Automating vSAN Policy Application: Building the Dashboard 3 of 5

Series

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Problem

• Difficulty in organizing and categorizing VMs based on their vSAN policies
• Lack of visibility into VMs with mismatched RAID policies
• Challenges in quickly identifying VMs that require policy updates
• Need for a dynamic grouping mechanism that reflects current vSAN policy states

Troubleshooting

When attempting to manage vSAN policies across multiple VMs, several challenges arise:

1. Manually tracking VMs with specific RAID policies is time-consuming
2. Identifying VMs with mismatched policies (e.g., RAID 1 policy but not using vSAN Raid 1) is error-prone
3. Keeping VM groupings updated as policies change can be difficult
4. Integrating policy information with other VM metrics for comprehensive management

Solution

Create custom groups in Aria Operations to automatically categorize VMs based on their vSAN RAID policies:

1. RAID 1 VMs Custom Group

# Navigate to: Environment -> Custom Groups -> Add
$RAID1Group = @{
    Name = "RAID 1 VMs"
    Description = "RAID 1 VMs"
    GroupType = "Environment"
    Policy = $null  # Leave unselected
    KeepMembershipUpdated = $true
    MembershipCriteria = @{
        ObjectType = "Virtual Machine"
        Metrics = "Super Metric|vSAN RAID Policy is 1.0"
        Properties = "vSAN|vSAN Policy|Hard Disk 1 is not vSAN Raid 1"
    }
}

# Add the Custom Group using Aria Operations API or UI

This group identifies VMs that should be using RAID 1 but are not currently configured with the correct vSAN policy.

2. RAID 5 VMs Custom Group

# Navigate to: Environment -> Custom Groups -> Add
$RAID5Group = @{
    Name = "RAID 5 VMs"
    Description = "RAID 5 VMs"
    GroupType = "Environment"
    Policy = $null  # Leave unselected
    KeepMembershipUpdated = $true
    MembershipCriteria = @{
        ObjectType = "Virtual Machine"
        Metrics = "Super Metric|vSAN RAID Policy is 5.0"
        Properties = "vSAN|vSAN Policy|Hard Disk 1 is not vSAN Raid 5"
    }
}

# Add the Custom Group using Aria Operations API or UI

This group identifies VMs that should be using RAID 5 but are not currently configured with the correct vSAN policy.

Implementation Steps

1. Access Aria Operations
2. Navigate to Environment -> Custom Groups -> Add
3. Create the RAID 1 VMs group using the provided criteria
4. Create the RAID 5 VMs group using the provided criteria
5. Ensure “Keep group membership up to date” is set to Yes for both groups

Integration with Automation

• These custom groups will automatically update as VM policies change
• Use these groups in your dashboard to display VMs requiring policy updates
• Integrate group membership checks into your automation script to trigger policy updates

Benefits

• Provides real-time visibility into VMs with mismatched vSAN policies
• Automates the categorization of VMs based on their ideal RAID policy
• Enhances the efficiency of policy management and updates
• Facilitates quick identification of VMs requiring attention in large environments

In the next part of this series, we’ll explore how to leverage these custom groups in our dashboard and automation script to streamline vSAN policy management.