VMware has released the new version of vRealize Automation. In this version they have made the installation much easier, and have integrated Applications Services.
This is what's in this release:
Streamlined and Automated Wizard-based Installation
- Introduced using the management agent to automate the installation of Windows components and to collect logs
- Automates the deployment of all vRealize Automation components
- Installation wizard based on deployment needs: Minimal (Express) and Enterprise (Distributed and High Availability) Installations
Simplified Deployment Architecture and High Availability Configuration
- Embedded authentication service by using VMware Identity Manager
- Converged Application Services in vRealize Automation Appliance
- Reduced minimal number of appliances for HA configuration
- Automated embedded PostgreSQL clustering with manual failover
- Automated embedded vRealize Orchestrator clustering
Enhanced Authentication Service
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Integrated user interface providing a common look and feel
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Enabled multiple features by new authentication service:
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Support native Active Directory for all tenants
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Multiple domains to single tenant
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Single domain to multiple tenants
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Full branding capabilities
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Third-party SAML token support
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Smart card support
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Multi-factor authentication
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Login auditing
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Major scalability improvements
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High availability support
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Support native Active Directory for all tenants
Simplified Blueprint Authoring for Infrastructure and Applications
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Unified graphical canvas for designing machine and application blueprint with dependencies and network topology
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Software component (formerly software service in Application Services) authoring on vSphere, vCloud Air, vCloud Director, and Amazon AWS endpoints
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Extend or define external integrations in the canvas by using XaaS (formerly Advanced Service Design)
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Enable team collaboration and role segregation by enhancing and introducing fine-grain roles
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Single unified model for both machine and application blueprints:
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Blueprint as code and human-readable
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Create in editor of choice and stored in source control
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Import and export in the same or multiple vRealize Automation 7.0 instances
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Blueprint as code and human-readable
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Customer-requested machine and application blueprints provided
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Additional blueprints available on the VMware Solutions Exchange
Simplified and Enhanced NSX Support for Blueprint Authoring and Deployment
- Dynamically configure NSX Network and micro-segmentation unique for each application
- Automated connectivity to existing or on-demand networks
- Micro-segmentation for application stack isolation
- Automated security policy enforcement by using NSX security policies, groups, and tags
- On-demand dedicated NSX load balancer
Simplified vRealize Automation REST API
- Simplified schema for API requests by switching to normal JSON model
- Follow-on request URIs and templates exposed as links in response bodies (HATEOAS)
- New APIs to support business group and reservation management
- Improved documentation and samples
Enhanced Cloud Support for vCloud Air and AWS
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Software component authoring for vCloud Air, vCloud Director, and Amazon AWS
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Simplified blueprint authoring for vCloud Air and vCloud Director
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Improved vCloud Air endpoint configuration:
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First class endpoint with URL: https://vca.vmware.com
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Single endpoint for all resources under the same account (subscription or on-demand)
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Optional proxy configuration
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First class endpoint with URL: https://vca.vmware.com
Enhanced Management for Tenant, Business Group, Approval, and Entitlements
- Multi-tenancy support for custom property and property group (formerly build profiles)
- Business group managers can add managers, support roles, or users to their groups
- Assign approvals to software and machine components, which will be assessed when the catalog item is requested
- Dynamically assign approvals to the manager of the user
- Deletion of inactive approvals
- Entitlements can be more specific on catalog item and their actions
Event-Based Extensibility Provided by Event Broker
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Use vRealize Orchestrator workflows to subscribe any events triggered by any of the following events:
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IaaS life cycle state and entity changes
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Business groups management operations
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Approval policy and pre- or post-approval actions
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Blueprint operations
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Other system operations
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IaaS life cycle state and entity changes
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Support custom events
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Support blocking and non-blocking subscriptions
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Provide administrative user interface for extensibility configurations
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Obsolete .NET based lifecycle callouts and provide upgrade proof extensibility and configurations
New CloudClient
- Content management (import and export blueprints between instances or tenants in vRealize Automation 7.0)
- Existing functionality updated for vRealize Automation 7.0 APIs
Enhanced Integration with vRealize Business
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Unified location in vRealize Business to define flexible pricing policies for:
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Infrastructure resource, machine, and application blueprints
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All type of endpoints in vRealize Automation
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Any operational cost, one time cost and cost on custom properties
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Infrastructure resource, machine, and application blueprints
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Role-based showback reports in vRealize Business
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Fully leverage new features in vRealize Business
vRealize Orchestrator 7 New Features
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Introduce vRealize Orchestrator Control Center for easy monitoring and troubleshooting
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Centralized Server administration and easy cluster setup
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Workflow troubleshooting and enhanced log monitoring
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Centralized Server administration and easy cluster setup
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Significant Smart Client improvements including Workflow tagging UI, Client reconnect options and enhanced search capabilities
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vSphere 6.X vAPI endpoint support providing graphical debugging of plug-ins and embedded Code development support
Other Improvements
- Customizable columns in the table for a given type of custom resource defined in XaaS
- Accept a mix of license input, including vRealize Suite, vCloud Suite, and vRealize Automation Standalone
- Improved stability, quality, and performance