Registering a custom hostname advisor

On the Configuration workspace, you can configure the length of the host name string and a predefined format for the string. if you want more control, you can use a custom host name advisor to control the host names assigned to servers provisioned. For example, based on whether it is a virtual machine or physical server, you might want to add a character (v or p) at a fixed position.

To control host names this way, you must implement a separate host name adviser provider. Then, you can define custom workflow and use its workflow ID when configuring the provider. Then, if you provide an ID, you can call TrueSight Orchestration workflow to configure the custom host name; otherwise, the default host name configuration from the Configuration workspace is used.

Even if this workflow is custom workflow and you can dynamically change the field, you cannot dynamically change the parameters passed to this workflow. Therefore, make sure that the provisioning workflow passes all of the necessary parameters to provide details of all infrastructure-related placement decisions (such as location, cluster, pod, network container, organization as well as service offering instance, resource set, and their specific objects).

This topic includes:

For additional information, see the following BMC Communities video (9:45), which describes how to register a custom host name advisor.

https://youtu.be/3WAhGw1Y0G0

To create a custom host name provider definition

Generate the authentication token for SUPERUSER by using the utility provided in Knowledge article 000031948.
Make sure that the custom host name provider definition will be a child of Workload Manager provider definition so that the provider overrides the default host name provider that is a child of EFM provider.
To obtain the GUID for the Workload Manager provider definition, search the provider definition through a REST utility via POST method with the following URL:
http://<PlatformManager>:<Port>/csm/providerdefinition/search
To create the definition of the custom host name provider, send the API call through a REST utility by providing the necessary access attributes. Ensure that you replace the configurationData attribute of HOST_CONSTRUCTOR provider operation. For example,
"configurationData": "{\"WFName\":\":CSMTest:hostname_advice\"}"
Use a REST utility via POST method with the following URL:
http://<PlatformManager>:<Port>/csm/providerdefinition
For examples of creating a custom host name provider definition, see the attached input and output files.

To register the custom host name provider

To register the custom host name provider definition with the access attribute values, use a REST utility via the POST method. with the following URL:
http://<PlatformManager>:<Port>/csm/provider

The following table lists access attributes and sample values:

Access attribute	Sample value
AO_SERVER_URL	http://<AOServer>:<AOPort>/baocdp/orca
AO_SERVER_USERNAME	admin
AO_SERVER_PASSWORD	RKy3Q6NHz05RFC7CCzzKRQ== This should be an encrypted password.
AO_SERVER_GRID_NAME	GRID1
AO_SERVER_ADAPTER_NAME	Host_Adapter

To obtain the GUID for the custom host name provider definition, search the provider definition through a REST utility via POST method with the following URL:
http://<PlatformManager>:<Port>/csm/providerdefinition/search
For examples of registering the custom host name provider, see attached input and output json files.

To create custom TrueSight Orchestration workflow for host name advisor

Use TrueSight Orchestration Development Studio to create custom workflow.
This workflow should contain the logic to generate the required host name.
Make sure that the following parameters are passed to the TrueSight Orchestration workflow to generate the required host name.

Parameter Name	Type	Purpose
computeContainerSpec	ComputeContainerSpec	The "Compute Resources" details of the ResourceSet.
deploymentParameterValue	DeploymentParameterValue	The app parameters and values for blueprint parameters defined in the SDD, if any.
functionalComponentSpec	FunctionalComponentSpec	The FunctionalComponents associated with this ResourceSet.
hostnamePrefix	String	The host name prefix specified by the user.
location	Location	The placement target location as configured in BMC Cloud Lifeycycle Management.
logicalHostingEnvironment	LogicalHostingEnvironment	The placement target Network Container or Logical Data Center (LDC).
organization	Organization	The tenant info for the owner.
resourceSetSpec	ResourceSetSpec	The ResourceSet specification.
serviceOfferingInstanceName	String	The SOI name.
userParameters	DeploymentParameterValue	The additional application parameters associated with this request, if any.

See the sample custom_hostname_response.xml file. This example is for the single tier provisioning. For multi-tier provisioning, you get the following response:

<CloudObjects>
<CloudObject class="HostnameAdvice">
   <entry>
     <string>description</string>
     <string>Test hostname advice</string>
   </entry>
   <entry>
     <string>guid</string>
     <string>f1fd5af4-9eb8-48cf-add0-93c4b307b11a</string>
   </entry>
   <entry>
     <string>name</string>
     <string>TestHostnameAdvice</string>
   </entry>
   <entry>
     <string>hostname</string>
     <list>
       <string>Punetisrab11a</string>
     </list>
   </entry>
</CloudObject>
<CloudObject class="HostnameAdvice">
   <entry>
     <string>description</string>
     <string>Test hostname advice</string>
   </entry>
   <entry>
     <string>guid</string>
     <string>07855d91-1b61-4a04-91e3-2e6dc9417b34</string>
   </entry>
   <entry>
     <string>name</string>
     <string>TestHostnameAdvice</string>
   </entry>
   <entry>
     <string>hostname</string>
     <list>
       <string>Punetisra7b34</string>
     </list>
<list>
       <string>Punetisrab11a</string>
       <string>Punetisrab11b</string>
     </list>
   </entry>
</CloudObject>
</CloudObjects>

The workflow should return the list of HostnameAdvice objects as mentioned in ComputeContainerSpec “instances” attribute.

Import the workflow into TrueSight Orchestration.

To create custom TrueSight Orchestration workflow for resource name advisor for Azure

Parameter Name	Type	Purpose
ccSpecList	ComputeContainerSpec	The "Compute Resources" details of the ResourceSet.
deploymentParameterValue	DeploymentParameterValue	The app parameters and values for blueprint parameters defined in the SDD, if any.
fcSpecList	FunctionalComponentSpec	The FunctionalComponents associated with this ResourceSet.
resourceNamePrefix	String	The resource name prefix specified by the user.
location	Location	The placement target location as configured in BMC Cloud Lifeycycle Management.
logicalHostingEnvironment	LogicalHostingEnvironment	The placement target Network Container or Logical Data Center (LDC).
organization	Organization	The tenant info for the owner.
rsSpecList	ResourceSetSpec	The ResourceSet specification.
serviceOfferingInstanceName	String	The SOI name.
userParameters	DeploymentParameterValue	The additional application parameters associated with this request, if any.
user	User	The owner of the request.
resources	ResourceNameAdvice	This is the list of recources for which name needs to be advised.

See the sample ResourceNameAdvice-Request1.xmland ResourceNameAdvice-Request2.xmlfiles.

The workflow should return the list of ResourceNameAdvice objects. The request should send a list of resources as part of ResourceNameAdvice objects list and custom resource name advisor returns the same list by modifying the name for each resource. See the sample request and response files of a custom resource name advisor for BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management add disk workflow, where name advice is provided for a disk that is being added.

The following table displays the type, subtype, and attributes for Azure resource group and resources.

Azure Resources	Type	SubType	Attributes
Resource Group	RESOURCE_CONTAINER	COMPUTE
Availability Set	AVAILABILITY_SET	MANAGED UNMANAGED	SOI_NAME RESOURCESET_NAME
IP Address	IP_ADDRESS	PUBLIC	SERVER_NAME RESOURCESET_NAME NIC_NUMBER
Load Balancer	LOAD_BALANCER	PUBLIC_FACING PRIVATE_FACING	SOI_NAME RESOURCESET_NAME AVAILABILITYSET_NAME
Storage Account	STORAGE_ACCOUNT	STANDARD PREMIUM	SOI_NAME RESOURCESET_NAME
NetworkInterface	NIC	STATIC DHCP	SERVER_NAME RESOURCESET_NAME NIC_NUMBER
Disk	DISK	MANAGED UNMANAGED	SERVER_NAME RESOURCESET_NAME DISKNUMBER DISKTYPE
Network Security Group	NETWORK_SECURITY_GROUP	NIC_LEVEL_NSG	SERVER_NAME NIC_NUMBER NIC_NETWORK_NAME NIC_GUID

Import the workflow into TrueSight Orchestration.

To un-register the custom host name provider

Get the GUID of the host name advisor instance, perform a search POST API call on http://<platform manager machine>:<port>/csm/provider/Search.
To unregister the advisor, perform a DELETE operation on the API:
http://<platform manager machine>:<port>/csm/provider/<host name advisor instance GUID>The request body must be blank.
To unregister the provider definition, look for the provider definition GUID by performing a search POST API call on http://<platform manager machine>:<port>/csm/providerdefinition/Search.
Perform a DELETE operation on the API:
http://<platform manager machine>:<port>/csm/providerdefinition/<hostname advisor provider definition guid>The request body must be blank.
After deleting provider and provider definition, execute purge Reconciliation Job to clear all Mark as Deleted entries.

Example workflows

Following are two example workflows:

Workflow 1: Returns the list of host names in the "affix last four characters of GUID" format.
Workflow 2: Returns the list of host names in following format:
- 1 OS (W)indows, (L)inux
- 2 LOC (P)hoenix
- 3 ENV (L)ab, (D)ev, (Q)a, (P)rod
- 4 ARB CLD now but it's arbitrary - perhaps we can use for multiple vCDs
- 56 TYPE (WB)Web, (AP)App, (DB)Database, (UT)Utility, (WA)WebApp
- XXXX Incrementing number 01,02,03,04,99 then rolls to 100, and 999 then rolls to 1000 etc

Following are two example custom host names:

WPDCLDAP01 - Windows,Phoenix,Dev,CLOUD,App
LPQCLDDB01 - RHEL,Phoenix,CLOUD,QA,Database

As you create custom host names, remember these constraints:

The maximum length of a host name is 15 characters.
The configuration is global and applies to all host names that BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management generates.
When writing a custom host name advisor, keep concurrency and multi-thread aspects in mind. For example, two concurrent requests should not have the same host name.

Troubleshooting

Following are troubleshooting tips if you run into issues:

Check the custom provider definition.
- After you create the custom provider definition, search the providers to confirm that it was created.
- You can search by using a REST utility via POST Method by URL:
  http://<PlatformManager>:<Port>/csm/providerdefinition/search
Check the custom provider registration.
- After you register the custom provider, search the providers to confirm that it was registered.
- You can search by using a REST utility via POST Method by URL:
  http://<PlatformManager>:<Port>/csm/provider/search
De-register the custom host name provider.
- If you need to use the out-of-the-box host name provider and de-register the custom host name provider, complete the following steps:
  1. Use the DELETE API call:
    DELETE ../csm/provider/<guid>DELETE ../csm/providerdefinition/<guid>
    
    Make sure that the custom host name provider is deleted first and then the custom host name provider definition is deleted.
    
    The entry in the CloudDB is set to Mark as Deleted. All relationships are then deleted.
  2. Remove the Mark as Deleted entries from the CloudDB.
    You can execute one Reconciliation Job (purge) to clear all Mark as Deleted entries.