vRealize Automation - Code Stream Header

vRA Code Stream – Preserving files and artifacts created in a CI Task

General, VMware, ,

Whilst creating a pipeline and using CI Tasks to run some CLI tools, I needed to save the outputted files from the container used for the CI Task so I could use them once the pipeline is completed.

Code Stream has a feature for CI Tasks called “Preserve Artifacts” to enable this, where by files in your working directory are saved to the “/sharedPath” folder location of the Docker Host where your container runs.

Below I’m going to show you how to use this feature.

  • First on your pipeline configure a Working Directory

Code Stream - Preserve Artifacts - Pipeline - Workspace - Working Directory Continue reading vRA Code Stream – Preserving files and artifacts created in a CI Task →

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Using vRA to deploy AWS EKS Clusters and register with Tanzu Mission Control

VMware, Kubernetes, , , , ,

This walk-through will detail the technical configurations for using vRA Code Stream to deploy AWS EKS Clusters, register them as Kubernetes endpoints in vRA Cloud Assembly and Code Stream, and finally register the newly created cluster in Tanzu Mission Control.

Requirement

Tanzu Mission Control has some fantastic capabilities, including the ability to deploy Tanzu Kubernetes Clusters to various platforms (vSphere, AWS, Azure). However today there is no support to provision native AWS EKS clusters, it can however manage most Kubernetes distributions.

Therefore, when I was asked about where VMware could provide such capabilities, my mind turned to the ability to deploy the clusters using vRA Code Stream, and provide additional functions on making these EKS usable.

High Level Steps
  • Create a Code Stream Pipeline
    • Create a AWS EKS Cluster
    • Create EKS cluster as endpoint in both Code Stream and Cloud Assembly
    • Register EKS cluster in Tanzu Mission Control
Pre-Requisites
  • vRA Cloud access
    • The pipeline can be changed easily for use with vRA on-prem
  • AWS Account that can provision EKS clusters
  • A Docker host to be used by Code Stream
  • Tanzu Mission Control account that can register new clusters
  • VMware Cloud Console Tokens for vRA Cloud and Tanzu Mission Control API access
  • The configuration files for the pipeline can be found in this GitHub repository
Creating a Code Stream Pipeline to deploy a AWS EKS Cluster and register the endpoints with vRA and Tanzu Mission Control
Create the variables to be used

First, we will create several variables in Code Stream, you could change the pipeline tasks to use inputs instead if you wanted. Continue reading Using vRA to deploy AWS EKS Clusters and register with Tanzu Mission Control →

Postman Header

Postman – Logging in results in losing my offline work

General, , ,
The Issue

When working with Postman in an offline mode or not signed in, then choosing to sign in, you lose access to your Collections and Environments you have worked on previously.

The Cause

In later versions, Postman introduce the Scratchpad. This is an offline area where your data is saved to.

When you create a new account in the app, you should be presented an option to move your data from your scratchpad.

If you already have an account to log into, you do not seem to get this option.

The Fix
  • Within Postman application > Click the Settings Cog > Select “Scratch Pad”

Postman - Scratch Pad

So now you should be able to see your offline data. If you can, you need to manually export your data then change back to your workspace and import the data.

Postman - export collection

If you are still unable to find your data. I recommend you follow this article from the Postman support site on “how to recover my data”. I did not personally have much success with this method.

Regards

Dean Lewis
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Getting the GitHub Verified commit badge when using Visual Code on Mac OS X

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The Issue

Recently I’ve started to use Visual Code as my editor on Mac OS X, and using it with my GitHub Repos. It’s pretty cool! However I noticed that when I submit a commit via code, I do not see the verified badge.

github commit view - verified

The Cause

When I look at my global git config on my Mac OS X machine, I can see that I’ve configured the settings so that my user details are passed to GitHub as an author of the repository.

git config --global --list

git config --global --list

The Fix

We need to setup a GPG public key to be used by git on our machine when interacting with GitHub. Continue reading Getting the GitHub Verified commit badge when using Visual Code on Mac OS X →

VMware CMTY Podcast Appearance – Discussing Tanzu Mission Control and vROPs

General

Thanks to this blog post, I was delighted to be invited as a guest on the VMware CMTY Podcast (YouTube Page) hosted by Eric Nielsen and Matt Langguth. 

Originally I was going to discuss the out of the box vROPs dashboards such as finding out how long a VM has been powered off for, however Eric threw a curve ball at me 5 minutes before the podcast asking if I would discuss my more recent blog posts on Tanzu Mission Control, Tanzu Kubernetes Grid and then wrap up with vROPs.

It was a fun session!

Find this on your favourite podcast platform under “VMware CMTY Podcast” such as the below:

Regards

Dean Lewis