vapp product support engineering rev e vmware confidential

vApp

Product Support Engineering

Rev E

VMware Confidential

VI4 - Mod 2-6 - Slide 2

Module 2 Lessons

Lesson 1 – vCenter Server High Availability

Lesson 2 – vCenter Server Distributed Resource Scheduler

Lesson 3 – Fault Tolerance Virtual Machines

Lesson 4 – Enhanced vMotion Compatibility

Lesson 5 – DPM - IPMI

Lesson 6 – vApps

Lesson 7 – Host Profiles

Lesson 8 – Reliability, Availability, Serviceability ( RAS )

Lesson 9 – Web Access

Lesson 10 – vCenter Server Update Manager

Lesson 11 – Guided Consolidation

Lesson 12 – Health Status


Module 2-6 Lessons

Lesson 1 – vApps Overview

Lesson 2 – Creating a vApp

Lesson 3 – Editing vApp properties

Lesson 4 – Cloning vApps

Lesson 5 – IP Pools & Customizing vApp Networks

Lesson 6 – Troubleshooting vApps


vApp Overview

vApps simplify the deployment and ongoing management of an n-tier application in multiple virtual machines by encapsulating it into a single virtual service entity.

A vApp has the same basic operations as a virtual machine, but can contain multiple virtual machines or multiple vApps.

vApps encapsulate not only virtual machines but also their inter-dependencies and resource allocations allowing for single-step power operations, cloning, deployment and monitoring of the entire application.

The distribution format for vApps is OVF, implying that they can be imported and exported just like OVF VMs.


vApp Overview (ctd)

One of the major advantages of the vApp is that they can be configured with a number of variables.

Virtual Machines which run in the vApp are presented with this OVF configuration, including the network information, in the form of an XML file on a CDROM.

The vendor can then customize their appliance to pick up this vApp information from their pseudo CDROM device.

One major use is the ability to assign a VM within a vApp an IP address from an IP pool predefined in your cluster.

This information is then available to all the other members of the vApp, e.g. a database VM and a web server VM automatically know about each other.


vApp Overview (ctd)

vApp

OS MySQL

OS Tomcat JBoss

Glue

VM

VMOVF env

Virtual Hardware and Resource Requirements

vApp Policies

App Customization Info

Application Info

OVF Descriptor (XML)

Here we have 2 VMs in a vAPP, one is a database and the other is Java based application.

The appliance vendor has to create some ‘glue’ code to get the XML information into the VM. This is currently achieved by mounting a CDROM in the Guest OS and retrieving the XML file from the CDROM.

Since it is a common XML file, all VMs in the vApp which have access to the XML know the parameter settings for all the other VMs in the vApp.


vApp Overview (ctd)

To access the XML file on the ISO image, you need to set the OVF settings in the Options of the VM properties as follows:


vApp Overview (ctd)

The contents of the XML file may also be viewed from the VM Properties OVF settings:


Module 2-6 Lessons








Creating a vApp

If a host is in a cluster, then DRS must be enabled to create a vApp.

Disabling DRS will remove any vApps created on the cluster.

If the host is stand-alone, a vApp can also be created.

To create a new vApp:

Choose File > New vApp or click on the vApp icon.


Creating a vApp (ctd)

Enter the vApp Name and select the vApp Inventory Location. Click Next.


Creating a vApp (ctd)

In the Resource Allocation page, allocate CPU and memory resources for this vApp.

This is identical to a Resource Pool configuration.

Confirm the new vApp options on the vApp summary page. Click Finish to create the new vApp.

Virtual Machines may now be ‘dragged & dropped’ into the vApp.


Power On a vApp

To power on a vApp:

1. Right click on the vApp and select Power On.

2. Each VM within the vApp will be powered on according to how the startup order is set. If a delay is set, the service waits for the set length of time before powering up that application.

3. In the Summary tab, the Service Status indicates when the service has started and is available.


Power Off a vApp

To power off a vApp:

1. Right click on the vApp and select Power Off.

2. Each VM within the vApp will be powered off according to how the startup order is set. (in reverse order)If a delay is set, the service waits for the set length of time before powering off that application.

3. In the Summary tab, the Service Status indicates when the service has stopped.


Module 2-6 Lessons








IP Pools & Customizing vApp Networks

The vApp IP configuration may be changed during or after deployment.

If the OVF descriptor has one or more vApp IP properties, the user may choose which IP allocation policy to use.

This is done on the IP Allocation Policy page.

Fixed - The user enters the IP address manually.

DHCP - IP addresses are allocated by the vApp on a DHCP server

Transient - IP addresses for each VM in the vApp are automatically allocated by vCenter during power-on of the vApp. The addresses are allocated from an IP range associated with the network used by a VM, and are released when the VM or the entire vApp is powered off. This allows an IT admin to dedicate a pool of IP addresses to specific vApps.


Editing vApp Properties

The Summary tab will display descriptor information about the vApp which can be configured via the Properties of the vApp.

Right click the vApp, and select Edit vApp Settings:


Editing vApp Properties (ctd)

You can configure several aspects of a vApp, including startup order, resources, and custom properties.



The Advanced IP Allocation lets you change the supported IP allocation schemes of the vApp.

A vApp can obtain its network configuration through the OVF environment or a DHCP server or the from vCenter (default).

We will talk about this more in the Customization section.



Select the Start Order tab to set the startup order of the applications:

Select a virtual machine and use the arrow keys to change the startup order. This order will also be used for shutdown in the reverse order

Specify the delay and action for startup and shutdown for each virtual machine in the vApp.

Click OK to confirm your changes.


Module 2-6 Lessons








Clone a vApp

To clone a vApp:vApp must be powered off.

In the Inventory view, right click the vApp and select Clone.

The Clone vApp Wizard appears.

Choose a host, cluster, or resource pool on which this service runs.

Click Next to continue.


Clone a vApp (ctd)

Select the location within the datacenter (host/cluster/pool) that you want the clone to be stored.


Clone a vApp (ctd)

Select the Name and Folder of where the cloned vApp will be stored.

Select the networks this service will use. This step is only available when the new service has a different host than the original service.

Select a destination datastore.

Inspect your values in before clicking Finish to complete cloning the service.


Module 2-6 Lessons








Customize Virtual Machines (ctd)

To specify an IP address range for the vApp:

Select the Data Center and select the IP Pools tab.

Click Add.


IP Pools & Customizing vApp Networks (ctd)

In the New IP Pool Properties dialog, you may enter a comma separated list of host address ranges in the Address Range field.

In this example I have given an address range of 192.168.0.2 thru 192.168.0.17. Note the use of the ‘#’ character to specify a range.

This range would be used if we setup the IP Allocation to transient.


IP Pools & Customizing vApp Networks (ctd)

The next step is to associate the IP Pool with the VM network used by the vApp.

Select the Associations tab of the New IP Pool Properties.

This will list the VM networks and you select which one to associate with the pool.


Module 2-6 Lessons








Troubleshooting

The option to select New vApp is greyed out. What are the possible causes?

The hosts are not part of a DRS cluster, or DRS is not enabled on the cluster.


Troubleshooting (ctd)

Powering up a vApp results in the following message appearing in the task bar. Which Advanced IP Allocation Policy do you think was configured on the vApp? What do you think the root cause is?

The Advanced IP allocation policy was set to ‘Transient’ but there was no IP Pool created for the network.

A second possible issue is that the VMs have been moved to another portgroup but the vApp did not refresh this information.



Powering up a vApp results in the following message appearing in the task bar. Which Advanced IP Allocation Policy do you think was configured on the vApp? What do you think the root cause is?

The Advanced IP allocation policy was set to ‘Transient’ but there were not enough free IP addresses left in the IP Pool to start the vApp.



A customer has setup an IP Pool, and set the IP Allocation to Transient, but yet the MS Windows 2003 VM in the vApp continues to pick up an IP address presented by DHCP rather than the IP Pool. Why?

Remember that for this to work, there has to be ‘glue’ written by the appliance vendor to mount the CDROM, pickup the OVF XML file and pick the IP information from there.

If this is a standard MS Windows 2003 deployment, then there will be no glue in the Guest OS to pick up this information so its IP configuration will be derived in the standard way.


Lesson 2-6 Summary

vApp is a new feature of vSphere to facilitate the management of many Virtual Machines via a single entity.

This is very beneficial for tiered applications.

Each VM in a vApp can learn about each other through the means of and OVF XML file, as long as the vendor has scripted the ‘glue’ inside the VM to pickup this information.

vApps provide one click power-on, power-off and cloning for many virtual machines.


Lesson 2-6 - Lab 6

Module 2-6 Lab 6 – VMware vCenter vApps

Create a vApp

Import a vApp

Export a vServcie

Clone a vApp

Troubleshooting vApps

vapp product support engineering rev e vmware confidential

Documents

vapp information

vapp networkslesson

new vapp

editing vapp propertieslesson

xml information

multiple virtual machines

multiple vapps

troubleshooting vappsvi4