VIS Self-Service Creator Installation Guide

Dell™ VIS Self-Service CreatorRelease 2.0

Installation Guide

Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

© Dell Inc. 2011. All rights reserved. The copyright in the documentation is held by Dell or the original creator of the material.

Reproduction of these materials in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.

Trademarks used in this text: Dell™, the DELL™ logo, VIS Self-Service Creator™, Dell Precision™, OptiPlex™, Latitude™, PowerEdge™, PowerVault™, PowerConnect™, OpenManage™, KACE™, FlexAddress™ and Vostro™ are trademarks of Dell Inc. Microsoft®, Windows®, Windows Server®, MS-DOS®, Windows XP®, Windows Vista®, Windows 7® and Hyper-V® are either trademarks or regis-tered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Red Hat Enter-prise Linux® and Enterprise Linux® are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Novell® is a registered trademark and SUSE ™ is a trademark of Novell Inc. in the United States and other countries. Oracle® is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Citrix®, Xen®, XenDesktop®, XenServer® and XenMotion® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Citrix in the United States and/or other countries. VMware®, Virtual SMP®, vMotion®, VirtualCenter®, vCenter®, and vSphere® are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMWare, Inc. in the United States or other countries. FlexClone is a trademark of NetApp, Inc. in the United States or other countries.

Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.

April, 2011

Table of Contents

1 Overview of VIS Creator Deployment 1

VIS Creator Database 2

Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Service 2

VIS Creator Agents 2Virtualization Proxy Agents 2Integration Agents 3WMI Agent 3

Model Manager 3

Custom Models 3

Distributed Execution Manager 4

VIS Creator Web Console 4

Reports Web Site 4

2 Preparing for VIS Creator Installation 5

VIS Creator Installation Requirements 5VIS Creator Server Host 5VIS Creator Database Instance 7Distributed Execution Manager Host 8Enabling MSDTC for Remote Database Installation 8Email 9Additional Components 9

Virtualization Platform Requirements 10

Credentials Required for Installation 10

Firewall Configuration Requirements 12

3 Installing VIS Creator 13

VIS Creator Installation Files 13

VIS Creator Licensing 14

Installing with HTTPS 14

Installing the VIS Creator Server 14

Installing a Distributed Execution Manager 22

Installing VIS Creator in High Availability Mode 24Preparing for HA Mode Installation 25Installing in HA Mode Without Mirroring 25Installing in HA Mode With Mirroring 27Failing Over to the Failover VIS Creator Server and Backup Database 29

Updating the Manager Service Configuration 29

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VIS Self-Service Creator Installation Guide

Starting the Console 30

Installation Troubleshooting 31

Uninstalling and Reinstalling the VIS Creator Server 31

Manually Installing the VIS Creator Database 31Manually Creating the VIS Creator Database 32Installing VIS Creator After Manual Database Creation 33

Relocating the VIS Creator Server 33

Relocating the VIS Creator Database 34

Updating Your VIS Creator License 35

4 Installing VIS Creator Agents 37

Planning Your VIS Creator Proxy Agents 37

Configuring Proxy Agents 38

Enabling Remote WMI Requests on Windows Machines 38

Virtual Desktop Integration 39

External Provisioning Integration 39

Using Visual Basic Scripts in Provisioning 39

VIS Creator Agent Relationships 40

VIS Creator Agent Installation Location and Requirements 41Hypervisor Proxy Agent Installation Requirements 41WMI Agent Installation Requirements 41VDI Integration Agent Installation Requirements 42EPI Agent Installation Requirements 43

Preparing Generic Endpoints for vSphere Agents 45

Installing a VIS Creator Agent 46

Uninstalling VIS Creator Agents 53

Modifying Proxy Agent Configurations 53

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Chapter 1 Overview of VIS Creator Deployment

This guide describes the procedures for installing and configuring a Dell VIS Self-Service Creator (VIS Creator) server to provision and manage virtual and physical machines.

The process involves two stages:

• Installing VIS Creator and starting the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service (commonly called the manager service), then installing and starting at least one Distributed Execution Manager (DEM) to create a working VIS Creator server.

• Installing VIS Creator agents, including proxy agents for XenServer and Hyper-V hosts and Vir-tualCenter instances, as well as a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) agent to collect data from provisioned machines. You can also install agents to integrate VIS Creator with exter-nal systems if desired.

The rest of this chapter describes the essential elements of Dell VIS Self-Service Creator. These ele-ments provide two basic mechanisms with some overlapping functionality.

• In previous versions of VIS Creator, all interaction with external systems, including virtualization platforms, was executed by agents, with the manager service coordinating communication between the agents, the database and the web console (user interface). Existing functionality that was implemented using these elements in previous versions continues to rely on them in VIS Creator version 2.0.

• In VIS Creator version 2.0, Distributed Execution Managers (DEMs) manage physical machines and execute external interactions specified in custom models, with the Model Manager manag-ing those models as well as communication with the VIS Creator database and the web console. The functionality of these elements will be extended in future versions of VIS Creator.

These elements are shown in the following diagram.

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Dell VIS Self-Service Creator

Figure 1 Elements of VIS Creator

VIS Creator DatabaseVIS Creator uses a Microsoft SQL Server database to maintain information about the machines it man-ages and its own elements and policies. This database can be local or remote, but must exist for VIS Creator to function; it is typically created during installation.

Dell VIS Self-Service Creator ServiceThe Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service (commonly called the manager service) coordinates VIS Cre-ator communication between VIS Creator agents, the VIS Creator database, Active Directory and SMTP. This service requires administrative privileges to run.

VIS Creator AgentsVIS Creator makes use of a number of different agents. All require administrative privileges to run.

Virtualization Proxy AgentsThe virtual machines managed by VIS Creator are created on virtualization hosts—ESX Servers within VirtualCenter instances, Citrix XenServers and Microsoft Hyper-V servers. A single instance of VIS Cre-ator can support multiple XenServers and Hyper-V servers and multiple VirtualCenter instances. VIS Creator uses virtualization proxy agents to send commands to and collect data from ESX server, Xen-Server and Hyper-V virtualization hosts and the virtual machines provisioned on them.

Proxy agents communicate with the manager service. Each proxy agent is installed separately with its own configuration file.

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Integration Agents Virtual desktop integration (VDI) PowerShell agents allow VIS Creator to integrate with external virtual desktop systems. Currently, virtual machines provisioned by VIS Creator can be registered with Xen-Desktop on a Citrix Desktop Delivery Controller (DDC) and their owners given access to XenDesktop from within VIS Creator.

External provisioning integration (EPI) PowerShell agents allow VIS Creator to integrate external sys-tems into the machine provisioning process. For example, integration with Citrix Provisioning Server enables provisioning of machines by on-demand disk streaming, and an EPI agent can allow you to run Visual Basic scripts as extra steps in the provisioning process.

WMI AgentThe VIS Creator Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) agent enables the collection of certain data from Windows machines managed by VIS Creator.

Model ManagerThe Model Manager is used to create and manage custom models, which facilitate integration of VIS Creator with external entities and implement custom business processes. By providing services and util-ities for persisting, versioning, securing and distributing the different elements of the model and for com-municating with the VIS Creator web console and Distributed Execution Managers, the Model Manager supports the creation, configuration and deployment of new models without any code development or compilation. The Model Manager communicates with the database and web console as well as the DEMs.

Custom ModelsModels are used to facilitate the integration of VIS Creator with external systems and databases and to implement business logic to be executed by a Distributed Execution Manager.

Models are created and managed in the Model Manager and are composed of four elements:

• Secure Multi-Tenancy—Controls who can see what data and who can execute which business logic, leveraging existing authentication and business groupings

• Unified Data Model—Exposes data from the VIS Creator database and external databases within the model through a secure auto-generated REST interface

• Editable Business Logic—Specifies the workflows and activities to be executed

• Execution Policies—Regulate when and where then business logic is executed

VIS Creator Design Center enables the specification and configuration of these elements without any code development or compilation. The custom model is then directly accessible to a Distributed Execu-tion Manager.

VIS Creator Design Center is of limited availability in VIS Creator release 2.0.

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Distributed Execution ManagerA Distributed Execution Manager (DEM) executes the business logic of custom models, interacting with the Dell database and with external databases and systems as required. Multiple DEMs can be employed for scalability, availability and distribution, and execution of a custom model by a particular DEM or set of DEMs can be required within the execution policies of the model. DEMs also manage physical machines for VIS Creator.

VIS Creator Web ConsoleThe VIS Creator web console, available at http://VISCreator_server_hostname/VISCreator, provides the user interface to VIS Creator. The web console communicates with the model manager, which provides it with updates from the DEM, proxy agents and database. The web console is configured during instal-lation as a virtual directory in IIS; this is required for web console access to the VIS Creator server.

Reports Web SiteThe VIS Creator reports web site, available through a link in the VIS Creator console and at http://VISCreator_server_hostname/VISCreator-Reports on the VIS Creator server, provides reports on the virtual machines managed by the VIS Creator server, the resources they use, VIS Creator elements and policies, and other topics. The report site is configured during installation.

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http://DCAC_server_hostname/DCAC

http://VRMservername/VRMReports

http://VRMservername/VRMReports

Chapter 2 Preparing for VIS Creator Installation

This chapter tells you how to properly prepare the installation host and associated systems for installa-tion and initial configuration of VIS Creator.

VIS Creator Installation RequirementsThe following sections describe requirements for the installation host and associated systems.

VIS Creator Server HostThe system hosting the VIS Creator server can be a virtual or physical machine.

Operating System and Environment

VIS Creator can be installed on a Windows Server 2008 SP2 (32 or 64-bit) or Windows Server 2008 R2 system.

The recommended configuration is a quad core 1.6 GHz or faster Intel Xeon processor, at least 4 GB of memory and a minimum 40 disk, with 20 GB of free disk space reserved for the VIS Creator database.

Microsoft .NET Framework 4 must be installed on the installation host. NET Framework 4 can be obtained at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569263.aspx.

Several features must be installed. To confirm that they are installed:

1. Choose Start > Administrative Tools > Server Manager.

2. Right-click Features and select Add Features.

3. In the Select Features dialog, scroll down and make sure all of the following features are selected:

• Under .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features, select WCF Activation and beneath it HTTP Activation and Non-HTTP Activation.

• Under Windows Process Activation Service, select Process Model, .NET Environ-ment and Configuration APIs.

4. Click Next and then Install to install the features.

The Application Server HTTP Activation role service must be installed. To install the role service:


2. Expand Roles in the left navigation pane.

3. If Application Server is displayed under Roles, take the following steps.

• Right-click Application Server and select Add Role Services.

• In the Select Role Services dialog, scroll down and select HTTP Activation.

• Click Next and then Install to install the role services.

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http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569263.aspx


4. If Application Server is not displayed under Roles, take the following steps:

• Right-click Roles and select Add Roles. The Add Roles Wizard appears.

• Select Server Roles on the left, then Application Server on the right. An Add role services required for Application Server? dialog appears.

• Click Add Required Role Services, then click Next on the Select Server Roles panel and in the Application Server panel.

• On the right, expand Windows Process Activation Service Support if necessary and select HTTP Activation. You may be prompted to add required features as well.


Web Server

Microsoft Internet Information Services 7.0 (Windows Server 2008 R1 SP2 hosts) or 7.5 (Windows Server 2008 R2 hosts) must be installed on the VIS Creator installation host with appropriate privileges and permissions.

To ensure successful VIS Creator installation, choose a system on which .NET Framework 4 was installed before IIS 7.X.

The static content feature of IIS 7.X must be selected before VIS Creator is installed. Selecting it after installation is not sufficient. In addition, the VIS Creator web site requires several IIS role services that are not installed by default with IIS 7.X.

If IIS 7.X is already installed, install the needed role services using the following steps:


2. Expand Roles in the left navigation pane. If Web Server (IIS) is displayed, take the following steps:

• Right-click Web Server (IIS) and select Add Role Services.

• In the Select Role Services dialog, scroll down and make sure all of the following role ser-vices are selected:

• Under Common HTTP Features, select Static Content and Default Document.

• Under Application Development, select ASP.NET, .NET Extensibility, ISAPI Exten-sions and ISAPI Filters.

• Under Security, select Windows Authentication.

• Under Management Tools, select IIS 6 Management Compatibility, then expand it and select IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility.

Dell also recommends that you install IIS Management Console, Manage-ment Service, and IIS Management Scripts and Tools.


3. If Web Server (IIS) is not displayed under Roles, take the following steps:

• Right-click Roles and select Add Roles. The Add Roles Wizard appears.

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• Select Server Roles on the left, then Web Server (IIS) on the right. An Add role services required for Web Server? dialog appears.

• Click Add Required Role Services, then click Next on the Select Server Roles panel and in the Web Server panel.

• On the right, select the role services lised above.


Confirm that Windows Authentication is enabled and that Anonymous Authentication is disabled for the default web site, as follows:


2. Expand Roles in the left navigation pane.

3. Expand Web Server (IIS) and click Internet Information Services (IIS Manager.

4. Expand the local node, and underneath it Sites, then select Default Web Site

5. In the IIS section, double-click Authentication.

6. If Windows Authentication is not enabled, right-click Windows Authentication and select Enable.

7. If Anonymous Authentication is enabled, right-click Anonymous Authentication and select Disable.

Database Components

Microsoft SQL Native Client and SQL Server Client Components/Connectivity Components must be installed on the VIS Creator installation host.

You can install these Client components by installing SQL Server 2008, being sure to select Database Engine Services on the Feature Selection panel of the install program.

If you cannot install both of these Client components on the VIS Creator installa-tion host, you must install the VIS Creator database manually, rather than using the installer for this feature. See Manually Installing the VIS Creator Database in Chapter 3.)

VIS Creator Database InstanceYou must have available a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 instance running on a Windows Server 2008 SP2 (32 or 64-bit) or Windows Server 2008 R2 system to host the VIS Creator database. The instance must be on or accessible from the installation host.

TCP/IP protocol must be enabled for Microsoft SQL Server. To ensure that this is the case, use this pro-cedure:

1. Start SQL Server Configuration Manager.

2. Expand SQL Server Network Configuration and select Protocols for MSSQLSERVER.

3. If TCP/IP is not enabled, right-click TCP/IP and select Enable.

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If the instance is not on the installation host, you must enable Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordi-nator (MSDTC) on both the VIS Creator installation host and the remote database server, as described in the next section.

Distributed Execution Manager HostAny system on which you install a Distributed Execution Manager (DEM), whether the VIS Creator server host or another system, must be running Windows Server 2008 SP2 (32 or 64-bit) or Windows Server 2008 R2. If not the VIS Creator server, it must be in the same domain as and be accessible to the VIS Creator server. The following software must be installed on the host:

• .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

• .NET Framework 4.0

Enabling MSDTC for Remote Database InstallationThe VIS Creator database and the SQL Server instance in which it exists can be located on the same server as VIS Creator or on a remote server. If you intend to install the database on a remote server, you must enable Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) on both the VIS Creator installa-tion host and the remote database server. To do this, use the following procedure on each of the two hosts.

Following installation, you can verify that MSDTC is correctly configured for a remote VIS Creator database by successfully creating a machine prefix, as described in the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide.

In addition, on both the VIS Creator server and the database server you must either disable Windows Firewall or use the instructions in the following Microsoft article to configure MSDTC to work through a firewall:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=250367

1. Select Administrative Tools and then Component Services.

2. Expand Component Services, then Computers, then My Computer, then Distributed Trans-action Coordinator. Right-click Local DTC and select Properties.

3. In the Local DTC Properties dialog Security tab, select the following:

• Network DTC Access

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http://support.microsoft.com/?id=250367


• Allow Remote Clients

• Allow Remote Administration

• Allow Inbound

• Allow Outbound

• Mutual Authentication Required

Leave all other settings at the default and click OK to save the above settings.

EmailTo enable VIS Creator’s automatic email feature, you must provide the name of an SMTP server that does not require authentication. (By default, VIS Creator looks for the server on port 25 but this configu-ration can be changed.) Further, email addresses must be stored in Active Directory and the manager service must be authorized to read Active Directory.

Additional ComponentsAdditional software may be required if you intend to create Windows Imaging File Format (WIM) images and Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) images for WIM-based provisioning, install VDI or EPI agents to integrate with external systems, or use other optional features. This software is discussed in the appropriate sections in this guide and in the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide.

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Virtualization Platform RequirementsvSphere/VirtualCenter instances to be managed by VIS Creator must be version 2.5 or later and ESX Servers must be version 3.0 or later. Each VirtualCenter instance must provide a VIS Creator service account (created on the root node) with administrator-level credentials for proxy agent access (see Chapter 4), and must be joined to the domain containing the VIS Creator server.

XenServers to be managed by VIS Creator must be version 4.10 or 5.0. Each XenServer to be man-aged by VIS Creator must provide a VIS Creator service account with administrator-level credentials for proxy agent access (see Chapter 4), and must be joined to the domain containing the VIS Creator server.

Hyper-V servers to be managed by VIS Creator are Windows 2008 Servers with Hyper-V installed. The processor must be equipped with the necessary virtualization extensions. .NET Framework 4 must be installed and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) must be enabled. Each Hyper-V server to be managed by VIS Creator must provide a VIS Creator service account with administrator-level cre-dentials for proxy agent access (see Chapter 4), and must be joined to the domain containing the VIS Creator server.

Credentials Required for InstallationEach task executed by the VIS Creator installer requires specific rights and privileges. You should there-fore identify the credentials needed to provide these before you begin.

The credentials under which each task is executed depend on decisions made during the installation process. The rights and privileges required are noted at each step in the instructions. The following table outlines the general requirements for each task.

Table 1 Credentials Requirements for VIS Creator Installation Tasks

SQL Server credentials for database creation may require particular attention.

• The VIS Creator installer provides the option of using Windows Authentication to connect to the SQL Server instance to create the VIS Creator database, which means the credentials under which you are running the installer are used to connect to the instance. When you select this option, therefore, one set of credentials is used for the first two tasks above and another (which

to … the credentials you use or provide must …

execute the installation program have administrative access to the install host

create the VIS Creator database be valid for the SQL Server instance in which the data-base will be created and be able to create and alter the VIS Creator database in that instance (sa privileges)

enable the manager service to run as a Win-dows service

have administrative access to the install host

enable the manager service to authorize VIS Creator users in a particular Active Directory domain

belong to the Windows Authorization Access Group in that domain

enable the manager service to interact with the VIS Creator database

be valid for the SQL Server instance in which the data-base will be created and have dbo privileges for that database

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may be the same) is used for the last three. When you do not select Windows Authentication, you must provide a third set of credentials for use in connecting to SQL Server to create the VIS Creator database..

• The VIS Creator installer both creates the VIS Creator database and subsequently alters it, including increasing its size and updating database settings. Because database creation, altera-tion and resizing are functions of the fixed SQL Server role dbcreator, Dell recommends that to ensure successful installation, the database administrator add the credentials that will be used to connect to SQL Server to create the VIS Creator database to the dbcreator role.

Therefore, if you select Use Windows Authentication on the Database Connection Configuration panel:

• The credentials under which you execute the installer

• must have administrator access to the installation host.

• must be able to create and alter the VIS Creator database in the SQL Server instance that will contain it. Dell recommends adding the credentials to the dbcreator role in that instance.

• The credentials you enter for the manager service to run under on the Service Configuration panel

• must have administrative access to the install host.

• must belong to the Windows Authorization Access Group in that domain.

• must have dbo privileges in the SQL Server instance in which the database will be created.

If you unselect Use Windows Authentication on the Database Connection Configuration panel:

• The credentials under which you execute the installer must have administrator access to the installation host

• The credentials you enter on the Database Connection Configuration panel must be able to cre-ate and alter the VIS Creator database in the SQL Server instance that will contain it. Dell rec-ommends adding the credentials to the dbcreator role in that instance.

• The credentials you enter for the manager service to run under on the Service Configuration panel

• must have administrative access to the install host

• must belong to the Windows Authorization Access Group in that domain.

• must have dbo privileges in the SQL Server instance in which the database will be created.

Before installing VIS Creator, consult with your database administrator and decide whether to use Win-dows Authentication to create the VIS Creator database and which credentials to use to execute the installer and which to enter on the Database Connection Configuration panel (if not using Windows Authentication) and the Service Configuration panel.

Throughout the procedure, when you specify a domain user (as opposed to a local user) you must enter the username in domain format, for example ENGI-NEERING\jsmith.

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Remember when specifying credentials that in some cases an Active Directory security group can be specified in place of a username, conveying privileges to all members of the security group, but that , Active Directory distribution groups can never be used in this manner, as they cannot be authenticated against.

Firewall Configuration RequirementsFirewalls interfering with communication between VIS Creator components—including the VIS Creator server, Distributed Execution Managers (DEMs), proxy agents and guest agents running on provisioned virtual machines on virtualization hosts—prevent VIS Creator from operting successfully. Therefore all proxy agents and DEMs should be installed within the same network as the VIS Creator server and VIS Creator database host, which should also include virtualization hosts in use (ESX Servers, XenServers, Hyper-V servers).

If firewalls exist between the systems that will host the components of your VIS Creator installation, you must choose one of the following options:

• Open all ports, bi-directionally, between the all systems hosting VIS Creator components

• Open the specific ports listed in the following table.

Table 2 Ports used by Cloud Automation Center for communication:

All communications listed above involve TCP ports.

Source Component Target Component Protocol Port

VIS Creator serverSQL Server instance containing VIS Creator data-base

MSSQL 1433

proxy agents

VIS Creator serverHTTPS 443

HTTP 80

virtualization hostHTTPS 443

HTTP 80

guest agentsVIS Creator server

HTTPS 443

DEMs HTTP 80

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Chapter 3 Installing VIS Creator

s

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This chapter describes procedures for installing a working VIS Creator instance.

VIS Creator Installation FilesVIS Creator installation files can be downloaded from the Dell support portal (contact your support repre-sentative to obtain a username and password). The table below describes these files.

Table 3 VIS Creator Installation Files

Use of the Windows guest agent packages, the PEBuilder utility installer, the VIS Creator Bulk Operations Client installer and the Linux agent installer and dependencies package are described in the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide.

File or zip file Purpose

VISCreator-Server-Setup.exe Installs and upgrades VIS Creator

VISCreator-Agent-Setup.exe Installs and upgrades VIS Creator agents

VISCreator-Dem-Setup.exe Installs a Distributed Execution Manager (DEM)

VISCreator-WinPEBuilder-Setup.exe Installs the PEBuilder utility

VISCreator-BulkOperationsClientInstaller.msi Installs the VIS Creator Bulk Operations Client

VISCreator-GuestAgent2010Zip.zip, VISCreator-GuestAgent2008Zip.zip

Contain guest agent executables

VISCreator-Linux-Agent.rpm Installs the Linux agent

VISCreator-Linux-dependencies.zip Contains installers foir Linux agent dependencie

DBInstall.zipTools for manual installation of VIS Creator database

DBUpgrade.zip Tools for VIS Creator database upgrade

Documentation.zip

VIS Self-Service Creator Instal-lation Guide.pdf

This guide

VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide.pdf

Comprehensive VIS Creator operating documentation

VIS Self-Service Creator Release Notes.pdf

Description of features and known defects in thisVIS Creator release (check Dell customer portal for latest version)

VIS Creator Deployment Plan-ner.xlsx

Spreadsheet useful in planning VIS Creator deployment and calculating costs for chargebackcost profiles

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VIS Creator LicensingLicensed products include Dell VIS Self-Service Creator for Virtual Desktops, Dell VIS Self-Service Cre-ator for Virtual Servers, Dell VIS Self-Service Creator for Physical Servers, and Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Evaluation. To obtain a VIS Creator license, contact your Dell customer representative.

You must provide the location of a valid VIS Creator license when installing VIS Creator.

Installing with HTTPSVIS Creator and its components can be installed to use HTTPS as the transport protocol. If VIS Creator is installed to use HTTPS, all Distributed Execution Managers (DEMs) and agents must also be installed with HTTPS.

When installing any component with HTTPS, hostnames must be provided as fully-qualified domain names.

Dell recommends using a domain certificate to install VIS Creator with HTTPS. If a valid domain certifi-cate is not installed on the installation host, create one before installing VIS Creator.

Installing the VIS Creator Server1. Before beginning the install procedure, confirm that each of the prerequisites summarized in the

following table has been met. For details on these prerequisites and how to meet them, see Chapter 2.

Table 4 Prequisite Checklist for VIS Creator Installation

VIS Creator server—virtual or physical machine

processor quad core Intel Xeon, >= 1.6 GHz

memory >= 4 GB

disk space >= 40 GB including >= 20 GB for VIS Creator database if cohosted

operating systems supported

Windows Server 2008 SP232-bit

64-bit

Windows Server 2008 R2

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environment

Microsoft .NET Framework 4 installed

features installed

WCF Activation

HTTP Activation

Non-HTTP Activation

Process Model

.NET Environment

Configuration APIs

Application Server role service installed

HTTP Activation

if database is remote, Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) enabled; Windows Firewall disabled or MSDTC configured to work through a firewall

web server

Microsoft Internet Information Services installed

version 7.0 (WS 2008 SP2)

version 7.5 (WS 2008 R2)

Web Server role services installed

Static Content

Default document

ASP.NET

.NET Extensibility

ISAPI Extensions

ISAPI Filters

Windows Authentication

IIS 6 Management Compatibility

IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility

Web Server authentication Windows Authentication enabled

database componentsMicrosoft SQL Native Client and SQL Server Client Components/Connec-tivity Components installed

VIS Creator database instance—cohosted on VIS Creator server or remote

database application supported

Microsoft SQL Server 2008

database host operat-ing system supported

Windows Server 2008 SP232-bit

64-bit

Windows Server 2008 R2

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2. Obtain the VISCreator-Server-Setup.exe file from the Dell customer portal and locate it on the installation host.

3. Log into the installation host as a user with administrative access to the host. Right-click VIS-Creator-Server-Setup.exe and select Run as administrator. This ensures that you will be installing VIS Creator as a user with full administrative access to the installation host. (If the installer as run does not have sufficient privileges, you are informed of this and installation is cancelled.) The installer opens.

If you intend to select Use Windows Authentication when creating the VIS Creator database on the Database Connection Configuration panel, the cre-dentials under which you run the VIS Creator installer must be valid for the SQL Server instance in which the database will be created and be able to create and alter the VIS Creator database in that instance.

4. Use the Extract button to extract the installation files. (If your system does not have all the required software installed, you may be warned and redirected to the installer for the missing software.) Read and accept the EULA, then continue.

5. On the License Configuration panel, provide the full pathname to your VIS Creator license file. See your Dell support representative for information about VIS Creator licenses. To request a valid license, send an email request to [email protected].

6. On the Custom Setup panel, select the features you want installed. If you are installing VIS Cre-ator for the first time, you need all the features except Replace existing security information.

environment

if database is remote, Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) enabled on database host; Windows Firewall disabled or MSDTC configured to work through a firewall

TCP/IP protocol enabled for MSSQLSERVER

If firewalls exist between VIS Creator components all ports open bi-direc-tionally or specific ports opened as specified in Chapter 2

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You can change the default installation location using the Browse button. When you leave this panel you will be warned if you do not have at least 8 GB of free disk space in the selected loca-tion.

7. On the IIS Site Binding Configuration panel, choose the transport protocol to for VIS Creator: HTTP or HTTPS. If you select HTTPS, you can specify the port to use (default is 443) and choose a valid domain certificate to use from among those installed on the installation host.

Remember that if VIS Creator is installed to use HTTPS, all DEMs and agents must also be installed to use HTTPS.

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8. On the Email Configuration panel, enable VIS Creator’s automatic emails by entering the host-name of the SMTP server for VIS Creator to use and a From address for emails sent by VIS Creator. (These entries are required, but you can enter invalid information if you don’t want to enable automatic email.)

The SMTP server must not require authentication. By default, VIS Creator looks for the server on port 25 but this configuration can be changed; see the next section for details.

The VIS Creator automatic email feature requires that user email addresses are stored in Active Directory and that the manager service is authorized to read Active Directory.

9. On the Service Configuration panel:

• Select Register Manager Service to install the manager service as a Windows service, and select Start Manager Service to automatically start the manager service. Both are required for VIS Creator to function.

If you want to delay starting the manager service so you can alter its configuration first, you can easily start it manually later. (Select Start > Administrative Tools > Services and then start the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service.)

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• Choose whether to change the location for the manager service logs. You may want to do this, for example, to place the log files on a dedicated partition separate from the one hosting the operating system. This prevents the increase in space devoted to log files from affecting the operating system or VIS Creator. To change from the default location, uncheck Use Default Log Location and enter the log file location you want in the Manager Service Log Location box.

• Choose whether to enable support for provisioning with Microsoft System Center Configura-tion Manager (SCCM). If you do, you must enter a pathname providing the location of two required libraries in the SCCM Library Location box:

adminui.wqlqueryengine.dllmicrosoft.configurationmanagement.managementprovider.dll

Enter the absolute local or UNC path to the libraries, not including the library names.

• Enter the credentials to be used by the manager service. As previously noted, these creden-tials must have administrative access to the local machine and belong to the Windows Authorization Access group in all Active Directory domains containing users to be authorized by VIS Creator. If you select Use Windows Authentication on the next panel, they must also be valid for the SQL Server instance you specify on that panel and have dbo privileges for the VIS Creator database.

You must provide the manager service credentials again when installing a Dis-tributed Execution Manager (see the next procedure for details) and when installing a vSphere proxy agent (see Chapter 4).

Throughout these procedures, when you specify a domain user you must enter the username in domain format, for example ENGINEERING\jsmith.

10. On the Database Connection Configuration panel, enter the name of the SQL Server instance in which to create the VIS Creator database. The default is localhost.

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http://VRM_server_name:9003/VMPS




If SQL Server is remote, enter the server name if connecting to the default instance. If using a named instance, you must include the instance name whether local or remote; for remote, use the format server_name\instance_name.

If you selected HTTPS on the IIS Site Binding Configuration panel, you must enter the fully-qualified domain name of the SQL Server host.

If creating the VIS Creator database on a remote system, be sure to see Virtu-alization Platform Requirements in Chapter 2.

As discussed at the end of Chapter 2, the credentials used to connect to SQL Server must be able to both create and alter the VIS Creator database (sa privileges). Select Use Windows Authentication to create the database using the credentials under which you executed the installation program. To specify separate credentials, unselect Use Windows Authentication and enter the credentials.

Always use Test Connection to verify that the SQL instance is specified correctly and can be reached from the install host (if remote), and that the credentials are valid and have the needed privileges within the instance. Installation will fail if the connection is not valid.

The VIS Creator database can be installed manually by unselecting Create Database on the Custom Setup panel; instructions are provided later in this chapter. When you install the database manually, you must specify the data-base name on this panel.

If you have not selected Use Windows Authentication on the Database Connection Configu-ration panel, you must ensure that the SQL Server instance is configured for SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode instead of Windows Authentication mode. To do so:

• Start Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and sign into the database server.

• Right-click the Top Server node (it is labelled local if you are working on the local host) and select Properties.

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• In the Server Properties dialog, click Security.

• Under Server Authentication, select SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode, then click OK.

• Close SQL Server Management Studio, then stop and restart the MSSQL service.

11. On the Database Configuration panel, enter a name for the VIS Creator database to be created (the default is VISCreator). Unselect the Use default box to use a directory other than the default for the data and log files. (This panel does not appear if you are creating the database manually.)

\

To avoid permissions-related problems the best practice is to place the default data and log files under the default SQL Server data and log directories.

12. On the Reporting Portal Configuration panel, the credentials you entered for the manager ser-vice are entered by default. If you prefer to use different credentials for the report service, you can enter them instead.

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If you selected Use Windows Authentication on the Database Connection Configuration panel, whatever credentials you specify will also be used to connect to the VIS Creator data-base.

13. On the final panel, press the Install button to complete the installation.

Installing a Distributed Execution ManagerAt least one Distributed Execution Manager (DEM) must be installed for each instance of VIS Creator, typically on the VIS Creator server. (If it is installed on another host, that host must be in the same domain as and be accessible to the VIS Creator server, and .NET 3.5 SP1 and .NET 4.0 must be installed.)

1. Obtain the VISCreator-Dem-Setup.exe file from the Dell customer portal and locate it on the installation host.

2. Log into the installation host as a user with administrative access to the host. Right-click VIS-Creator-Dem-Setup.exe and select Run as administrator. This ensures that you will be installing the DEM as a user with full administrative access to the installation host. (If the installer as run does not have sufficient privileges, you are informed of this and installation is cancelled.) Read and accept the EULA, then continue.

3. Accept the defaults on the Custom Setup panel.

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4. On the Repository Hostname panel, enter the hostname of the VIS Creator data repository (also called the Model Manager). In almost all configurations, this is the hostname of the VIS Creator server (for example, localhost). If you select HTTPS as the transport protocol at the bottom of the panel, you must enter the fully-qualified domain name of the VIS Creator data repository.

On the same panel, enter the credentials you entered for the manager service on the Service Configuration panel when installing the VIS Creator server. The DEM installer validates the com-bination of repository host and manager service credentials by attempting to gain access to the repository using the credentials; if it succeeds, you can continue with installation. If an error is returned, you must determine the correct combination of repository host and credentials before proceeding.

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Finally, if VIS Creator was installed to use HTTPS as the transport protocol, select Use HTTPS as transport protocol and optionally specify a port to use, or keep the default of 443.

5. On the Service Configuration panel, select Register Distributed Execution Manager Service to install the manager service as a Windows service, and select Start Distributed Execution Manager Service to automatically start the DEM service. Both are required for VIS Creator to function. Then enter a unique name for the DEM service. This name must not be the same as that of any other DEM running on any host on the network.

6. On the same panel, enter the credentials to be used by the DEM service. For simplicity, you can use the same credentials you provided for the VIS Creator manager service. If you do not, the credentials you supply will be granted access to the repository by the DEM installer. These cre-dentials must be resolvable by the manager service. If installing the DEM on the VIS Creator server, you can therefore use a local account; if installing on another host, the credentials you specify must be in the same domain as those the manager service is running under.


Installing VIS Creator in High Availability ModeVIS Creator can be installed and configured into high availability (HA) mode, in which clustered instances of VIS Creator provide a failover capability. Each cluster contains two instances of VIS Cre-ator: the primary, which is initially active, and a failover to be activated in the event of a failure on the pri-mary.

There are two possible configurations, one using a single database and one using SQL mirroring to pro-vide database failover capability as well. In the latter, failover to the backup database if effected by acti-vating the failover VIS Creator server.

Both configurations require the use of SQL-based authorization to enable the two VIS Creator instances to share an authorization store.

To install in HA mode, use the following procedures.

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Preparing for HA Mode InstallationAs with any VIS Creator installation, the database may be hosted on the VIS Creator server or remotely on another system. When using SQL mirroring, therefore, up to four networked hosts may be involved.

1. Configure the two VIS Creator servers into a cluster using your preferred load balancing solu-tion. The primary server must be active and the failover server inactive.

2. Identify or install the SQL Server instances required to host the VIS Creator database, or the pri-mary database and the backup database if using SQL mirroring.

3. To ensure continuous access to the SQL-based authorization, apply the Microsoft hot fix avail-able at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975332 to each database host (whether it is one of the VIS Creator installation hosts or another system).

Installing in HA Mode Without MirroringThe main steps in this installation procedure are as follows:

• Install the failover VIS Creator server with SQL-based authorization, then drop the VIS Creator database created in the procedure.

• Install the p[rimary VIS Creator server with SQL-based authorization.

Installing the Failover VIS Creator Server

On the failover VIS Creator Server (the inactive server in the cluster):

1. Use the procedure provided in Installing the VIS Creator Server, earlier in this chapter, to install VIS Creator. However, you must uncheck the Start Manager Service box on the Service Con-figuration panel (step 9) so that the manager service does not start when installation is complete.

2. Select Start, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. In the command window, issue the command iisreset.

3. Edit the file ManagerServerice.exe.config in %SystemDrive%\Program Files x86\Dell VIS\Self-Service Creator Server (or the VIS Creator install directory, if different). Locate the serviceConfiguration section and change false to true:

runInHAMode=”true”

4. Locate the authorizationStoreHA property as below.

authorizationStoreHA="Driver={SQL Server};server=instance;/VISCreator/VMPS"

instance was set during installation to the SQL Server instance you entered on the Configure the Database Connection panel of the installer. If you did not accept the default database name VIS-Creator on the Database Configuration panel (step 11), replace VISCreator with the database name you entered. Finally, replace VMPS with Repository (note the uppercase R) so that the property is as follows:

authorizationStoreHA="Driver={SQL Server};server=instance;/dbName/Repository"

Save and close the ManagerServerice.exe.config file.

5. Edit the file Repository.Website/Web.config in the VIS Creator install directory. Locate the repository server tag and delete the store property, changing

<repository server="ServerName" database="dbName" store="msxml://

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VISCreator_installation_directory\Store\Security.xml"/>

to

<repository server="ServerName" database="dbName"/>

Save and close the Web.config file.

6. Connect to the SQL Server instance in which the VIS Creator database was just created and drop the database

Installing the Primary VIS Creator Server

On the primary VIS Creator server: (the active server in the cluster):

1. Use the procedure provided in Installing the VIS Creator Server, earlier in this chapter, to install VIS Creator. However, you must uncheck the Start Manager Service box on the Service Con-figuration panel (step 9) so that the manager service does not start when installation is com-plete.






instance was set during installation to the SQL Server instance you entered on the Configure the Database Connection panel of the installer. If you did not accept the default database name VISCreator on the Database Configuration panel (step 11), replace VISCreator with the data-base name you entered. Finally, replace VMPS with Repository (note the uppercase R) so that the property is as follows:



5. Restart the VIS Creator server to load the security configuration contained in the security,xml file nto newly created tables within the VIS Creator database. This restart must occur before the following step.

6. Select Start > Administrative Tools > Services and start the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service.




to



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Any changes made to the ManagerService.exe.config file after installation—for example, changing the SMTP port as described in the following section—must be made to the files on both the failover and the primary VIS Creator serv-ers.

When using multiple VIS Creator instances for high availability, install identical sets of identically-configured agents on each VIS Creator server.

Installing in HA Mode With MirroringThe main steps in this installation procedure are as follows:

• Install the primary VIS Creator server with SQL-based authorization, creating the primary data-base.

• Install the secondary VIS Creator server with SQL-based authorization, creating the backup database.

• Configure mirroring between the primary and the backup database.

Installing the Primary VIS Creator Server

On the primary VIS Creator server: (the active server in the cluster):

1. Use the procedure provided in Installing the VIS Creator Server, earlier in this chapter, to install VIS Creator. However, you must uncheck the Start Manager Service box on the Service Con-figuration panel (step 9) so that the manager service does not start when installation is complete. Be sure the database instance and connection information you provide is for the primary data-base.






instance was set during installation to the SQL Server instance you entered on the Configure the Database Connection panel of the installer. If you did not accept the default database name VIS-Creator on the Database Configuration panel (step 11), replace VISCreator with the database name you entered. Finally, replace VMPS with Repository (note the uppercase R) so that the property is as follows:



5. Restart the VIS Creator server to load the security configuration contained in the security,xml file nto newly created tables within the VIS Creator database. This restart must occur before the following step.

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6. Select Start > Administrative Tools > Services and start the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service if it is not already started.




to



Installing the Failover VIS Creator Server

On the failover VIS Creator Server (the inactive server in the cluster):

1. Use the procedure provided in Installing the VIS Creator Server, earlier in this chapter, to install VIS Creator. However, you must uncheck the Start Manager Service box on the Service Con-figuration panel (step 9) so that the manager service does not start when installation is com-plete. Be sure the database instance and connection information you provide is for the backup database.






instance was set during installation to the SQL Server instance you entered on the Configure the Database Connection panel of the installer. If you did not accept the default database name VISCreator on the Database Configuration panel (step 11), replace VISCreator with the data-base name you entered. Finally, replace VMPS with Repository (note the uppercase R) so that the property is as follows:






to



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Any changes made to the ManagerService.exe.config file after installation—for example, changing the SMTP port as described in the following section—must be made to the files on both the failover and the primary VIS Creator serv-ers.

When using VIS Creatormultiple instances for high availability, install identical sets of identically-configured agents on each VIS Creator server.

Configuring SQL Mirroring

SQL mirroring should be configured by a qualified database professional. Consult Microsoft documenta-tion for procedures.

Before configuring mirroring, on the primary (active) VIS Creator server, select Start > Administrative Tools > Services and stop any Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Agent services (see Chapter 4), then stop the Distributed Execution Manager and Dell VIS Self-Service Creator services. Following mirroring con-figuration, these services should be restarted

Failing Over to the Failover VIS Creator Server and Backup DatabaseIn the event of a VIS Creator failure, and/or VIS Creator database failure when using SQL mirroring, fol-low these steps to fail over to the secondary server:

1. If the primary VIS Creator server is still running, select Start > Administrative Tools > Services and stop any Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Agent services (see Chapter 4), then stop the Dell VIS Distributed Execution Manager Service and Dell VIS Self-Service Creator services.

2. Deactivate the primary server within the cluster.

3. If using SQL mirroring, fail over to the backup database using procedures documented by Micro-soft.

4. Activate the failover VIS Creator server within the cluster.

5. On the failover server, select Start, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as adminis-trator. In the command window, issue the command iisreset.

6. Select Start > Administrative Tools > Services and start the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator ser-vice, the Dell VIS Distributed Execution Manager Service and any Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Agent services (see Chapter 4).

Updating the Manager Service ConfigurationThe manager service configuration is contained in the file ManagerService.exe.config in the VIS Cre-ator installation directory. Most settings in this file typically do not need to be altered for normal VIS Cre-ator operation. One change you may need to make following installation, however, is described here. Other possible modifications to the ManagerService.exe.config file for customization purposes are described in Chapter 5 of the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide.

If the SMTP server you specified during installation is not on port 25, you need to change the manager service configuration to include the correct port. To do so, use the following steps:

1. Log into the VIS Creator server using credentials with administrator access.

2. Edit the file ManagerServerice.exe.config in %SystemDrive%\Program Files x86\Dell VIS\Self-Service Creator Server (or the VIS Creator install directory, if different).

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3. Locate the serviceConfiguration section:

<serviceConfiguration serviceUri="http://localhost:9003/VMPS" ...

4. Locate the smtpServer=servername attribute and insert the following attribute after it

smtpServerPort=port

where port is the port on which VIS Creator should look for the SMTP server specified in the smtpServer attribute.

5. Save and close the file. Select Start > Administrative Tools > Services and start, or stop and restart, the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service.

For information about customizing VIS Creator’s automatic emails, see the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide.

Starting the ConsoleWhen installation is complete and the manager service is started, you can access VIS Creator through the console by loading http://VISCreator_server_hostname/VISCreator into Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Figure 2 VIS Creator Console Following Installation

Creator administrator access (illustrated above) is necessary to complete the required setup within VIS Creator, and is granted initially to the local Administrators group on the host system. There is no other access to a new VIS Creator installation. A user who is not a member of the Administrators group will not be able to use the VIS Creator console until a user who is adds her to VIS Creator as an administra-tor or provisioning group member. See the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide for complete informa-tion about VIS Creator user role and rights assignments.

If your credentials when you open the console are the same as the ones the manager service is running under, you may see additional activity groups in the activity pane.

Scripting must be enabled in your browser in order to use the VIS Creator con-sole.

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http://VRMservername/VRM


To use the console’s context-sensitive help, you may need to enable popup win-dows in your browser.

If a “Server Error” page displays when you try to load the VIS Creator console, it may because the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service is not running. Restart it by logging into the VIS Creator server, selecting Start > Administrative Tools > Services and starting the service.

The web console configuration is stored in the file Website\web.config in the VIS Creator install directory. Some possible modifications to this file for custom-ization purposes are described in Chapter 5 of the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide.

Installation TroubleshootingWhen you execute the VISCreator-Server-Setup.exe file, a log file is generated on the system drive. The path is %SystemDrive\VIS Self-Service Creator Install Log\datestamp.log, where datestamp indicates the date and time. If you have problems during installation you can consult this log and email it to [email protected] for assistance.

Uninstalling and Reinstalling the VIS Creator ServerTo uninstall the VIS Creator server, first stop the manager service on the VIS Creator server. Log in as a user with administrative privileges, then select Start > Administrative Tools > Services. Stop all Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Agent services (see Chapter 4), the Dell VIS Distributed Execution Manager Service, and then the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service.

You can then use Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs to uninstall VIS Creator.

Following these steps you can reinstall VIS Creator if you wish.

If you have changed any VIS Creator configuration files, you may want to save these files before uninstalling VIS Creator. This lets you compare your previous version of the file with the newly installed version to recover your changes.

Manually Installing the VIS Creator DatabaseFor a variety of reasons, such as not being able to install SQL Native Client and SQL Server Client Com-ponents on the VIS Creator installation host, you may want or need to create the VIS Creator database manually. You can do this by first creating the database and then installing the VIS Creator server as described earlier in this chapter but with the differences noted here.

The following table indicates the information needed for database installation and the subsequent VIS Creator installation. Provide yourself with this information before beginning the procedures that follow.

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mailto:[email protected]




Table 5 VIS Creator Database and VIS Creator Installation Information

Manually Creating the VIS Creator Database1. Obtain the DBInstall.zip file from the Dell customer portal and locate it on the database host.

This can be the host on which you intend to install VIS Creator, but need not be.

If you are creating the VIS Creator database on a remote system, be sure to see Virtualization Platform Requirements in Chapter 2.

2. Have your database administrator or other equally knowledgeable person log into the database host as a user with sufficient rights (sa privileges) to create and drop databases within the SQL Server instance, review the database deployment scripts, and execute them to install the data-base.

If the database host has .NET 2.0 and sqlcmd.exe installed (both installable with MS SQL Server 2005) and you want to use Windows Authentication to connect to the database, you can build the VIS Creator database using the BuildDB.bat file. Use the following command, with the arguments specified in the preceding table:

BuildDB.bat /p:DBServer=db_server;DBName=db_name;DBDir=db_dir;

LogDir=[log_dir];ServiceUser=service_user;ReportLogin=report_user

If .NET 2.0 and the sqlcmd.exe are not installed on the SQL Server host or you are using SQL Authentication to connect to the database, examine the BuildDB.bat and DeployVMPS.xml files and make the needed modifications to the deployment scripts.

Command argument Installer panel Installer prompt Purpose

db_serverDatabaseConfiguration

SQL Database Server Instance (defaults to local-host)

SQL Server instance that contains VIS Creator database. If local, localhost (if the default instance) or localhost\instance; if remote, server (if the default instance) or server\instance

db_nameSQL Database Name (defaults to VISCreator)

Name of VIS Creator database

db_dirnot provided to installer when not creating database

Data directory for VIS Creatordatabase

log_dirLog file directory for VIS Creatordatabase

service_userServiceConfiguration

Username in DOMAIN\user format

Username under which the VIS Creator manager service runs

report_userReporting Portal Configuration

Username in DOMAIN\user format (defaults to username entered for manager service)

Username under which the VIS Creator reporting service runs

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Installing VIS Creator After Manual Database Creation1. Begin the VIS Creator installation process as described in Installing the VIS Creator Server, ear-

lier in this chapter.

2. Unselect the Create Database feature on the Custom Setup panel. Proceed through the Email Configuration and Service Configuration panels as previously described; on the latter enter the username you provided as the service_user argument to the BuildDB.bat command.

3. When you have unselected Create Database, there is only one database-related panel, as opposed to the two described in the Installing the VIS Creator Server procedure, steps 10. and 11. On the Database Configuration panel, enter the name of the SQL Server instance that con-tains the VIS Creator database (db_server in the BuildDB.bat command) and the name of the VIS Creator database (db_name in the BuildDB.bat command).

To have VIS Creator connect to the database using the credentials you provided for the manager service to run under on the previous panel, leave Use Windows Authentication selected. To use a separate set of credentials to connect to the database, unselect Use Windows Authenti-cation to unlock the User and Password prompts and enter the credentials.

Either way, the credentials must be valid for the SQL server instance that contains the VIS Cre-ator database and have the necessary privileges to alter the database.

4. On the VIS Creator Reporting Portal Configuration, enter the username you provided as the report_user argument to the BuildDB.bat command, then complete the installation.

Relocating the VIS Creator ServerIf the VIS Creator server is moved to a new Active Directory domain, authorization problems are likely to result. The best practice, recommended by Dell, is to use the procedure in the preceding section to install a new VIS Creator server in the desired domain using the existing VIS Creator database, rather than moving the existing VIS Creator server to a new domain. In brief,

1. Gather and preserve information about existing modifications to the manager service configura-tion on the VIS Creator server, typically by preserving the existing ManagerServerice.exe.con-

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fig file in %SystemDrive%\Program Files x86\Dell VIS\Self-Service Creator Server (or the VIS Creator install directory if different); see Updating the Manager Service Configuration earlier in this chapter and the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide for more information.

2. Gather information about all VIS Creator agent configurations (see Chapter 4) so that these can be applied to the new VIS Creator server and agents.

3. Install VIS Creator on the server in the new domain with the existing database using the proce-dure in Installing VIS Creator After Manual Database Creation in the previous section.

4. Update the manager service configuration to match the existing VIS Creator server, typically by copying the preserved ManagerService.exe.config file to the VIS Creator install directory, and restart the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service.

5. Install agents to match the all the agents in the existing VIS Creator installation; see Chapter 4 for more information.

6. Verify that the new VIS Creator installation functions properly, then uninstall the old VIS Creator agents and server according to procedures in Uninstalling and Reinstalling the VIS Creator Server earlier in this chapter and Chapter 4.

Relocating the VIS Creator DatabaseIn the event that you need to relocate your VIS Creator database to another server some time after installation and initial use, use the following steps as guidelines to the process. This process requires expert knowledge in administering SQL Server.

1. On the VIS Creator server,

a. use IIS Manager to stop the VIS Creator and VISCreator-Reports web sites

b. select Start > Administrative Tools > Services, stop all Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Agent services (see Chapter 4), the Dell VIS Distributed Execution Manager Service, and then the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service.

3. On the current database server (which may be the VIS Creator server), create a full backup of the VIS Creator database in SQL Server.

4. Copy the database backup files to the new database server.

5. Restore the database to the desired SQL Server instance on the new database server.

6. Grant the database connection credentials used by the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service dbo access to the database in the new location.

7. On the VIS Creator server, update the file %SystemDrive%\Program Files x86\Dell VIS\Self-Service Creator Server\ManagerService.exe.config as follows:

• In the ConnectionStrings section update Data Source with the name of the new database server and Initial Catalog with the new database name, if it is different.

<connectionStrings>

<add name="VMPS2" connectionString="Data Source= SQL_server_name\instance_n

ame;Initial Catalog=VISCreator; ...

• In the serviceConfiguration section update Data Source with the name of the new data-base server and Initial Catalog with the new database name, if it is different.

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<serviceConfiguration serviceUri=http://VISCreator_server_name:9003/VMPS ... connectionString="Data Source=SQL_server_name\instance_name;Initial Cata-

log=VISCreator; ...

8. Update the file %SystemDrive%\Program Files x86\Dell VIS\Self-Service Creator Server\Report.Website\Web.config in a similar fashion, updating the ConnectionStrings sec-tion with new Data Source and if necessary new Initial Catalog.

9. On the VIS Creator server, select Start > Administrative Tools > Services and

• Use IIS Manager to start the VIS Creatorand VISCreator-Reports web sites

• Start the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator service

• Start the Dell VIS Distributed Execution Manager Service

• Start all Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Agent services

Updating Your VIS Creator License As previously noted in Installing the VIS Creator Server, you must provide the pathname of your license file. The VIS Creator installer places a copy of this license file in the VIS Creator server installation direc-tory (typically %SystemDrive%\Program Files x86\Dell VIS\Self-Service Creator Server) and renames it lic.xml.

To update your license (for example if you are replacing an evaluation license with an unlimited license or adding a feature), you must delete the existing license file and copy the new license file to the same location, with the same name—that is, VISCreator_server_install_directory\lic.xml.

Once you have replaced the license file as above, VIS Creator automatically detects the new license file and updates your license.

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Chapter 4 Installing VIS Creator Agents

VIS Creator server relies on four types of agents to communicate with the external systems with which it is integrated and the virtual machines it manages:

• Hypervisor proxy agents

• Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) agents

• Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) integration agents

• External provisioning infrastructure (EPI) integration agents

These agents are all installed using the same procedure, as detailed later in this chapter.

Planning Your VIS Creator Proxy AgentsThe virtual machines managed by VIS Creator server are provisioned on ESX Servers within VirtualCen-ter instances, on Citrix XenServers, and on Microsoft Hyper-V servers. VIS Creator server uses proxy agents to communicate with these virtualization platforms to discover available work, fetch host informa-tion, and report completed work items and host status changes.

Once a VIS Creator server proxy agent is managing a virtualization host VIS Creator server can collect data about that host, including its characteristics, the physical memory and storage it provides and the amount of these resources that are in use, and any unmanaged virtual machines (provisioned outside VIS Creator server) that exist on the host.

VIS Creator server communicates with the physical machines it manages through each machine’s management interface rather than through agents.

A single instance of VIS Creator server can support multiple XenServers, Hyper-V servers and Virtual-Center instances. The proxy agent that will manage each host must have administrative access to it. Therefore the number of proxy agents you install depends on the number needed to ensure that at least one will have the required access to each of the hosts you want to add to VIS Creator server. On this basis, one uniquely named proxy agent must be installed for:

• Each vSphere or VirtualCenter 2.5 instance

• Each set of credentials used by the agent to access one or more XenServers

• Each set of credentials used by the agent to access one or more Hyper-V servers

For XenServers and Hyper-V servers, you may want to fully prepare the credentials the agents will need before installing the agents. For example, if you add half of your Hyper-V hosts to one domain and half to another, and within each domain prepare a set of administrator-level credentials for the proxy agents to use, you will need to install two Hyper-V agents—one for each domain. You will also need configuration information for each agent—the entities to be managed and the credentials required to manage them—before installing the agents. You these reasons, you will likely find it very helpful to prepare ahead of time a plan of the agents you need including the instances and hosts to be managed and the credentials to be used. An example is shown in the following table.

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Table 6 Proxy Agent Installation Table

If you installed clustered instances of VIS Creator for high availability, as described in Chapter 3, install identical sets of agents on the primary and failover VIS Creator servers.

Configuring Proxy Agents The way in which a proxy agent is configured for the virtualization hosts it manages depends on the type of host involved.

• A vSphere proxy agent is configured when installed for a generic endpoint specifying the loca-tion of the VirtualCenter instance it is to manage and the credentials it will use to do so. The endpoint, which is created using the Creator Administrator > Generic Endpoint activity in the VIS Creator console, as described in the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide, must exist and contain valid information before the agent is installed (or at least before the agent service is started). Use your agent list to create the needed endpoints and then install the corresponding vSphere agents.

• A Xen or Hyper-V proxy agent is installed with only the credentials used to gain access to the hosts it will manage and not the names of the host themselves. For this reason, each Xen and Hyper-V agent must be configured for each XenServer or Hyper-V host it is to manage. This is done using the Creator Administrator > Agent Configuration activity in the VIS Creator con-sole, as described in the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide, and can be done after the agent is installed and running. Once a host is configured using this function, data collection begins automatically. Use your agent list to install the needed Xen and Hyper-V agents and then configure the agents for the corresponding hosts.

Enabling Remote WMI Requests on Windows MachinesA Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) agent is required to collect certain data for example the Active Directory status of a machine’s VIS Creator owner) from any Windows virtual machine managed by VIS Creator.

To enable WMI agents to collect this data from virtual machines,

VIS Creator Server Agent Type Agent Name

ServiceUsername VirtualCenter URL or Hostname

qa-creator-1vSphere vsphere20 vc20 https://vsphere-20/sdk

vSphere vsphere27 vc27 https://vsphere-27/sdk

qa-creator-2

Hyper-V hv1 hv1 qa-hv-217 through qa-hv-225

Xenxen1 xen1 qa-xen-11, qa-xen-17, qa-xen-25

xen2 xen2 qa-xen-14, qa-xen-19, qa-xen-20-22

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1. In each domain to which Windows virtual machines provisioned and managed by VIS Creator may be joined, create an Active Directory group and add to it the service credentials of the WMI agents that may need to execute remote WMI requests on the provisioned machines.

2. Enable remote WMI requests for the Active Directory group(s) containing the agent credentials on each Windows virtual machine provisioned. This is done while preparing reference machines for cloning or WIM-based provisioning of Windows virtual machines, and is discussed in Chapter 2 of the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide.

Virtual Desktop IntegrationVIS Creator uses virtual desktop integration (VDI) PowerShell agents to register the machines it provi-sions with external desktop management systems and to communicate with those systems. The VDI integration agent currently supports registration of machines with XenDesktop and provides the owners of registered machines with a direct connection to XenDesktop from the VIS Creator web console. A VDI agent can be installed as a dedicated agent to interact with a single Desktop Delivery Controller or as a general agent that can interact with multiple DDCs. You can combine dedicated and general agents as needed given your particular configuration, throughput, availability and load balancing considerations.

External Provisioning IntegrationExternal provisioning integration (EPI) PowerShell agents allow VIS Creator to integrate external provi-sioning technologies into its machine provisioning process. The EPI integration agent currently supports integration of VIS Creator with Citrix Provisioning Server, which provides on-demand streaming of the disk images from which machines boot and run.

An EPI agent can be installed as a dedicated agent to interact with a single external provisioning server or as a general agent that can interact with multiple external provisioning servers of the same type. (Only the former configuration is supported for Citrix Provisioning Server.) You can combine dedicated and general agents as needed given your particular configuration, throughput, availability and load balancing considerations.

Using Visual Basic Scripts in Provisioning VIS Creator allows you to specify Visual Basic (VB) scripts to be run outside VIS Creator as additional steps in the provisioning process, before or after provisioning a machine. You can also run a script when unprovisioning (destroying) a machine. The desired script(s) can be specified in a machine blueprint from which machines will be provisioned. Such scripts have access to all the custom properties associ-ated with the machine and can even update their values; the next step in the workflow then has access to these new values. For example, you could use a script to generate certificates or security tokens before provisioning and then use them in provisioning the machine.

To enable VB scripts in provisioning, you must install a specific type of EPI agent and place the scripts you want to use on the system on which the agent is installed.

When executing a VB script, the EPI agent passes all machine custom properties as arguments to the script. To return updated property values to VIS Creator, you must place these properties in a dictionary and call a function provided by VIS Creator.

A sample VB script that you can use as a template is included in the scripts subdirectory of the EPI agent installation directory. This script contains a header to load all arguments into a dictionary, a body in which you can include your function(s) and a footer to return updated custom properties values to VIS Creator.

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http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569263.aspx


See the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide for more information about adding VB scripts to the pro-visioning process.

You can install multiple EPI/VBScripts agents on multiple servers and provision using a specific agent and the Visual Basic scripts on that agent’s host, but not using the VIS Creator agent installer and the provisioning procedures described in the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide. If you have a need for this capability, contact Dell customer support

VIS Creator Agent RelationshipsVIS Creator’s agents and their relationships to VIS Creator, virtualization platforms, and other external systems are shown in the following diagram. Each blue double arrow in the diagram represents a proxy agent; for example, the arrow labeled hvC represents the proxy agent communicating with Hyper-V servers C1 and C2, both accessed using credentials C.

The diagram also shows VDI and EPI agents (in green) and the servers with which they interact. The WMI agent is not shown.

Figure 3 VIS Creator Agents for VirtualCenter, XenServer and Hyper-V Plus VDI and EPI

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http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794756.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794756.aspx


VIS Creator does not support multiple machines with the same name within a single VirtualCenter instance, XenServer or Hyper-V server. This can occur if a single instance or provisioning host is being managed by multiple instances of VIS Creator through multiple agents, as each instance will validate new names only against the names of machines it is managing, not against names of those managed by other instances. You can prevent this problem by customizing each instance of VIS Creator to validate machine names against DNS and/or Active Directory; see Chapter 5 of the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide for more information.

VIS Creator Agent Installation Location and Require-mentsVIS Creator agents are typically installed on the same host as the VIS Creator server they communicate with (with the exception of EPI agents interacting with Citrix Provisioning Server 5.1, as described below). If an agent is installed on another host, the network configuration must be such that the agent can communicate with the VIS Creator server host.

A VIS Creator agent can be installed on any Windows Server 2008 SP2 (32 or 64-bit) or Windows Server 2008 R2 system with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 installed. .NET Framework 4 can be obtained from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569263.aspx.

Each agent is installed under a unique name in its own directory, %SystemDrive%\Program Files x86\Dell VIS\Self-Service Creator Agent\agentname, with its configuration stored in the file VRMA-gent.exe.config in that directory.

Hypervisor Proxy Agent Installation RequirementsHypervisor proxy agent installation requires that you provide

• credentials with administrative access to the installation host (typically the VIS Creator server host).

• if a vSphere agent, the URL of the VirtualCenter instance and administrator-level credentials for the instance, including permission to modify custom attributes.

• if a Xen agent or Hyper-V agent, one set of administrator-level credentials for all XenServer or Hyper-V instances on the hosts to be managed by the agent.

By default, Hyper-V is not configured for remote management. A VIS Creator Hyper-V proxy agent cannot communicate with a Hyper-V server unless remote management has been enabled. To configure Hyper-V for remote management, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794756.aspx or other Micro-soft documentation.

WMI Agent Installation RequirementsTypically, one WMI agent is installed for each VIS Creator instance. WMI agent installation requires that you provide credentials with administrative access to the installation host (typically the VIS Creator server host).

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http://support.microsoft.com


http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX118973

http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/18540-102-19308/XdsControllerSDK-2_1_2327-E.zip




The credentials under which you install the WMI agent must also have the right to execute remote WMI requests on Windows machines managed by VIS Creator. See Enabling Remote WMI Requests on Windows Machines, earlier in this chapter, for more information.

VDI Integration Agent Installation RequirementsIf you are installing a VDI agent,

1. XenDesktop DDC servers to be integrated with VIS Creator must be running XenDesktop 2.1 or later.

2. The credentials under which the agent will run must have administrative access to all XenDesk-top DDC servers with which it will interact.

3. A VDI agent cannot be installed on a 64-bit host, such as a Windows Server 2008 R2 system. If the VIS Creator server is a 64-bit host, install any VDI agents on other hosts in an appropriate network configuration.

4. A general VDI agent can interact with multiple servers. If installing one dedicated agent per server for load balancing or authorization reasons, you must provide the name of the XenDesk-top DDC server when installing the agent. A dedicated agent can handle only registration requests directed to the server specified in its configuration.

5. The following software must be installed on the installation host prior to agent installation:

Microsoft PowerShell. The version required depends on the installation host’s operating sys-tem and may have been installed with that operating system. Visit http://support.microsoft.com for more information.

Citrix XenDesktop SDK 2.1.2327. You can download this software from these locations:

• http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX118973

• http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/18540-102-19308/XdsControllerSDK-2_1_2327-E.zip

6. MS PowerShell Execution Policy must be set to “RemoteSigned”.

Following installation of MS PowerShell, its Execution Policy is set to “Restricted”. This prevents any PowerShell scripts from running. To allow local PowerShell scripts to be run, you must set the PowerShell Execution Policy to “RemoteSigned” using following steps.

a. As an administrator, open the PowerShell command prompt using Start > All Programs > Windows PowerShell 1.0 > Windows PowerShell.

b. Enter the following command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

c. Verify that the command does not produce any errors.

d. Exit the PowerShell command prompt by entering exit.

For more information on PowerShell Execution Policy please type one of the following com-mands at PowerShell command prompt:

help about_signing

help Set-ExecutionPolicy

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5. Optionally, Citrix MFCOM can be registered for each XenDesktop DDC server with which you intend to register machines. This is not typically required but you may want to forestall errors during XenDesktop registration of provisioned machines by using the following procedure. Details are available at http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX120649.

a. Log into the host as a user with administrative access. Open a command window and change to the directory C:\Program files\Citrix\Desktop Delivery Controller\Powershell.

b. Enter the following command

mfreg.exe DDC_server_name

where DDC_server_name is the fully-qualified hostname of each XenDesktop DDC server with which you intend to register machines.

EPI Agent Installation RequirementsEPI agents can be used to integrate VIS Creator with Citrix Provisioning Server and to enable the use of Visual Basic scripts in the provisioning process.

EPI Agent for Citrix Provisioning Server Installation Requirements

If you are installing an EPI agent to interact with Citrix Provisioning Server,

1. Citrix Provisioning Server instances to be integrated with VIS Creator must be Citrix Provisioning Services 5.1 or later.

2. For CPS 5.1 instances, the EPI agent must be installed on the CPS host. For CPS 5.6 instances, the EPI agent can be installed on the same host or a remote host.

3. You must apply one of the following hot patches to Citrix Provisioning Server:

• The 5.1 SP2 hot patch at http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125103

• The 5.6 hot patch at http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125390

4. Although an EPI agent can generally interact with multiple servers, Citrix Provisioning Server requires a dedicated EPI agent. You must install one EPI agent for each Citrix Provisioning Server instance, providing the name of the server hosting it. The credentials under which the agent will run must have administrative access to the Citrix Provisioning Server instance.

5. The following software must be installed on the installation host prior to agent installation:

Microsoft PowerShell. The version required depends on the installation host’s operating sys-tem and may have been installed with that operating system. Visit http://support.microsoft.com for more information.

• Citrix Provisioning 5.1 SDK version 5.1.0.2933

Citrix Provisioning 5.1 SDK. This is installed as part of Citrix Provisioning Services 5.1. You must also ensure that the PowerShell Snap-In is installed. The following instructions are quoted from the PowerShell Programmer’s Guide available at http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX121334:

• The PowerShell snap-in (McliPSSnapIn.dll) can be installed using the Provisioning Server Console install.

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• If the snap-in later needs to be registered in PowerShell, this can be manually done by exe-cuting the following command at a DOS command prompt, in the directory containing McliPSSnapIn.dll:

%systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\installutil.exe \

McliPSSnapIn.dll

You must be in the Citrix Provisioning Server directory in which the snap-in is located.

• Another way to register the snap-in is by running this command at the PowerShell com-mand prompt:

$installutil = $env:systemroot + \ '\Microsoft.NET\Frame-

work\v2.0.50727\installutil.exe' &$installutil \ McliPSSnapIn.dll

On a 64-bit installation host, substitute \Microsoft.Net\Framework64 for \Microsoft.Net\Framework in the above commands.



a. As an dministrator, open the PowerShell command prompt using Start > All Programs > Windows PowerShell version > Windows PowerShell.






help about_signing


EPI Agent for Visual Basic Scripting Installation Requirements

If you are installing an EPI agent to enable the use of Visual Basic scripts in the provisioning process,

1. The credentials under which the agent will run must have administrative access to the installa-tion host.

2. Microsoft PowerShell must be installed on the installation host prior to agent installation: The version required depends on the installation host’s operating system and may have been installed with that operating system. Visit http://support.microsoft.com for more information.



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https://vsphereA/sdk




a. As an Administrator, open the PowerShell command prompt using Start > All Programs > Windows PowerShell 1.0 > Windows PowerShell.






help about_signing


Preparing Generic Endpoints for vSphere AgentsAs previously noted, a vSphere agent is configured during installation for a generic endpoint containing information about the VirtualCenter instance it is to manage. Because this endpoint must exist and con-tain valid information before the agent service is started, you have two options:

• Create all needed generic endpoints first, using the VIS Creator console and the instructions provided in Chapter 3 of the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide, then install and start the cor-responding vSphere agents.

• Install the needed vSphere agents without starting them, then create the corresponding end-points, then start the agents.

If you want to create the endpoints before installing agents, you must use the VIS Creator console in the Creator administrator role. Start the console (as described in Chapter 3) either as a member of the local Administrators group or as a user who has been given the Creator administrator role by a member of the group. Details are provided in the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide, but the following is a very brief summary of the procedure for creating a generic endpoint.

1. Select Creator Administrator > Credentials.

2. Click the Create Credentials link at the right-hand end of the title bar.

3. Enter administrator-level credentials for the VirtualCenter instance the agent will manage, along with a useful name and a more detailed description.

4. Click the green “go” icon to save the credentials.

5. Select Creator Administrator > Generic Endpoints.

6. Click the Create Endpoint link at the right-hand end of the title bar.

7. Enter the endpoint name (typically this indicates the VirtualCenter instance the endpoint is for) and a more detailed description, select vSphere as the interface type, enter the URL of the Vir-tualCenter instance (for example https://vsphereA/sdk), and select the credentials you just cre-ated.

8. Click the green “go” icon to save the endpoint.

9. Repeat this procedure for all the needed endpoints.

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Installing a VIS Creator AgentTo install a VIS Creator proxy, WMI, VDI or EPI agent, follow these steps:

1. Place the file VISCreator-Agent-Setup.exe on the installation host (which as noted previously must have Microsoft .NET Framework 4 installed). This file can be downloaded from the Dell customer portal if necessary.

2. Log into the installation host as a user with administrative access to the host. Right-click VIS-Creator-Agent-Setup.exe and select Run as administrator. This ensures that you will be installing the agent as a user with full administrative access to the installation host. (If the installer as run does not have sufficient privileges, you are informed of this and installation is cancelled.)

3. Use the Extract button to extract the installation files. (If your system does not have all the required software installed, you may be warned and redirected to the installer for the missing software.) Click Next on the title panel, read and accept the EULA, then continue.

If the VIS Creator agent installer detects existing VIS Creator agents installed on the host, it provides you with the option to upgrade those agents to the cur-rent version of VIS Creator. Since you cannot upgrade previous versions of VIS Creator to VIS Creator version 2.0, however, you must install new agents for your newly installed VIS Creator release 2.0 server.

4. On the Agent Name panel, provide a unique name for the agent and enter the hostname of the VIS Creator server (this can be localhost). If you select Use HTTPS as transport protocol fur-ther down the panel, you must enter the fully-qualified domain name of the VIS Creator server.

Maintain a careful record of each proxy agent’s name, the credentials entered for it and the virtualization platform instance it is intended for so that when a Hyper-V or XenServer host is added to the agent configuration the administra-tor performing the operation has this information readily available

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Agent names must not be duplicated unless the agent configurations are identi-cal. Identically named and configured agents can be used for load balancing.

If VIS Creator was installed to use HTTPS as the transport protocol (see Chapter 3), select Use HTTPS as transport protocol and optionally specify a port to use, or keep the default of 443.

5. On the Agent Selection panel, select the type of agent you want to install. You can change the default installation location for the agent using the Browse button.

Select Test for a test agent that will not interact with any virtualization platform or other entity.

6. The procedure for configuring the agent differs depending on the agent type.

vSphere Agent

• On the Service Configuration panel, indicate whether you want to register and start the agent service as part of installation. Both are required for the proxy agent to function, but if you have not prepared a valid endpoint for the agent, unselect Start Agent Service; you must create the endpoint before starting the agent.

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On the same panel, enter the credentials to be used by the agent service. As noted, this user must have administrative access to the machine the agent is being installed on.

Throughout this procedure, when you specify a domain user you must enter the username in domain format, for example ENGINEERING\jsmith.

You can select Use Local System Account to run the agent service under the Local Sys-tem account. When you use this option, you don’t need to enter any service credentials.

You can also choose whether to change the location for the agent logs. You may want to do this, for example, to place the log files on a dedicated partition separate from the one host-ing the operating system. This prevents the increase in space devoted to log files from affecting the operating system or VIS Creator. To change from the default location, uncheck Use Default Log Location and enter the log file location you want in the Agent Log Loca-tion box.

• On the vSphere Agent Configuration panel, enter the hostname of the VIS Creator data repository. In almost all configurations, this is the hostname of the VIS Creator server, typi-cally localhost. If you selected HTTPS on the Agent Name panel, you must enter the fully-qualified domain name of the VIS Creator data repository.

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On the same panel, enter the credentials you entered for the manager service on the VIS Creator Service Configuration panel when installing VIS Creator. The agent installer vali-dates the combination of repository host and manager service credentials by attempting to gain access to the repository using the credentials; if it succeeds, you can continue with installation. If an error is returned, you must determine the correct combination of repository host and credentials before proceeding.

• On the vSphere Endpoint Configuration panel, enter the name of the generic endpoint you prepared containing the URL of the VirtualCenter instance and administrator-level creden-tials for the instance.

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The VirtualCenter credentials you supply for a vSphere agent in the configured endpoint must have permission to modify custom attributes in VirtualCenter. If they do not, VIS Creator will not be able to create machines in VirtualCenter.

Remember, if you have not yet created a valid endpoint, you should not start the agent ser-vice. Return to the Service Configuration panel unselect Start Agent Service.

After you have created the endpoint you configured for the agent, you can start the agent service by selecting Start > Administrative Tools > Services and then starting the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Agent – agentname service.)

The agent installer cannot validate the virtualization platform credentials con-tained in the endpoint. If this information is entered incorrectly, the agent is not able to log into the instance, the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Agent – agent-name service fails to start and the error is recorded in the log file in the agent directory (%SystemDrive%\Program Files x86\Dell VIS\Self-Service Creator Agent\agentname). Correct the endpoint data and restart the agent service.

Xen or Hyper-V Agent

• On the Agent Configuration panel enter credentials that provide administrator-level access to XenServer or Hyper-V on all hosts that will be managed by the agent.

A Hyper-V proxy agent installed on a Hyper-V server will connect to the local instance of Hyper-V using the service credentials it is running under as entered on the Service Configuration panel described below, not the credentials entered on the Agent Configuration panel.

The agent installer cannot validate the virtualization platform credentials you enter.If the information is entered incorrectly for a Hyper-V or Zen agent, the agent will not discover the intended host when configured for one (see the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide). See Modifying Proxy Agent Configurations, below, for instructions for correcting the credentials.

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VDI PowerShell

• On the Agent Configuration Panel, select the type of virtual desktop infrastructure (currently locked to XenDesktop), then enter the name of a XenDesktop DDC server at the VDI Server prompt or leave the field blank to let the agent interact with multiple servers. The server with which a VDI agent interacts depends on the value of a required custom property in the blueprint from which you provision virtual machines with XenDesktop integration, VDI.Server.Name (see the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide). Therefore,

• If you install a dedicated VDI agent by specifying a server name during installation, only machines whose VDI.Server.Name property specifies exactly the same server name as that configured for the agent can be registered with or provisioned by that server.

• If you install a general VDI agent by not specifying a server name during installation, a machine can be registered with or provisioned by any server specified in its VDI.Server.Name property (assuming the agent can contact that server).

EPI PowerShell

• On the Agent Configuration Panel, select a type of CitrixProvisioning or VBScripts. For EPI/CitrixProvisioning, you must specify a server name at the EPI Server prompt, as you must install a dedicated EPI agent for each Citrix Provisioning Server instance you want VIS Creator to interact with. The blueprint you create for provisioning with Citrix Provisioning Server must specify the name of a server for which an EPI/CitrixProvisioning agent is config-ured in the EPI.Server.Name custom property (see the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide). Do not enter a server name for an EPI/VBScripts agent.

To interact with a Citrix Provisioning Server 5.1 instance, an EPI agent must be installed on the CPS host. For 5.6 instances, it can be installed on the same host or a different host.

You can install multiple EPI/VBScripts agents on multiple servers and provision using a specific agent and the Visual Basic scripts on that agent’s host, but not using the VIS Creator agent installer and the provisioning procedures described in the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide. If you have a need for this capa-bility, contact Dell customer support.

If you install multiple general EPI/VBScripts agents using the VIS Creator agent installer, the agent is chosen at random when a blueprint calls a Visual Basic script, so you must install the same scripts on the servers hosting all such agents or results will be inconsistent.

See the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide for more information on provisioning machines with VDI integration and EPI integration.

Guest Agent, WMI or Test

• The installer directly skips to the Service Configuration panel.

7. For all agents types except vSphere, the Service Configuration panel follows agent configura-tion. On this panel, indicate whether you want to register and start the agent service as part of installation. Both are required for the proxy agent to function. If you want to delay starting the service for any reason, you can easily start it manually later. (Select Start > Administrative Tools > Services and then start the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Agent – agentname service.)

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On the same panel, enter the credentials to be used by the agent service. As noted, this user must have administrative access to the machine the agent is being installed on. For VDI agents, the user must have administrative access to all VDI servers with which the agent will interact. For EPI/CitrixProvisioning agents, the user must have administrative access to Citrix Provision-ing Server on the host it is installed on.

You can select Use Local System Account to run the agent service under the Local System account. If you do, you do not need to enter service credentials.

The agent installer cannot validate the agent service credentials you enter. If this information is entered incorrectly or is not valid, installation fails.

A Hyper-V proxy agent installed on a Hyper-V server will connect to the local instance of Hyper-V using the service credentials entered on this panel, not the credentials entered previously on the Agent Configuration panel. Therefore these credentials must have administrator level access to the local Hyper-Vir-tual instance as well as to the local host.

As noted in Enabling Remote WMI Requests earlier in this chapter, service cre-dentials for proxy agents and WMI agents must belong to an Active Directory group in each domain to which provisioned virtual machines may be joined. This allows the credentials to be enabled for remote WMI requests on those machines. For this reason, if you choose to run a proxy or WMI agent under the Local System account, the installation host must belong to all such domains and be added to the remote WMI request Active Directory group.

This panel also allows you to change the location for the agent service logs. You may want to do this, for example, to place the log files on a dedicated partition separate from the one hosting the operating system. This prevents the increase in space devoted to log files from affecting the operating system or VIS Creator. To change from the default location, uncheck Use Default Log Location and enter the log file location you want at the bottom of the panel.


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http://dev-test-vmware-1/sdk


When installation is complete and the agent service is started, all ESX Server hosts are automatically discovered. Remember that you must configure XenServer and Hyper-V hosts for the hosts they are to manage (using Creator Administrator > Agent Configuration in the VIS Creator console, as described in the VIS Self-Service Creator User’s Guide) before information about them can be collected by VIS Creator.

Uninstalling VIS Creator AgentsYou can remove an agent by selecting Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs and select-ing the agent.

Modifying Proxy Agent ConfigurationsAt some time following the installation of a proxy VIS Creator agent, you may need to modify an agent configuration setting you specified during installation. In particular, if the credentials provided for a Xen-Server or Hyper-V server are entered incorrectly, the proxy agent will not be able to connect to the virtu-alization platform; in this case you would need to update the agent configuration with the correct credentials. (When this happens the failed login attempt is recorded in the log file in the agent directory.)

The installation configurations are encrypted in the agent configuration file. However, a proxy agent con-figuration utility can be used to make such modifications. The utility also allows you to change VIS Cre-ator’s machine deletion policy for the virtualization platform with which the agent communicates.

To display the current agent configuration (except the password you provided during install) using the utility, log into the VIS Creator server as a user with administrator-level credentials and change to the directory %SystemDrive%\Program Files x86\Dell VIS\Self-Service Creator Agent\agent_name, where agent_name is the directory containing the proxy agent, which is also the name under which the agent was installed (see step 1 in the previous procedure, Installing a VIS Creator Agent). Then issue the command

DynamicOps.Vrm.VRMencrypt.exe VRMAgent.exe.config get

For a vSphere agent, the output of the command looks like this:

managementEndpointName: vc227endpoint

doDeletes: True

For a Hyper-V or Xen agent:

Username: XS49admin

To change one of the configuration properties, issues the command

DynamicOps.Vrm.VRMencrypt.exe VRMAgent.exe.config set property value

where property is one of the following:

Table 7 Proxy Agent Configuration Properties

property descriptionz

managementEndpointName

The name of the generic endpoint for which the agent was configured at installation. Changing this property renames the generic endpoint within VIS Creator, rather than changing endpoints. (vSphere agents only.)

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If you omit value, the utility prompts you for the new value. This is useful for entering passwords because your entry for this property is not echoed to the screen.

For example, to change the administrator level credentials for the virtualization platform specified during the agent install, issue these commands:

DynamicOps.Vrm.VRMencrypt.exe VRMAgent.exe.config set username jsmith

DynamicOps.Vrm.VRMencrypt.exe VRMAgent.exe.config set password

Please enter the value for password:

Please confirm the value for password:

To cause VIS Creator to place machines in a VirtualCenter folder called VRMDeleted when they are destroyed in VIS Creator, instead of immediately deleting them in VirtualCenter (the default), issue this command:

DynamicOps.Vrm.VRMencrypt.exe VRMAgent.exe.config set doDeletes false

To switch VIS Creator back to the original behavior, immediate deletion, issue this command:

DynamicOps.Vrm.VRMencrypt.exe VRMAgent.exe.config set doDeletes true

After changing an agent’s configuration, restart the agent service by by selecting Start > Administrative Tools > Services and then restarting the Dell VIS Self-Service Creator Agent – agentname service.)

The DynamicOps.Vrm.VRMencrypt.exe command can be used to change the configuration of proxy agents only.

doDeletesDetermines whether machines are deleted from VirtualCenter when destroyed in VIS Creator, or instead moved to the VRMDeleted folder. (vSphere agents only)

usernameThe username representing administrator-level credentials for the XenServer or Hyper-V server the agent communicates with. (Xen-Server and Hyper-V agents only.)

passwordThe password for the above username. (XenServer and Hyper-V agents only.)

property descriptionz

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Documents

VIS Self-Service Creator Installation Guide