vRealize Automation 7.3 - Integration with SCVMM 2012 R2

vRealize Automation CMP supports multi-hypervisor environment since a long time, however i had rarely found customer using vRA for capabilities beyond vSphere based services. 
However off-late customers who have been successfully using vRA with vSphere has started discussing plans to extend its use cases for integration with SCVMM, Containers, 3rd party ITSM tools etc. 

Hence i thought of putting down some of these integration steps for ease of deployment for similar requirements.
This post would talk about integration of SCVMM with vRA.

Step 1: Prepare SCVMM server.

Note that before we jump into the SCVMM preparation, we need be clear about the supported configuration boundaries. Refer to VRA Support matrix link here.

As per the support chart, at the time of writing this post, SCVMM 2012 R2 (with Hyper V 2012 R2) is supported with vRA 7.3. That's the configuration we will be looking into.

So for preparing SCVMM server, make sure you follow the Microsoft Technet instructions to deploy SCVMM server. 

As a part of SCVMM server preparation, you need to ensure that a HyperV server is added to the management console of VMM. The supported version of HyperV is 2K12 R2 via SCVMM 2K12 R2.




Ensure MPIO service is installed and configured on HyperV node appropriately & Networking is configured for HyperV server, for the storage and Network to be discovered in vRA.

Create a VM Template(s) and upload under the Library section of SCVMM. This will used during Blueprint creation in vRA






Step 2: Install DEM Worker on SCVMM

Once SCVMM is ready, we need to install a DEM worker agent on the SCVMM server.
NOTE: The vRA (IaaS) issues API calls to Powershell on SCVMM server via DEM workers & Powershell in turn perform provisioning/decommissioning tasks on the SCVMM

Follow DEM Worker on SCVMM section of vRA documentation

IMPT: Before Installation of DEM worker, make sure you add the IaaS server certificate in the Trusted root directory of the VMM server 

Once we have DEM worker installed, ensure the DEM worker service is in the running state on the VMM server.


Step 3: vRA configuration

Create a SCVMM Endpoint in vRA by adding VMM URL and credentials. You can follow instructions on Preparing Your SCVMM Environment.

Create Fabric Group, Reservation (tagged to a Business Group), Reservation Policy etc. and then move on to the Blueprint Design.

Choose Machine Types and drag "Hyper-V (SCVMM) Machine" construct on the right hand side pane.

Choose the HyperV_SCVMM_machine and define the properties in the box.

Under "Build Information" page, choose CloneWorkflow and click browse button to choose an appropriate published template.
Note there is no Networking tab, as vRA doesn't provision network for a SCVMM setup out of box.

Once you are done with creating a Blueprint, publish it > Map it to a Catalog service > Entitle it to appropriate users & groups. If applicable apply an approval policy.


Step 4: Consume Catalog Service



That should be it. Once you complete above tasks, the SCVMM based service and catalog item(s) should be available for consumption as a vRA service. From here on you can simply start deploying VMs on HyperV server(s) from vRA self service console.

On request of a Catalog provisioning, you can note the progress by moving on to the Execution Information section. 
In the end, post provisioning you should be able to see the VM under the "item" tab.