VMware vCloud Overview

How can I upload an *.ISO file?

You can upload an *.ISO file by performing the following actions. Since the HTML5 client is introduced in the vCloud Director, the VMware Client integration plug-in is no longer needed to upload files.

1. On the Libraries tab, under the Content Libraries section, switch to Media & Other tab and click the Add button.

2. A popup will appear. Select the ISO file by clicking the  icon.
Note: Make sure the name ends with the extension .iso, else the file may not show up in your catalog.

3. Once the upload is completed, you will be able to see your ISO.

What are templates and how can I create one?

You can create templates of base images of virtual machines or vApps. This allows you to deploy future instances of similar characteristics in a couple of clicks. It can also be useful to clone specific machines or groups of machines that are needed at a future point.

Requirements

To be able to create a template from a virtual machine it is necessary to have one vApp with exactly one virtual machine (the one you want to create the template from). The virtual machine must have VMWare tools installed. Creating a template is currently only possible using the legacy flash client, hence you need to make sure that you’re logged into this client instead of the new HTML5 client.

Creating a template

1. Under the My Cloud tab, select the vApps section and locate the vApp you want to build the template from.

2. Right click on it and select Add to Catalog… option.

3. A popup will appear. Enter a name and a description for the template and click OK.

4. Browse to Catalogs and then select your organization on the left panel to view your templates. Select the template and click on Add to my cloud… to deploy a new vApp.

How can I deploy a new vApp?

Step 1: Create a new vApp

1. From the Datacenters view, select the vApps section and click New vApp.

2. A new pop-up window will appear. Enter a name for your new vApp and optionally add a description. We will add virtual machines to the vApp in a later step, so click Finish to continue.

Step 2: Add a virtual machine to the vApp

1. On the Datacenters view, select the vApps section and click on the Actions button of the newly created vApp, and select Add VM.

2. A new pop-up window will open, click Add Virtual Machines.

3. A new pop-up window will appear on screen, which will give you the option to deploy a new virtual machine from a template or from a new custom virtual machine configuration.

3a. To deploy a new virtual machine configuration, we select type New and give it a name, select an operating system, size, network and click OK.

3b. If you (also) want to deploy a new virtual machine by using a pre-installed template, click New Virtual Machine. Enter a name and hostname for the virtual machine. Select the template you want to use for this deployment and click OK to continue. 

4. When you are finished adding virtual machines, click the Add button.

5. Once the VMs have been deployed, you want to review the virtual machine configuration if you deployed any VMs from a template. Do this by selecting the Virtual Machines section and click Details of the newly created VM.

6. On the Details page, navigate to the Hardware section. Adjust the amount of resources assigned to the virtual machine according to your needs, and ensure that a network and IP mode are selected and the NIC is connected. Then click Save to continue.

7. Once done, you can start the virtual machines by clicking Power On, under the Actions menu of the virtual machine.

How can I adjust the resources of a virtual machine?

1. On the Datacenters view, select the Virtual Machines section and click on the Details button

2. You can only change the resources once a virtual machine is powered off (or when the Hot-add options are enabled on the VM). Open the Hardware section to review and adjust the configuration and click Save on the bottom right of the page.

3. Once done, you can start the virtual machines by clicking Power On, under the Actions menu of the virtual machine.

How can I create/revert/delete snapshots?

You can create a snapshot of a virtual machine and revert back to that snapshot at a later point in time. This can be useful when you are about to perform configuration changes. You can revert the changes if needed, by reverting to a previously created snapshot. You can create a snapshot of a virtual machine either while it is running or stopped.

Create a snapshot

On the Datacenters view, select the Virtual Machines section and click on the Create Snapshot button under the Actions menu of the virtual machine you want to create a snapshot on.

Revert a snapshot

On the Datacenters view, select the Virtual Machines section and click on the Revert Snapshot button under the Actions menu of the virtual machine you want to revert to latest snapshot.

Delete a snapshot

On the Datacenters view, select the Virtual Machines section and click on the Remove Snapshot button under the Actions menu of the virtual machine you want to revert to latest snapshot.

How can I reset the local administrator password?

In the event of losing the local administrator password of the OS running in the virtual machine, vCloud provides a way to reset the password. This will only work when VMware Tools is installed in the OS. Please note that open-vm-tools does not support this.

1. On the Datacenters view. Select Virtual Machines on the left pane and click Details of the virtual machine for which the password needs to be reset.

2. Power off the virtual machine by clicking on the Shut Down Guest OS and wait for the virtual machine to power off. Next click Details.

3. Select the Guest OS Customization section. Tick the Enable guest customization option in the General section. Next tick the Allow local administrator password option in the Password Reset section. Either select to auto generate a password or specify your own password. Click Save to save your settings.

4. Click on the Actions button, making sure to have the same virtual machine selected as in step 2. Click on Power On and Force Recustomization to start the procedure.

5. Once the virtual machine has started, you should be able to log in using the password set. If you chose the auto-generate password option in step 3, re-open the Properties dialogue using the Actions button. On the Guest OS Customization tab you will be able to view the password set.

How can I deploy a VM from the templates provided by Leaseweb?

Leaseweb provides several different templates of popular OS types in vCloud. The templates are available for general use by every customer using vCloud. By using these templates, you can quickly deploy new VMs of a certain operation system type.

1. On the Datacenters view, select the Virtual Machines section, click New VM.

2. Enter a name and hostname for the virtual machine. Select the template you want to use for this deployment and click OK to deploy.

Information

3.  Once the VM has been deployed, you want to review the virtual machine configuration. Do this by selecting the Virtual Machines section and click on Details of the newly created VM.

4. On the Details page, navigate to the Hardware section. Adjust the amount of resources assigned to the virtual machine according to your needs, and ensure that a network and IP mode are selected and the NIC is connected. Then click Save to continue.

5. Once done, you can start the virtual machines by clicking the Power On button, under the Actions menu of the virtual machine.

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