Using VMware vsphere Web Client with Symantec ApplicationHA and Symantec Cluster Server (VCS) September 2014
Since v5.1 of vsphere, VMware have focused on providing web based management for the vsphere environment, with v5.5 more functionality has been placed into the vsphere Web Client to bring its capabilities on par to that of the Windows based vsphere Client. Moving forward VMware have stated that any new feature VMware introduces typically is only going to be available within the vsphere Web Client. Due to the move by VMware away from the Windows based vsphere Client Symantec has also developed integration into the vsphere Web Client so that customers using Symantec High Availability solutions can leverage the vsphere Web Client also. This paper describes the steps needed to enable management of Symantec high availability solutions with the vsphere Web Client. Contents Solution features and support... 3 Step 1 Installation of Veritas Operations Manager.... 4 Step 2 Configuration of the Control Host and Virtualization Add-on.... 4 Step 3 Registration of the Symantec HA plugin for vsphere Web Client... 9 Step 4 Adding Symantec ApplicationHA and VCS guest hosts to the VOM server.... 10 Step 5 Management of the Symantec HA plugin via vsphere Web Client... 11 Page 2
Solution features and support Symantec High Availability Solutions that leverage vsphere Web Client management include Symantec ApplicationHA and Symantec Cluster Server (VCS), traditionally these solutions use a Windows system that runs the Symantec HA Console for management, guest deployment and application single sign-on all of which are managed via a plugin into the Windows vsphere client. To support the vsphere Web Client the Symantec architecture, Veritas Operations Manager 6.1 (VOM) is used for presenting the information into the Web Client including registration of the plugin for vcenter Servers within the environment. With this release certain functionality is omitted but will be added in subsequent releases. Operations that are enabled within the vsphere Web Client include Registration of the Symantec High Availability plugin for vsphere Web Client. Configuration/discovery of applications to be placed under Symantec ApplicationHA & VCS control. Management of applications including start/stop and other management tasks. Single sign-on for application authentication from VOM to the vsphere Web Client. Dashboard view and management of applications configured visible from the Cluster or Datacenter views of the vsphere Web Client. Management tasks omitted in the 6.1 release from the Symantec HA plugin for vsphere Web Client include. Ability to install guest component via vsphere Web Client: You cannot use the vsphere Web Client to install the Symantec ApplicationHA or VCS guest component into the virtual machine. Use either the Windows vsphere Client to install the guest components and then migrate them to the Web Client or use the installer from the Symantec solutions DVD image to push the components to multiple VMs. Symantec High Availability home page will not be available on the vsphere Web Client, and the operations related to Symantec High Availability License Management, single sign-on configuration between sites (for VMware Site Recovery Manager) are not available. The keyless license model is recommended which can be managed through VOM. Integration with Symantec Backup Exec is not supported. Supported environments. To use the Symantec HA Console plugin for VMware vsphere Web Client the following platforms and software are supported. VMware vsphere 5.1 or later Symantec ApplicationHA 6.1 or later * Earlier versions can be used but the VOM managed host package VRTSsfmh needs to be updated Symantec Cluster Server (Windows) 6.0.1 or later Symantec Cluster Server (Linux) 6.0.2 or later * Symantec Cluster Server below v6.1 for both Windows and Linux require the VOM managed host package VRTSsfmh to be updated. Veritas Operations Manager 6.1 or later. Page 3
Steps Required to implement solution. Step 1 Installation of Veritas Operations Manager. Veritas Operations Manager (VOM) 6.1 is required to be installed and configured for use with the vsphere environment. VOM is available to download from the Symantec website at http://www.symantec.com/operations-manager click the download link on the page and follow the steps required to download the code. Note that the full package will include the add-ons required by default, select the full package download file to minimize the steps otherwise the add-ons required will need to be installed separately. The VOM management server can be installed on either a Windows or Linux host information on current supported platform is at http://www.symantec.com/operationsmanager/system-requirements. Carry out the install by running the installation bin or exe file depending on the desired platform that was downloaded from the Symantec website and follow the install wizard including the management configuration. There are a great set of videos at http://www.symantec.com/connect/vom-videos which have been posted and these are great to review to understand the steps required. Once configured, log in to the VOM server with system administrator privileges and the home page will be presented. Step 2 Configuration of the Control Host and Virtualization Add-on. Once the VOM server is installed, the Control Host (CH) add-on needs to be installed next. The Control host facilitates the discovery of the environment and will be used to discover the vsphere environment, this is carried out via the Settings icon and then selecting the Deployment section, depending on your environment the CH may need to be installed on separate server but for this paper it will be Page 4
installed on the VOM server. Expand the Add-on section and right click on Control Host and select Install. After a few minutes the Control Host will be enabled and installed. Once the CH is installed next step is to enable the Symantec HA Plugin for vcenter Web Client, this is enable by selecting the Symantec HA Plugin for vsphere Web Client Add-on in the left hand column and then right click on the Symantec HA Plugin and select Install. Page 5
The Add-on must be installed on the VOM Management Server; the VOM Web Server will need to be restarted after the Installation of the add-on. To restart the Web server, click Restart Web Server button on the task bar. Log back into the management server after the restart of the web services. Once logged in, the verification of the add-on installation can be made by selecting the Repository or the Add-on section in the left hand column and verify that the Control Host and Symantec HA plugin for vsphere Web Client have both been enabled. Page 6
Next step is to enable the Virtualization management within VOM. This is carried out by going to the Settings section and select Virtualization. Click Add Virtualization Server from the task pane and fill in details of the vcenter Server environment that requires the plugin. Multiple vcenter Servers can be added if required. Page 7
Discovery of the environment is carried out and selection of ESX servers can be made. Discovery process completes and information on the environment is displayed. Page 8
Side Note: The ESX servers are not used for the registration process but information from the environment can be gained and can be useful. Information such as memory/cpu/network and storage is discovered by the Control Host. Specific information on the environment that has been discovered also includes Storage and Datastores associated to the environment. Information on the environment is viewed from VOM within the virtualization perspective; access to this type of information can be given to users where access via the vsphere Client is restricted. Step 3 Registration of the Symantec HA plugin for vsphere Web Client. Register the plugin against the discovered vcenter servers by carrying out a register task within the Virtualization perspective from the home view. Select the Solutions panel at the left hand side and click on Symantec HA plugin for vsphere Web Client. Right click on the vcenter Servers that require the plugin to be registered and select Register. Page 9
Step 4 Adding Symantec ApplicationHA and VCS guest hosts to the VOM server. With the plugin registered the next step is to add the virtual machines with ApplicationHA and VCS installed to the VOM server. Do this by selecting Settings from the home page and select Add Hosts on the task pane, select Agent as the type and fill in the required information. Note if you have multiple VMs to be added then a CSV file can be uploaded to the wizard to fill in the required information. The format of the CSV follows. Host, User, Password host1,user1,password1 host2, user2,password2 host3, user3,password3 Once the VMs have been added and discovery completes the information of the VMs is displayed. Make sure that the VMs Agent is in a connected state. Page 10
Step 5 Management of the Symantec HA plugin via vsphere Web Client. Next and final step is to check connectivity via the vsphere Web Client. The VOM Management Servers SSL security certificate must be added to the workstations Trusted Root Cert Authorities repository within the internet options so that a secure communication can be made from the Web Client to VOM. The Symantec HA plugin should be displayed under the Monitor tab within the vsphere Web Client as displayed below. From this point onwards the configuration or management of the application can be carried out. Page 11
The Symantec HA Dashboard which provides visibility across all VMs with ApplicationHA or VCS installed within a single view and is available from the vsphere Cluster or Datacenter views as displayed below. This concludes the steps required to enable the Symantec HA plugin from within the vsphere Web Client. For more information on ApplicationHA and VCS please review the links below. Symantec Cluster Server http://www.symantec.com/cluster-server Symantec ApplicationHA http://www.symantec.com/application-ha Page 12