About this release
We have identified an issue within the SovLabs plug-in as well as VMware resource element data APIs where synchronization issues can lead to data loss between clustered vRO instances.
With SovLabs Plug-in 2018.2.1+, there is synchronization support for both SovLabs and VMware resource element storage.
Important Notes
vRA 7.4 Notice
The minimum SovLabs plug-in version compatible for VMware’s vRA 7.4 is 2018.1.4.
vRA 7.5 Notice
The minimum SovLabs plug-in version compatible for VMware’s vRA 7.5 is 2018.2.6.
*Please note that the vRO js-io-rights.conf file (at /etc/vco/app-server) is reset anytime the vRO Configurator service restarts.
– The proper configuration of the js-io-rights.conf file is a prerequisite to an Install/Upgrade. Prior to performing any subsequent upgrades on vRA 7.4 or vRA 7.5, please validate that the js-io-right.conf is updated appropriately.
– Please reference our documentation.
– To prevent the js-io-rights.conf file from reverting, please follow the steps below:
- SSH as root to vRO server
- Stop Control Center. Type in: service vco-configurator stop
- Make the changes. Follow steps via: docs.sovlabs.com
- Execute the CLI command to apply the changes to the latest configuration which is going to be replicated. Type in: /var/lib/vco/tools/configuration-cli/bin/vro-configure.sh sync-local
- Start Control Center. Type in: service vco-configurator start
vRA 7.3 Notice
If using vRA 7.3.0, please upgrade to VMware’s vRA 7.3.1.
- If on vRA 7.3.0, please login to the vRA Appliance and verify Appliance Version is 7.3.0.537 Build. If not on the 7.3.0.537 Build, please upgrade to vRA 7.3.1. If on the 7.3.0.537 Build, the VMware vRA Hotfix has been applied that is required for SovLabs.
VMware fixed an issue with form field validations that affects all of SovLabs’ provided XaaS forms. VMware also fixed a vRA 7.3.0 vRO CAFE bug related to VMware vRA plug-in for vRO.
SovLabs 2018.2.x Plug-in Details
SovLabs Plug-in Version
|
Details
|
2018.2.7 (latest)
Released October 23, 2018 |
What’s New?
SovLabs introduces an enhancement to our Property Toolkit module!
- Introducing SovLabs Dynamic Property Groups, which allow for the following scenarios:
- Utilize SovLabs Template Engine to create logic-driven property names and values within standard vRA property groups
- Assign Dynamic Property Groups to any vRA entity that supports vRA custom properties (standard vRA property groups can only be applied to blueprints)
- E.g. assign multiple vRA Entities (e.g. compute resources, business groups, reservations, etc)
- Ability to assign a property group from a property definition in order to drive a set of (dynamic) properties from a single request field (also via custom forms)
- Other new Property Toolkit features:
- Ability to mass-update properties by adding, updating or deleting it across multiple vRA entities at once (blueprints, blueprint machine components, compute resources, reservations, etc.)
- Report on and manage vRA property usage across all vRA entities for the following types:
- SovLabs Module Properties
- SovLabs Module Property Groups
- Custom Properties
- Property Dictionary
- Property Groups
- SovLabs Dynamic Property Groups
SovLabs Template Engine Template Tester vRA Catalog Item Update:
- Ability to select an existing provisioned machines in vRA inventory to auto-load properties for modeling template engine scenarios
- Ability to select an existing property group to auto-load properties for modeling for modeling template engine scenarios
Notes
- Latest F5 RESTipe version is 2018.2.2
Known Issues
| Module |
Known Issue + Workaround |
| Property Toolkit |
All deployments trigger the SovLabs Property Toolkit vRA Event Broker Subscriptions. When a deployment is executed without any SovLabs modules attached via SovLabs vRA Property Group(s), the Property Toolkit workflow fails to find the “SovLabs_Tenant” vRA Property and fails the deployment.
Workaround: Please apply a vRA Custom Property with Name: SovLabs_Tenant and Value:<Tenant Name> at one or more of the desired vRA Entity (e.g. Endpoint, Reservation, Blueprint, Business Group, etc)
Fixed Version: 2018.3.0 |
*Note: Additional Known Issues are listed in the next section, “Known Issues” below
Features/Enhancements
| Module |
Feature/Enhancement |
| Ansible Tower |
Updated logic to delete a VM from all SovLabs Ansible Tower Endpoints’ inventories for a given vRO |
| BlueCat DNS/IPAM |
- Excluded IP addresses uses the BlueCat API provided ‘skip’ property instead of reserving IP addresses
- Improved logging and exception messages
- Improved performance related to finding and assigning IP addresses
|
| Infoblox DNS/IPAM |
Added vRO debug WARNING log to indicate why record is not removed in scenarios where empty results are returned for DNS machineBuilding and IPAM machineBuilding |
Resolved Issues
| Module |
Resolved Issue(s) |
| Ansible Tower |
Fixed the Execute Ansible Tower Job Template vRA Resource Action icon to have the Ansible Tower logo instead of the SovLabs Property Toolkit module icon |
| Infoblox DNS |
Fixed NICs being orphaned with the introduction of “DNS Host Record” reservation |
| Infoblox IPAM |
Fixed issue where Infoblox IPAM reservations do not get cleaned up if SovLabs_IPAMSkipInUseIPs is triggered |
| All IPAM |
Fixed IPAM machineBuilding vRO workflow to log the NIC number assignment for orphaned/released NICs
Fixed IPAM reservations for multi-NIC machines not getting NIC specific reservation hostnames |
| F5 and Infoblox DNS |
- Fixed failure to remove F5 VIP DNS record when using “DNS Host Record” Infoblox reservation type
- Fixed F5 VIP artifacts were not cleaned up in Infoblox during de-provision
|
| F5 and Infoblox IPAM |
Fixed to support Infoblox Reservation Type “DNS Host Record” to reserve IP for the VIP |
| F5 and all DNS |
Updated handling of F5 for all DNS so that the NIC indicated on IPAM profile does not have to be NIC 0 for use reserving F5 VIP |
| F5 and all IPAM |
Updated handling of F5 for all IPAMs so that the NIC indicated on IPAM profile does not have to be NIC 0 for use reserving F5 VIP |
| Puppet Open Source with Foreman |
Fixed Environment and Host Parameter setting to occur after the host joins the Host Group |
| ServiceNow CMDB |
Fixed issue for vRA 7.5 where ServiceNow CMDB Configuration was not populating Template names |
|
2018.2.6
Released September, 27, 2018 |
What’s New?
The SovLabs 2018.2.6 is certified for VMware’s vRA 7.5SovLabs also introduces the Ansible Tower Plug-in for vRA CM Framework as an option for organizations using vRA 7.5 Enterprise.
The vRA CM Framework, or “vRA Configuration Management Framework” integration makes Ansible Tower configuration management a first-class citizen that can be dragged onto the canvas in a vRA Blueprint.
Notes
- Latest F5 RESTipe version is 2018.2.2
Features/Enhancements
| Module |
Feature/Enhancement |
| DNS |
Added functionality to allow skipping DNS on a per-NIC basis
Please note for Infoblox DNS, if the Reservation Type is “DNS Host Record”, setting the property below should cause provisioning failure. DNS can only be disabled for Reservation Type: “Fixed Address”
vRA Property:
Name:SovLabs_DisableDNS_nic#, where # is a value 0-9
Value: true
*Setting the Value to false or removing the vRA Property will re-enable DNS for the NIC. |
| F5 |
Added support for calling vRO workflows via SovLabs RESTipes for vRA/vRO 7.5 |
| Custom Naming |
Added ability to reuse available sequence numbers, previously missing starting from 2018.2.1
Added ability to reuse sequence numbers for Unique Keys |
Resolved Issues
| DNS |
Fixed NIC specific disconnect between SovLabs IPAM and DNS logic |
| Infoblox DNS / IPAM |
Fixed bug where all IPAM/DNS records would not remove when more than 1 Infoblox NIC is handled during de-provisioning |
| All IPAM |
Fixed Add IPAM Profile vRA Catalog Item to properly handle user input of “NO-GATEWAY” keyword for the field: Subnets, Gateways, Network Names, Network masks |
|
2018.2.4
Released August 24, 2018 |
Notes
- Latest F5 RESTipe version is 2018.2.2
Features/Enhancements
| Module |
Feature/Enhancement |
| All DNS |
- Enhanced logging to inform if the ‘SovLabs_DisableDNS’ vRA property is set (or not set)
- Ability to register additional DNS addressing to a specific NIC for a VM with vRA property ‘SovLabs_AdditionalNicOverrideHostname-nic#’ (where # is 1-9)
|
| All IPAM |
- Enhanced logging to inform with the ‘SovLabs_IPAMSkipInUseIPs’ vRA property is set (or not set)
|
| Notifications |
- Added new VMLIFECYCLE state for VM Lease Expired
- When a Notification Configuration is set for the state ‘VM Lease Expired’, a notification is sent when the VM expires (not before the VM is about to expire)
- NOTE: It is recommended to set an Archive period when enabling notifications for VM Lease Expired
|
| Puppet Open Source with Foreman |
- Added ability to specify Host Parameters for a Host via the SovLabs Foreman Agent Configuration
- NOTE: When an error occurs while setting the Host Parameters, the failure is not fatal. A stacktrace is logged but the provisioning will be allowed to continue. The failure to set Host Parameters can result from API calls to retrieve node information due to missing/misconfigured Customization Spec/Puppet.
- Added ability to register Environments other than ‘production’ with Foreman
- Added the property ‘SovLabs_PuppetStage” during the precert run, with a value of “precert” which is used to modify the Puppet Run command to run in –noop mode
|
| Red Hat Satellite |
- Added support for 6.3
- Added functionality to install the Katello-ca rpm from the Capsule server if a Capsule server is defined
|
Resolved Issues
| Module |
Resolved Issue(s) |
| Ansible Tower |
Resolved issue where the vRA request would complete successfully even though an Ansible failure occurred.
Now, the vRA request will fail when an Ansible failure occurs. |
| F5 |
Resolved issue where number format in Port number fields would contain a decimal (e.g. 80 would display as 80.0)
Added minimum and maximum port number constraints |
| IPAM |
When the vRA property ‘SovLabs_IPAMSkipInUseIPs’ is set and a SovLabs Notification Configuration with type ‘SovLabs IPAM’ is not defined, the provisioning is allowed to continue. The logs will state that the IP was found to be in use and that the SovLabs Notification was not set.
*NOTE: It is recommended to set up SovLabs Notification with type ‘SovLabs IPAM’ so that admins/users are notified a specific IP address was found to be in use.
Updated IPAM machineBuilding to fail if the SovLabs IPAM property is set but the IPAM Profile could not resolve (e.g. typo in IPAM Profile name and the IPAM profile was not found based on the wrong name) |
|
2018.2.3
Released July 23, 2018 |
Notes
- Latest F5 RESTipe version is 2018.2.2
Features/Enhancements
| Module |
Feature/Enhancement |
| All |
vRO workflow name gets appended to the end of each vRO workflow token run. This is to account for vRO 7.4’s new HTML5 interface to distinguish what vRO workflow is running for a particular machine being provisioned. |
| Ansible Tower |
- Added additional error and exception handling
- Added logic to retry getting the JobTemplate run’s status on an exception to handle cases where communication with Ansible Tower Endpoint is lost
|
Resolved Issues
| Module |
Resolved Issue(s) |
| Naming |
Added validation block to verify SovLabs Naming item is resolved in another decision block of Get Hostname that was missing from 2018.2.2 |
|
2018.2.2
Released June 25, 2018 |
Notes
- Latest F5 RESTipe version is 2018.2.2
Features/Enhancements
| Module |
Feature/Enhancement |
| F5 |
Enable Pool name to be the same as VIP name
Enable templating of VIP name and Pool name (in the even a sequence is not needed to generate the VIP/Pool name) |
| IPAM |
Ability to configure Network Mask on a SovLabs IPAM Profile
Ability to allow blank Gateway values |
| Naming |
Ability to use SovLabs Template Engine to define SovLabs Naming Standard |
Resolved Issues
| Microsoft AD |
Fixed to handle Security Groups that are null/empty by skipping instead of failing
If setting “| required” to the templating and it does not exist, it will fail |
| F5 |
Fixed scale-in of VMs for multiple VIPs attached to 1 VM component |
| IPAM |
Fixed not checking reverse DNS for IP addresses |
| Lifecycle Component Toolkit |
Fixed fatal error when creating Lifecycle Profiles in a vRA environment with no VMs provisioned |
|
2018.2.1.1
Release June 12, 2018 |
Resolved Issue
Resource elements that were pre-existing (prior to 2018.2.1) do not have a version. In the 2018.2.1 codebase, a resource element with no version was interpreted as 0.0.0 (which is true during the first write, if this was an initial write). If the other two nodes already loaded version 0.0.0, and the update went from no version to 0.0.0 it would not update the other two nodes (unless they were restarted).The fix was to increment the version whether it was null or 0.0.0 correctly to the next version |
2018.2.1
Released June 8, 2018 |
What’s New?
We have identified an issue within the SovLabs plug-in as well as VMware resource element data APIs where synchronization issues can lead to data loss between clustered vRO instances.
With SovLabs Plug-in 2018.2.1, there is synchronization support for both SovLabs and VMware resource element storage.
SovLabs vRA EBS Priority Updates
No SovLabs vRA Event Broker Subscription Priority updates have been made.
View all existing SovLabs vRA Event Broker Subscriptions for all modules: docs.sovlabs.comNotes
- Latest F5 RESTipe version is 2018.1.2
Features/Enhancements
| Module |
Feature/Enhancement |
| All |
Included Lease related properties into the vmProperties stack:
- VMLeaseBeginDate
- VMLeaseExpireDate
- VMLeaseDurationDays
|
| Ansible Tower |
- Updated Execute AnsibleTowerProfile Job Template to include verbose logging, including JSON input and outputs to/from Tower.
- Removed ‘guestOS’ from the list of default Ansible Tower Profile Groups generated
- Included additional locking and unlocking for vRO Resource Elements used for caching data for vRO clustering
|
| BlueCat DNS |
Added Force Unlock vRO workflow in the event a vRO lock is hung.
Please access via: SovLabs > DNS > Manual > Force Unlock – BlueCat DNS |
| IPAM |
Included verbose logging in vRO workflow tokens |
| F5 |
Included additional locking and unlocking for vRO Resource Element used for caching data (specifically Naming) for vRO clustering |
| vSphere DRS |
Included additional locking and unlocking for vRO Resource Element used for caching data for vRO clustering |
| Backup as a Service for Veeam |
Included additional locking and unlocking for vRO Resource Element used for caching data for vRO clustering. Specifically used for Day2 Recover Files and Folders. |
Resolved Issues
| Module |
Resolved Issue(s) |
| Ansible Tower |
- Updated Execute AnsibleTowerProfile Job Template to not fail for an Azure deployment. Azure deployments are not supported by SovLabs since they do not provide vRA lifecycle states nor VM Properties.
- Updated Ansible Tower Inventory Profile (Add/Configure) field ‘Inventory Script Options’ to be mandatory
- Fixed populating vRO Host and vRO Port fields for Ansible Tower Inventory Profile for clustered vROs
|
| IPAM – machineDisposing |
Fixed issue not removing all non-Infoblox IP entries when multiple vendor IPAM profiles along with Infoblox IPAM are attached to the same VM component (e.g. BlueCat IPAM on nic0, SolarWinds IPAM on nic1 and Infoblox IPAM on nic3) |
| Puppet Enterprise |
Removed ability to drag Puppet Agent and Puppet Master onto the vRA blueprint canvas. This feature is unsupported and caused confusion when customers saw this capability. |
| Puppet Open Source with Foreman |
Removed ability to drag Foreman Agent and Foreman Master onto the vRA blueprint canvas. This feature is unsupported and caused confusion when customers saw this capability. |
|
Known Issues
| Type |
Known Issue + Workaround |
| Single node vRO |
Failed to get latest version of the resource element {{ name }}
Workaround: None. This Please re-submit the request of interest. SovLabs is pursuing this issue at the highest priority. |
| vRA/vRO Clustering for vRA 7.3 and vRA 7.4 |
vRA does not consistently persist XaaS items to inventory (independent of SovLabs) even though the vRO workflow related to item creation completes successfully.
Workaround: None. SovLabs is pursuing this issue with VMware GSS at the highest priority.
SovLabs KB Article 6000197373 |
vRA 7.4 / vRO 7.4
js-io-rights.conf file reverts when the vRO Configurator service is restarted |
For vRA 7.4, js-io-rights.conf file reverts any time the vRO Configurator service is restarted.
Symptom:
When running the SovLabs Configuration workflow or when installing the SovLabs License, you seen an error in the log that indicates the workflow failed because vRO couldn’t write to /tmp.
Workaround:
- SSH as root to vRO server
- Stop Control Center. Type in: service vco-configurator stop
- Make the change to js-io-rights.conf file (add a line at the end of the file: +rwx /tmp ) . Follow steps via: docs.sovlabs.com
- Execute the CLI command to apply the changes to the latest configuration.
- On the command line, type /var/lib/vco/tools/configuration-cli/bin/vro-configure.sh sync-local
- Start Control Center (vco-configurator). Type in: service vco-configurator start
|
| All that generate a vRA Property Group |
Unable to rename a Property Group name in vRA 7.x programmatically
Workaround: Any forms that generate a vRA Property Group will no longer allow updating the “Configuration label” (e.g. Add Naming Standard/Update Naming Standard) |
| Ansible Tower |
Missing icon image for Configure Ansible Tower Custom Inventory action for a SovLabs Ansible Tower Inventory Profile |
| Custom Naming |
Unable to rename deployments in vRA 7.x due to vRA Platform limitation.
The deployment name defaults to the blueprint name appended by a dash and an auto-generated 8-digit number (e.g. blueprintName-12345678)
Workaround: The deployment name can be influced by adding a vRA Custom Property at the composite blueprint level (versus at the machine component in the blueprint) with:
- Name: _deploymentName
- Value: Unique value utilizing the SovLabs Template Engine
*Note: Using the same property value will result in deployments with the same name |
| Manage Credentials for Puppet Open Source with Foreman |
Unable to update a credential that is tied to Puppet Open Source with Foreman
Workaround: Update the Foreman Master or Foreman Agent and create a new credential directly inline and submit. |
| F5 |
Issue: A nested vRA blueprint with the F5 virtual component in the child vRA blueprint that defines the value for Pool Health Monitors field fails with a: Status Code 400 ‘The value for the ‘poolHealthMonitors’ field should be among the permitted value’ for vRA 7.2. This issue does not occur for vRA 7.3 nor for a single (non-nested) blueprint.
Workaround: Do not define (pin) the value for Pool Health Monitors (or any field that is Array/String) on the F5 Virtual component in the child blueprint for a nested blueprint.
vRA 7.4, 2018.1.4
During provisioning for vRA 7.4, vRO server.log will log errors when the SovLabs RESTipe executes a vRO workflow. The error logs are benign and can be ignored. vRO workflows are executed successfully via SovLabs RESTipes.
Issue: When defining multiple F5 virtual components and different VIPs are tied to use the same Pool Name (often when manually defining the Pool Name), the VIPs and the Pool is not removed from F5 when destroying the deployment even though the Pool is empty.
Workaround: Please try to keep a 1:1 relationship between a VIP and Pool. A circular dependency exists when trying to remove the VIPs tied to the same Pool and proper disposal cannot take place. |
| vSphere Snapshot Management |
If using vSphere Snapshot Management with any of the Backup as a Service modules (Cohesity, Rubrik, Veeam) may result in an email notification of a Backup as a Service snapshot.
If the Backup as a Service snapshot lives beyond deletion time set in Snapshot Configuration, will get deleted. |
| Property Toolkit |
Day2 on vRA VM “Manage Properties (SovLabs Property Toolkit) does not have a correct reflection of the fields: Hidden, Encrypted, Show in Request for a Property when the Action field is Update Existing Property.
Workaround: Please check the checkbox during an Update of a Property on a VM for any of the applicable fields: Hidden, Encrypted, Show in Request and then Submit. |
| Lifecycle Component Toolkit |
Issue: For Add/Update Lifecycle Profiles, the vRA forms may timeout.
Workaround: Upgrade to 2018.1.4Issue: machineRequested phase for Lifecycle Component Toolkit fails.
Workaround: Upgrade to 2018.1.4 |
| SovLabs vCenter Endpoint |
Version “6.7x” does not show in the dropdown list.
Workaround: Please select “6.5x” from the Version dropdown list. We have certified vCenter 6.7 in 2018.1.5.
Resolved in 2019.6.0 |
| Puppet Open Source with Foreman (starting from release 2018.2.4) |
The Host Parameters field is optional. When no Host Parameters are defined, an error stack trace for null pointer exception is in the vRO logs.
Workaround: None, the error stack trace is benign. The provisioning succeeds and the machine is added correctly into Foreman. |
docs.sovlabs.com
Helpful links
Install 2018.2.1 SovLabs Plug-in
Upgrade to 2018.2.1 SovLabs Plug-in
- If upgrading from 2017.1.x or earlier, please contact SovLabs Support
- If upgrading from 2017.x or earlier and you have not obtained a 2018.x license key, please contact SovLabs Support
