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vCloud Automation Center network selection during VM request

January 14, 2014

During last weeks vCloud Automation Center 6.0 proof of concept (POC) i was asked by my customer to make it possible to select different vSphere vNetwork Distributed Switch port groups (VDS-PG) during the virtual machine (VM) request step. I used the below steps to create a drop down menu for the end user while requesting a VM.

  1. Edit your reservation, in my case  VCDX56-02-VCD01-Res-1, and mark the checkboxes next to the networks you want to be available for selection. For this blog post i will make the below networks available for selection.
    Screen Shot 2014-01-08 at 23.48.26
    If you do not mark the networks you want available you will end up with the below error message when requesting a VM and point it to a network available for selection but not enabled in the reservation.
    Screen Shot 2014-01-08 at 23.46.40
  2. Add a Property Definition via the Property Dictionary section using the following values:
    • Value = VirtualMachine.Network0.Name
    • Display Name = Select Destination Network
    • Control Type = DropDownList Screen Shot 2014-01-08 at 23.35.04
    • Click Edit under the Property Attributes section of the Property Definition you are creating. Screen Shot 2014-01-08 at 23.35.30
    • Add the following configuration
      • Type = ValueList
      • Name = SelectableNetworks
      • Value = VCDX56-10, VCDX56-12, VCDX56-20, VCDX56-22 (The enabled reservation networks) Screen Shot 2014-01-08 at 23.36.34
  3. Create a new Build Profile using the following settings:
      • Name = Select Network
      • Description = Available networks: VCDX56-10 VCDX56-12 VCDX56-20 VCDX56-22
      • Custom Properties:
        • Name = VirtualMachine.Network0.Name
        • Value =
        • Encrypted = No
        • Prompt User = Yes Screen Shot 2014-01-08 at 23.49.56
  4. Edit your blueprint, in my case W2k8, and mark the check box next to “Select network”
    Screen Shot 2014-01-14 at 07.51.57-01

You are now able to select the VM destination network when requesting the Service w2k8 form the Service Catalog,
Screen Shot 2014-01-08 at 23.50.31
Screen Shot 2014-01-08 at 23.50.42
vCloud Automation Center 6.1 VirtualMachine.Network Property Definition changes is another blog post that covers the vCAC Network selection part. It also includes the Network Profile concept.

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  1. Newsletter: January 18, 2014 | Notes from MWhite

    January 20, 2014 at 3:05 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment

    […] network choices in a drop down menu.  Other times it might be something else so it is good to have this information to […]

  2. vCloud Automation Center 6.0 –Creating Build Profiles, Custom Properties | All about Cloud Ecosystem based on VMware

    February 6, 2014 at 5:22 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment

    […] to learn to more on how to do this, please refer to an excellent blog by Magnus Andersson –>vcdx56.com. I’m regular reader of this excellent […]

  3. vCAC 6.0.x and vCO to rename a virtual machine | Chris Berry Blog

    August 15, 2014 at 9:55 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment

    […] The best way to set this up is to use a property dictionary. Here is a good blog post on how to do that. Just mimic this for what we’re doing. http://magander.se/2014/01/14/vcloud-automation-center-network-selection-during-vm-request/ […]

  4. vCloud Automation Center 6.1 VirtualMachine.Network Property Definition changes | VCDX56

    December 9, 2014 at 1:44 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment

    […] A couple of moths back i wrote an article about how to select virtual machine (VM) network placement while deploying a VM via vCloud Automation Center (vCAC) soon to be renamed to vRealize Automation (vRA). You can find the blog post here. […]

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