Chapter 6. vRealize Orchestrator

All infrastructure automation needs a central element which controls the rest of the infrastructure. In a VMware SDDC, this role is fulfilled by vRO.

But vRO does way more than controlling the virtual components of the SDDC. It can be used to control literally anything with an API and a description of how to use it. In a typical data center, there is almost never a greenfield installation possible. This means even if everything is restarted from scratch, there is almost always some service, process, or tool which requires integration. Be it for billing, for monitoring, or just for simple IP address management, integration is key.

Probably one of the best arguments for vRO is its price. VMware includes vRO in every vCenter license, without any additional charge.

Note

More documentation, plugins, and info about vRO can be found here: http://www.vmware.com/products/vrealize-orchestrator.html

Besides that, it is a mature and versatile orchestration platform...