Whilst working on a set of multi-node workflows I ended up with a run that was stuck in a loop of doom. For one reason or another it could not be cancelled via the GUI and it was beginning to have an effect on the overall performance of the server.

On an off chance I decided to check out the new Control Center that was introduced in version 6.0.1 to see if it offered any clues on how to stop the erroneous run without effecting the other active users.

I found exactly what I needed under Monitoring and Control\TroubleShooting.

Something that I’m sure you will all be aware of is that you can “pretty print” a JavaScript object with JSON.stringify.

So for example, System.log(object) will log a flat JSON string to the console by default.

The other week, one of guys that I’m working with on my current engagement pointed me towards the space parameter of JSON.stringify().

Here is the syntax from MDN:

Last week I had the pleasure of presenting section 4 of the VCP6-CMA exam blueprint on #vBrownBagEMEA. Not only was this my first #vBrownBag session, it was the first time I’d presented to an unknown audience.

Having never done anything like this before I was quite apprehensive. There are a lot of external factors that you rely on. Reliable audio equipment, a good internet connection and not to mention somehow trying to keep the live demo gods happy. But the main thing I had to keep in mind is that you don’t learn by wishing that you’d done something, you learn by doing and making mistakes.

Luckily everything went swimmingly and there were no technical issues. Whilst it was far from perfect, It was great fun  and I will take the experience as a foundation to build on for future presentations.

So far we have seen presentations covering, sections one, two, four.

• Section 1: Install, Configure and Upgrade vRealize Suite Components (@fbuechsel)

• Section 2: Administer vRealize Automation Users, Roles and Privileges (@sammcgeown)

• Section 4: Configure and Administer Tenants and Business Groups (me)

Next up is section five, Allocate and Manage vRealize Automation Reseouces, which will be presented by Xtravirt’s Matthew Bunce (@virtualisedgeek) and ITQ’s Marco van Baggum (@vMBaggum).

Don’t forget to register for future sessions here.

Many thanks to team #vBrownBagEMEA!

A while ago I pushed this package to flow grab. It’s called Reservation Manager and provides a way to create vRealize Automation reservations based on JSON templates.

It uses the vCACCAFERestClientscripting class provided by the vRA Orchestrator plug-in so requires no HTTP-REST host config and no additional authentication.

Functionality is still pretty basic but the following post outlines the function of each workflow in the package.

First of all, the documentation states that you should authenticate as a Tenant Administrator to work with this API. This wont work because it is the job of the Fabric Administrator to manage network profiles. You simply get a 403 response when trying to use any of the methods.

Judging from a conversation I had on twitter, it seems that Phrashant Chamarty had already come across this.

But once you have authenticated with the right user most things appear to work…