If you are completely unfamiliar with vCloud Director then this documentation has been designed to make you more familiar the basic options available and get you up and running with your first vApp, Virtual Machines (VMs), Catalogs and user accounts.
Remember, if you’re still having trouble you can view VMware’s catalogue of vCloud materials online at: https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vcd_pubs.html or you can contact Secura support on the details listed at the end of the article.
In this first overview, we will be performing some basic tasks within the vCloud, including setting up a new vApp, taking an overview of the basic actions available to control Virtual Machines within vApps, creating a custom Catalog and adding new user accounts.
We will be covering further and more advanced actions in future posts.
The URL for your vCloud will be included in your Welcome Pack however, if you are having trouble locating it, please contact support who can provide you with the details you need.
When you login to your vCloud you’ll be presented with the main Home interface through which you can perform a number of different actions including:
Above: The Main vCloud Interface.
The vApp is a container for one or more virtual machines (VMs) and their network configuration. vApps can contain multiple VMs and the complexity varies depending upon your design and requirements.
In our example, will deploy a vApp already available from the Public Catalog.
Steps:
Above: Add a New vApp
It is simple to quickly start, stop or suspend a vApps (and the VMs within them) at any time from the main Home screen of vCloud:
Steps:
Above: Control Your vApps
By default, vApps are set to Power Off when Stopped. You can change the default stop action to Shut Down by doing the following:
Steps:
Above: Changing the vCloud Default Stop Action for vApps
Virtual Machines (VMs) have an operating system installed on them and can then run any software that is compatible with that installed OS.
Your VMs can be viewed and accessed by selecting the My Cloud tab and then selecting VMs from the list on the left of the screen.
Some of the basic actions you can perform from this screen include starting, stopping, suspending, resetting and deleting VMs.
To perform any of the actions listed above:
Steps:
Above: Access and Control Virtual Machines
To make services running on your virtual servers accessible to the outside world, you need to allow access through the firewall. Network services such as DHCP, firewall, NAT, static routing, VPN, and load balancing are handled by Edge Gateway, a virtual router within vCloud.
To access and manage Edge Gateways within your vCloud:
Steps:
Above: Configure vCloud Edge Gateways
To access your firewall and grant external access:
Steps:
Above: Configure vCloud Firewalls
You may want to upload your own ISO images and VM templates to your vCloud and to do so you first need to create a Catalog.
To create a catalog:
Steps:
Above: Add a New Catalog
To add an ISO image to a created catalog:
Steps:
Above: Add Media to a Catalog
You may need to add additional users to your vCloud account. These users can be added with a range of roles that confer different access rights and privileges, so please ensure you assign the correct role to your users.
To create new user access for your vCloud administration please follow the steps listed below.
Steps:
Above: Add User Accounts to vCloud.
If you require further support with your vCloud you can contact support using the details below.
You can raise a ticket by emailing servicedesk@secura.cloud or contact support direct on 0207 183 2540 (option 2) if your request is urgent.
Neal works in the marketing team at Secura and makes sure everyone uses the correct font size on their emails. Sometimes he succeeds.
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