thecloudxpert

VCAP6-CMA Deploy - Objective 1.1: Deploy and Manage a vRA Appliance and IaaS Server as Single nodes

VMware vRealize Automation VCAP6 VCAP6-CMA

Published on 11 January 2017 by Christopher Lewis. Words: 746. Reading Time: 4 mins.

Objective 1.1 - Deploy and Manage a vRA Appliance and IaaS Server as single nodes

Objective Overview


  • Acquire IaaS installation media from the virtual appliance
  • Perform initial configuration of appliance and IaaS
    • Configure NTP server for vRealize Appliances
    • Assign appropriate IP address to vRealize Appliance
  • Enable Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) to communicate between all servers in deployment.
  • Configure Windows Firewall to allow vRA components to communicate

Objective Prerequisites

The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:


  • Deploy the VMware vRealize Automation Identity Appliance ( HOWTO )
  • Configure the VMware vRealize Automation Identity Appliance ( HOWTO )
  • Deploy the VMware vRealize Automation 6.x Appliance ( HOWTO )
  • Configure the VMware vRealize Automation 6.x Appliance ( HOWTO )
  • Deploy a Windows Virtual Machine to be used as a IaaS Server
  • Configure the VMware vRealize Automation IaaS Prerequisites ( HOWTO )
  • Configure Service Account permissions on the SQL Server Database
  • Install VMware vRealize Automation IaaS (Simple Install) ( HOWTO )

Objective Breakdown

Acquire IaaS Installation media from the Virtual Appliance


Perform initial configuration of appliance(s) and IaaS


Configure NTP server for vRealize Appliance and Identity Appliance


  1. Navigate to the VAMI interface of the appliance (https://vra-appliance.fqdn:5480)
  1. Log into the VAMI interface using the user name root and password (defined as part of the deployment of the OVA).
  1. Select the Admin Tab and select the Time Settings Tab.
  1. To change to use an NTP Server, select Use Time Server from the Time Sync Mode dropdown, enter one or more NTP Servers names/IP Addresses into the text fields and click Save Settings.

Assign appropriate IP Address to the vRealize Appliance

  1. Navigate to the VAMI interface of the appliance ( https://vra-appliance.fqdn:5480 )
  1. Log into the VAMI interface using the user name root and password (defined as part of the deployment of the OVA).
  1. Select the **Network **Tab and then select the Status Tab to show information on the currently configured network.
  1. Select the Address Tab.
  1. Make the necessary changes to the Network settings and then click Save Settings.

Enable MSDTC to communicate between all servers in deployment

Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSTDC) is a critical component for the VMware vRealize Automation IaaS components, including the SQL Server and should be configured identically on each of the IaaS Server in the following way:

  1. Navigate to Start > Administrative Tools.
  1. At the Administrative Tools Menu, double click on Component Services.
  1. At the Component Service window, expand Component Services > Computers > My Computer > Distributed Transaction Coordinator.
  1. At the Component Service window, right-click Local DTS and select Properties.
  1. At the Local DTC Properties dialog, click the Security
  1. At the Local DTC Properties dialog, make the following changes on the Security Tab:
  • Under Security Settings, check the Network DTC Access checkbox
  • Under Client and Administration, check the Allow Remote Clients
  • Under Transaction Manager Communication, check the Allow Inbound
  • Under Transaction Manager Communication, check the Allow Outbound
  1. At the Local DTC Properties dialog, click OK.
  1. When prompted with the MSDTC Service dialog, click Yes.
  1. When prompted with the MSDTC Service dialog stating “The MSDTC services has been restarted”, click OK.

Configure Windows Firewall to allow vRA components to communicate

My interpretation of this objective is to ensure that the Firewall rules for MSDTC are in place on each Windows Server in the infrastructure (which is something that is checked/configured as part of the Pre-Requisites and normally handled in real life by Brian Graf’s IaaS Pre-Reqs Script ). However to complete this manually, the following steps are required:

  1. Navigate to Start > Control Panel

  2. Click System and Security.

  1. Under Windows Firewall, Click Allow an app through Windows firewall.
  1. Click Change Settings
  1. Tick the Domain check box for the Distributed Transaction Coordinator app.
  1. Click OK.

This can also be completed using the following command line

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Distributed Transaction Coordinator" new enable=Yes

Back to Objectives

Published on 11 January 2017 by Christopher Lewis. Words: 746. Reading Time: 4 mins.


Blog Categories: VMware Certification vRealize Automation VCAP
Related Post(s):
Recent Posts:
  • Creating a Custom Resource Action - Part 1: Getting Started & API Discovery
  • Operating a Private Cloud - Part 3: Creating a Pricing Card in VMware Aria Automation
  • Operating a Private Cloud - Part 2: Creating a Pricing Card in VMware Aria Operations
  • Operating a Private Cloud - Part 1: Understanding Pricing Cards in VMware Aria
  • Zero2Hero - Using Aria Automation to Deploy Multiple Machines with Multiple Disks - Part 5

    • Blog Categories:
    active directory 6 aria automation 9 aria automation orchestrator 1 aria operations 2 aws 2 blog 1 career 1 certificate authority 5 certificates 5 certification 91 cloud management 1 cloudnativecon 1 community 1 fun 1 general 9 hands on labs 1 home lab 2 kubecon 1 kubernetes 1 microsoft 7 nsx 45 nsx v 41 powercli 8 powershell 6 professional 1 reviews 1 vcap 48 vcap6 2 vcenter server 4 vcix 2 vexpert 9 vmug 5 vmware 99+ vmware aria 1 vmware aria automation 9 vmware aria automation orchestrator 1 vmware aria operations 3 vmware cloud 3 vmware cloud director 1 vmware explore 2 vmware identity manager 2 vmworld 36 vrealize automation 81 vrealize automation saltstack config 1 vrealize business 2 vrealize log insight 1 vrealize operations 1 vrealize operations manager 5 vrealize orchestrator 13 vrealize suite 14 vrealize suite lifecycle manager 20 vsan 5 vsphere 9 windows 6
    Top Tags:
    active directory 6 api 18 barcelona 24 certificates 11 certification 7 howto 42 microsoft 7 multi tenancy 9 nsx v 43 platform services controller 8 powercli 8 powershell 7 psc 6 vcap 8 vcap6 45 vcap6 cma 47 vcap6 nv 37 vcix6 nv 36 vexpert 19 vmug 8 vmware 99+ vmware aria 10 vmware aria automation 9 vmworld 35 vmworld 2016 13 vmworld 2017 9 vra 13 vrealize automation 74 vrealize operations 8 vrealize orchestrator 21 vrealize suite lifecycle manager 11 vrslcm 20 vsan 7 vsphere 12