VConnect can be configured to connect to a VCenter server. VCenter provides many features such as VM Templates, cloning etc. In order to configure VConnect with VCenter, you need to define a datacenter and a cluster in the VCenter. Use VSphere client tools to accomplish the following.

Step 1: Create a Datacenter and a Cluster in that Datacenter:

Step 2: Add desired number of hosts to the cluster                                                                                      

Step 3: Prepare virtual machine base configurations you want to provide to your users.  This involves creating a VM, installing Operating system and necessary software. Once you have a Virtual Machine up to the specification you want your users be able to create, create a Template of that VM as shown below:

Provide a name for the template and finish the creation steps.

Step 4: After the template is created successfully, repeat the same process for other Virtual Machine configurations.

Configure Admin Portal

Add VCenter connection

Add a VCenter server connection through VConnect. Specify the Datacenter and Cluster names that exists on the VCenter server.

Add VM Templates

Add entries for each template that exists in VCenter server. For each template entry specify the following options:

Template Name: exactly same as what you have given in VCenter. You can see the templates in the ‘InventoryàVMs and Templates’ view of VSphere client:

Display Name: User friendly name to be displayed for your users.

Description: Description about the template for your users.

Default VM Network: VM Network to which this VM should be connected to. Make sure that this network name is the same as what exists in the VCenter.

Click the tick mark to submit and save the template.

Optionally for Windows templates you can specify the following values:

Default Windows Work Group Name:  Workgroup to which this VM will be configured to join. (Note: Joining a domain is not yet supported)

Run Once Command: Command to be run after the Virtual Machine customization (sysprep). This command can be used to bootstrap batch script that can install additional software or take custom actions.

Default Windows License Key: Optionally you can specify a product key or volume license key that will be applied during the customization process. If the image already contains a license or doesn’t need one, leave this empty.

Click submit and finish adding all the templates needed.      

Creating Virtual Machines in Tenant Portal based on VM Templates

In Tenant Portal, click on the ‘NEW’ à ‘VConnect’àCreate

Select a template you want to create the VM based on:

Provide VM Name, Org Name and admin password for the Virtual Machine and click submit:

Create request gets successfully submitted to VConnect and the entry is shown:

VConnect will provision the VM via VCenter:

VConnect creates a Resource Pool for the tenant subscription and starts deploying the virtual machine based on chosen template:

After the initial creation is over, the Virtual Machine boots up and it will go through several customization process. During this time, user may be able to view the screenshots, however it is important not to power off or do other operations that might affect the customization.

After the customization is completed, users can now connect to the Virtual Machine through Remote Desktop services: