• VMware vCenter Providers
  • Adding a VMware vCenter Provider
  • Using a Non-Administrator Account for vCenter Hosts
  • Authenticating VMware vCenter Hosts

VMware vCenter Providers

To use a VMware vCenter provider, add it to the appliance and authenticate its hosts.

Adding a VMware vCenter Provider

After initial installation and creation of a Infrastructure Automation environment, add a VMware vCenter provider to the appliance.

1. Browse to menu: Compute > Infrastructure > Providers.

2. Click Configuration, then click (Add a New Infrastructure Provider).

3. Enter the Name of the provider to add. The Name is how the device is labeled in the console.

4. Select VMware vCenter from the Type list.

5. Enter the Host Name or IP address(IPv4 or IPv6) of the provider.

   The **Host Name** must use a unique fully qualified domain name.

6. Select the appropriate Zone for the provider. By default, the zone is set to default.

7. Optional: Enter the Host Default VNC Start Port and Host Default VNC End Port. These properties are used for remote console access with VNC. If VNC is available from the hosts, list the available port range using the start and end port.

8. In the Credentials area, under Default, provide the login credentials required for the VMware vCenter administrative user:

   • Enter the user name in the Username field.

   • Enter the password in the Password field.

   • Confirm the password in the Confirm Password field.

   • Click Validate to confirm Infrastructure Automation can connect to the VMware vCenter.

9. Click Add.

Using a Non-Administrator Account for vCenter Hosts

After adding a VMware vCenter infrastructure provider, you must authenticate its hosts to enable full functionality. You can use administrator credentials, or create another user assigned to a role created for Infrastructure Automation. See the VMware documentation for instructions on how to create a role.

The following privileges should be enabled for the non-administrator user:

From the Global group, check:

• Cancel task

• Diagnostics

• Log Event

• Set custom attribute

• Settings

Check the entire set of privileges for the following groups:

• Alarms

• Datastores

• dvPort Group

• Host

• Network

• Resource

• Scheduled Task

• Tasks

• Virtual Machine

• vSphere Distributed Switch

Additionally, you must assign the new role to the following objects:

• Datacenter: At the Datacenter the Infrastructure Automation user/group must have at least the read-only role at the Datacenter level (Not Propagated) to be able to see the datacenter. Without this access, relationships cannot be made. Specifically, the datastores will not show up.

• Cluster: Each Cluster that the Infrastructure Automation needs access to must have the new role assigned and propagated.

• Folders: Each Folder that Infrastructure Automation needs access to must have the new role assigned and propagated.

• Datastores: Each Datastore that Infrastructure Automation needs access to must have the new role assigned and propagated.

• Networking: Each vLAN or Port Group that Infrastructure Automation needs access to must have the new role assigned and propagated.

Authenticating VMware vCenter Hosts

The procedure below describes how to authenticate the VMware vCenter hosts.

1. Browse to menu: Compute > Infrastructure > Providers.

2. Click on a provider to display its summary screen.

3. On the summary screen, click Hosts in the Relationships information box to display the hosts on that provider.

4. Select the hosts to authenticate. You can select all hosts using the Check All option.

5. Click Configuration

6. Click (Edit Selected items).

7. In the Credentials area, under Default, provide the VMware ESXi login credentials:

   • Enter the user name in the Username field.

   • Enter the password in the Password field.

   • Confirm the password in the Confirm Password field.

   • Click Validate to confirm Infrastructure Automation can connect to the VMware vCenter host.

8. If editing multiple hosts, select a host from the Select Host to validate against list; provide the VMware ESXi login credentials and click Validate.

9. Click Save.