Create a basic vCenter cloud account in VMware Aria Automation

You can add a basic vCenter cloud account for the account regions to which you want to deploy VMware Aria Automation cloud templates.

For network and security purposes, you can associate a vCenter cloud account with an NSX-T or NSX-V cloud account. An NSX-T cloud account can be associated to one or more vCenter cloud accounts. However, an NSX-V cloud account can only be associated to one vCenter cloud account.

Prerequisites

• Verify that you have the required service account credentials and have enabled HTTPS access on port 443. See Credentials required for working with cloud accounts in VMware Aria Automation.
• Verify that you have the cloud administrator user role. See What are the VMware Aria Automation user roles.
• If you are creating the cloud account for use with a remote vSphere agent (which is possible by using the Forward all traffic through proxy option), verify that you have deployed and configured a VMware Aria Automation extensibility (vREx) proxy on the target remote vCenter server. See How can I configure and use a VMware Aria Automation Extensibility proxy with a vCenter cloud account for improved VMware Aria Automation performance across datacenters.
• Verify that you have properly configured your ports and protocols to support the cloud account. See the System Requirements topic in Installing VMware Aria Automationwith Easy Installer and the Port Requirements topic in Reference Architecture Guide. Both publications are available on the VMware Aria Automation product documentation page.

Procedure

1. Select Infrastructure > Connections > Cloud Accounts and click Add Cloud Account.
2. Select the vCenter cloud account type.
3. Enter the vCenter server host IP address.
4. If you want to use a remote vSphere agent, select the Forward all traffic through proxy option and select the VMware Aria Automation extensibility (vREx) proxy from the drop-down menu.

   After you select a vREx proxy, you must revalidate and save your user name and password credentials.

5. Enter your vCenter server administrator credentials and click Validate.

   All data centers that are associated with the vCenter account are data-collected.

   The following elements are data-collected, as are all vSphere tags for the following elements:

   • Machines
   • Clusters and hosts
   • Port groups
   • Data stores

   Remote vSphere agents (proxies) are also collected if they have been configured on the vCenter, see How can I configure and use a VMware Aria Automation Extensibility proxy with a vCenter cloud account for improved VMware Aria Automation performance across datacenters.

   You might consider using the VMware Aria Automation extensibility proxy option to gain a more reliable connection to a distant server, to get better processing throughput, or for network isolation reasons. To use a remote vSphere agent, where you have already met the required prerequisites for deploying and configuring a VMware Aria Automation extensibility (vREx) proxy, select the Forward all traffic through proxy check box and select the configured VMware Aria Automation extensibility (vREx) proxy from the drop-down menu of available VMware Aria Automation extensibility (vREx) proxies. After you select a vREx proxy, you must revalidate and save your user name and password credentials.

6. Select at least one of the available data centers on the specified vCenter server to allow provisioning for this cloud account.
7. For efficiency, create a cloud zone for provisioning to the selected data centers.

   You can also create cloud zones as a separate step according to your organization's cloud strategy.

   For information about cloud zones, see Learn more about Automation Assembler cloud zones.

8. Select an existing NSX cloud account.

   You can select the NSX account now, or later when you edit the cloud account.

   For information about NSX-T cloud accounts, see Create an NSX-T cloud account in VMware Aria Automation.

   For information about making network association changes after you have deployed a cloud template, see What happens if I remove an NSX cloud account association in VMware Aria Automation.

9. If you want to add tags to support a tagging strategy, enter capability tags.

   You can add tags now, or later when you edit the cloud account. For information about tagging, see How do I use tags to manage Automation Assembler resources and deployments.

   For more information about how capability tags and constraint tags help control deployment placements, see the Constraint Tags and Placement video tutorial.

10. Click Save.

Results

The cloud account is added and the selected data centers are available for the specified cloud zone. Collected data such as machines, networks, storage, and volumes is listed in the Resources section of the Infrastructure tab.

What to do next

Configure remaining infrastructure resources for this cloud account. See Building your Automation Assembler resource infrastructure.

For information about converting an existing cloud account, see Convert a traditional vCenter cloud account to one based on a VMware Aria Automation extensibility (vREx) proxy.