When you define infrastructure policies, you create guardrails that restrict the quality and quantity of resources the DSM users can consume from vSphere clusters, while having full visibility into how this infrastructure is getting used.

Prerequisites

Configure the following:
  • Compute Resources. You must create or use existing vSphere clusters or resource pools on which the database VMs will be created. Clusters or resource pools must have one or more storage policies in common.

    Make sure to enable vSphere HA and vSphere DRS on the vSphere clusters that you use for the infrastructure policies. For information, see How vSphere HA Works in vSphere Availability and Create a vSphere DRS Cluster in vSphere Resource Management.

  • Storage Policies. You must create or use existing storage policies for the compute resources that will determine the datastore placement of the database VMs.

  • Network Port Groups. You must create or use existing network port groups for the compute resources on which the database VMs will be created. DSM supports vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS). DSM also works with NSX virtual switches.

  • IP Pools. You create these data IP pools specifically for Data Services Manager. You can create IP pools while defining infrastructure policies or create them in advance. See Step 1: Configuring IP Pools.
  • VM Folders. Optionally create or use existing VM folders.
  • VM Classes. You create these VM classes specifically for Data Services Manager. The system provides default VM classes, but you can create more while defining infrastructure policies or create them separately in advance. See Step 2: Defining a VM Class.
Note: Multiple vSphere clusters can be added as compute resources in the same infrastructure policy. You can also have multiple resource pools in the same infrastructure policy, but they cannot be from the same vSphere cluster. If you want to add multiple resource pools to the same infrastructure policy, each resource pool must be in its own vSphere cluster.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to vCenter Server, click the Configure tab, and click Infrastructure Policies under Data Services Manager.
    This action displays the Infrastructure Policies view that you use to create and manage the policies.
  2. Click Create.

    The Create Infrastructure Policy form opens.

  3. On the Policy Details pane, enter a name and the description of the infrastructure policy.
    You cannot change the policy name once the policy is created.
  4. Enable the policy to make it available for consumption in DSM, and click NEXT.

    Only enabled infrastructure policies will be available for the database consumption. You might keep the policy disabled if it's not yet ready to be used by the database.

  5. On the Compute Resources pane, select one of the following, and then click NEXT.
    The compute resources you select must share the same storage policies.
    Property Name Value
    SELECT CLUSTERS Select the vSphere cluster for the database VMs.
    SELECT RESOURCE POOLS (Optional) Select the resource pool for the database VMs.
  6. On the Storage Policies pane, select one or more storage policies for the database VMs, and then click NEXT.

    The Storage Policies pane lists only those storage policies that are compatible with the compute resource you specified.

  7. On the Network Port Groups pane, select one or more network port groups for each compute resource in this policy, and click NEXT.
  8. On the IP Pools pane, select one or more IP pools for each network port group in this policy, and click NEXT.
    If you haven't configured IP pools, you can create them now.
  9. For each compute resource in this policy, select the VM folder from the drop-down list, and click NEXT.
    This step is optional.
  10. On the VM Classes pane, select one or more preconfigured VM classes, and click NEXT.

    If needed, create a new VM class.

  11. Review your infrastructure policy, and click CREATE POLICY.

    The policy appears on the list of infrastructure policies.

Results

If you need to edit or delete the infrastructure policy, follow these guidelines:

  • If the policy is not used by a database, you can later change any policy settings.
  • If the policy is used, you cannot change exiting settings, but you can add a new compute resource and specify corresponding parameters for this compute resource.
  • You can delete only the policy that is not used by the database.
  • If you disable an infrastructure policy, you cannot delete database clusters that use this policy. Delete the database clusters before disabling the infrastructure policy.

What to do next

You have completed the required minimal infrastructure configuration of VMware Data Services Manager.

Next, perform these steps:

  • Provide the following information to the DSM users:

    • The VMware Data Services Manager URL (i.e. the DSM VM IP address).

    • The Local user's login credentials to the VMware Data Services Manager console, or instruct the user to log in with their LDAP creds.

    For information about additional tasks the DSM administrator can perform to set up VMware Data Services Manager, see Setting Up the VMware Data Services Manager Provider VM.

    For other tasks of the DSM administrator, see Administering VMware Data Services Manager.

  • If you created a DSM user role for yourself, you can log in to VMware Data Services Manager and access the DSM console to begin monitoring and managing the environment. See Accessing the VMware Data Services Manager Console.