User Guide
Once the zPodFactory framework is deployed and running, and has been configured by an Administrator you can start using the CLI to deploy nested environments.
Introduction
zcli is a command line tool that allows you to manage your zPods and the whole zPodFactory framework.
CLI Installation
Using pip:
Verify that the CLI is now available and working:
❯ zcli
Usage: zcli [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
╭─ Options ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ --factory -f TEXT Use specific factory for this commmand. │
│ --output-svg Output an SVG file for any list command.│
│ --version -V Display version information. │
│ --install-completion Install completion for this shell. │
│ --help Show this message and exit. │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
╭─ Commands ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ component Manage Components │
│ endpoint Manage Endpoints │
│ enet Manage ENets │
│ factory Manage Factories │
│ group Manage Permission Groups │
│ library Manage Libraries │
│ profile Manage Profiles │
│ setting Manage Settings │
│ user Manage Users │
│ zpod Manage zPods │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Authentication
The first thing you need to do is to connect to the zPodFactory API with the token an Administrator provided you.
Verify that the connection was successfull and that you are connected to the API:
Manage zPods
zPods are the nested environments name in the zPodFactory framework.
List zPods
Create zPods
To create a zPod you will need to provide a few parameters:
name: The name of the zPodprofile: The profile to use to deploy the zPod (usezcli profile listto list available profiles)endpoint: The endpoint to use to deploy the zPod (usezcli endpoint listto list available endpoints)
For example:
This will create a zPod with the following attributes:
name:testThis will be the name of the zPod, that also means it will concatenate this name with thezpodfactory.domainto create the FQDN of the zPod. In this case it will betest.zpodfactory.domain, and any component, such aszboxcomponent will bezbox.test.zpodfactory.domain.
Info
The zpodfactory.domain is a setting that can ONLY be configured by an Administrator.
It is configured by the zpodfactory_default_domain setting. This setting should be configured at initial setup of this framework and SHOULD NEVER BE MODIFIED.
Check Manage settings for more information.
-
profile:baseThis is the profile that will be used to deploy the zPod. It will be used to deploy thezboxcomponent, and any other component that is required by the profile. Thebaseprofile actually entitles to the following components in our current configuration :zbox-12.7(mandatorycomponentto manage DNS/DHCP, 3 additional zPod /26 subnets on tagged VLAN 64/128/192, and also the NFS datastore for the nested hosts)esxi-8.0u3c(Host Id: 11, CPU: 4, Mem: 48GB)esxi-8.0u3c(Host Id: 12, CPU: 4, Mem: 48GB)vcsa-8.0u3d
Info
The base profile is a profile that can ONLY be configured by an Administrator.
Check Manage profiles for more information.
endpoint:sddc-labwill reference the endpoint to use to deploy the zPod. In this case it will be thesddc-labendpoint that is configured by an Administrator, and should link to the physical environment that will host this zPod nested environment.
Info
The sddc-lab endpoint is an endpoint that can ONLY be configured by an Administrator.
Check Manage endpoints for more information.
Accessing the zPod
Once the zPod is deployed, you can access it using the following credentials
for vcsa (VMware vCenter Server):
username:administrator@name.zpodfactory.domainpassword: Each zPod has its password generated. Password can be fetched by using thezcli zpod listcommand)
For every other component, the username is the default for that component. For example, on many VMware products the default administrator account is either root or admin, such as nsx-v, nsx-t, nsx, vcda, vrops, vrli. However, for vcd, the default administrator account is administrator. The password is always the zPod Password.
Destroy zPods
Warning
This will destroy the zPod and all its components without confirmation, and will not be recoverable.
Manage components
In the previous section we deployed a zPod with the base profile, which does not contain many products, but only the bare minimum to have a functional nested environment.
Here we will show you how to list the available components, and add a new component to a deployed/available zPod.
List components
List components of a zPod
You will need to provide the zpod name parameter so that the CLI knows which zPod to list the components from.
Add components to a zPod
If you want to add a new component to a zpod, you will need to provide the component_uid. Component UID is a combination of a product name and a version, as many versions can exist for a given product. (use zcli component list to list available components)
For example in our case:
This will add the vcd-10.6.1 component to the team.beta zPod.
Manage DNS records
Since version 0.7.2, it is now possible to manage DNS records dynamically through the CLI to a zPod. This is useful when you want to add/update/remove a DNS record to a zPod that is not managed by the default zbox component.
This will require the new zbox-12.7 component to be part of the deployment profile.
List DNS records to a zPod
List DNS records to a zPod that is not managed by the default zbox component.
Add DNS record to a zPod
Adding a DNS record to a zPod is useful when you want to add a DNS record to a zPod that is not managed by the default zbox component.
You can use 2 different ways to achieve this:
Using --host-id which allows you to set the host id on the management network of a zPod.
192.168.10.11
host-id is the host id on the management network of a zPod. This is explicitely used for profiles so we can easily set specific components configuration that will be deployed on the zpod management subnet and just have to make sure the host-id is set correctly/unique per profile.
Example base profile (esxi11 and esxi12 have host_id 11 and 12 respectively):
[
{
"component_uid": "zbox-12.7"
},
[
{
"component_uid": "esxi-8.0u3c",
"host_id": 11,
"hostname": "esxi11",
"vcpu": 6,
"vmem": 48
},
{
"component_uid": "esxi-8.0u3c",
"host_id": 12,
"hostname": "esxi12",
"vcpu": 6,
"vmem": 48
}
],
{
"component_uid": "vcsa-8.0u3d"
}
]
This will result into the zpod deploying with podname as it's name and zpodfactory.domain set as the zpodfactory_default_domain with the following components in it:
- 1 x
zbox-12.7component - 2 x
esxi-8.0u3ccomponents withhost_id11 and 12 respectively - 1 x
vcsa-8.0u3dcomponent
From a DNS perspective you will have the following DNS records:
zbox.podname.zpodfactory.domain -> 10.10.11.2
esxi11.podname.zpodfactory.domain -> 10.10.11.11
esxi12.podname.zpodfactory.domain -> 10.10.11.12
vcsa.podname.zpodfactory.domain -> 10.10.11.10
Using --ip which allows you to set any IP.
As you can imagine setting any ip, allows you to setup hostnames for any IP address, which can be useful for any use cases leveraging other network subnets (like any overlay network managed by NSX that might be routed within the zPod, etc)
Remove DNS record from a zPod
Remove a DNS record can be done using the below command line:
Warning
You are responsible for any DNS record change, as deleting one of the core components WILL completely break the zPod.