Cisco Cisco Workload Automation 6.3 User Guide
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Cisco Systems, Inc.
www.cisco.com
1
Introducing the
VMware Adapter
This chapter provides an overview of the VMware Adapter and its requirements:
Overview
Workload automation extends beyond managing the execution of business application tasks o automating the
management of the infrastructure that supports these tasks. As both services and infrastructure become virtualized
through SOA and virtualization technology, the scheduling solution needs to proactively manage the loose coupling
between business process and infrastructure.
management of the infrastructure that supports these tasks. As both services and infrastructure become virtualized
through SOA and virtualization technology, the scheduling solution needs to proactively manage the loose coupling
between business process and infrastructure.
Host servers often support dozens to hundreds of virtual machines. This creates a challenge for coordinating the
availability of hosts through power management, preserving and restoring machine states through snapshots, and
configuring servers for specific tasks.
availability of hosts through power management, preserving and restoring machine states through snapshots, and
configuring servers for specific tasks.
For example, consider a business process that requires a dedicated machine to produce quarterly tax reports with a
specific configuration of CPU, memory and applications, but only for a limited period of time four times a year. If this
dedicated machine were virtualized using VMware, it could remain powered off until the schedule demanded that it be
ready for this process, and only then powered on. Knowing when to power on or power off a machine and/or when to
take a snapshot for checkpoint backups is the job of a scheduler. Therefore, the CWA needs to automate these tasks
along with the more typical application tasks.
specific configuration of CPU, memory and applications, but only for a limited period of time four times a year. If this
dedicated machine were virtualized using VMware, it could remain powered off until the schedule demanded that it be
ready for this process, and only then powered on. Knowing when to power on or power off a machine and/or when to
take a snapshot for checkpoint backups is the job of a scheduler. Therefore, the CWA needs to automate these tasks
along with the more typical application tasks.
The Cisco Workload Automation VMware Adapter connects to its Virtual Infrastructure to provide a new type of job to
manage virtual machines and their hosts. The adapter enables you to perform the following tasks:
manage virtual machines and their hosts. The adapter enables you to perform the following tasks:
Power Management – Power on, suspend or resume, shutdown, and power off virtual machines and their hosts.
Snapshot Management – Capture and restore snapshots on virtual machines.
Host Management – Power host servers up and down, reboot host servers, and move host servers into and out of
maintenance.
maintenance.
Configuration Management – Configure CPU, memory, disk, and the network on virtual machines, and migrate virtual
machines using VMotion.
machines using VMotion.
The adapter also supports events that can be used to automate a response to changes in power state and/or host and
guest performance conditions.
guest performance conditions.