vRealize Orchestrator (vRO)

Audience: Cloud Engineers and Automation Developers.

Purpose: Develop and manage automation workflows for AggieCloud.

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Overview

vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) is the workflow and automation platform for vRealize Automation (vRA). It provides:

• Actions — Individual functions with inputs and outputs
• Workflows — Multi-step processes combining actions and decisions

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Code Types

Type	Description
Actions	Single functions with multiple inputs, single return value. Can call vRO API or plugin APIs. Used as building blocks.
Workflows	Series of actions and decisions run sequentially. Can call other workflows and run on schedules or events.

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Production Actions

Package	Action	Purpose
com.tamu.form	generateRandomPassword	Random password generator for Windows deployments
com.tamu.form	getAllFlavorsForForm	Form helper (legacy)
com.tamu.network	getNetworksFromProject	Dynamic network selection (returns array)
com.tamu.network	getNetworksFromProjectProp	Dynamic network selection (returns property)

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Production Workflows

Category	Workflow	Purpose
Events	Create AD Computer Object	Creates computer object in AUTH before Windows VM domain join
Events	Remove AD Computer Object	Removes computer object from AUTH on Windows VM deletion
Events	Machine Provisioned	(Incomplete) Would create shared A record in Infoblox
Events	Unprovision Machine	(Incomplete) Would remove shared A record from Infoblox
Onboarding	Onboard VMs by Tag	Onboards VMs to vRA project based on vCenter tags
Provisioning	Set VM Guestinfo metadata	Sets guestinfo metadata during deployment

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Viewing Workflows & Actions

1. Login to AggieCloud
2. Select Orchestrator
3. Choose Workflows or Actions

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Event Subscriptions

vRO workflows are triggered by vRA events through subscriptions:

Subscription	Workflow	Trigger	Scope
jr-test-vm-metadata	Set VM Guestinfo metadata	compute.provision.pre	All Deployments
ad-createComputer	Create AD Computer Object	compute.provision.pre	Windows only
ad-removeComputer	Remove AD Computer Object	compute.removal.pre	Windows only

Managing Subscriptions

1. Login to AggieCloud
2. Navigate to Cloud Assembly → Extensibility → Subscriptions
3. Create new or click existing to view/edit

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Dynamic Network Selection

The getNetworksFromProject action enables dynamic network dropdown in blueprints.

Testing Blueprint: test-ubuntu-2004-dynamic-net in the Test-DynamicNet project

Not in Production

This feature is available for testing but not yet used in production blueprints.

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GitHub Integration

All vRO code is version-controlled in the it-ae-aggiecloud-vro repository.

Setup Git Repository Connection

Connection Setup Steps

1. Login to vRO
2. Select Git Repositories → Add Repository
3. Configure:

Field	Value
Repository URL	https://github.com/tamu-edu/it-ae-aggiecloud-vro.git
Username	Your GitHub username
Token	Personal Access Token (see below)

4. Click Validate to test connection
5. Click Make Active Repository
6. Ensure branch is set to main (not master)
7. Save

Single Repository

Only one repository can be active at a time in vRO.

Personal Access Token

Create GitHub PAT

1. Go to GitHub → Settings → Developer Settings → Personal Access Tokens → Tokens (classic)
2. Select Generate New Token (classic)

Field	Value
Note	vRO Integration
Expiration	30 days (or as needed)
Scopes	✓ repo (all)

3. Click Generate Token
4. Save the token immediately (won't be shown again)
5. Click Configure SSO → Authorize for tamu-edu organization

Push/Pull Workflow

1. Login to vRO
2. Verify PAT is still valid (refresh if needed)
3. Select Git History
4. Click Pull to get latest
5. Make changes to workflows/actions
6. Click Push
7. Enter commit title and description
8. Select changes to commit
9. Click Push

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References

Resource	Link
Git Repository Setup	VMware Docs
Push Changes	VMware Docs
GitHub PAT	GitHub Docs
vRO Git Integration	VMware Blog