Latest
Table of Contents

ManageIQ can manage a variety of external environments, known as providers and managers. A provider or manager is any system that ManageIQ integrates with for the purpose of collecting data and performing operations.

In ManageIQ, a provider is an external virtualization, cloud, or containers environment that manages multiple virtual machines or instances residing on multiple hosts. One example is Red Hat Virtualization, a platform that manages multiple hosts and virtual machines.

In ManageIQ, a manager is an external management environment that manages more than one type of resource. One example of a manager is OpenStack, which manages infrastucture, cloud, network, and storage resources.

This guide covers working with providers and managers in ManageIQ, which include:

  • Infrastructure providers

  • Configuration management providers

  • Automation management providers

  • Cloud providers

  • Networking management providers

  • Container providers

  • Storage managers

For information on working with the resources contained by a provider or manager, see Managing Infrastructure and Inventory.

1. Infrastructure Providers

In ManageIQ, an infrastructure provider is a virtual infrastructure environment that you can add to a ManageIQ appliance to manage and interact with the resources in that environment. This chapter describes the different types of infrastructure providers that you can add to ManageIQ, and how to manage them. Infrastructure providers can be either discovered automatically by ManageIQ, or added individually.

The web interface uses virtual thumbnails to represent infrastructure providers. Each thumbnail contains four quadrants by default, which display basic information about each provider:

2189

  1. Number of hosts

  2. Management system software

  3. Currently unused

  4. Authentication status

Table 1. Provider authentication status
Icon Description

2190

Validated: Valid authentication credentials have been added.

2191

Invalid: Authentication credentials are invalid.

2192

Unknown: Authentication status is unknown or no credentials have been entered.

1.1. Discovering Infrastructure Providers

In addition to individually adding providers, you can also discover infrastructure providers in a given subnet range.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Discover Infrastructure Providers (Discover Infrastructure Providers).

  3. Select the infrastructure provider to discover.

  4. Provide a Subnet Range. Enter the From Address and To Address of the address range.

  5. Click Start.

The appliance searches for all infrastructure providers in the specified subnet range, and adds them to the user interface. However, before you can manage providers added via discovery, you must edit each provider and specify authentication details.

1.2. Discovering Physical Infrastucture Providers

In addition to discovering virtual infrastructure providers, ManageIQ has the ability to discover physical infrastructure providers in a given subnet range.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Physical Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Discover Physical Infrastructure Providers (Discover Physical Infrastructure Providers).

  3. Select the provider in Discovery Type.

  4. Provide a Subnet Range. Enter the From Address and To Address of the address range.

  5. Enter a Port.

  6. Click Start.

The appliance searches for all physical infrastructure providers in the specified subnet range, and adds them to the user interface. However, before you can manage providers added via discovery feature, you must edit each provider to enter authentication details.

1.3. Red Hat Virtualization Providers

To use a Red Hat Virtualization provider, add it to the appliance and authenticate its hosts. You can also configure capacity and utilization data collection to help track usage and find common issues.

1.3.1. Enabling Red Hat Virtualization Capacity and Utilization Data Collection

Configure the following to collect capacity and utilization data from a Red Hat Virtualization provider:

  • In ManageIQ, enable the capacity and utilization server roles from the settings menu, in Configuration  Server  Server Control. For more information on capacity and utilization collection, see Assigning the Capacity and Utilization Server Roles in the Deployment Planning Guide.

  • For information on selecting clusters and datastores used to collect data, see Capacity and Utilization Collections in the General Configuration Guide.

  • In your Red Hat Virtualization environment, install the Data Warehouse and Reports components, and create a ManageIQ user in the Data Warehouse database:

1.3.2. Adding a Red Hat Virtualization Provider

After initial installation and creation of a ManageIQ environment, add a Red Hat Virtualization provider to the appliance.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Add a New Infrastructure Provider (Add a New Infrastructure Provider).

  3. Enter a Name for the provider.

  4. Select Red Hat Virtualization from the Type list.

  5. Select the appropriate Zone for the provider. If you do not specify a zone, it is set to default.

  6. Under Endpoints in the Default tab, configure the following:

    • Enter the Hostname or IPv4 or IPv6 address of the Red Hat Virtualization Manager.

      The Hostname must be a unique fully qualified domain name.

    • Enter the API Port if your provider uses a non-standard port for access.

    • Select Yes or No to Verify TLS Certificates to specify whether to authenticate securely to the provider using TLS.

      • If you select Yes for Verify TLS Certificates, you can either paste a custom certificate in the Trusted CA Certificates field in PEM format, or leave the Trusted CA Certificates field empty if your Red Hat Virtualization provider has a trusted Certificate Authority.

    • Provide the login credentials for the Red Hat Virtualization administrative user:

      • Enter the user name (formatted as admin@internal) in the Username field.

      • Enter the password in the Password field.

      • Confirm the password in the Confirm Password field.

      • Click Validate to confirm ManageIQ can connect to the Red Hat Virtualization Manager.

  7. Under Endpoints in the C & U Database tab, you can configure capacity and utilization metrics collection by providing login credentials for the ManageIQ user of the Red Hat Virtualization Data Warehouse database. You can also configure this later by editing the provider. Configure the following in the C & U Database tab:

    To collect capacity and utilization data from a Red Hat Virtualization provider, the capacity and utilization server roles must be enabled in ManageIQ. The Red Hat Virtualization environment must also contain the Data Warehouse and Reports components and a ManageIQ user. Specific clusters, hosts, and datastores can also be configured for collection. See Enabling Red Hat Virtualization Capacity and Utilization Data Collection for configuration details.

    • Enter the database hostname or IPv4 or IPv6 address in Hostname.

    • Enter the API Port if your provider uses a non-standard port for access.

    • Enter the Database Name.

    • Enter the database user name in the Username field.

    • Enter the user password in the Password field.

    • Confirm the user password in the Confirm Password field.

    • Click Validate to confirm ManageIQ can connect to the database.

  8. Click Add to finish adding the Red Hat Virtualization provider.

1.3.3. Authenticating Red Hat Virtualization Hosts

After adding a Red Hat Virtualization infrastructure provider, you must authenticate its hosts to enable full functionality.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click on a provider to display its summary screen.

  3. On the summary screen, click Hosts in the Relationships information box to display the hosts on that provider.

  4. Select the hosts to authenticate. You can select all hosts using the Check All option.

  5. Click Configuration (Configuration).

  6. Click Edit this item (Edit this item).

  7. In the Credentials area, enter credentials for the following, as required:

    1. Default: This field is mandatory. Users should have privileged access such as, root or administrator.

    2. Remote Login: Credentials for this field are required if SSH login is disabled for the Default account.

    3. Web Services: This tab is used for access to Web Services in Red Hat Virtualization.

    4. IPMI: This tab is used for access to IPMI.

  8. Click Validate.

  9. If editing multiple hosts:

    1. Select a host from the Select Host to validate against list.

    2. If required, enter credentials for Remote Login, Web Services, and IPMI in their respective tabs; click Validate.

    3. Select another host to validate each of these credentials against.

  10. Click Add.

1.4. OpenStack Infrastructure Providers

Enable an OpenStack Infrastructure provider by adding it to the appliance.

1.4.1. Adding an OpenStack Infrastructure Provider

After initial installation and creation of a ManageIQ environment, add an OpenStack infrastructure provider to the appliance. ManageIQ supports operating with the OpenStack admin tenant. When creating an OpenStack infrastructure provider in ManageIQ, select the OpenStack infrastructure provider’s admin user because it is the default administrator of the OpenStack admin tenant. When using the admin credentials, a user in ManageIQ provisions into the admin tenant, and sees images, networks, and instances that are associated with the admin tenant.

  • You can set whether ManageIQ should use the Telemetry service or Advanced Message Queueing Protocol (AMQP) for event monitoring. If you choose Telemetry, you should first configure the ceilometer service on the undercloud to store events. See Configuring the Undercloud to Store Events for instructions. For more information, see OpenStack Telemetry (ceilometer) in the Red Hat OpenStack Platform Architecture Guide.

  • To authenticate the provider using a self-signed Certificate Authority (CA), configure the ManageIQ appliance to trust the certificate using the steps in Using a Self-Signed CA Certificate before adding the provider.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Add a New Infrastructure Provider (Add a New Infrastructure Provider).

  3. Enter the Name of the provider to add. The Name is how the device is labeled in the console.

  4. Select OpenStack Platform Director from the Type list.

  5. Select the API Version of your OpenStack provider’s Keystone service from the list. The default is Keystone v2.

    • With Keystone API v3, domains are used to determine administrative boundaries of service entities in OpenStack. Domains allow you to group users together for various purposes, such as setting domain-specific configuration or security options. For more information, see OpenStack Identity (keystone) in the Red Hat OpenStack Platform Architecture Guide.

    • The provider you are creating will be able to see projects for the given domain only. To see projects for other domains, add it as another cloud provider. For more information on domain management in OpenStack, see Domain Management in the Red Hat OpenStack Platform Users and Identity Management Guide.

  6. Select the appropriate Zone for the provider. By default, the zone is set to default.

    For more information, see the definition of host aggregates and availability zones in OpenStack Compute (nova) in the Red Hat OpenStack Platform Architecture Guide.
  7. In the Default tab, under Endpoints, configure the host and authentication details of your OpenStack provider:

    1. Select a Security Protocol method to specify how to authenticate the provider:

      • SSL without validation: Authenticate the provider insecurely using SSL.

      • SSL: Authenticate the provider securely using a trusted Certificate Authority. Select this option if the provider has a valid SSL certificate and it is signed by a trusted Certificate Authority. No further configuration is required for this option. This is the recommended authentication method.

      • Non-SSL: Connect to the provider insecurely using only HTTP protocol, without SSL.

    2. Enter the Host Name or IP address(IPv4 or IPv6) of the provider. If your provider is an undercloud, use its hostname (see Setting the Hostname for the System in Red Hat OpenStack Platform Director Installation and Usage for more details)

    3. In API Port, set the public port used by the OpenStack Keystone service. By default, OpenStack uses port 5000 for non-SSL security protocol. For SSL, API port is 13000 by default.

    4. In the Username field, enter the name of an OpenStack user with privileged access (for example, admin). Then, provide its corresponding password in the Password and Confirm Password fields.

    5. Click Validate to confirm ManageIQ can connect to the OpenStack provider.

  8. Next, configure how ManageIQ should receive events from the OpenStack provider. Click the Events tab in the Endpoints section to start.

    • To use the Telemetry service of the OpenStack provider, select Ceilometer. Before you do so, the provider must first be configured accordingly. See Configuring the Undercloud to Store Events for details.

    • If you prefer to use the AMQP Messaging bus instead, select AMQP. When you do: In Hostname (or IPv4 or IPv6 address) (of the Events tab, under Endpoints), enter the public IP or fully qualified domain name of the AMQP host.

      • In the API Port, set the public port used by AMQP. By default, OpenStack uses port 5672 for this.

      • In the Username field, enter the name of an OpenStack user with privileged access (for example, admin). Then, provide its corresponding password in the Password field.

      • Click Validate to confirm the credentials.

  9. You can also configure SSH access to all hosts managed by the OpenStack infrastructure provider. To do so, click on the RSA key pair tab in the Endpoints section.

    1. From there, enter the Username of an account with privileged access.

    2. If you selected SSL in Endpoints > Default > Security Protocol earlier, use the Browse button to find and set a private key.

  10. Click Add after configuring the infrastructure provider.

ManageIQ requires that the adminURL endpoint for all OpenStack services be on a non-private network. Accordingly, assign the adminURL endpoint an IP address of something other than 192.168.x.x. The adminURL endpoint must be accessible to the ManageIQ appliance that is responsible for collecting inventory and gathering metrics from the OpenStack environment. Additionally, all the Keystone endpoints must be accessible, otherwise refresh will fail.

Configuring the Undercloud to Store Events

To allow ManageIQ to receive events from a Red Hat OpenStack Platform environment, you must configure the notification_driver option for the Compute service and Orchestration service in that environment. See Installing the Undercloud and Configuring the Director in Red Hat OpenStack Platform Director Installation and Usage for related details.

1.4.2. Discovering OpenStack Infrastructure Providers

ManageIQ has the ability to discover OpenStack infrastructure providers. In this process, ManageIQ scans a network segment and searches for the Bare Metal (Ironic) service which runs on port 6385 by default. Note that, currently, the discovery does not work if the Bare Metal service has been moved to a different port.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Discover Infrastructure Providers (Discover Infrastructure Providers).

  3. Select OpenStack Infrastructure under Discover.

  4. Provide a Subnet Range. Enter the From Address and To Address of the address range.

  5. Click Start.

1.5. VMware vCenter Providers

To use a VMware vCenter provider, add it to the appliance and authenticate its hosts.

1.5.1. Adding a VMware vCenter Provider

After initial installation and creation of a ManageIQ environment, add a VMware vCenter provider to the appliance.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click Configuration (Configuration), then click Add a New Infrastructure Provider (Add a New Infrastructure Provider).

  3. Enter the Name of the provider to add. The Name is how the device is labeled in the console.

  4. Select VMware vCenter from the Type list.

  5. Enter the Host Name or IP address(IPv4 or IPv6) of the provider.

    The Host Name must use a unique fully qualified domain name.

  6. Select the appropriate Zone for the provider. By default, the zone is set to default.

  7. In the Credentials area, under Default, provide the login credentials required for the VMware vCenter administrative user:

    • Enter the user name in the Username field.

    • Enter the password in the Password field.

    • Confirm the password in the Confirm Password field.

    • Click Validate to confirm ManageIQ can connect to the VMware vCenter.

  8. Click Add.

Using a Non-Administrator Account for vCenter Hosts

After adding a VMware vCenter infrastructure provider, you must authenticate its hosts to enable full functionality. You can use administrator credentials, or create another user assigned to a role created for ManageIQ. See the VMware documentation for instructions on how to create a role.

The following privileges should be enabled for the non-administrator user:

From the Global group, check:

  • Cancel task

  • Diagnostics

  • Log Event

  • Set custom attribute

  • Settings

Check the entire set of privileges for the following groups:

  • Alarms

  • Datastores

  • dvPort Group

  • Host

  • Network

  • Resource

  • Scheduled Task

  • Tasks

  • Virtual Machine

  • vSphere Distributed Switch

Additionally, you must assign the new role to the following objects:

  • Datacenter: At the Datacenter the ManageIQ user/group must have at least the read-only role at the Datacenter level (Not Propagated) to be able to see the datacenter. Without this access, relationships cannot be made. Specifically, the datastores will not show up.

  • Cluster: Each Cluster that the ManageIQ needs access to must have the new role assigned and propagated.

  • Folders: Each Folder that ManageIQ needs access to must have the new role assigned and propagated.

  • Datastores: Each Datastore that ManageIQ needs access to must have the new role assigned and propagated.

  • Networking: Each vLAN or Port Group that ManageIQ needs access to must have the new role assigned and propagated.

1.5.2. Authenticating VMware vCenter Hosts

The procedure below describes how to authenticate the VMware vCenter hosts.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click on a provider to display its summary screen.

  3. On the summary screen, click Hosts in the Relationships information box to display the hosts on that provider.

  4. Select the hosts to authenticate. You can select all hosts using the Check All option.

  5. Click Configuration (Configuration)

  6. Click Edit Selected items (Edit Selected items).

  7. In the Credentials area, under Default, provide the VMware ESXi login credentials:

    • Enter the user name in the Username field.

    • Enter the password in the Password field.

    • Confirm the password in the Confirm Password field.

    • Click Validate to confirm ManageIQ can connect to the VMware vCenter host.

  8. If editing multiple hosts, select a host from the Select Host to validate against list; provide the VMware ESXi login credentials and click Validate.

  9. Click Save.

1.6. Microsoft SCVMM Providers

To use a Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) provider, add it to the appliance and set up the SCVMM server for authentication.

To use a SCVMM provider, you must have at least one network adapter available for communication between the host and the SCVMM management server. Make sure that Used by Management is checked for this network adapter in the SCVMM host properties.

1.6.1. Authenticating to Microsoft SCVMM

Before you can add a Microsoft SCVMM provider to your ManageIQ environment, you must enable WinRM to listen for HTTP traffic on Microsoft SCVMM servers. You must also set the appropriate execution policy on the Microsoft SCVMM server to allow PowerShell scripts from the appliance to run remotely.

  1. Log in to the Microsoft SCVMM server.

  2. Enable WinRM for configuration.

    winrm quickconfig
  3. Set the following options:

    winrm set winrm/config/client/auth @{Basic="true"}
    winrm set winrm/config/service/auth @{Basic="true"}
    winrm set winrm/config/service @{AllowUnencrypted="true"}
  4. For Windows 2012 R2 with PowerShell 4.0, use the following syntax to set these options:

    winrm set winrm/config/client/auth '@{Basic="true"}'
    winrm set winrm/config/service/auth '@{Basic="true"}'
    winrm set winrm/config/service '@{AllowUnencrypted="true"}'
  5. Enable remote script execution on the SCVMM server using the Set-ExecutionPolicy cmdlet.

    Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

    For more information on SCVMM remote script execution policies, see Using the Set-ExecutionPolicy Cmdlet.

If PowerShell returns an error, search for log_dos_error_results in the evm.log and scvmm.log files for information.

1.6.2. Adding a Microsoft SCVMM Provider

After initial installation and creation of a ManageIQ environment, add a Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) provider to the appliance.

To authenticate the provider using a self-signed Certificate Authority (CA), configure the ManageIQ appliance to trust the certificate using the steps in Using a Self-Signed CA Certificate before adding the provider.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click 1847 (Configuration), then click 1862 (Add a New Infrastructure Provider).

  3. Enter the Name of the provider to add. The Name is how the device is labeled in the console.

  4. Select Microsoft System Center VMM from the Type list.

  5. Enter the Host Name or IP address(IPv4 or IPv6) of the provider.

    The Host Name must use a unique fully qualified domain name.

  6. Select Kerberos or Basic (SSL) from the Security Protocol list.

    1. For Kerberos:

      1. Enter the user name and realm in the Username field.

      2. Enter the password in the Password field.

      3. Enter the password again in the Confirm Password field.

    2. For Basic (SSL):

      1. Enter the user name in the Username field.

      2. Enter the password in the Password field.

      3. Enter the password again in the Confirm Password field.

  7. Click Validate to confirm that ManageIQ can connect to the Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

  8. Click Add.

1.7. Refreshing Providers

Refresh a provider to find other resources related to it. Use Refresh after initial discovery to get the latest data about the provider and the virtual machines it can access. Ensure the provider has credentials to do this. If the providers were added using Discovery, add credentials using Edit Selected Infrastructure Provider (Edit Selected Infrastructure Provider).

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Select the providers to refresh.

  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), and then Refresh Relationships and Power States (Refresh Relationships and Power States).

  4. Click OK.

1.8. Tagging Multiple Providers

Apply tags to all providers to categorize them together at the same time.

  1. Navigate to Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Check the providers to tag.

  3. Click Policy (Policy), and then Edit Tags (Edit Tags).

  4. In the Tag Assignment area, select a customer tag to assign from the first list, then select a value to assign from the second list.

    2194

  5. Select more tags as required; click (Save).

1.9. Viewing a Provider

From a list of providers, you can review a specific provider by clicking on it. This displays various options to access provider information.

There are two methods of viewing an infrastructure provider’s details: the summary screen (default) and the dashboard screen. Use the summary Summary and dashboard Dashboard buttons to toggle between views.

Both the summary and dashboard screens contain a taskbar with Reload, Configuration, Policy, Monitoring, and Authentication buttons to manage the selected provider.

Provider Summary Screen

providers summary screen

The provider summary screen displays information about the provider in table format.

  • Provider accordion: Displays details about the provider’s Properties and Relationships on the sidebar. Click to expand these lists.

  • Provider summary: Displays a provider’s Properties, Status, Relationships, and Smart Management. Click on an item in the Relationships table to see more information about that entity.

Provider Dashboard Screen

providers summary dashboard

From the dashboard, you can view:

  • Number of clusters, hosts, virtual machines, templates, datastores, resource pools, and other entities on the provider. Click on an entity to see more information about that item.

  • Aggregate utilization for CPU, memory, and storage

  • Network I/O statistics

  • Trends for hosts and virtual machines discovered

To view the dashboard:

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click the infrastructure provider to view.

  3. To access the dashboard view, click Dashboard (Dashboard view).

To return to the summary view, click Summary (Summary view).

1.10. Removing a Provider

If a provider has been decommissioned or requires some troubleshooting, it might require deletion from the VMDB.

Deleting a provider removes the account information from ManageIQ console. You will no longer be able to view any associated history including chargeback reports generated for the deleted provider. Additionally, if ManageIQ is the database of record, deleting providers would become a major problem for the other systems relying on it for accurate and consistent billing information. Review all the dependencies carefully before deleting a provider.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Select the check box for the provider to delete.

  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then Remove Infrastructure Providers from the VMDB (Remove Infrastructure Providers from the VMDB).

  4. Click (OK).

1.11. Viewing the Provider Timeline

View the timeline of events for the virtual machines registered to a provider.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click a provider.

  3. Click Monitoring (Monitoring), and then Timelines (Timelines)from the taskbar, or from the provider accordion, click Properties  Timeline.

  4. From Options, customize the period of time to display and the types of events to see.

    provider timeline

    • Use Show to select regular Management Events or Policy Events.

    • Use the Interval dropdown to select hourly or daily data points.

    • Use Date to type the date for the timeline to display.

    • If you select to view a daily timeline, use Show to set how many days back to go. The maximum history is 31 days.

    • The three Event Groups lists allow you to select different groups of events to display. Each has its own color.

    • From the Level list, select a Summary event, or a Detail list of events. For example, the detail level of a Power On event might include the power on request, the starting event, and the actual Power On event. If you select Summary, only the Power On event displays in the timeline.

1.12. Viewing Hosts and Clusters

Access a tree view of the hosts and clusters for a provider from the Provider Summary.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click the provider to view the hosts and clusters.

  3. Click on the Relationships accordion, then click Hosts & Clusters.

hostsandclusters

1.13. Viewing Virtual Machines and Templates

Access a tree view of the virtual machines and templates for a provider from the Provider Summary.

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Providers.

  2. Click the provider to view the virtual machines and templates.

  3. From accordion menu, click Relationships, then click VMs & Templates.

2. Configuration Management Providers

In ManageIQ, a configuration management provider is a systems management product that you can add to a ManageIQ appliance to manage the lifecycle of your resources. Configuration management providers are useful for uniformly applying changes and updates across providers, and for recording and reporting status and change activity. They can also help eliminate the confusion and error brought about by the existence of different providers.

This chapter describes the different types of configuration management providers available to ManageIQ, and how to manage them. Configuration management providers must be added individually to ManageIQ.

2.1. Red Hat Satellite 6

Satellite 6 is a subscription and system management tool that provides a way to provision hosts (both virtual and bare metal) and configure them using a set of Puppet modules. ManageIQ provides functionality to integrate with a Red Hat Satellite 6 server and take advantage of its features. This includes:

  • Monitoring the inventory of your Red Hat Satellite 6 server, including independent hosts and hosts provisioned using hostgroups.

  • Reprovisioning existing bare metal system hosts to new host groups.

  • Applying ManageIQ policy tags to hosts.

ManageIQ only reprovisions existing systems in a Red Hat Satellite 6 environment. Provisioning systems from Red Hat Satellite 6’s bare metal discovery service is planned for a future release.

2.1.1. Defining the Workflow

This section uses the following workflow:

  1. Add Red Hat Satellite 6 server details to ManageIQ.

  2. Refresh the state of your Red Hat Satellite 6 provider in ManageIQ.

  3. Select an existing bare metal host from Red Hat Satellite 6 for reprovisioning.

  4. Apply policy tags to Red Hat Satellite 6 hosts.

2.1.2. Defining the Hostgroup Hierarchy

ManageIQ displays the Red Hat Satellite 6 infrastructure in a host group and host relationship. A host group defines a set of default values that hosts inherit when placed in that group. Hosts can belong to only one host group, but host groups can be nested in hierarchies. You can create a "base" or "parent" host group that represents all hosts in your organization, and then create nested or "child" host groups under that parent to provide specific settings.

2.1.3. Adding a Satellite 6 Provider

To start provisioning bare metal machines, you need at least one Red Hat Satelllite 6 provider added to ManageIQ.

  1. Navigate to Configuration  Management.

  2. Select Configuration  Add a new Provider.

  3. Enter a Name for the provider.

  4. Enter a URL for the provider. This is the root URL for the Satellite 6 server and can be either an IP address or a hostname. For example, http://satellite6.example.com.

  5. Select Verify Peer Certificate to use encrypted communication with the provider. This requires the SSL certificates from your Red Hat Satellite 6 provider.

  6. Enter a Username for a user on the provider. Ideally, this would be a user in Satellite 6 with administrative access.

  7. Enter a Password, and then enter it again in Confirm Password.

  8. Click Validate to test your connection with the Red Hat Satellite 6 server.

  9. Click Add to confirm your settings and save the provider.

ManageIQ saves the Satellite 6 provider in its database and triggers a refresh of resources detected in the provider.

2.1.4. Triggering a Refresh of a Satellite 6 Provider

Your Satellite 6 provider can still create new hosts independently of ManageIQ. Your ManageIQ appliance detects these changes after an automatic refresh period. However, you can trigger a manual refresh to avoid waiting for the automatic refresh.

  1. Navigate to Configuration  Management.

  2. Select your Red Hat Satellite 6 provider using the checkbox, and click Configuration  Refresh Relationships and Power States. This triggers the refresh.

  3. When the refresh is complete, select the Red Hat Satellite 6 provider to check the updated list of hosts groups in the provider.

2.1.5. Displaying Red Hat Satellite 6 Contents

ManageIQ provides two methods for viewing the contents of a Red Hat Satellite 6 provider:

  • Providers - This presents the Red Hat Satellite 6 contents as a hierarchy of host groups belonging to a provider, and then individual hosts belonging to each provider.

  • Configured Systems - This presents a list of all hosts on your Red Hat Satellite 6 server. This also provides a method to apply predefined filters to organized specific machines.

Change between these two views using the accordion menu on the left of the user interface.

2.1.6. Reprovisioning a Bare Metal Host

This procedure provides an example of reprovisioning an existing bare metal system into a new hostgroup. For this example, your Red Hat Satellite 6 environment requires the following:

  • An existing bare metal system stored as a host object in your Red Hat Satellite 6 server. This system can be one of the following:

    • A standalone system previously provisioned without a host group.

    • A system previously provisioned using a host group.

  • A target host group. This host group contains the system configuration to apply to the host when reprovisioning it. This includes:

    • A new operating system installation, including a new partition table.

    • A new networking configuration that the Red Hat Satellite 6 server defines and manages.

    • Registration to any Red Hat subscriptions and repositories assigned to the host group.

    • Application of any Puppet modules assigned to the host group.

  1. Navigate to Configuration  Management.

  2. Select Configured Systems from the accordion menu on the left. This displays the system list.

  3. Select one or more hosts to reprovision.

  4. Select Lifecycle  Provision Configured Systems.

  5. Under the Request tab, enter the following details:

    1. E-Mail address

    2. First Name

    3. Last Name

    4. This form also contains optional fields for users to enter a plain text Note to inform ManageIQ administrators of any special details, and a field to provide a manager’s name in case administrators require approval from a user’s manager.

  6. Select the Purpose tab and select any ManageIQ policy tags that apply to the system.

  7. Select the Catalog tab. This screen displays the list of chosen machines to reprovision and their current details. Select a target host group from the Configuration Profile list. ManageIQ communicates with Red Hat Satellite to apply the configuration from this host group to the selected host and reprovision the system.

  8. Select the Customize tab. This screen displays some customizable fields for the selected system. You can change the Root Password or change the Hostname and IP Address. Note that these fields are optional, because the host group in Red Hat Satellite 6 contains this information. The fields here will override the settings from the host group.

    Provisioning bare metal systems still requires access to the network that Red Hat Satellite 6 manages. This is because Red Hat Satellite controls PXE booting, kickstarts, and Puppet configuration for bare metal systems. Ensure the IP address you enter in ManageIQ can access a DHCP service that Red Hat Satellite 6 provides either through the main server or through a Red Hat Satellite 6 Capsule server.

  9. Select the Customize tab. This screen allows you to either launch the provisioning process immediately on approval or using a schedule. Click Schedule to show the date and time fields used to schedule the provisioning.

  10. Click Submit.

Depending on the request settings on your ManageIQ appliance, this provisioning request might require approval from an administrator. If not, the provisioning request launches depending on your choice for the schedule.

Previously provisioned hosts might require manual selection of PXE boot from the boot menu, otherwise they might boot to hard disk and not reprovision.

2.1.7. Tagging a Bare Metal Host

ManageIQ can also control policy settings of bare metal systems from Red Hat Satellite 6 through tagging. Tagging attaches levels of metadata to help define the policy rules required for a set of systems.

  1. Navigate to Configuration  Management.

  2. Select Configured Systems from the accordion menu on the left. This displays the system list.

  3. Select one or more hosts to tag.

  4. Select Policy  Edit Tags.

  5. Under Tag Assignment, select a tag from Select a customer tag to assign and then choose a value from Select a value to assign. For example, you can tag this system as located in Chicago by selecting Location as the tag and Chicago as the value. Once selected, the user interface automatically adds this tag and value to the table below.

  6. Click Save.

The bare metal system is now configured with a set of policy tags.

3. Automation Management Providers

In ManageIQ, an automation management provider is a management tool that integrates with ManageIQ to simplify automation operations for your resources. This chapter describes the automation management providers that you can use with ManageIQ, and how to work with them.

ManageIQ provides automation management features through the following:

Automate enables real-time, bi-directional process integration. This provides you with a method to implement adaptive automation for management events and administrative or operational activities.

Ansible integration delivers out-of-the-box support for backing service, alert and policy actions using Ansible playbooks. Sync your existing playbook repositories with CloudForms, add credentials to access providers, and create service catalog items for actions ranging from creating and retiring VMs, updating security software, or adding additional disks when space runs low.

Ansible Tower is a management tool integrated with ManageIQ, designed to help automate infrastructure operations utilizing existing Ansible Tower providers in your inventory. ManageIQ allows you to execute Ansible Tower jobs using service catalogs and Automate. Using Ansible Tower, you can schedule Ansible playbook runs and monitor current and historical results, allowing for troubleshooting or identification of issues before they occur.

3.1. Ansible

Ansible integrates with ManageIQ to provide automation solutions, using playbooks, for Service, Policy and Alert actions. Ansible playbooks consist of series of plays or tasks that define automation across a set of hosts, known as the inventory.

Ranging from simple to complex tasks, Ansible playbooks can support cloud management:

  • Services - allow a playbook to back a ManageIQ service catalog item.

  • Control Actions - ManageIQ policies can execute playbooks as actions based on events from providers.

  • Control Alerts - set a playbook to launch prompted by a ManageIQ alert.

Ansible is built into ManageIQ so there is nothing to install. The basic workflow when using Ansible in ManageIQ is as follows:

  1. Enable the Embedded Ansible server role.

  2. Add a source control repository that contains your playbooks.

  3. Establish credentials with your inventory.

  4. Back your services, alerts and policies using available playbooks.

3.1.1. Enabling the Embedded Ansible Server Role

In ManageIQ, the Embedded Ansible role is disabled by default. Enable this server role to utilize Ansible Automation Inside.

Configure your ManageIQ appliance network identity (hostname/IP address) before enabling the Embedded Ansible server role. Restart the evmserverd service on the appliance with the enabled Embedded Ansible server role after making any changes to the hostname or IP address.

  1. Navigate to the settings menu, then ConfigurationSettings.

  2. Select the desired server under Zones.

  3. Set the Server Role for Embedded Ansible to On.

3.1.2. Verifying the Embedded Ansible Worker State

Verify that the Embedded Ansible worker has started to utilize its features.

  1. Navigate to the settings menu, then ConfigurationDiagnostics and click on the desired server.

  2. Click on the Workers tab.

A table of all workers and current status will appear from which you can confirm the state of your embedded Ansible worker.

3.1.3. Adding a Playbook Repository

Add a repository so that ManageIQ can discover and make available your playbooks.

  1. Navigate to Automation  Ansible  Repositories.

  2. Click Add.

  3. Provide a Repository Name in the Name field.

  4. Add a description for the repository in the Description field.

  5. Select an SCM Type from the drop-down menu.

  6. Add a URL or IP Address for the repository.

  7. Select the appropriate SCM Credentials from the drop-down menu.

  8. Provide a branch name in the SCM Branch field.

  9. Check the appropriate box for any SCM Update Options.

  10. Click Add.

Once you have synced a repository, its playbooks will become available to ManageIQ.

3.1.4. Refreshing Repositories

ManageIQ allows you to refresh a targeted playbook repository or all repositories in your inventory to ensure your playbooks are current.

Refresh a targeted repository:

  1. Navigate to Automation  Ansible  Repositories.

  2. Click on a repository.

  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then Refresh this Repository (Refresh this Repository).

Alternately, you can refresh some or all repositories from the list view:

  1. Navigate to Automation  Ansible  Repositories.

  2. Check those repositories to refresh. Click Check All to select all repositories.

  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then Refresh Selected Ansible Repositories (Refresh Selected Ansible Repositories).

3.1.5. Credentials

Credentials are utilized by ManageIQ for authentication when running Ansible playbooks against machines, synchronizing with inventory sources, and importing project content from a version control system.

Adding Credentials

ManageIQ can store credentials used by playbooks. Credentials saved in ManageIQ are matched and executed with a playbook when run.

  1. Navigate to Automation  Ansible  Credentials.

  2. Click Configuration (Configuration), then Add a New Credential (Add a New Credential).

  3. Provide a Name for the credential.

  4. Select the Credential Type. Additional fields will appear depending on the type chosen.

  5. Click Add.

Credential Types

Each credential type used by ManageIQ is detailed in the following sections.

Machine

Machine credentials enable ManageIQ to invoke Ansible on hosts under your management. Just like using Ansible on the command line, you can specify the SSH username, optionally provide a password, an SSH key, or a key password. They define SSH and user-level privilege escalation access for playbooks, and are used when running playbooks on a remote host.

  • Username: The username to be used for SSH authentication.

  • Password: The actual password to be used for SSH authentication.

  • SSH Private Key: Copy or drag-and-drop the SSH private key for the machine credential.

  • Private Key Passphrase: If the SSH Private Key used is protected by a password, you can configure a Key Password for the private key.

  • Privilege Escalation: Specifies the type of escalation privilege to assign to specific users. Options include sudo, su, pbrun, pfexec.

  • Privilege Escalation Username: Enter the username to use with escalation privileges on the remote system.

  • Privilege Escalation Password: Enter the actual password to be used to authenticate the user via the selected privilege escalation type on the remote system.

  • Vault Password: Ansible Vault credentials have only the Vault Password attribute that may be configured.

For more information on Ansible Vault, see Using Vault in playbooks.

Network

Network credentials are used by Ansible networking modules to connect to and manage networking devices.

Network credentials have several attributes that may be configured:

  • Username: The username to use in conjunction with the network device.

  • Password: The password to use in conjunction with the network device.

  • Authorize: Select this from the Options field to add an Authorize password which signs the RSA key with a password.

  • Authorize password: If Authorize is checked, enter a password in the Authorize Password field.

  • SSH Key: Copy or drag-and-drop the actual SSH Private Key to be used to authenticate the user to the network via SSH.

  • Private key passphrase: The actual passphrase for the private key to be used to authenticate the user to the network via SSH.

SCM

SCM (source control) credentials are used with Projects to clone and update local source code repositories from a remote revision control system such as Git, Subversion, or Mercurial.

Source Control credentials have several attributes that may be configured:

  • Username: The username to use in conjunction with the source control system.

  • Password: The password to use in conjunction with the source control system.

  • Private key passphrase: If the SSH private key used is protected by a passphrase, you may configure a key passphrase for the private key.

  • Private Key: Copy or drag-and-drop the actual SSH Private Key to be used to authenticate the user to the source control system via SSH.

Amazon

Selecting this credential type enables synchronization of cloud inventory with Amazon Web Services.

  • Access Key: User credentials that allow for programmatic calls to Amazon Web Services.

  • Secret Key: The secret key that corresponds to the user access key.

  • STS Token: Token generated by Amazon Web Services Security Token Service.

Azure Classic (deprecated)

Selecting this credential type enables synchronization of cloud inventory with Microsoft Windows Azure Classic.

Microsoft Azure credentials have several attributes to configure:

  • Subscription ID: The Subscription UUID for the Microsoft Azure Classic account.

  • Management Certificate: The PEM file that corresponds to the certificate you uploaded in the Microsoft Azure Classic console.

Azure

Selecting this credential type enables synchronization of cloud inventory with Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft Azure credentials have several attributes to configure:

  • Username: The username to use to connect to the Microsoft Azure account.

  • Password: The password to use to connect to the Microsoft Azure account.

  • Subscription ID: The Subscription UUID for the Microsoft Azure account.

  • Tenant ID: The Tenant ID for the Microsoft Azure account.

  • Client Secret: The Client Secret for the Microsoft Azure account.

  • Client ID: The Client ID for the Microsoft Azure account.

Google Compute Engine

Selecting this credential type enables synchronization of cloud inventory with Google Compute Engine.

Google Compute Engine credentials have several attributes that may be configured:

  • Service Account Email Address: The email address assigned to the Google Compute Engine service account.

  • RSA Private Key: The PEM file associated with the service account email.

  • Project: The GCE assigned identification. It is constructed as two words followed by a three digit number, such as: squeamish-ossifrage-123.

OpenStack

Selecting this credential type enables synchronization of cloud inventory with Red Hat OpenStack Platform.

OpenStack credentials have several attributes that may be configured:

  • Username: The username to use to connect to OpenStack.

  • Password (API Key): The password or API key to use to connect to OpenStack.

  • Host (Authentication URL): The host to be used for authentication.

  • Project (Tenant Name): The Tenant name or Tenant ID used for OpenStack. This value is usually the same as the username.

  • Domain name: The FQDN to be used to connect to OpenStack.

Rackspace

Selecting this credential type enables synchronization of cloud inventory with Rackspace.

Rackspace credentials have the following attributes that may be configured:

  • Username: The username to use to connect to vCenter.

  • API Key: The public key related to the administrator ID.

Red Hat Virtualization

Selecting this credential type enables synchronization of cloud inventory with Red Hat Virtualization.

Red Hat Virtualization credentials have several attributes that may be configured:

  • Username: The username to use to connect to Red Hat Virtualization.

  • Password: The password to use to connect to Red Hat Virtualization.

  • Host (Authentication URL): The host to be used for authentication.

Satellite 6

Selecting this credential type enables synchronization of cloud inventory with Red Hat Satellite 6.

Satellite credentials have several attributes that may be configured:

  • Username: The username to use to connect to Satellite 6.

  • Password: The password to use to connect to Satellite 6.

  • Satellite 6 Host: The Satellite 6 URL or IP address to connect to.

VMware

Selecting this credential type enables synchronization of inventory with VMware vCenter.

If both ManageIQ and a VMware provider are located in the same IPv6-only network, use a DNS-resolvable hostname for the VMware provider in the vCenter Host field when adding credentials.

VMware credentials have several attributes that may be configured:

  • Username: The username to use to connect to vCenter.

  • Password: The password to use to connect to vCenter.

  • vCenter Host: The vCenter hostname or IP address to connect to.

If the VMware guest tools are not running on the instance, VMware inventory sync may not return an IP address for that instance.

3.1.6. Tagging Ansible Playbooks, Repositories, and Credentials

Apply tags to Ansible playbooks, repositories, and credentials to categorize them. Tagging enables administrators to limit users to view those Ansible elements that have been enabled for that set of user permissions.

Adding Tags to Ansible Playbooks
  1. Navigate to Automate  Ansible  Playbooks.

  2. Select the checkboxes for the Ansible playbooks to tag.

  3. Click Policy (Policy), and then Edit Tags (Edit Tags).

  4. Select a customer tag to assign from the first list.

    2219

  5. Select a value to assign from the second list.

  6. Click Save.

Adding Tags to Ansible Repositories
  1. Navigate to Automate  Ansible  Repositories.

  2. Select the checkboxes for the Ansible repositories to tag.

  3. Click Policy (Policy), and then Edit Tags (Edit Tags).

  4. Select a customer tag to assign from the first list.

    2219

  5. Select a value to assign from the second list.

  6. Click Save.

Adding Tags to Ansible Credentials
  1. Navigate to Automate  Ansible  credentials.

  2. Select the checkboxes for the Ansible credentials to tag.

  3. Click Policy (Policy), and then Edit Tags (Edit Tags).

  4. Select a customer tag to assign from the first list.

    2219

  5. Select a value to assign from the second list.

  6. Click Save.

3.1.7. Optimizing Ansible Playbooks for ManageIQ

Ansible is a simple model-driven configuration management, multi-node deployment, and remote-task execution system. When designing playbooks for use with ManageIQ it is helpful to utilize solutions within the playbook itself to ensure optimal implementation of playbook-backed services or automated processes.

This section is intended to complement the existing documentation on Ansible playbooks and guide administrators through optimizing playbooks for use with ManageIQ.

Installing Roles on an Embedded Ansible Appliance

Roles are ways of automatically loading certain variable files, tasks, and handlers based on a known file structure. Grouping content by roles also allows easy sharing of roles with other users. Install roles on a ManageIQ appliance with the Embedded Ansible server role activated to optimize playbooks.

When using this role in a playbook on a ManageIQ appliance, add an empty roles directory at the root of the playbook. In the roles directory, include a requirements.yml file with the following contents:

---
- src: <ansible-galaxy-role>

ManageIQ will automatically install the role once it sees the requirements.yml file in the playbook.

Ansible Service Linking

ManageIQ provides a module allowing inventoried resources such as virtual machines created using Ansible playbooks to link back to the services used to generate them. During service ordering of a playbook the add_provider_vms module will allow the playbook to connect back to the worker appliance and identify the provider resources it was responsible for generating. Once linked, the newly generated resources are available to ManageIQ’s life cycle management features.

Linking VMs back to the service that created it requires implementing the following tasks in the playbook used for provisioning:

  1. Create a resource and register it.

  2. Link the service using the add_provider_vms method to the newly created resource.

Example: Linking a virtual machine to a service

In the following playbook task examples, a virtual machine is deployed to Amazon EC2 and linked back to the service. Examples are provided for linking the resource to its service by both an href slug and as an object.

  • This example utilizes the `syncrou.manageiq-vmdb`role. This role allows ManageIQ users to modify and/or change VMDB objects using an Ansible playbook. For information on implementing and utilizing roles when writing Ansible playbooks for ManageIQ, see Installing Roles on an Embedded Ansible Appliance.

  • For more information on Ansible Galaxy and roles, see the Ansible Galaxy documentation.

  • Note the provider ID in order to successfully link to the service.

  1. Create and register the resource.

    - name: Create Ec2 Instance
      ec2:
        key_name: "{{ key }}"
        instance_tags: {Name: "{{ name }}"}
        group_id: "{{ security_group }}"
        instance_type: "{{ instance_type }}"
        region: "{{ region }}"
        image: "{{ image }}"
        wait: yes
        count: 1
        vpc_subnet_id: "{{ subnet }}"
        assign_public_ip: yes
      register: ec2
  2. Call the add_provider_vms method as an action to link to the service via an href slug or an object.

    - name: Service Linking via an href slug
      manageiq_vmdb:
        href: "href_slug::services/80"
        action: add_provider_vms
        data:
          uid_ems:
            - "{{ ec2.instances[0].id }}"
          provider:
            id: 24
    
    - name: Service Linking via an object
      manageiq_vmdb:
        vmdb: "{{ vmdb_object }}"
        action: add_provider_vms
        data:
          uid_ems:
            - "{{ ec2.instances[0].id }}"
          provider:
            id: 24
Modifying the Automate Workspace Using the manageiq-automate Role.

The manageiq-automate role allows users of ManageIQ Automate to modify and add to the automate workspace via an Ansible playbook.

When using this role in a playbook on a ManageIQ appliance with Embedded Ansible activated, add an empty roles directory at the root of the playbook. In the roles directory, include a requirements.yml file with the following contents:

---
- src: syncrou.manageiq-automate

ManageIQ will automatically install the role once it sees the requirements.yml file in the playbook.

Role Variables

The manageiq_automate role employs the following variables when implemented in a playbook run on a ManageIQ appliance. Variables are defined in defaults/main.yml and vars/main.yml.

auto_commit: By default is set to True. If set to False it will not auto commit back to ManageIQ each call to a set_ method in the manageiq_automate module.

manageiq_validate_certs: By default is set to True. If passed in via extra_vars or assigned in the playbook variables then the lookup will allow self-signed certificates to be used when using SSL REST API connection URLs.

Example Playbook

The example below utilizes the manageiq-automate role. Using variable substitution, playbook tasks retrieve method parameters which are then used to modify object attributes. A final task uses the set_retry module to update the retry interval.

- name: Siphon Method Parameters into an object
  hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  vars:
  - auto_commit: True
  - object: root
  - interval: 600

  gather_facts: False
  roles:
  - syncrou.manageiq-automate

  tasks:
    - name: "Get the list of Method Parameters"
      manageiq_automate:
        workspace: "{{ workspace }}"
        get_method_parameters: yes
      register: method_params

    - name: "Set attributes"
      manageiq_automate:
        workspace: "{{ workspace }}"
        set_attributes:
          object: "{{ object }}"
          attributes: "{{ method_params.value }}"

    - name: Set Retry
      manageiq_automate:
        workspace: "{{ workspace }}"
        set_retry:
          interval: "{{ interval }}"
Callbacks in Multiple Appliance Environments

In a ManageIQ multiple appliance environment, enable the Embedded Ansible server role on a dedicated ManageIQ appliance. Add store_session:sql to Ansible playbooks to ensure successful callbacks to ManageIQ appliances in a multiple appliance environment.

3.2. Ansible Tower

Ansible Tower is a management tool integrated with ManageIQ, designed to help automate infrastructure operations. ManageIQ allows you to execute Ansible Tower jobs or workflows using service catalogs and Automate. No custom configuration or Ruby scripting is needed in ManageIQ, as configuration is done in Ansible Tower using playbooks.

You can use the large library of existing Ansible playbooks as ManageIQ state machines to automate tasks such as deployments, backups, package updates, and maintenance in your ManageIQ environment. This can be particularly useful for quickly applying changes across large environments with many virtual machines or instances.

Using Ansible Tower, you can schedule Ansible playbook runs and monitor current and historical results, allowing for troubleshooting or identification of issues before they occur.

3.2.1. Working with an Ansible Tower Provider

The basic workflow when using ManageIQ with an Ansible Tower provider is as follows:

  1. Create an Ansible playbook which performs a specific task.

  2. A new Ansible Tower job template is created from the playbook (or workflow template created from disparate jobs), which is then retrieved by ManageIQ.

  3. From the Ansible Tower job or workflow template, create a new catalog item in ManageIQ, optionally with a service dialog that allows the user to enter parameters if needed.

  4. The user orders the service from the ManageIQ user interface, and fills out any additional arguments (for example, limiting the task to run on a specific set of virtual machines).

  5. The job or workflow executes.

3.2.2. Adding an Ansible Tower Provider

To access your Ansible Tower inventory from ManageIQ, you must add Ansible Tower as a provider.

  • Ensure ENABLE HTTP BASIC AUTH is set to On in the Ansible Tower configuration settings before adding the provider. See Tower Configuration in the Ansible Tower Administration Guide.

  • A trailing slash is not required at the end of the Ansible Tower provider URL. Adding the trailing slash to the provider URL may result in a validation error.

  1. Navigate to Automation  Ansible Tower  Explorer and click on the Providers accordion tab.

  2. Under Configuration Configuration, click Add a new Provider Add a new Provider.

  3. In the Add a new Provider area:

    Add_Ansible_Provider

    1. Enter a Name for the new provider.

    2. Add a Zone for the provider.

    3. Enter the URL location or IP address to the Ansible Tower server. Add a trailing slash to the end of the Ansible Tower provider URL.

  4. Select the Verify Peer Certificate checkbox if desired.

  5. In the Credentials area, provide the Username and Password, and Confirm Password.

  6. Click Validate to verify credentials.

  7. Click Add.

After adding the Ansible Tower provider, refresh its relationships and power states in order to view the current inventory.

3.2.3. Refreshing an Ansible Tower Provider

Refresh relationships of all items related to an existing Ansible Tower configuration management provider including inventory, hosts, virtual machines, and clusters.

You can refresh inventory from ManageIQ, or by enabling the Update on Launch option for inventory groups in Ansible Tower. The Update on Launch option allows Ansible Tower to automatically update inventory using a dynamic inventory script before launching an Ansible Tower job from a playbook. See the Ansible Tower documentation for more information.

It can take a long time to retrieve information from providers containing many virtual machines or instances. The Ansible Tower dynamic inventory script can be modified to limit updates to specific items and reduce refresh time.

To refresh an Ansible Tower provider’s inventory in ManageIQ:

  1. Navigate to Automation  Ansible Tower  Explorer and click the Providers accordion tab.

  2. Select the checkboxes for the Ansible Tower providers to refresh under All Ansible Tower Providers.

  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), and then Refresh Relationships and Power States (Refresh Relationships and Power States).

  4. Click OK.

ManageIQ then queries the Ansible Tower API and obtains an inventory of all available hosts, job and workflow templates.

3.2.4. Viewing Ansible Tower Providers and Inventory

ManageIQ automatically updates its inventory from Ansible Tower. This includes system groups (known as Inventories in Ansible Tower), basic information about individual systems, and available Ansible Tower job or workflow templates to be executed from the service catalog or Automate.

To view and access Ansible Tower inventories and job or workflow templates in ManageIQ, you must first create them in Ansible Tower.

To view a list of Ansible Tower providers and inventory:

  1. Navigate to Automation  Ansible Tower  Explorer.

  2. select the Providers accordion menu to display a list of All Ansible Tower Providers.

  3. Select your Ansible Tower provider to expand and list the inventory groups on that Ansible Tower system. The inventory groups can be expanded to view the systems contained within each group, as well as configuration details for these systems.

Similarly, all discovered job and workflow templates are accessed under the provider by expanding the Automation  Ansible Tower  Explorer  Templates accordion menu.

3.2.5. Viewing Ansible Tower Configured Systems

To view the systems in your Ansible Tower inventory:

  1. Navigate to Automation  Ansible Tower  Explorer  Configured Systems.

  2. Under All Ansible Tower Configured Systems, select Ansible Tower Configured Systems to display a list.

3.2.6. Executing an Ansible Tower Job or Workflow Template from a Service Catalog

You can execute an Ansible Tower playbook from ManageIQ by creating a service catalog item from an Ansible Tower job or workflow template.

You must first create the job or workflow template in Ansible Tower. The job or workflow templates are automatically discovered by ManageIQ when refreshing your Ansible Tower provider’s inventory.

First, create a catalog:

  1. Navigate to Services  Catalogs.

  2. Click Configuration (Configuration), then Add a New Catalog (Add a New Catalog)

  3. Enter a Name and Description for the catalog.

  4. Click Add.

Then, create an Ansible Tower service catalog item:

  1. Navigate to Automation  Ansible Tower  Explorer, then click on the Templates according menu.

  2. Click Ansible Tower Templates and select an Ansible Tower job or workflow template.

  3. Click Configuration (Configuration), then Create Service Dialog from Template (Create Service Dialog from this Template).

  4. Enter a Service Dialog Name (for example, ansible_tower_job)and click Save.

  5. Navigate to Services  Catalogs. Click Catalog Items.

  6. Click Configuration (Configuration), then Add a New Catalog Item (Add a New Catalog Item) to create a new catalog item with the following details, at minimum:

    • For Catalog Item type, select Ansible Tower.

    • Enter a Name for the service catalog item.

    • Select Display in Catalog.

    • In Catalog, select the catalog you created previously.

    • In Dialog, select the service dialog you created previously (in this example, ansible_tower_job). To ask the user to enter extra information when running the task, Service Dialog must be selected. A dialog is required if Display in Catalog is chosen.

    • In Provider, select your Ansible Tower provider. This brings up the Ansible Tower Template option and configures the Provisioning Entry Point State Machine automatically.

    • Add configuration information for Reconfigure Entry Point and Retirement Entry Point as applicable.

    • Select your desired Ansible Tower Template from the list. Generally, this is the Ansible Tower job or workflow template previously used to create the service dialog.

  7. Click Add. The catalog item you created will appear in the All Service Catalog Items list.

To execute the Ansible Tower job:

  1. Navigate to Service Catalogs  Ansible Tower catalog.

    Order AT Catalog Item

  2. Click Order for the catalog item.

  3. Enter any variables requested and click Submit.

ManageIQ takes you to the Requests queue page and show the status of the job.

The service item’s details can be viewed in Services  My Services in ManageIQ.

Instead of running a single job at a time, multiple service catalog items can also be grouped together as a catalog bundle to create one deployment with multiple job templates. See Catalogs and Services in Provisioning Virtual Machines and Hosts for more information.

3.2.7. Executing an Ansible Tower Job Using a Custom Automate Button

ManageIQ can execute Ansible Tower jobs on virtual machines or instances using custom buttons in Automate.

Ansible Tower jobs can either be non-customizable, which do not require any extra configuration from the user, or alternatively, they can allow the user to specify a parameter (for example, a package name to install). In Ansible Tower jobs containing a dialog, ManageIQ accepts additional information from the user and adds it to the appropriate API call in Automate, and then sends it into Ansible Tower.

Prerequisites

Before creating an Automate button to execute an Ansible Tower job, the following must be configured:

  • An Ansible playbook in Ansible Tower. See the Ansible Tower documentation for instructions.

  • Ansible Tower must be able to reach virtual machines or instances deployed by ManageIQ at the IP level.

  • The virtual machine template must have the Ansible Tower environment’s public SSH key injected. For cloud instances, cloud-init can be used and the public SSH key can be passed without rebuilding the image.

  • Any dynamic inventory scripts used must be configured to return the virtual machine names exactly as they are stored in ManageIQ, without the UUID appended.

Executing an Ansible Tower Job using a Custom Automate Button

To configure a custom button to execute an Ansible Tower job on a virtual machine or instance, first create the button:

  1. Navigate to Automation  Automate  Customization.

  2. Click the Buttons accordion menu.

  3. Click VM and Instance  Unassigned Buttons. This configures the button to run on virtual machines or instances.

  4. Click 1847 (Configuration), then click 1862 (Add a new Button).

    • In the Adding a new Button screen, configure the Action parameters as desired. Dialog can be left blank if the playbook does not require extra variables. To ask the user to enter extra information when running the task, Service Dialog must be selected.

    • Configure Object Details fields with the following request details:

      • For System/Process, select Request.

      • For Message, enter create.

      • For Request, enter Ansible_Tower_Job.

    • Configure Attribute/Value Pairs with the following parameters:

      • job_template_name is the Ansible Tower job template name to associate with the button. The job_template_name field is mandatory; other parameters are provided by the Tower job dialog.

    • Configure Visibility to all users, or limit visibility by role as desired.

      Add button

    • Click Add.

If you do not have an existing button group to assign the new button to, create a new button group:

  1. From Automation  Automate  Customization, navigate to Buttons  VM and Instance  Add a new Button Group, and configure the following:

    • Configure Basic Info as desired. For example, name the button group VM Actions.

    • In Assign Buttons, select the button you just created from the Unassigned list and click 1876 to assign it to Selected.

      Create button group

    • Click Add.

To assign the button to an existing button group:

  1. Navigate to Buttons  VM and Instance  VM Actions  Edit this Button Group.

  2. In Assign Buttons, select the button you just created from the Unassigned list and click 1876 to assign it to Selected.

  3. Click Add.

To use the button to run an Ansible Tower job on a virtual machine:

  1. Navigate to Compute  Infrastructure  Virtual Machines.

  2. Select the virtual machine to run the Ansible Tower job template on.

  3. Click the VM Actions button to show the button you created, and click the button from the list to run the Ansible Tower job template.

    Run Update Button

  4. Click Submit to execute the job.

ManageIQ then confirms the job has been executed.

If you selected a service dialog to run when creating the button, ManageIQ will then prompt you to enter variables to complete the task. After entering your desired parameters, ManageIQ takes you to the Requests page.

The service item’s details can be viewed in Services  My Services in ManageIQ.

4. Cloud Providers

In ManageIQ, a cloud provider is a cloud computing environment that you can add to a ManageIQ appliance to manage and interact with the resources in that environment. This chapter describes the different types of cloud providers that you can add to ManageIQ, and how to manage them. Most cloud providers are added individually to ManageIQ. Additionally, Amazon EC2 and Azure cloud providers can be discovered automatically by ManageIQ.

The web interface uses virtual thumbnails to represent cloud providers. Each thumbnail contains four quadrants by default, which display basic information about each provider: