Workspot-VMware vSphere Integration Overview
Note: This document is old, but the information is still largely correct.
Workspot-VMware vSphere Integration enables the provisioning and managing of VDI desktops from Workspot Control 1. Control provides a simple interface with easy access to VMware ESX / ESXi hypervisor and virtualization server - VMware's platform for implementing and managing virtual machine (VM) infrastructure on a large scale.
Prerequisites and Configuration Notes
The following are general prerequisites:
VMware vSphere 7.0 or later.
vCenter Server. See VMware vSphere Documentation for more information.
vCenter account for provisioning VMs, see Workspot vSphere Integration vCenter Privileges for details.
Sufficient resources: CPU, memory, storage, and networking.
DHCP provided IPs.
A Template and Customization Specification for the VDI desktops.
Workspot's Enterprise Connector installed and AD synchronization enabled. See the Workspot Enterprise connector.
Configuring Control involves the following steps for VMware vSphere Integration:
Read The Instructions
Add Datacenter and provide a name that describes the datacenter. Note: "Cupertino DC" is used in this example where DC is short for Data Center.
Add Configuration for the Active Directory configuration type.
Add Configuration for the VMware vSphere configuration type.
Add Pool to provision Virtual Machines (VMs).
Assign Desktops in the pool to users from (a) users defined in Workspot, (b) users defined in Active Directory, (c) or users listed in a spreadsheet that is imported. For this guide, the only method (a) is shown.
Control Configuration for VMware vSphere Integration
Read the instructions: Navigate to Control:: Resources > VDI(0) and review the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Setup panel, as shown in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2 - Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Setup - First Time Use
Add Datacenter: Navigate to Company > Datacenter click the Add Datacenter button.
Figure 3 - Name this Datacenter
Provide a meaningful name to identify the Datacenter's profile. For example, "Cupertino DC" where DC is short for Data Center. Click the Save button.
The Datacenter profile is displayed. note the Add Configuration button will be disabled until the Connector is online. Refer to Figure 4 below.
Figure 4 - Add Datacenter Completed - Enterprise Connector Not Installed
After the Enterprise Connector that matches the Integration Key has been installed, the Add Configuration button is enabled, the Connector Version is filled in, and the Connector Status is shown as Connected. Refer to Figure 5 below.
Figure 5 - Add Data Center - Enterprise Connector Installed, Version and Statis Available
Add Configuration for Active Directory: Navigate to Company > Datacenter and click on the Add Configuration button. A panel titled "Add a Configuration for the <datacenter name> datacenter" is displayed.
Figure 6 - Add a Configuration to the Cupertino DC Datacenter
Provide a meaningful name to identify this configuration profile, "CORP AD" is used in this example. Select Active Directory as the Configuration Type.
Figure 7 - Add Configuration - Active Directory - Configuration Type
To sync the status of deleted and disabled Active Directory users with Control, set Sync Deleted and Disabled Users to "Yes". (Note: Navigate to Users > Users to see the AD Status associated with an individual Workspot user. See Figure 11.)
Figure 8 - Add Configuration - Active Directory - Synchronize Member Accounts
Successful creation of an Active Directory configuration displays the status message shown below.
Figure 9 - Add Configuration - Active Directory - Datacenter configuration created successfully
Click on the Sync Now button to update the status of Workspot Client users who have accounts in the Active Directory domain.
Figure 10 - Add Configuration - Active Directory - Sync is Initiated...
For the purposes of this guide, an Operations Test account was created in the workspot.com Active Directory. The email address opstest01.workspot.com was assigned to this account. This member self-registered using a Workspot Client using the assigned email address. and is listed as an Active user under their AD Status in Users.
Figure 11 - Add Configuration - Active Directory - Post-Synce, AD Status
Figure 12 shows the E-mail entry in Active Directory that is used by the Workspot Enterprise Connector to identify the user.
Figure 12 - Active Directory - Enterprise Connector Compatible E-mail Entry
Add Configuration for VMware vSphere: Navigate to Company > Datacenter and click the Add Configuration button.
Provide a meaningful Name to identify this configuration profile, "VMware vSphere" is used in this example. Select VMware vSphere as the Configuration Type.
Figure 13 - Add Configuration - VMware vSphere - Configuration Type and Name
Enter the vCenter Server Address (IP address) - the FQDN or hostname of the vCenter web console may be used as well. The vCenter Address, shown in Figure 15 below, is the NETBIOS name "vCenter".
Configure to Allow Self Signed Certificates or do not allow.
Figure 14 - Add Configuration - VMware vSphere - Host, Certificate
Enter User Name and Password for the vCenter administrator account used for provisioning VMs.
Figure 15 - Add Configuration - VMware vSphere - Service Account for Provisioning Virtual Machines (VMs)
Click on the Save button. The "Datacenter configuration created successfully" message is displayed and the VMware vSphere configuration panel shows the Configuration Type, Host, and User Name.
Figure 16 - Add Configuration - VMware vSphere - "Datacenter confi created successfully"
Add Pool: Navigate to Resources > VDI to provision Virtual Machines (VMs). Click on the Add Pool button. Optionally, you may click on the VDI Setup link in item (4.) of the instructions, as shown in Figure 2, to arrive on the same page.
Navigate to Resources > VDI and click on the Add Pool button. Provide a Desktop Pool Name and Select a Config. Note that the Desktop Pool Name will be the VDI desktop display name in the user's Workspot.
Figure 17 - Add Pool - Create Your Virtual Desktops
Select the vCenter config to display the related fields.
Add Pool - VMware vSphere - Specific ParametersClick on the Search button to display the list of available templates, then click on the Select button next to the desired template.
Figure 18 - Add Pool - Select a Template
Add Pool - Host of Cluster
Add Pool - Resource Pool
Add Pool - Datastore
Add Pool - Get customization for VM image
Enter the Number of Desktops to provision. Enter the Naming Prefix and Suffix Length that is used to uniquely name each virtual desktop during provisioning. Click on the Upload an icon link to use a custom icon for the desktop in Workspot Ciient.
Figure 19 - Add Pool - Enter Final Parameters for Pool
Figure 20 - Add Pool - Upload an Icon
Manage Virtual Desktops and Check Progress during provisioning.
Figure 21 - Add Pool - Manage Virtual Desktops - Check Progress
Figure 22 - Add Pool - Virtual Desktops Creation Progress - 0% - Waiting for IP...
Figure 23 - Add Pool - Virtual Desktops Creation Progress - 0% - Powering On...
Figure 24 - Add Pool - Virtual Desktops Creation Progress - 67% - Online
Figure 25 - Add Pool - Virtual Desktops Creation Progress - 100% Complete
After completion of pool creation, click on the < Back to Pool Details link to see the list of virtual desktops provisioned for the Ops Windows 10 E Desktop Pool (3).
Figure 26 - Add Pool - Manage Virtual Desktops - Back to Pool Details
Logging into vCenter and going to VM > Table, the virtual desktops provisioned through Control are listed.
Once the first pool has been created, the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Setup instructions are no longer displayed and in its place, the list of available pools.
Figure 28 - Add Pool - Manage Virtual Desktop Pools (1) List
Assign Desktops: Navigate to Resources > VDI to assign VMs. Click on the Assign Desktops button. Click on name of the pool to open the Manage Virtual Desktops.
Click on the name of the pool from where you want to assign the VDI desktops.
Figure 29 - Assign Desktops - Ops Windows 10 E Desktops Pool (3)
In Figure 29 above, all three (3) provisioned desktops were selected. Clicking on the Assign Desktops button, the tabs shown under All Users act as search filters. Click on the Workspot tab to search users that are already registered with your company in Control.
Figure 30 - Assign Desktops - "Assign Selected Virtual Desktop(s) to New User Desktops:" tool
Entering "demo" shows the two users with names or emails that include "demo". Select the check boxes next to the users, then click the arrow to pick those users to be assigned desktops, then click on the Assign button.
Figure 32 - Assign Desktops - Using the "Workspot" filter and user assignment tool
In this example, two desktops were assigned, one desktop to each user.
Figure 33 - Assign Desktops - Manage Virtual Desktop Pools detail status table
Summary status is displayed for the pool by clicking on the < Back to Desktop Pools navigation link shown in the figure above.
Figure 34 - Assign Desktops - Manage Virtual Desktop Pools summary status table
Navigate to Users > User Details :: Assigned Virtual Desktops. Note that desktops assigned to users are listed for their account.
Figure 35 - Assign Desktops - Users < User Details :: Assigned Virtual Desktops
[1] Control is Workspot's cloud-based, comprehensive management solution. Integrated with hypervisor platforms, Control simplifies the automatic provisioning of VDI desktops, and management of configurations and policies applied to the desktops.