Requirements for using VM Clouds

  • Article

 

Applies To: Windows Azure Pack

This section lists down the requirements for using the VM Clouds service in Windows Azure Pack.

Component

Requirement

Description

Service Provider Foundation

Install and configure Service Provider Foundation

The VM Clouds service in Windows Azure Pack uses Service Provider Foundation to communicate with VMM. So, before provisioning VM Clouds, you must do the following:

Cloud

In the underlying VMM server that is associated with the Service Provider Foundation endpoint, you must have created a cloud.

For clouds to work with Windows Azure Pack, you must ensure that the clouds are created with the following considerations:

  • You must create a cloud from host groups. For instructions, see How to Create a Private Cloud from Host Groups.

  • You must have already created logical networks that can be associated with the cloud. For instructions, see How to Create a Logical Network in VMM.

  • You must have already created a VM library share. For instructions, see How to Add a VMM Library Server or VMM Library Share.

  • You must assign the right amount of capacity to the cloud. The capacity that you assign to the cloud governs the resources that will be available to the tenants while provisioning virtual machines using VM Clouds.

  • You must not select any of the available capability profiles (ESX Server, Hyper-V, XenServer) while creating the cloud. If you do so, tenants will not be able to deploy virtual machine roles using the VM Clouds service.

VM Templates

In the underlying VMM Server, you must have created virtual templates that can be used by tenants to provision standalone virtual machines using VM Clouds.

While creating virtual machine templates, you must ensure the following:

  • While selecting a source, make sure the VHD you select has the option to connect to the virtual machine using remote desktop.

  • While configuring the hardware settings, make sure you do not select any of the cloud capability profiles (XenServer, ESX Server, Hyper-V) available.

  • While configuring the operating system, make sure you do not set the Guest OS Profile drop-down to None. You must specify a valid value for this drop-down.

For instructions, see How to Create a Virtual Machine Template.

Hardware Profiles

In the underlying VMM server, you must have hardware profiles defined

While creating hardware profiles, make sure you do not select any of the cloud capability profiles (XenServer, ESX Server, Hyper-V) available. For instructions on creating hardware profiles, see How to Create a Hardware Profile.

VM Networks

You must create VM networks (or virtual networks) in the underlying VMM server

You must have a VM network available to which the tenant VMs can be associated. This VM network can either be created using the VMM Console or from the management portal for tenants. For instructions on how to create VM networks, see Create VM Networks for Windows Azure Pack.

Gallery Items

You must have gallery items available that tenants can use to provision virtual machine roles.

See Using gallery items in Virtual Machine Clouds.

Service Provider Foundation service account

The Service Provider Foundation service account must be added to the administrator user role in the VMM server

See Add Service Provider Foundation Service Account as VMM Administrator.

Add Service Provider Foundation Service Account as VMM Administrator

  1. On the computer running Service Provider Foundation, open the Computer Management MMC.

  2. Expand System Tools, expand Local Users and Groups, and then click Groups.

  3. Double click the SPF_Admin user group and note the user name.

  4. Log on to the compute running the VMM server and start the VMM Console.

  5. In the VMM Console, in the Settings workspace, expand Security, and then click User Roles.

  6. From the right-pane, double-click the Administrator user role to open Administrator Properties.

  7. In the Administrator Properties dialog box, click Add to add the user name from Step 3, and then click OK.

Other Requirements for Using VM Clouds

You must make the following considerations while using VM Clouds.

  • If you are using VM Clouds with Service Management Automation to trigger runbooks, Service Management Automation web service certificate must be trusted on the computer running Service Provider Foundation.

  • Windows Azure Pack supports using VMWare virtual machines for deploying and administering the web sites service, databases, hosting the management portals, and the management API and web services. Third party extensions, however, are required to enable provisioning of virtual machines from a VMWare hypervisor using Windows Azure Pack.

  • To connect to the console of virtual machines provisioned using VM Clouds, you must log in to the management portal for tenants from a computer that supports Remote Desktop Protocol 8.1. Windows 8 users must upgrade to Windows 8.1. Windows 7 SP1 users must install KB2830477.

See Also

Provision Virtual Machine Clouds