You deploy vRealize Automation in VMware Cloud Foundation using the SDDC Manager user interface.

The process for deploying vRealize Automation varies slightly depending on whether you are using application virtual networks (AVNs) or a VLAN-backed distributed port group. See vRealize Suite Products and VMware Cloud Foundation for more information.

Prerequisites

  • Deploy vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. See Deploy vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager in Cloud Foundation.
  • Verify you have a valid license key for vRealize Automation, which is purchased separately from VMware Cloud Foundation. You must add the license key to VMware Cloud Foundation before deploying vRealize Automation. See Add a vRealize Automation License Key to Cloud Foundation.
  • Verify you have downloaded the vRealize Suite bundles from the VMware Depot. See Downloading an Install Bundle.
  • Verify that IP allocation and forward/reverse DNS records are prepared for the vRealize Automation components.
  • Verify you have created the required Active Directory (AD) service account for vRealize Automation.
  • Verify that you have configured a certificate authority in SDDC Manager. See Configure a Microsoft Certificate Authority in SDDC Manager.
  • Verify the multi-SAN certificate and private key generated by a trusted certificate authority is available for vRealize Automation.
  • Verify Microsoft SQL Server is properly deployed and configured for vRealize Automation.
  • Verify you have created and exported a Microsoft Windows Server OVA template for the vRealize Automation IaaS components.

For more information, see the VMware Cloud Foundation Planning and Preparation Guide.

Procedure

  1. On the SDDC Manager Dashboard, navigate to Administration > vRealize Suite.
    The vRealize Suite navigation appears, listing the vRealize Suite products available for your VMware Cloud Foundation system deployment.
  2. Click vRealize Automation.
    The vRealize Automation page displays.
  3. Click Deploy.
    The vRealize Automation Installation Prerequisites page displays the prerequisites that you must complete before beginning the installation.
  4. Review the readiness of each prerequisite and verify by selecting each adjacent check box.
    When all the boxes are selected, the Begin button is activated.
  5. Click Begin.
    The vRealize Automation Installation wizard opens.
  6. On the Deployment Details page, enter the settings and Next to continue.
    All settings are required.
    Setting Description
    vRealize Automation License Key
    License Key
    Select a valid license for vRealize Automation. This license may be for vRealize Automation, vRealize Suite, or vCloud Suite. If no key is available, you can add one in Administration > Licensing.
    Certificate Details
    Certificate Chain
    Enter the full certificate chain, including each -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- header and -----END CERTIFICATE----- footer.

    The certificate chain is a combination of the server certificate and the root CA certificate, in that order.

    Certificate Private Key
    Enter the private key for the certificate, including the -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- header and the -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY----- footer.
    Create/Confirm Passphrase
    Create and confirm a passphrase for the certificate protection on the vRealize Automation IaaS Windows servers.
    IaaS Windows Template Select one of the following options from the drop-down options:
    Upload OVA Template
    Select to upload a new Windows Server OVA template. Click Upload to navigate to and upload the OVA template. The filename must be less than 60 characters in length, including the extension.
    Use Existing OVA Template
    Select to use and specify an existing Windows Server OVA template. The OVA template path automatically displays the path to an existing template uploaded to SDDC Manager using SCP, if any.
    The file path must have the following permissions:
    owner: vcf_commonsvcs
    group: vcf
    The directories in the path must be readable and executable for the user and the group.
    For example: 
    chmod 0750 -R /upload
chown vcf_commonsvcs:vcf -R /upload
  7. If you are using AVNs, the Network Settings page displays read-only information about the application virtual networks that vRealize Automation will use. Click Next.
  8. On the FQDNs page, enter the settings and Next to continue.
    Important: The installation derives the Active Directory domain name for the computer account from the DNS suffix provided in the FQDN for each vRealize Automation IaaS component. For example, an FQDN of vra01iws01a.rainpole.local derives the Active Directory domain rainpole.local. If the DNS suffix is different from Active Directory domain name, the installation will be unsuccessful. For more information, see Knowledge Base article 59128.
    Note: FQDNs must start with a letter and can contain only letters, digits, dashes, and underscores.

    Setting Description
    vRealize Automation Appliances
    Appliance 1
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    Appliance 2
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    Appliance 3
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    IaaS Web Servers
    IaaS Web Server 1
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    IaaS Web Server 2
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    Note: Host names for Windows IaaS VMs should be 15 characters or less due to limitations in the Windows OS. If the host names are longer they will be trimmed during the installation and installation will fail.
    IaaS Manager Service and DEM Orchestrators
    IaaS Manager 1
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    IaaS Manager 2
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    Note: Host names for Windows IaaS VMs should be 15 characters or less due to limitations in the Windows OS. If the host names are longer they will be trimmed during the installation and installation will fail.
    DEM Workers
    DEM Worker 1
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    DEM Worker 2
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    Note: Host names for Windows IaaS VMs should be 15 characters or less due to limitations in the Windows OS. If the host names are longer they will be trimmed during the installation and installation will fail.
    Proxy Agents
    Proxy Agent 1
    Enter the FQDN.
    Proxy Agent 2
    Enter the FQDN.
    Note: Host names for Windows IaaS VMs should be 15 characters or less due to limitations in the Windows OS. If the host names are longer they will be trimmed during the installation and installation will fail.
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
    Hostname
    Displays the FQDN.
    Load Balancers

    When you deploy vRealize Automation, an NSX Edge Service Gateway is deployed as a one-armed load balancer. This load balancer is shared between vRealize Operations and vRealize Automation. If you already deployed vRealize Operations, the NSX Edge Service Gateway FQDN displays as read-only.

    NSX Edge Services Gateway
    Displays the FQDN.
    IaaS Web Server Virtual Server
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    IaaS Manager Virtual Server
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    vRealize Automation Appliance Virtual Server
    Enter the FQDN as provided in the certificate.
    Microsoft SQL Server
    Hostname
    Provide the FQDN for the Microsoft SQL Server virtual appliance.
  9. On the Account Information page, enter the settings and Next to continue.
    Note: All settings are required.

    Setting Description
    Active Directory Use these settings to provide the service account that is used for services on the IaaS VMs. This account must have administrative permissions to join Windows VMs to Active Directory.
    Username
    Provide the service account user name in the "domain\username" format.
    Password / Confirm Password
    Provide and confirm a valid password.
    Microsoft SQL Server Use these settings to create the connection to the database.
    Database Name
    Specify the case-sensitive database name.
    Username
    Specify the database owner user name. This setting is optional. If no user name is specified, VMware Cloud Foundation applies the the Active Directory account used when the database was joined to Active Directory.
    Password / Confirm Password
    Provide and confirm a valid password for the specified user. This is required only if you also provide a username, as described above.
    Local Tenant Administrator Use these settings to create a new user for the default vRealize Automation tenant. This user will be assigned the Tenant Administrator role.
    First Name
    Enter the administrator's first name.
    Last Name
    Enter the administrator's last name.
    Email
    Enter the administrator's email.
    Username
    Define a user name for the tenant administrator.
    Create Password / Confirm Password
    Create and confirm a password for the tenant administrator.
    Windows Template Local Administrator
    Create Password / Confirm Password
    Create and confirm the local administrator password for the Windows system that is deployed through the Windows IaaS VM template.
    Default Tenant Administrator
    Create Password / Confirm Password
    Create and confirm the password for the vRealize Automation system administrator. This is the credential that allows SDDC Manager to connect to the vRealize Automation system.
    vRealize Automation SSH Root Account
    Create Password / Confirm Password
    Create and confirm a password for the vRealize Automation virtual appliance root account.
  10. On the Review Summary page, review a summary of the installation configuration settings.
    This page displays any validation errors that require attention.
    Note: If necessary, you can use the Back button to return to preceding pages and modify settings. You can also proceed without validation.
  11. Click Finish.
    The vRealize Automation page displays with the following message: Deployment in progress. If the deployment fails, this page displays a deployment status of Failed. In this case, you can Retry or Uninstall.
    Important: The uninstall operation does not remove the computer accounts from Active Directory. As a result, this could cause a reinstallation to fail. Manually remove the computer accounts from Active Directory and recreate the Microsoft SQL Server database for vRealize Automation. See the VMware Cloud Foundation Planning and Preparation Guide.
  12. (Optional) Click View Status in Tasks to view the details of the deployment in progress or a deployment failure.
    The Tasks panel opens at the bottom page. You can open individual tasks to view details.
  13. (Optional) After the successful deployment of vRealize Automation, click the vRealize Automation link below the page title.
    The vRealize Automation user interface opens in a new browser tab.

Results

After the successful deployment of vRealize Automation, the vRealize Automation page in SDDC Manager > Administration > vRealize Suite displays an ACTIVE status and displays controls that enable you to connect vRealize Automation to workload domains.

What to do next

You must manually start the vRealize Orchestrator configuration service. See Start the vRealize Orchestrator Configurator Service in VMware Cloud Foundation.