Python

VRA Cloud -Add the users in Projects and Change the owner of deployment dynamically using Python abx action

/ Ankush / 1 Comment

Recently i came across the used case , Where daily 100+ deployments are getting submitted via Service Account with CI/CD tool Jenkins or Code stream. Later VRA admin has to change the owner of the deployment to end user manually and To change the Owner of deployment currently VRA support only for those user who are explicitly part of project . VRA Admin first add the user in project and assign the permission then he does the change owner task.

Although it is 3-5 click Job but If we have to do for 100+ user , this can become very tedious task . To ease the Job I have created the Python ABX action and Yaml which will take the input who shall we be the owner of the deployment and Will add that user in Project and assign the ownership of deployment to specified user. Below shows the flow of operation.

As we see First we need Catalog Item which accepts the above items . For that below is the Yaml reference.

formatVersion: 1
inputs:
  email:
    type: string
    title: Owner Email
    pattern: "^[a-zA-Z0-9+_.-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9]+.[a-zA-Z0-9]+$"
    description: 'Enter valid email Address exam: support@vmwarecode.com'
  role:
    type: string
    title: User Role
    enum:
      - administrator
      - member
      - viewer
  type:
    type: string
    title: User Type
    enum:
      - user
resources:
  Cloud_vSphere_Machine_1:
    type: Cloud.vSphere.Machine
    properties:
      image: Linux
      flavor: Small
      constraints:
        - tag: 'vCenter155:Cluster'
      networks:
        - network: '${resource.Cloud_vSphere_Network_1.id}'
  Cloud_vSphere_Network_1:
    type: Cloud.vSphere.Network
    properties:
      networkType: existing
      constraints:
        - tag: 'vCenter155:network'

Save the Blueprint and release it , Catalog Item will look like below.

Next step is create the Python ABX action, To do that we have some prerequisites
1. Save the VRA cloud api url in secrets by name VRAURL
2. Save CSP token with full role permission in secrets by name token.

Here is the screenshot for reference.

Once we have created above 2 secrets , we are good to go for creating Python ABX action.
Here is the code , Only thing I have hardcoded in Project ID in code in line number 11 . you may provide your project ID in code.

import requests
import json
from requests.packages.urllib3.exceptions import InsecureRequestWarning

requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings(InsecureRequestWarning)

def handler(context, inputs):
    vraurl = context.getSecret(inputs['VRAURL'])
    token = context.getSecret(inputs['token'])
    deploymentid = inputs['deploymentId']
    id = '4d0f75d5-8855-481b-a78d-2e5957fd8cc4'
    email = inputs['requestInputs']['email']
    role = inputs['requestInputs']['role']
    type = inputs['requestInputs']['type']
    api_version_url = f'{vraurl}/iaas/api/about'
    headers = {
        'accept': "application/json",
        'content-type': "application/json"
    }
    output = requests.get(url=api_version_url, headers=headers, verify=False)
    if output.status_code == 200:
        latest_api_version = output.json()['latestApiVersion']
        apiversion = latest_api_version
        # Getting the Bearer token

        # Getting the bearer token
        iaasUrl = f"{vraurl}/iaas/api/login?apiVersion={apiversion}"
        refreshtoken = token
        iaasPayload = f'{{"refreshToken": "{refreshtoken}"}}'
        iaasApiOutput = requests.post(iaasUrl, data=iaasPayload, headers=headers, verify=False)
        if iaasApiOutput.status_code == 200:
            print('Authentication completed with VRA Cloud')
            jsondata = iaasApiOutput.json()['token']
            bearerToken = "Bearer " + jsondata
            bearertoken = bearerToken
            headers = {
                'accept': "application/json",
                'content-type': "application/json",
                'authorization': bearertoken
            }

            # adding the New User to Project
            url = f'{vraurl}/project-service/api/projects/{id}/principals'
            payload_schema = {
                "modify": [
                    {
                        "email": "",
                        "type": "",
                        "role": ""
                    }
                ],
                "remove": [
                    {
                        "email": "",
                        "type": ""
                    }
                ]
            }
            user_inputs = {
                "email": email,
                "type": type,
                "role": role
            }
            payload_schema['modify'][0].update(user_inputs)
            apioutput2 = requests.patch(url, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(payload_schema), verify=False)
            if apioutput2.status_code == 200:
                # Changing the owner
                print(f'User {email} has been added to Project')
                url2 = f'{vraurl}/deployment/api/deployments/{deploymentid}/requests'
                data = {
                    "actionId": "Deployment.ChangeOwner",
                    "inputs": {
                        'New Owner': email
                    }
                }
                apioutput3 = requests.post(url2, headers=headers, data=json.dumps(data), verify=False)
                print(apioutput3)
            else:
                print(apioutput2)
                print(apioutput2.json())
        else:
            print(iaasApiOutput.status_code)
            print(iaasApiOutput.json())
    else:
        print(output.status_code)
        print(output.json())

Below is the Reference screenshot of Python ABX action.

Once we have created the Python Action , Last step is create the subscription.

We are using Deployment completed event here and Here is the screenshot.

All configuration is sorted , Now Once you submit the build via CI/CD or self Service , It will add the user in project with specified permission and change the deployment owner.

VRA Cloud -Python ABX action to send the VM provisioning status alerts to Slack & Microsoft teams

/ Ankush / 1 Comment

Recently I have written Blog for Automatic deletion and I have received multiple queries how can we notified before the deletion happens or what is the reason of failure. Previously i thought I will update failure reason in Python action.
Later I thought what if we get notification on common communicator like Slack, Teams, It would make job lot easier to keep track how many deployments were got failed or Success with Slack/Teams Notification, Also It would allow us to choose whether we want to send notification to Slack/ teams or not , If yes In which Channel we want to send the notification .

Continue reading →

How to provide VM lease date during the submission of VM build in VRA8 using ABX flow

/ Ankush / 1 Comment

Recently I was on working on scenario where we want to provide the lease date of VM at the time of submission. It is well known feature in 7.x which we get .


In VRA 8.x we can play with lease only with Day 2 actions.

With the help of extensibility you can provide the lease time during submission and use extensibility to trigger abx flow/ workflow as day 2.

The flow looks like below .

Here is my Yaml looks like.

formatVersion: 1
inputs:
  leaseDate:
    type: string
    title: Lease Date
    format: date-time
resources:
  Cloud_Network_1:
    type: Cloud.Network
    properties:
      constraints:
        - tag: 'vsphere:network'
      networkType: existing
  Cloud_vSphere_Machine_1:
    type: Cloud.vSphere.Machine
    properties:
      image: Images
      abxaction: 'yes'
      leaseDate: '${input.leaseDate}'
      cpuCount: 1
      totalMemoryMB: 1024
      awaitIp: false
      customizeGuestOs: false
      storage:
        constraints:
          - tag: 'vsphere:ds'
      constraints:
        - tag: 'vsphere:cluster'
      networks:
        - network: '${resource.Cloud_Network_1.id}'

Here us my Catalog log request will look like.

It is simple blueprint and catalog request where I am using date-time as format in input and will be using for my ABX flow .

Here is the quick look of both abx action in flow
1. VRAtoken
2. Extend Lesse

import requests
from requests.packages.urllib3.exceptions import InsecureRequestWarning
requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings(InsecureRequestWarning)

def handler(context, inputs):
    vrafqdn = inputs['vrafqdn']
    username = inputs['username']
    password = inputs['password']
    refreshtokenurl = f"https://{vrafqdn}/csp/gateway/am/api/login?access_token"
    iaasUrl = f"https://{vrafqdn}/iaas/api/login"
    headers = {
        'accept': "application/json",
        'content-type': "application/json"
    }
    payload = f'{{"username":"{username}","password":"{password}"}}'
    apioutput = requests.post(refreshtokenurl, data=payload, verify=False, headers=headers)
    refreshtoken = apioutput.json()['refresh_token']
    iaasPayload = f'{{"refreshToken": "{refreshtoken}"}}'
    iaasApiOutput = requests.post(iaasUrl, data=iaasPayload, headers=headers, verify=False).json()['token']
    bearerToken = "Bearer " + iaasApiOutput
    print(bearerToken)
    outputs = {}
    outputs['vratoken'] = bearerToken
    return outputs
Here is another action of setting the lease.
import requests
import json
from requests.packages.urllib3.exceptions import InsecureRequestWarning
requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings(InsecureRequestWarning)

def handler(context, inputs):
    token = inputs['vratoken']
    vrafqdn = inputs['vrafqdn']
    deploymentid = inputs['deploymentId']
    print(token)
    print(deploymentid)
    leasedate = inputs['requestInputs']['leaseDate']
    url = f'https://{vrafqdn}/deployment/api/deployments/{deploymentid}/requests'
    headers = {
        'accept': "application/json",
        'content-type': "application/json",
        'authorization': token
        }
    data = {
        "actionId": "Deployment.ChangeLease",
        "inputs": {
            'Lease Expiration Date': leasedate
            }
        }
    jdata = json.dumps(data)
    apioutput = requests.post(url, headers=headers,data=jdata, verify=False)
    print(apioutput)
    print(apioutput.json())
Once we are done with creating the ABX action , we can create ABX Flow .

Here is the quick look for ABX flow

Once we are done with setting the flow , Last Part which is left is configuring the subscription.

Here is the quick look how my subscription looks like , we will be setting this on Deployment completed.

Disclaimer : My VRA lab has internet connectivity , so I can use any module online , you may need to make the action as module and zip it ,before you use as ABX action/flow . If you are using VRA Cloud then we can use as it is without any change.

How to remove machine from VRA which are stuck in provisioning status in VRA 8

/ Ankush / Leave a comment

Past I have written article where I showed how to remove the deployment from VRA if those are stuck here .
Recently I have come across the situation where we do not have deployment but machines are stuck Under Machine TAB in VRA.

This is what we see below is expected

Here is the screenshot where you see stuck in provisioning


Download


To remove those machines which are stuck ,We can utilize the api to force delete those machines.

Along with deleting the stuck machines you can use same module for multiple things like below and take reference .

  • How to login to VRA 8
  • How to list total deployment
  • How to delete the deployment
  • How to list the Blueprint
  • How to release the blueprint
  • How to list the machines in VRA
  • How to delete the machines



We are covering above How to delete the machine in this article , for rest of the steps are attached in my previous blog.

No need to worry about if you are not from python background or do not know code, Just follow the below instruction and we are good .



  1. Please follow the detailed instruction Here python installation and required module before we use this module –Do not skip this step.
  2. Download the file from Above and unzip and copy the file by name VRA8 and paste the file in directory where python is installed
    general path in windows is : C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39
  3. I am using Python 3.9 for example ,It will be different as per your version.
  4. Once the step 1-3 is completed , all we need to do is run the below commands.

from VRA8 import vraClass
as1 =vraClass(vrafqdn="vra82.vmwarecode.com", username="administrator", password="VMware123!")
as1.getMachines()

Once we get the ID from above getmachines , we will run the deleteMachine to remove the stuck machine from VRA.

as1.deleteMachine(id='89af5f50-cb28-40ac-8734-d4dcc265fb8c')

Once we get the response 202 , Go to browser and refresh the browser you will see the VM is no longer in list ,Also we run the getMachines once again.

Happy Learning , Feel free to share your queries and feedback on this .