Naming

Configure and use the OneFuse Naming module with VMware vRealize Automation 7.6

  4 minute read  

To learn more about this OneFuse module, refer to Naming.

Prerequisites

  1. Configure OneFuse Property Set(s) and OneFuse Module Policies.
  2. Run OneFuse Configuration per vRA Tenant.
  3. Review the OneFuse Modules overview for vRealize Automation 7.6.
  4. Create a new vRA Blueprint (if none exist) or determine which existing Blueprint(s) will utilize this OneFuse Module.

Configure the Blueprint

  1. Know the name of the OneFuse Endpoint created via OneFuse Configuration.
  2. Determine which OneFuse Naming Policy to run for this Blueprint.
  3. Update the Blueprint to add in the necessary vRA Property to invoke a OneFuse Naming Policy.
  4. Deploy the Blueprint to provision a vRA Deployment and generate a name.
  5. Destroy the vRA Deployment to destroy the vRA Deployment and name.

Update the Blueprint

  1. Log in to the vRA Tenant.
  2. Select the Design tab from the top menu bar.
  3. Select the Blueprints tab from the left menu.
  4. Edit the Blueprint and perform the below.

Add in necessary vRA Property

The following vRA Property needs to be added to the Blueprint’s Properties > Custom Properties section under the Resource(s) of interest.

Call a Naming Policy:

Property Name Format Property Value Format
OneFuse_NamingPolicy <OneFuse Endpoint Name>:<Naming Policy Name>

Example vRA Custom Property (in key: value pair format)

# Execute OneFuse Naming Policy

# -- Property Value
# <OneFuse Endpoint Name>  is onefuse
# <Naming Policy Name> is global

OneFuse_NamingPolicy: onefuse:global

Optional. Request additional names: 2022.0.0 Build 16976327

Support for requesting additional Naming objects from one VM (for example, naming installed components in the VM or naming the additional IPAM and DNS objects being requested alongside them). The additional names are reserved and stored in both OneFuse and vRA Machine Properties for future reference in vRA lifecycles.

Property name format Property value format
OneFuse_NamingPolicy_Additional_<CustomID> <OneFuse Endpoint Name>:<Naming Policy Name>
  • Replace <CustomID> with a unique, user-defined friendly label.
  • To name the additional IPAM and/or DNS objects being requested with the VM, replace <CustomID> with the matching value for <niclabel> defined for IPAM and/or DNS Additional properties.

Example vRA Custom Property (in key: value pair format)

# -- Property Value
# <OneFuse Endpoint Name>  is onefuse
# <OneFuse Naming Policy Name> is global
# Will name Component 01 with Naming Policy 'component'
# Will name additional IPAM and DNS objects that have <niclabel> = 'xyz' with Naming Policy 'xyz'


# Example
OneFuse_NamingPolicy: onefuse:global
OneFuse_NamingPolicy_Additional_xyz: onefuse:xyz
OneFuse_NamingPolicy_Additional_component01: onefuse:component
Additional helpful vRA Properties

Purpose: Relate OneFuse Policy executions from different OneFuse Modules together with a Tracking ID.

Property Value format
OneFuse_Tracking_Id A GUID (globally unique identifier) that links OneFuse Policy Executions and the resulting Managed Objects together for a given resource on a deployment. The first OneFuse Module Policy execution will populate this vRA property and it will be passed into other OneFuse Modules automatically. Learn more about OneFuse Tracking ID.

Purpose: Reference a specific NIC’s values to get hostname, IP address, etc.

Property format Example
OneFuse_VmNic<#>.<value> See examples below

Replace <#> with a number from 0 to 9, one for each NIC.

Replace <value> with an appropriate key: dnsSuffix, fqdn, gateway, hostname, ipAddress, macAddress, netmask, network, subnet, target

Examples:

  • OneFuse_VmNic0.dnsSuffix
  • OneFuse_VmNic0.fqdn
  • OneFuse_VmNic0.hostname
  • OneFuse_VmNic0.ipAddress
  • OneFuse_VmNic0.target: when DNS Suffix is provided, will be the FQDN; otherwise, will be the hostname (without domain).
Custom Property placement methods

Influence Custom Properties for Resources using different methods:

Method Description
Basic Add a Custom Property to the vSphere machine on the blueprint canvas, or to the blueprint layer itself.
Advanced 1 Add a Custom Property to an existing or new vRA Property Group.
Advanced 2 Add a Custom Property to a more global level, such as vCenter Endpoint (to run on all deployments) and/or a Reservation (to run on all deployments using that reservation), etc.

Learn more: Understanding Custom Properties Precedence

Provision

Deploy a Blueprint with OneFuse Naming Policy configured. A unique name will generate for the resource(s).

Outputs

The following vRA Property will have the generated OneFuse Name Managed Object as a JSON string on the Deployment.

Property Name Property Value Format
OneFuse_Naming JSON string of OneFuse Name Managed Object

Deprovision

Destroy an existing deployment with OneFuse Naming Policy configured. The name will be removed from OneFuse Managed Names inventory.

vRA EBS

EBS Execution Subscription State EBS Priority EBS Name
Provision
MachineRequested - 1150 OneFuse_Provision_Naming
Deprovision
MachineDisposingPost - 1500 OneFuse_De-Provision_Naming

Troubleshooting

Troubleshoot in vRealize Orchestrator.

  1. Log in to vRealize Orchestrator.
  2. Turn on Verbose Logging and try again to see additional log messages in vRO Workflows:
    • Select Library > Workflows from the left menu
    • Go to: OneFuse > Naming > vRA7 to find corresponding workflow runs and view logs
    • Optionally, run the workflows in the Manual folder to manually test
  3. Optionally, configure timeouts for EBS and/or Configure timeouts for OneFuse modules.

Additional resources: