VMware vRA 7 Support Matrix Guide

Check this link to download this guide:-
https://www.vmware.com/pdf/vrealize-automation-70-support-matrix.pdf

Finally "Select All" Actions is available in VMware vRA 7.x

Up to VMware vRA 6.x, it was a challenge for someone to select all the actions in entitlements but it is not the challenge anyone as with VMware vRA 7.x, now product has select all option in entitlement. Although it is strongly recommeded to check the action whether it is relevant for the user or not before selecting it.

 

Goodbye to Build Profile, Say Hello to Property Groups

 In vRA 6.x there was an option to group the properties, so that you can use them in blueprint rather than typing them in each blueprint and the option was Build Profile. In vRA 7.x build profiles are replaced with Property Groups. However the objective of Property Groups is same as build profile.

Adding Citrix XenServer Endpoint in vRA 6.x and vRA 7.x

If you want to integrate Citrix Xenserver with vRA 6.x and vRA 7.x then these are the steps:-
1. Install Citrix Xenserver agent with stored credential that corresponds to your endpoint
2. Login in vRA Self Service Portal with Infrastructure administrator role user
Note:- if you will check the Citrix Endpoint under Endpoints you will not find any option for this as the procedure of adding the Citrix Endpoint is different than other endpoints. For example below given screenshot has no Citrix option

 3. Go to Infrastructor tab > Endpoints> Agents > Provide the required details > Click on OK

4. Now Trigger the data collection to discover the compute resources from Citrix Xenserver Environment.

5. Add Compute resources from your endpoint to fabric group.

VMware vRA 6.2 to vRA 7.0 User role assignments upgrade

When you upgrade vRealize Automation, your organization's existing role assignments are maintained. The upgrade also creates some role assignments to support additional blueprint architect roles. The following architect roles are used to support the blueprint definition in the design canvas:

• Application architect. Assembles existing components and blueprints to create composite blueprints.
• Infrastructure architect. Creates and manages machine blueprints.
• XaaS architect. Creates and manages XaaS blueprints.
• Software architect. Creates and manages Software components.

In vRealize Automation 7, tenant administrators and business group managers cannot design blueprints by default. Upgraded tenant administrators and business group managers are given the infrastructure architect role. All users with the ability to reconfigure a machine in the vRealize Automation 6.2 source version are authorized to change machine ownership after upgrading to this vRealize Automation version. The following role assignments are made during the upgrade. Roles that are not listed in the table are upgraded to the same role name in the target deployment.

Cost Profiles are gone in VMware vRA 7!!!!!

I worked on vRA 6.x, and in that version there is a option to create the cost profiles and link it with compute resources. This is required for daily and lease cost calculation for a particular VM. Now when i was checking the options those are available in vRA 7, i noticed that "Cost Profiles are GONE". It seems one must integrate vRB (vRealize Business). Here is link of that article that has step by step on how vRB and vRA 7 can be integrated and then how cost is reflected after this integration in the request portal:-
http://open902.com/vra7-vrealize-business-standard/

How to use Reservation Policy to place VMDKs across different datastores?

Informative article from VMware Blogs:-
http://blogs.vmware.com/management/2014/10/use-reservation-policy-place-vmdks-across-different-datastores.html

VMware vRealize Automation 7.x User Roles

Roles consist of a set of privileges that can be associated with users to determine what tasks they can perform. Based on their responsibilities, individuals might have one or more roles associated with their user account.

All user roles are assigned within the context of a specific tenant. However, some roles in the default tenant can manage system-wide configuration that applies to multiple tenants.

System-Wide Roles and Responsibilities
Role	Responsibilities	How Assigned
System Administrator	■ Create tenants. ■ Configure tenant identity stores. ■ Assign IaaS administrator role. ■ Assign tenant administrator role. ■ Configure system default branding. ■ Configure system default notification providers. ■ Monitor system event logs, not including IaaS logs. ■ Configure the vRealize Orchestrator server for use with XaaS. ■ Create and manage (view, edit, and delete) reservations across tenants if also a fabric administrator.	Built-in administrator credentials are specified when configuring single sign-on.
IaaS Administrator	■ Configure IaaS features, global properties. ■ Create and manage fabric groups. ■ Create and manage endpoints. ■ Manage endpoint credentials. ■ Configure proxy agents. ■ Manage Amazon AWS instance types. ■ Monitor IaaS-specific logs. ■ Create and manage (view, edit, and delete) reservations across tenants if also a fabric administrator.	The system administrator designates the IaaS administrator when configuring a tenant.

Tenant Roles and Responsibilities
Role	Responsibilities	How Assigned
Tenant administrator	■ Customize tenant branding. ■ Manage tenant identity stores. ■ Manage user and group roles. ■ Create custom groups. ■ Manage notification providers. ■ Enable notification scenarios for tenant users. ■ Configure vRealize Orchestrator servers, plug-ins and workflows for XaaS. ■ Create and manage catalog services. ■ Manage catalog items. ■ Manage actions. ■ Create and manage entitlements. ■ Create and manage approval policies. ■ Monitor tenant machines and send reclamation requests.	The system administrator designates a tenant administrator when creating a tenant. Tenant administrators can assign the role to other users in their tenant at any time from the Administration tab.
Fabric Administrator	■ Manage property groups. ■ Manage compute resources. ■ Manage network profiles. ■ Manage Amazon EBS volumes and key pairs. ■ Manage machine prefixes. ■ Manage property dictionary. ■ Create and manage reservations and reservation policies in their own tenant. ■ If this role is added to a user with IaaS administrator or system administrator privileges, the user can create and manage reservations and reservation policies in any tenant.	The IaaS administrator designates the fabric administrator when creating or editing fabric groups.
Application architect	■ Assemble and manage composite blueprints.	Tenant administrators can assign this role to users in their tenant at any time from the Administrationtab.
Infrastructure Architect	■ Create and manage infrastructure blueprint components. ■ Assemble and manage composite blueprints.	Tenant administrators can assign this role to users in their tenant at any time from the Administrationtab.
XaaS architect	■ Define custom resource types. ■ Create and publish XaaS blueprints. ■ Create and manage resource mappings. ■ Create and publish resource actions.	Tenant administrators can assign this role to users in their tenant at any time from the Administrationtab.
Software Architect	■ Create and manage software blueprint components. ■ Assemble and manage composite blueprints.	Tenant administrators can assign this role to users in their tenant at any time from the Administrationtab.
Catalog Administrator	■ Create and manage catalog services. ■ Manage catalog items. ■ Assign icons to actions.	Tenant administrators can assign this role to users in their tenant at any time from the Administrationtab.
Business group manager	■ Add and delete users within their business group. ■ Assign support user roles to users in their business group. ■ Create and manage entitlements for their business group. ■ Request and manage items on behalf of a user in their business group. ■ Monitor resource usage in a business group. ■ Change machine owner.	The tenant administrator designates the business group manager when creating or editing business groups.
Approval administrator	■ Create and manage approval policies.	Tenant administrators can assign this role to users in their tenant at any time from the Administrationtab.
Approver	■ Approve service catalog requests, including provisioning requests or any resource actions.	The tenant administrator or approval administrator creates approval policies and designates the approvers for each policy.
Support user	■ Request and manage items on behalf of other users in their business group. ■ Change machine owner.	The tenant administrator designates the support user when creating or editing business groups.
Business user	■ Request catalog items from the service catalog. ■ Manage their provisioned resources.	The tenant administrator designates the business users who can consume IT services when creating or editing business groups.

Info Source:-

http://pubs.vmware.com/vra-70/index.jsp#com.vmware.vrealize.automation.doc/GUID-135436AC-CF31-44A1-A358-61D2B68183AE.html