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Onboarding existing VMs

Quick Start lets you identify existing virtual machines (VMs) and import them into BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management so they each become a service offering instance (SOI). During this process, you identify a tenant and user who function as the owner of the SOIs, and you provide information about the service you want to associate with the VMs.

If the VMs you are onboarding are not already enrolled in BMC Server Automation, the onboarding process automatically enrolls the VMs.

This topic includes the following sections:

See the following BMC Communities video (6:08) for an overview about how to onboard virtual machines through the UI and through the API.

https://youtu.be/ROJTyDJEj_E

Before you begin

There are many preconditions you should check before onboarding an existing VM using Quick Start:

(tick)

Item to check

 

Is the VM to be onboarded based on a single-tier blueprint?

If you want to onboard existing VMs based on multi-tier service blueprints, use the  ServiceOfferingInstance onboard request API.

 Is the VM to be onboarded powered on?
 Is the VM deployed to a virtual cluster, virtual host, or virtual resource pool that has already been onboarded into BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management?

Does the service offering that you want to use for the onboard operation exist, and does it include a requestable offering (service request definition)?

 In the service blueprint associated with the service offering, is the number of networks specified in the resource set equal to the number of NICs available on the VM?

Does the network container that you want to use for the onboard operation exist?

 Is the virtual cluster, virtual host, or virtual resource pool where the VM has been deployed a member of a compute pool that is attached to the network container?
 Are the datastores associated with the VM members of a virtual disk repository (VDR) pool?
 Is the VM to be onboarded on a network (port group) that is part of the network container?
 Do the switch ports of the VM match the switch ports of the network container or pod?

For a management network of the VM, is the port group created on the correct switch (as defined in the pod)?

Is the RSCD agent installed on the VM?

 Is the RSCD agent installed on the VM the same version as the agent installed on the application server?

Limitations and preconditions for onboarding an Azure VM

Note the following limitations when onboarding an Azure Service Manager VM:

  • You can onboard an Azure VM of Standard tier only because the current release does not support the Basic tier Azure VM onboarding. See Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines Pricing for Standard and Basic tier details of compute instances.
  • Cloud service having more than one VM cannot be onboarded.
  • VMs created in an Azure region cannot be onboarded; only the VMs created in Affinity Groups or Virtual Networks in Azure can be onboarded.
  • You may expect incorrect quota calculations after performing Add Server TRO operation on an onboarded VM, if the PDC entry specified in the service blueprint mismatches with the OS image of the onboarded VM or is not available in the Azure cloud.

    Note

    If the PDC entry specified in the service blueprint mismatches with the OS image of the onboarded VM, then  Add Server TRO operation on an onboarded VM will add a server based on the PDC entry specified in the service blueprint and not a clone of the onboarded VM.

  • Load balancers, network path, availability sets, and pre-installed software of a VM will not be onboarded using the VM Onboard feature.

    For version 4.5 and earlier, when you want to onboard virtual networks in BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management from an Azure account, you must configure the virtual network and a related affinity group to ensure that the network appears in BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management.

NEW IN 4.6.06Note the following limitations when onboarding an Azure Resource Manager VM:

  • Cloud service having more than one VM cannot be onboarded. This is a limitation only from UI , REST API can still be leveraged to onboard multiple VMs.

  • Load balancers, network path, availability sets, and pre-installed software of a VM will not be onboarded using the VM Onboard feature.

    The virtual network associated to the VM must be onboarded in BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management as Logical Hosting Environment.


Note the following preconditions for onboarding an Azure VM:

(tick)

Item to check

 Is the Azure Provider registered in BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management?
 

Is the service catalog containing the service blueprint available in BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management?

 Is the image from which the VM is created in Azure and to be onboarded available in BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management and selected in the Azure service blueprint?
 

Are the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management tags and Service Governor correctly applied or mapped in the Azure Logical Data Center or Azure Virtual Network and the Azure service blueprint?

 

Is the VM to be onboarded based on a single-tier blueprint?

Note: The current release supports the onboarding of existing Azure VMs based on a single-tier service blueprint.

 Is the VM to be onboarded powered on?

 

Does the service offering that you want to use for the onboard operation exist?

 

Does the logical hosting environment that you want to use for the onboard operation exist?

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To onboard existing VMs

  1. On the Quick Start welcome page, click Onboard Existing Virtual Machines.
    The VM Onboard page opens. 
     


  2. Provide information about the owner to be associated with the VM when it is onboarded.

    OptionDescription
    Select Service TypeType of service that should be associated with the VMs to be onboarded (VMWare, Hyper-V, AWS, or Azure)
    Select TenantTenant organization that should own the SOI.
    Select UserUser belonging to the tenant organization that should own the SOI.

     

  3. Provide the following service information that is associated with the VM when it is onboarded.

    OptionDescription
    Service OfferingA previously defined service offering in the service catalog.


  4. Click Next.
    The Search Servers page opens.
  5. Provide information to search for VMs to be onboarded.

    1. Provide information to search for VMs to be onboarded. The information you enter depends on whether you selected VMware or AWS on the previous page.

      Previously Selected Service TypeOptionDescription
      VMwareNetwork ContainerThe network container that includes the existing VM.
      Virtual CenterThe vCenter server used to define the VM template for the existing VM.

      NEW IN 4.6.06Hyper-V

      Network ContainerThe network container that includes the existing VM.
      Virtual CenterThe Hyper-V server used to define the VM template for the existing VM.
      AWSAWS AccountThe AWS account used to create the VM.
      AWS EnvironmentThe AWS environment used to create the VM.

    2. Click Onboard.
      A list of available servers appears. 
    3. Under Available Servers, select the VMs to onboard. Select a server by clicking  or by clicking in the check boxes to the left of the servers and then clicking .


      If necessary, you can narrow the list of possible servers by searching. Enter a text string in the Search Servers box and click Search
      To remove a selected server, click  or click the check box to the left of a selected server and then click .
    4. Click Onboard.

      A page displays the results of the VMs you have selected to onboard. If a VM fails to onboard, the page shows the error messages generated.

    1. In the Search Servers page (as shown in the figure below), provide the following information to search for Azure VMs to be onboarded:

      OptionDescription
      AZURE AccountThe Azure account used to create the VM.
      AZURE EnvironmentThe Azure environment refers to the Azure Virtual Network used to create the VM.

      A list of available Azure servers appears. 

    2. Under Available Servers, select the VMs to onboard. Select a server by clicking  or by clicking in the check boxes to the left of the servers and then clicking .



      If necessary, you can narrow the list of possible servers by searching. Enter a text string in the Search Servers box and click Search.

      Note

      Only the VMs that are not onboarded are displayed in the search results. 


      To remove a selected server, click  or click the check box to the left of a selected server and then click .

    3. Click Onboard.

      A page displays the results of the VMs you have selected to onboard. If a VM fails to onboard, the page shows the error messages generated.

  6. Click Close.

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To validate onboarded VMs

  1. Navigate to the My Services Console and click the Services tab to view the resource details of the cloud service for the onboarded VM, as shown in the following figure:



    Once you onboard the VMs, the status is displayed as Onboarding.

  2. Click the Servers tab and select the onboarded VM to view the details, as shown in the following figure:


    Once all the VMs are onboarded, the status is displayed as Running.

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