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.
Before you begin
There are many preconditions you should check before onboarding an existing VM using Quickstart:
✅️ | 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 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? |
| 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? |
To onboard existing VMs
- On the Quick Start welcome page, click Onboard Existing Virtual Machines.
The VM Onboard page opens.
Provide information about the owner to be associated with the VM when it is onboarded.
Option
Description
Select Service Type
Select VMWare or AWS to indicate the type of service that should be associated with the VMs to be onboarded.
Select Tenant
Tenant organization that should own the SOI.
Select User
User belonging to the tenant organization that should own the SOI.
Provide the following service information that is associated with the VM when it is onboarded.
Option
Description
Service Offering
A previously defined service offering in the service catalog.
- Click Next. The Search Servers page opens.
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 Type
Option
Description
VMware
Network Container
The network container that includes the existing VM.
Virtual Center
The vCenter server used to define the VM template for the existing VM.
AWS
AWS Account
The AWS account used to create the VM.
AWS Environment
The AWS environment used to create the VM.
- Click Onboard.
A list of available servers appears. - Under Available Servers, select the VMs to onboard. Select a server by clicking
or by clicking in the check boxes to the left of 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 clicking 
. 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.
- Click Close.