In the Part2, of the 3 blog series, I will show how to write Extensibility Action Script and use it as Service Broker Catalog Item. I will be generating the Deployments Report and sending it via Email by executing the PowervRACloud ABX Action from Service Broker Catalog Item.
If you haven\’t checked Part1 where I shared the procedure on how to write Extensibility Action Script with Event Subscriptions. You can Click Here
Quick Recap of What is vRA ABX and PowervRACloud
What is vRA ABX?
vRealize Automation Action Based Extensibility (ABX) supports Powershell as one the scripting language for writing ABX actions. ABX actions are small, lightweight scripts of code used to specify an action and how that action is to perform
What is PowervRACloud ?
PowervRACloud is a PowerShell module that abstracts the VMware vRealize Automation Cloud APIs to a set of easily used PowerShell functions.
Procedure to Generate Deployments Report from Service Broker Catalog Item
The following steps describe the procedure for creating an extensibility action that uses the Onprem FaaS provider in the vRA 8 environment
If you are using vRA Cloud then you will need to Deploy and Configure a Cloud Extensibility Proxy and add Onprem Integration by referring the documentationThis step is NOT required for vRealize Automation deployed on-premises.
Creating Action
Navigate to Extensibility > Library > Actions & Click New Action.
Enter a name for your action and select a project.
Select the Powershell as the action runtime
Select Write Script
First, we will specify the following
Dependencies
@{
PowervRACloud = ‘1.4’
}
Inputs
server - vRA Server
Username - Username for vRA Server
Password - Password for vRA Server
toaddress - Specify Email of the recipient
fromaddress - Specify the Senders Email
emailserver - Email Server which should be reachable from vRA
FaaS provider
Here is the script which you will need to Generate Deployments Report
Create Version and Release it to Service Broker
The next step is to create a version of the ABX Action and release it to Service Broker so that it will display as Catalog Item.
Screenshots are arranged in the order of the steps.
Add Service Broker Content Source and Catalog Item
Open Service Broker service in vRA and navigate to Content & Policies –> Content Sources
Create New Extensibility Action Content Source
Next, we will need to Add Items for Content Sharing
Navigate to Content Sharing –> Select the Project and Add Items
You will see the Extensibility Action which we released.
Request Deployment from Catalog Item
Now we will request deployment from Catalog Item and validate if the ABX run gets triggered
It will ask you to validate the default inputs or change them if required
Conclusion
As you can see how easily PowervRACloud can integrate with ABX to extend vRA functionalities.
Thank you for using PowervRACloud. Please reach out on Twitter if there are any queries
What\’s next?
In Part 3, I will show how to create Zip Package which will include the PowervRACloud module. This will be helpful if you have an Airgap environment that doesn\’t have direct access to Powershell Gallery.