Lab 04b - ABX Actions

Updated on Oct 24, 2023

Introduction

This lab demonstrates how to leverage an ABX action to conditionally set the name of the Virtual Machine which Aria Automation will provision.

The code uses a property that the cloud template provides, to calculate a new Virtual Machine name.

TASKS

Task 1 - Import the ABX Action

From your VDI Desktop, access your Aria Automation Assembler browser tab. If the tab is closed or the session has timed out, then access Aria Automation Assembler from your browser bookmark and login using your student account (vmcexpert#[email protected] | VMware1!) if necessary.

NOTE: You created this bookmark in a previous lab. If you missed the step you can use this link - https://www.mgmt.cloud.vmware.com/. Make sure to bookmark the page for future access

Login with your VMC on AWS console credentials provided by your instructor.
Type <Your Assigned login Credentials> in the email address field i.e. vmcexpert#[email protected] (where # is your Environment ID, and XX is your assigned student number)
Click NEXT
Type VMware1! in the Password field
Click SIGN IN
Click the stacked squares in the upper right-hand
Click VMware Aria Automation
Click on the Assembler card to access Aria Automation Assembler service.
If Prompted again, login.

On the Guided setup Diagram page, Click Continue
In Aria Automation Assembler, navigate to the Extensibility tab
Select Actions in the Library section
Click on IMPORT

In the Import Actions popup, click on IMPORT
In the file browser, select E:\Lab_Files\Day-2\abx-actions.zip
Select your project
Click IMPORT

Click the changeHostname action to review the code

The code reads a property corp_applicationType from the virtual machine properties. If the value is "database", then the VM name will be aadbxxxx. If it is "web", then it will be aawebxxx. To ensure unique VM names, the code leverages the unique number assigned by Aria Assembler. By default, this means a name like aadb1-mcm1234455...

If you want to shorten the name, you can create custom VM names using Infrastructure->Administration->CustomNames.

Click CLOSE to exit the action.

Task 2 - Create the Subscription

Navigate to the Extensibility tab
Select Subscriptions on the left.
Click NEW SUBSCRIPTION

Set the name to {Your-User-Name}_ChangeVmName i.e. vmcexpert3-01_ChangeVmName
Click ADD in the EventTopic section and select Compute allocation for the topic.
Click ADD in the Action/Workflow section and select the changeHostname ABX action.

Notice when adding the Action/Workflow that, on the top left, you can set the Runnable Type to ABX Action or Workflow (Aria Automation Orchestrator Workflow).

Enable Blocking by sliding the slider to the right.
Set the Timeout to be 2 minutes
Slide the Project scope to the left to disable "Any Project".
Click ADD PROJECTS
Select your project i.e. vmcexpert3-01_Multi-Cloud
Click ADD
Click SAVE

Task 3 - Create a Cloud Template

Navigate to the Design tab
Under Design tab, Click New From --> Blank Canvas in the left pane
Define the Cloud template as follows:
Name: {Your_User_Name}_ABX
Project: {Select_Your_Project}
Click CREATE

Add an input to your cloud template as follows:

inputs:
  applicationType:
    type: string
    title: Application Type
    oneOf:
      - title: Database
        const: database
      - title: Web Server
        const: web

Click to copy

From the Cloud Agnostic section drag the Machine object onto the canvas
Make the following updates to the properties section of the machine:

image: '{Your_User_Name}_Ubuntu'
flavor: {Your_User_Name}_Small
constraints:
  - tag: 'platform:aws'
corp_applicationType: ${input.applicationType}

Click to copy

Note the property corp_applicationType. This is the property that your ABX action will use to compute the name of the VM. It is recommended that you prefix your properties with your company name to ensure uniqueness with codes from vendors and other sources. In this example, we have just used corp.

Drag the Network object from the Cloud Agnostic section
On the Canvas connect the Cloud Machine to the Cloud Network by dragging a line from the cloud machine to the Cloud Network object
In the Code Editor Pane add a Name & Constraint property to the Cloud Network.

name: 'net-web'
networkType: existing
constraints: 
  - tag: network:{Your_User_Name}

Click to copy

Task 4 - Deploy a Cloud Template

Click TEST to validate the template. Select Database as your Application Type.
Click DEPLOY
Name the Deployment {Your-User_Name}_ABX
Click NEXT
Select Database as your Application Type
Click DEPLOY
NOTE: The deployment takes a few minis to complete. You can click the History tab to monitor the steps
Once deployed, Select your Cloud_Machine in your deployment. In the properties box on the right notice the Resource name. Instead of Cloud_Machine_1-mcm..., it should now be aadb1-mcm... Also take note of the value of your property corp_applicationType. This is the property that the ABX code uses to compute the VM name.

Click CLOSE to close your deployment.
Click the Extensibility tab.
Select Action Runs under the Activity section on the left.
Click on the changeHostname that matches your execution (Note: Your partner may have runs as well. Check that the Project column matches your project)

In the Details tab on the right, evaluate the Inputs and Outputs (note: The data is in JSON string format). On the outputs you should see the VM name that was computed.
Click the Log tab on the right to see the console log. You should see a line "Changing first VM name from ... to ...". This came from the console.log() in the ABX action.