use of DHCP service


2 Press Enter. A menu appears with six choices (or more, if the appliance is configured for multiple network

interfaces).



14 VMware, Inc.


a If so enter y, otherwise accept the default n.

b To use a DHCPv6 server, enter y. The IPv6 address and prefix assignment are automatic.


5 Studio prompts you with the message, do you want to configure an IPv4 address.

a Enter y to configure an IPv4 address, otherwise accept the default n.

b To use a DHCPv4 server, enter y. The IPv4 address and netmask assignment are automatic.


Configuring an IPv6 Network

To configure an IPv6 network interface




a Type y, instead of accepting the default n.

b The appliance asks if you want to use a DHCPv6 server. If so, type y.

To configure a static IPv6 address instead, accept the default n. On subsequent lines, enter the static IPv6 address and prefix. For IPv6 addresses you can type two colons in a row (::) as shorthand for repeated zeros. Prefix designates the number of bits in the routable network portion of the address.

If you answered y, the IPv6 address and prefix assignment are automatic.


4 Continue with IPv4 settings.

Setting the Time Zone

The virtual hardware clock is always maintained in UTC, which the virtual appliance converts to local time.

Correct local time is important for the update repository and VMware vCenter Update Manager.

If the virtual appliance developer incorporated the vami.timezone OVF property, and set it correctly, this property is used to change the time zone. You can set time zone from the welcome screen as described here,

or from the virtual appliance Web console as described in “Setting the Time Zone” on page 14.

To set the time zone from the welcome screen

1 On the virtual appliance welcome screen, select Set Timezone and press Enter.

2 In the Geographic area screen, select your continent or region and press Enter.

3 In the Time zone screen, select a city or area in your time zone and press Enter.

(These steps may vary.) The time zone is set and the welcome screen appears again.

Virtual Appliances Based on Windows

Usually, virtual appliances based on Microsoft Windows do not have the automated first‐start capabilities

described above.

VMware, Inc. 15

3

This chapter describes software discovery and network settings for your vApp or virtual appliance, including

the following topics:

“Exploring a Virtual Appliance” on page 15

“Shutting Down or Rebooting the Virtual Appliance” on page 16

“Setting the Time Zone” on page 17

“Network Configuration” on page 17

You can perform management operations from the Web console by using a browser to reach the IP address or

host name of the vApp or virtual appliance at its designated port number, https://vapp.example.com:5480 for

example. To log in, type the user name and password you set, or documented by your appliance provider.

Exploring a Virtual ApplianceWhen you log in with a browser to a virtual appliance on port 5480, or the same management interface on an

alternate port, a Web interface with tabs appears. This section discusses the tabs, right to left.

The Update tab, if your virtual appliance has one, performs minor updates, and is discussed in Chapter 4,

“Updating a Virtual Appliance,” on page 21.

The System tab provides the following information:

Vendor – The name of the company that created your virtual appliance.

Appliance Name – The name of your appliance.

Appliance Version – The version number of your appliance.

Hostname – The fully qualified host name of your appliance. If a static IP is configured for the virtual

machine, then you can specify a host name. If the OVF vami.hostname property is present, the host name

is set according. Otherwise DNS service maps the IP address into a host name (PTR record).

OS Name – The name of the operating system on which your appliance runs.

OS Version – The version number of the operating system.

OVF Environment – If deployed in vSphere, shows the OVF properties defined and configured for this

virtual machine or vApp.

The System tab also has a time zone interface. See “Setting the Time Zone” on page 17.

The Network tab shows network status, changes network address settings, and configures a proxy service to

access the Internet outside a firewall. See “Network Configuration” on page 17.

Managing a Virtual Appliance 3


16 VMware, Inc.

Using the Command Line

To access the command line, select Login at the VMware platform product console, supply the login name and

password that the vendor provided with your appliance. Type the vamicli command at the system prompt

for a usage summary.

The following command shows the version information for the virtual appliance:

vamicli version --appliance

The following command shows the version of VMware Studio used to build the virtual appliance:

vamicli version --studio

Exploring vApps in the vSphere Client

You can also find information about virtual appliances and vApps by examining them with the vSphere Client.

Figure 3‐1 shows several vApps. A vApp looks similar to a folder containing virtual machines, except that the

vApp icon shows four small blue squares instead of a yellow folder. A vApp behaves like a virtual machine,

with unified power operations, network settings, datastores, and configurable resource use.

Figure 3-1. Three vApps in a Datacenter

The Summary tab of vSphere Client shows the product name of the vApp or virtual appliance, its version

number, and the software vendor. Storage and resource use appear on the right. You can see the resources

consumed by a constituent virtual machine by selecting it instead of the vApp.

The remainder of this chapter describes maintenance operations and network settings.

Shutting Down or Rebooting the Virtual ApplianceTo Shutdown or Reboot the virtual appliance, click the System tab in the virtual appliance Web console then

click Information. On the System Information page you see the virtual appliance vendor, appliance name,

appliance version, host name, operating system, and operating system version. The power buttons are under

Actions on the right side of the window.

To restart the virtual appliance, click Reboot.

To shut down the virtual appliance, click Shutdown.

VMware, Inc. 17

Chapter 3 Managing a Virtual Appliance

Setting the Time ZoneThe virtual hardware clock is always maintained in UTC, which a virtual appliance converts to the local time

zone, if set. Correct time is important for the update repository and VMware vCenter Update Manager.

If the virtual appliance developer incorporated the vami.timezone OVF property, and set it correctly, this property is used to change the time zone.

You can set time zone from the virtual appliance Web console as described here, or from the welcome screen

as described in “Setting the Time Zone” on page 14.

To set the time zone from the Web console

1 Click the System tab then click the Time Zone page button.

2 On the Time Zone Settings page, in the drop‐down menu showing time zones of the world, select yours.

3 Click the Save Settings button to make a change.

Network ConfigurationThe Network tab allows you to configure networks. To view the network configuration operations click the

Network tab in the Web console.

Status – Shows network information for multiple network interface cards, such as the interface name,

whether DHCP was used for IPv4, whether stateless address auto‐configuration (SLAAC) is set for IPv6,

the IPv4 address, netmask, gateway IP address, DNS servers, host name, and IPv6 information (if any).

After making a change you can click the Refresh button under the Actions heading to obtain current

information.

For information about DHCP, see “Choosing Between DHCP and Static Network Addresses” on page 18.

Address – Specifies IP network information and enables DHCP services or SLAAC. If you change any

network address settings, you must click Save Settings to apply your changes, click Cancel Changes to

discard any changes. You can configure DHCP and SLAAC from this interface, or from the Web Console

as described in “First Start of the Virtual Appliance” on page 11.

When the IPv4 address type is set to DHCP, the virtual appliance gets its network settings from your

DHCPv4 server. If you set the IPv4 address type to Static, you must type values in the following fields:

IPv4 Address – IPv4 address of virtual appliance.

Netmask – Network mask for the virtual appliance.

Gateway – IPv4 address of the gateway (network router).

Hostname – Host name of the virtual appliance

Preferred DNS Server – IPv4 address of the primary DNS server.

Alternate DNS Server – IPv4 address of the secondary DNS server.

If IPv6 is supported by the underlying operating system, it is available in virtual appliances built from it.

When the IPv6 address type is set to SLAAC, the virtual appliance is assigned an IPv6 address

automatically if the connected network is configured to provide SLAAC addresses. When you configure

a static IPv6 or DHCPv6 address, the virtual appliance also displays an IPv6 address. If you set the IPv6

address type to Static, you must enter values in the following fields:

IPv6 Address – IPv6 address of the virtual appliance.

Prefix – IPv6 prefix, which specifies address length.

Gateway – Optional IPv6 address of the gateway (network router).

Hostname – Host name of the virtual appliance.



18 VMware, Inc.


Proxy – Specifies proxy server and port for accessing external networks (for example, wide‐area Internet).

Click Save Settings to accept changes that you make to the proxy settings. Click Cancel Changes to

discard changes. Select the check box for Use a Proxy Server to enter values in the following fields:

Proxy Server – Host name or IP address for the proxy server.

Proxy Port – Proxy server communications port.

Proxy User name – A valid user name, if the proxy server requires authentication.

Proxy Password – The valid password, if the proxy server requires authentication.

Setting a Proxy Server

Developers can configure a virtual appliance to check a repository Web site for software updates. Usually this

site is on the external Internet. If your organization has configured the network to disallow access outside of

your local area network, you might need to specify a proxy server. This is a server through which all external

network traffic flows, preventing certain types of connections. Your IT department can provide you with the

proxy server name and port number to access external networks.

Choosing Between DHCP and Static Network Addresses

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a method of allocating IP addresses (and other attributes

including host name and DNS servers) to computers on a local area network. The term DHCP usually means

DHCPv4 for IPv4 networks, but similar services are available for IPv6 networks.

When started, your virtual appliance attempts to find a DHCP server. If it does, it asks the DHCP server to

assign a temporary network address. This allows you to run the virtual appliance with minimal setup.

However the temporary address might change if you leave the virtual appliance powered off for a while, and

power it on again after the DHCP lease has expired.

Most server appliances should be configured to a static network address that remains constant whenever the

virtual appliance is restarted or moved to a different subnet. This allows other users of the virtual appliance

to be aware of its network address (and associated host name) when they connect to it.

Configuring IPv6 Networks

You can add an additional Static IPv6 or DHCPv6 address to the appliance. Unlike IPv4, IPv6 permits multiple

addresses assigned to an interface. VMware Studio built virtual appliances report, but do not manage, SLAAC

addresses. SLAAC is the mechanism that creates an Auto IPv6 address. The Static IPv6 or DHCPv6 address

may differ from the Auto IPv6 address.

To change the type of IP Address

1 Log in to the Web console of the virtual appliance.

2 Click Network > Address.

3 Under IPv4 Address Type, you can select DHCP or Static.

When you set the IPv4 address type to DHCP, the virtual appliance gets its network settings from your

DHCPv4 server. With DHCPv4 or DHCPv6, you do not need to configure the DNS servers. If you set the

IPv4 address type to Static, you must enter values in the following fields:


Netmask – Network mask for the virtual appliance.

Gateway – IPv4 address of the gateway (network router).



VMware, Inc. 19

Chapter 3 Managing a Virtual Appliance


4 Under IPv6 Address Type, select SLAAC, DHCP, or Static. For networks transitioning from IPv4 to IPv6,

SLAAC is the simplest choice. When you set the IPv6 address type to SLAAC, the virtual appliance is

assigned an Auto IPv6 address. If you set the IPv6 address type to Static, you must enter values in the

following fields:


Prefix – IPv6 prefix, which specifies address length.

Gateway – Optional IPv6 address of the gateway (network router).




For DNS configurations, the address must conform to an available address family, IPv6 and IPv4 or IPv4.

With DHCPv4 or DHCPv6, DNS server configuration is not required. See “Name Service” on page 19.

When you configure a static IPv6 or DHCPv6 address, the virtual appliance also displays an IPv6 address.

5 Click Save Settings. The virtual appliance responds saying network settings saved.

Name Service

When the auto‐configuration protocol is defined, DNS servers are not included as part of the information

provided to entities on the network.

With SLAAC, an appliance receives dynamic addressing and subnetwork information, but receives no

information about DNS name servers. Administrators must configure static DNS in this case, hence the DHCP

is required for IPv6 dynamic configurations to attain familiar IPv4 behaviors. However DHCPv6 server

deployments are not as common as DHCPv4 server deployments.

Recently, an RFC was made to amend how SLAAC works to include DNS servers. It is unknown how the

various operating system vendors will eventually decide to handle this.

Firewall Security

You might need to request that your IT department change firewall settings if you have reason to access the

Web console of your vApp or virtual appliance through the firewall.

The following ports used by your vApp or virtual appliance should be exempted from the firewall:

5480/TCP incoming – Used for Web browser access to the VAMI agent, which serves the Web console.

Developers can change this port in the build profile. If they did change the port number, they should have

documented the change, so you can customize firewall rules for your vApp or virtual appliance.

5488/TCP incoming and 5489/TCP incoming – Used for communication between lighttpd and SFCB in VAMI, and for Update Manager. SFCB ports for VAMI services are relocated to 5488/TCP and 5489/TCP,

so the default ports (5988/TCP and 5989/TCP) remain available for use by independent software vendors

and hardware appliance vendors.

Troubleshooting

If something goes wrong with your virtual appliance, support personnel might ask for your assistance in

diagnosing the problem. VMware Studio provides the vamisupport script, which assembles log files into a

“tarball” for troubleshooting. The script is at /opt/vmware/bin/vamisupport on your virtual appliance. When reporting a problem, you can run the vamisupport script, which tells you where it is writing output.

Then scp (secure copy) the tarball to a computer with email service, and send it to support.


20 VMware, Inc.

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4

This chapter provides information about updating a virtual appliance, and includes the following topics:

“Types of Updates” on page 21

“Update Tab Status and Settings” on page 21

“Setting Update Policies” on page 22

“Specifying Update Repository” on page 23

Types of UpdatesA deployed virtual appliance can be updated with packages published by its developer. Updates can be done

over the external Web, on your local area network, or from CDROM.

To conserve network bandwidth, virtual appliance updates are applied to packages that have changed.

Updates may apply to the operating system, applications within the virtual appliance, VMware Tools, or the

VMware Appliance Management Infrastructure (VAMI).

If the vendor has digitally signed a virtual appliance, its SSL signature is verified before an update proceeds.

Update Tab Status and SettingsThe Update tab appears in the Web console if an update repository was specified during the virtual appliance

build process. If the Update tab is missing, contact your ISV for updates or patches to your virtual appliance.

You can access update status and settings for the virtual appliance on the Update tab, which has two subtabs:

Status – Provides information about the virtual appliance vendor, name, and version.

Settings – Shows the setting of policies for periodically checking and installing updates.

Checking Version Status

On the Status subtab appears virtual appliance information, such as vendor and version. You can check for

updates and install available updates as described here, with the CLI, or with vCenter Server, as described in

Chapter 5, “Managing Virtual Appliances with vCenter Server,” on page 25.

To view information about a virtual appliance, click the Status subtab on the Update tab.

Vendor – The name of the company that created the virtual appliance.

Appliance Name – The name of the virtual appliance.

Appliance Version – The version information of the virtual appliance.

Available Updates – If an update is available, gives the name and version of the product.

Last Check – If a check for update was performed, the date and time when the virtual appliance was

checked, in UTC (GMT) with local time offset.

Updating a Virtual Appliance 4


22 VMware, Inc.

Last Install – If an update was installed, the date and time when the virtual appliance was updated.

Installing Available Updates

To check for updates, under the Actions section click Check Updates. The virtual appliance connects to the

update repository and checks for available updates. Updates appear in the Available Updates pane.

To install an update, click Install Updates.

Setting Update PoliciesYou can specify whether the virtual appliance checks for updates and how often. To set update policies for the

virtual appliance from the Web console, click Update > Settings. You can select one of the following policies

for updating the virtual appliance:

No automatic updates – The virtual appliance does not check for and install updates. This is probably the

default, unless the developer changed it.

Automatic check for updates – The virtual appliance checks for updates at the scheduled time. If an

update is available, it appears on the Update Status page.

Automatic check and install updates – The virtual appliance checks for updates at the scheduled time,

and if one is available, installs it.

If you select either Automatic check for updates or Automatic check and install updates, you can configure

the scheduling. By default, the check occurs daily at 03:00 local time, as determined by your time zone setting.

To change the frequency or time of update checking

1 Click one of the Automatic check buttons.

2 Specify the frequency (daily or weekly), or select the hour at which to check.

3 Click Save Settings.

Setting Update Source

You can choose to update from a CDROM, or from an alternate update repository URL. The default is the URL

that the ISV configured, which usually designates a public Web site on the Internet. You might need to change

the update source or location if you are inside a restricted local area network.

To change the update repository location

1 Click one of the choices, Use CDROM Updates or Use Specified Repository.

If you select Use CDROM Updates, insert the update CDROM into a drive that the virtual appliance

can read. The update agent scans the CD drives to find the first update CDROM.

If you select Use Specified Repository, type the URL of the update repository that your appliance

should check. If the URL requires authentication, provide a valid user name and password.

2 Click Save Settings.

If you leave Use Default Repository selected (the default), the update agent usually checks a public URL on

the Internet, so be sure to set the proxy server if required.

Using the Command Line for Updates

Use the following command to check for updates to the virtual appliance:

vamicli update --check

Use the following command to download and install the latest updates for the virtual appliance:

vamicli update --install latest

VMware, Inc. 23

Chapter 4 Updating a Virtual Appliance

Specifying Update Repository

To specify update repository for your virtual appliance

1 In Studio home page, click the Settings tab on the Update tab.

2 In the Settings tab, select one of the following options for specifying the update repository:

Use Default Repository ‐ If you want your virtual appliance to check for updates from the VMware

update repository, select this option. The repository URL is displayed on the same page.

Use CDROM Updates – If you want your virtual appliance to check for updates from the CDROM, use

this option

Use Specified Repository – If you want your virtual appliance to check for updates from a specific

repository other than the default repository, use this option.

If you select the Use Specified Repository you have to specify the repository URL and if you want to allow

authorized users, you can specify a Username and Password to logon to the specified repository.


24 VMware, Inc.

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5

This chapter contains the following topics:

“Requirements for Update Manager” on page 25

“Virtual Appliance Baselines” on page 26

“Scanning Virtual Appliances” on page 27

“Remediating Virtual Appliances” on page 29

It is not necessary to manage virtual appliances with vCenter Server and VMware vCenter Update Manager,

but doing so provides centralized management of multiple vApps and virtual appliances. For information

about baselines and compliance checks, see the VMware vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide on the

VMware Web site.

The Update Manager module consists of a plug‐in component that runs on the vSphere Client, and a server

component, which you can install on the same computer as vCenter Server or on a different computer.

Requirements for Update ManagerUpdate Manager integrates with VMware Studio’s update service to enable centralized management of virtual

appliance updates. Beginning with Update Manager 1.0 update 2 you can manage the virtual appliances that

you import in your vCenter Server. Update Manager 4.0 and later provide default virtual appliance upgrade

baselines to scan and upgrade a virtual appliance to the latest released or critical‐update version.

Update Manager also lets you create custom virtual appliance upgrade baselines. In the Update Manager 4.0

documentation, vApps are treated as container objects holding virtual machines or virtual appliances. For

information about Update Manager 4.0 and later, see the documentation at

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vum_pubs.html.

The following conditions apply to updating virtual appliances with Update Manager:

You must register an Update Manager server instance with the vCenter Server system into which you

import the virtual appliance. You must also install the Update Manager plug‐in on the vSphere Client. For

more information, see the VMware vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide.

All virtual appliances must have an Internet connection (direct or proxied) for discovery, scanning, and

remediation operations.

If virtual appliances access the Internet through a proxy, the proxy server must be set on virtual appliances

as described in “Network Configuration” on page 17.

Offline and suspended virtual appliances cannot be scanned or remediated.

After you import a VMware Studio virtual appliance using the vSphere Client and power it on for the first

time, it is discovered as a virtual appliance. To simplify management, VMware recommends that you import

virtual appliances into a separate folder under Virtual Machines and Templates in vCenter Server.

Managing Virtual Appliances with vCenter Server 5

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vum_pubs.html


26 VMware, Inc.

Virtual Appliance BaselinesUpdate Manager includes default virtual appliance baselines that you can use to scan the virtual appliances to

determine whether they are upgraded to the latest released or the latest critical version. You can also scan the

virtual appliances against custom virtual appliance upgrade baselines that you can create from the Update

Manager Administration view.

Creating Virtual Appliance Upgrade Baselines

A virtual appliance upgrade baseline contains a set of patches to the operating system of the appliance and to

the applications installed in the virtual appliance. The virtual appliance vendor considers these patches an

upgrade. Virtual appliance baselines that you create consist of a set of user‐defined rules. If you add rules that

conflict, Update Manager displays an Upgrade Rule Conflict window so that you can resolve the conflicts.

To create a virtual appliance upgrade baseline:

1 Connect the vSphere Client to a vCenter Server system with which Update Manager is registered, and

click Update Manager under Solutions and Applications on the Home page.

2 On the Baselines and Groups tab, click Create above the Baselines pane.

The New Baseline wizard opens.

3 Under Baseline Type, select VA Upgrade and click Next.

4 Select Vendor and Appliance options from the drop‐down menu.

The options listed in these menus depend on the virtual appliances in your inventory. If there are no

virtual appliances in your vSphere inventory, the options are All Vendors and All Products, respectively.

5 Select an option from the Upgrade To drop‐down menu. The options are:

Latest – Upgrades the virtual appliance to the latest version.

Don’t Upgrade – Does not upgrade the virtual appliance.

6 Click Add Rule.

7 (Optional) Add multiple rules.

a On the Upgrade Options page of the New Baseline wizard, click Add Multiple Rules.

b Select one or more vendors.

c Select one or more appliances.

d Select one Upgrade To option to apply to the selected appliances, and click OK.

If you create multiple rules to apply to the same virtual appliance, only the first applicable rule in the list

is applied for remediation.

8 (Optional) Resolve any conflicts within the rules you apply.

a In the Upgrade Rule Conflict window, select whether to keep the existing rules, to use the newly

created rules, or to manually resolve the conflict.

b Click OK.

9 Click Next.

10 Review the Ready to Complete page and click Finish.

The virtual appliance upgrade baseline is displayed in the Baselines pane of the Baselines and Groups tab.

Attaching Virtual Appliance Upgrade Baselines

To view compliance information and remediate the virtual appliances in the inventory against specific

baselines, you must first attach existing baselines to these virtual appliances. You can attach baselines to objects

from the Update Manager Client Compliance view.

VMware, Inc. 27

Chapter 5 Managing Virtual Appliances with vCenter Server

Although you can attach baselines to individual objects, it is more efficient to attach them to container objects,

such as folders, vApps, and datacenters. Attaching a baseline to a container object transitively attaches the

baseline to all virtual appliances in the container.

To attach a virtual appliance upgrade baseline:

1 Connect the vSphere Client to a vCenter Server system with which Update Manager is registered, and

select Home > Inventory > VMs and Templates.

2 Select the object containing the virtual appliances, and click the Update Manager tab.

3 Click Attach in the upper‐right corner.

4 In the Attach Baseline or Group window, select one or more baselines to attach to the object.

5 (Optional) Click the Create Baseline link to create a baseline group or a baseline and finish the wizard.

6 Click Attach.

The baselines and baseline groups that you selected to attach are displayed in the Attached Baseline Groups

and Attached Baselines panes of the Update Manager tab.

Scanning Virtual AppliancesScanning is the process in which attributes of a set of virtual appliances are evaluated against the upgrades in

the baselines attached to the virtual appliances. You can scan virtual appliances against attached baselines to

receive compliance information about virtual appliances before upgrading them.

You can set Update Manager to scan virtual appliances as a scheduled task, or you can manually begin a scan.

Doing a Manual Scan

To manually scan a virtual appliance:

1 Connect the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server system where you imported the virtual appliance.

2 Click Inventory and then click VMs and Templates.

3 Click the folder where you imported the virtual appliance.

4 In the left pane, right‐click the virtual appliance and then click Scan for Updates.

5 Select Virtual Appliance upgrades.

6 Click Scan.

Scheduling a Scan

You can schedule scans for all virtual appliances in a folder. To schedule scans for virtual appliances:


2 Click Scheduled Tasks on the Home page.

3 Click New in the toolbar to open the Schedule Task dialog box.

4 From the drop‐down menu, select Scan for Updates and click OK.

5 Choose to schedule a scan for virtual machines and virtual appliances, and click Next.

6 In the inventory tree, select the virtual appliances to be scanned, and click Next.

7 Choose to scan for virtual appliance upgrades.

8 Enter the task name and the task description, schedule a time to run the task, and click Next.

9 (Optional) Specify one or more email addresses to receive the results and click Next. You must configure

mail settings for the vCenter Server system to enable this option.

10 Review the summary information for the task to be completed, and click Finish.


28 VMware, Inc.

Viewing Scan Results

With Update Manager, you can quickly check how virtual appliances comply with baselines. You can review

compliance either by examining the results for a single virtual appliance or by reviewing the results for a

specific grouping of virtual appliances. Supported groupings include VMware vSphere container objects such

as folders, clusters, and datacenters.

Compliance information is available on the Update Manager tab in the vSphere Client. For virtual appliances,

you can view compliance in the Virtual Machines and Templates view.

Baselines interact with virtual appliances in the following ways:

If a user lacks permissions to view a virtual appliance, the results of those scans are not displayed.

Compliance with baselines is assessed at the time of viewing. To ensure that all information is current, a

brief pause might occur while information is gathered about a virtual appliance’s compliance.

Only information about compliance with relevant baselines is provided. For example, if a baseline is not

attached to the container in question, compliance is not assessed.

Compliance status is displayed based on permissions. Users with permission to view a container, but not

all of the container’s contents, can see the aggregate compliance of all entities under that container.

However, the individual counts for compliant, noncompliant, and unknown entities appear only as user

permissions allow. To view the compliance status, users also must have permission to view the baseline

or software update compliance status for an object in the inventory.

Reviewing Scan Results for Virtual Appliances Contained in a vSphere Object

When scans are completed on all machines contained within a VMware vSphere object, the results are

displayed in a summary. Information that is displayed explains the degree of conformance with baselines,

rather than the details. The following information is included:

When the last scan was completed at this level

Total number of compliant and noncompliant updates

For each baseline, the number of virtual appliances that are compliant or noncompliant

For each baseline, the number of patches that are not applicable to a particular virtual appliance

When you select a container object, you view the overall compliance status of the attached baselines, as well

as status for all the individual compliances. If you select an individual baseline attached to the container object,

you see the compliance status of the baseline.

If you select an individual virtual appliance, you see the overall compliance status of the selected appliance

against all attached baselines and the number of upgrades. If you further select an individual baseline attached

to this object, you see the number of upgrades grouped by the compliance status for that baseline.

To view scan results for virtual appliances:


2 Click Inventory and click VMs and Templates.

3 Click the object for which you want to view the scan results.

4 Click the Update Manager tab.

The results for scans completed on virtual appliances in that container appear on the right.

IMPORTANT Although you can attach baselines and baseline groups to individual objects, it is more efficient

to attach them to container objects, such as folders and datacenters. Attaching a baseline to a container object

transitively attaches the baseline to all objects in the container.

VMware, Inc. 29

Chapter 5 Managing Virtual Appliances with vCenter Server

Reviewing Scan Results for an Individual Virtual Appliance

Scan results provide information about the degree of compliance with the attached baselines. You can view

information on individual appliances and receive detailed information about the upgrades that are included

in a baseline.

To view the results for an individual virtual appliance:


2 Click Inventory and click VMs and Templates.

3 Select an individual virtual appliance.

4 Click the Update Manager tab.

5 Select a baseline group or baseline. For example, select All Groups and Independent Baselines in the

Attached Baseline Groups pane and All in the Attached Baselines pane to view the overall compliance of

all attached baselines and baseline groups.

6 In the Compliance pane, select the All Applicable compliance status to view the overall compliance status

of the selected appliance. The selected appliance together with the number of upgrades appear in the

bottom pane of the Update Manager tab.

7 Click the link in the Upgrades column in the bottom pane of the Update Manager tab. The link indicates

the number of upgrades in the selected compliance state. The Upgrade Details window appears, showing

the information in Table 5‐1.

Remediating Virtual AppliancesUpdates for a virtual appliance are downloaded by automatic updates (see “Setting Update Policies” on

page 22), or by the virtual appliance during the remediation process. Update Manager controls only when and

what to download. The download URL is set by the ISV providing the virtual appliance.

To download the updates for virtual appliances, Update Manager uses the following approach:

1 Update Manager scans the virtual appliances to return product and vendor information, information

about the current version, and missing updates.

2 Update Manager directs the virtual appliances to download the missing updates. Update Manager

controls the remediation process of when and how to remediate, but the virtual appliance downloads and

installs the updates itself.

After remediation, you must reboot the virtual appliance if the update package says that it requires reboot.

Virtual appliances have their own Web UI for self‐managed update mode. If the auto install updates option is

turned on in a virtual appliance, Update Manager runs reporting mode against it. This means that Update

Manager scans the virtual appliance, but skips remediation, so remediation fails with an event indicating the

reason. (See the “Troubleshooting” chapter of the VMware vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide.)

You can remediate virtual appliances manually, or schedule a remediation process. The two are similar, except

that you specify a time for scheduled remediation.

Table 5-1. Upgrade Details window

Option Description

Vendor Vendor of the upgrade.

Product Product installed on the virtual appliance, for example guest operating system.

Version Target version of the product.

Compliance Compliance status of the virtual appliance

Severity Severity of the upgrade.

Release Date Release date of the upgrade.


30 VMware, Inc.

To remediate a virtual appliance:

1 Connect the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server system where you imported the virtual appliances.

2 On the Home page select VMs and Templates and click the Update Manager tab.

3 Right‐click an object from the inventory and select Remediate.

All virtual appliances under the selected object are also remediated.

4 On the Remediation Selection page of the Remediate wizard, select the baselines to apply.

5 Select the virtual appliances that you want to remediate and click Next.

6 On the Schedule page, enter a name, and optionally, a description for the task.

7 Select Immediately to begin the remediation process right after you complete the wizard, or enter specific

times for powered on, powered off, or suspended virtual appliances.

8 (Optional) Specify the rollback options and click Next.

a On the Rollback Options page of the Remediate wizard, select Snapshot the virtual machines before

remediation to enable rollback.

A snapshot of the virtual machine or virtual appliance is taken before remediation. If the virtual

appliance needs to roll back, you can revert to this snapshot.

b Specify when the snapshot should be deleted, or select Don’t delete snapshots.

c Enter a name and optionally a description for the snapshot.

d (Optional) Select the check box Snapshot the memory for the virtual machine.

9 Review the Ready to Complete page, and click Finish.

Virtual Appliance Recognition

When a correctly installed or remediated virtual appliance is first powered on, the vCenter Server should

discover it (recognize it) as a virtual appliance. Your remediated virtual appliance is then ready to use.

VMware, Inc. 31

This appendix contains the following sections:

“VMware Platform Products for OVF and OVA” on page 31

“Compatibility for Virtual Appliances and vApps” on page 31.

VMware Platform Products for OVF and OVAThe following short codes represent various VMware platform products in tables Table A‐1 and Table A‐2.

vSphere Managed – VMware vSphere 4 or 5 deployed as a vCenter Server 4 or 5 managed environment

with ESX/ESXi 4.x or ESXi 5.x (and possibly ESX/ESXi 3.5) hosts.

vSphere Standalone – VMware vSphere 4 or 5 deployed as a standalone ESX/ESXi 4.x or ESXi 5.x host.

VMware Infrastructure 3.5 Managed – VMware Infrastructure 3.5 deployed as a VirtualCenter 2.5

managed environment with ESX/ESXi 3.5 hosts.

VMware Infrastructure 3.5 Standalone – VI 3.5 deployed as a standalone ESX/ESXi 3.5 host.

VMware Infrastructure 3 – Any permutation of VMware Infrastructure 3.0.

Workstation 6.5.1+ – VMware Workstation 6.5.1 and later (which adds some OVF support).

VHP – VMware hosted‐class platform products (Workstation, Player, Server, ACE, and Fusion).

vCloud Director 1.0 – vCloud Director coordinating vSphere managed datacenters.

Compatibility for Virtual Appliances and vAppsTable A‐1 shows platform product compatibility for virtual appliances with one virtual machine.

Yes – No added conversion steps are necessary; imports using the product alone.

Yes* – Similar to YES, but conversion may discard certain OVF metadata post‐import.

Convert – Not directly, but end‐consumers can convert with added steps and sacrifice of certain metadata.

Appendix

Table A-1. Compatibility of a Single-VM Virtual Appliance

Target ZIP OVF 0.9 Draft OVF 1.0 OVF 1.0 OVA

vSphere Managed Convert Yes Yes Yes

vSphere Standalone Convert Yes* Yes* Yes*

VMware Infrastructure 3.5 Managed Convert Yes* Convert. Convert

VMware Infrastructure 3.5 Standalone Convert Yes* Convert. Convert

VMware Infrastructure 3 Convert Conv. Convert Convert

Workstation 6.5.1+ Yes Yes* Convert Convert


32 VMware, Inc.

Table A‐2 shows platform product compatibility for a vApp containing one or more virtual machines.

Yes – No added conversion steps are necessary; imports using the product alone.

Yes* – Similar to YES, but conversion may discard certain OVF metadata post‐import.

Convert – Not directly, but end‐consumers can convert with added steps and sacrifice of certain metadata.

N/A – This deliverable type is not compatible with the desired construct (single‐VM versus vApp).

No – Not possible, or required metadata constructs cannot be converted.

VHP Yes Conv. Conv. Conv.

vCloud Director 1.0 No No Yes No

Table A-2. Compatibility of a Single-VM or Multiple-VM vApp


vSphere 4 Managed N/A N/A Yes Yes

vSphere 4 Standalone N/A N/A No No

VI 3.5 Managed N/A N/A No No

VI 3/5 Standalone N/A N/A No No

VI 3 N/A N/A No No

Workstation 6.5.1+ N/A N/A No No

VHP N/A N/A No No

vCloud Director 1.0 N/A N/A Yes No

Table A-1. Compatibility of a Single-VM Virtual Appliance


VMware, Inc. 33

Index

Aappliance vendor, ISV or HAV 8

Bbrowser support in VMware Studio 9

CCIM standard and the DMTF 8

command-line interface, vamicli 16, 22

compatible platforms for a vApp 32

compatible platforms for a virtual appliance 31

Ddefinition of

application in a virtual appliance 8

VAMI 8

vApp 7

virtual appliance 7

VMware Studio 7

DHCP and IPv6 18

DHCP configuration of IP address and DNS 13

DHCP, host name and DNS 18

distribution format

OVA 9, 10

OVF 0.9 or 1.0 9, 10

ZIP 9, 10

DNS servers without DHCP 12, 17

dynamic IP address and DHCP 13

EESX/ESXi versions supported by VMware Studio 9

Ffirewall security

exempted ports 19

incoming TCP port 5480 19

incoming TCP ports 5488 and 5489 19

proxy server 18

Ggateway (router) for static IP address 17

Greenwich mean time (GMT) See UTC

Hhost name for static IP address 17

IIP Pool and OVF networking properties 10, 12

IPv6 configuration 18

JJeOS, just enough operating system 8

Nnetmask for static IP address 17

network settings

DHCP lease expiration 12

proxy through firewall 13

static IP or DHCP 17, 18, 19

Network tab

Address > Alternate DNS Server 17

Address > Gateway 17

Address > Hostname 17

Address > IP Address 17

Address > Netmask 17

Address > Preferred DNS Server 17

DHCP default, not static IP 18

Proxy > Proxy Port 18

Proxy > Proxy Server 18

Proxy > Proxy User 18

Status 17

OOpen Virtualization Format (OVF) 7

OVA distribution format 9, 10

OVF 0.9 or 1.0 distribution format 9, 10

OVF versions and VMware platform products 31

Ppowering on a virtual appliance 11

proxy server for external network access 18

RReboot button in System tab 16

Ssecurity

firewall 19

login password 15

self-signed HTTP certificate 11

SSL digital signature 21

Shutdown button in System tab 16

SLAAC and IPv6 17


34 VMware, Inc.

SSL digital signature 21

static IP address and netmask 12

supported VMware platform products 9, 31

supported Web browsers 9

System tab

Appliance Name 15

Appliance Version 15

Hostname 15

OS Name 15

OS Version 15

OVF Environment 15

Reboot button 16

Shutdown button 16

Time Zone page 17

Vendor 15

Ttechnical support resources 6

Time Zone page in System tab 17

time zone, setting or changing 14, 17

UUpdate tab

Actions > Check Updates 22

Actions > Install Updates 22

Settings > Automatic check and install updates 22

Settings > Automatic check for updates 22

Settings > No automatic updates 22

Status > Appliance Name 21

Status > Appliance Version 21

Status > Available Updates 21

Status > Last Check 21

Status > Last Install 22

Status > Vendor 21

updates from local repository URL 22

updates from mounted CDROM 22

Use Default Repository update default 22

UTC, universal coordinated time 11, 14, 17, 21

VVAMI, virtual appliance management

infrastructure 7, 8, 19, 21

vami.timezone OVF property 14, 17

vamicli command 16, 22

vamisupport script 19

vApp, definition 7

vApps in the vSphere Client, pictured 16

vCenter Server (formerly VirtualCenter) 8, 10, 21, 25–30

VI Client, virtual appliance import 10

virtual appliance power-on 11

virtual appliance, definition 7

VMware platform products supported 9

VMware Tools 8

VMware vCenter Update Manager 7, 14, 17, 19, 25

baselines for virtual appliance updates 26

remediating a virtual appliance 29

scanning a virtual appliance 27

scheduling a virtual appliance scan 27

viewing a virtual appliance scan 28

vSphere Client, deploy OVF template 10

WWeb browsers supported 9

Web console for VMware Studio 8

ZZIP distribution format 9, 10

user’s guide to deploying vapps and virtual appliances · vmware studio is an integrated...

Documents