how to copy a vmware probe bulk_config template to a new instance of the probe

Products

DX Unified Infrastructure Management (Nimsoft / UIM)

Issue/Introduction

I am trying to copy a template from my vmware probe instance to a new one but I am having trouble getting it to work. I found documentation here but I need more detailed instructions.

Environment

DX UIM - Any release
vmware probe - any version

Admin Console templates/POBC/bulk_config/bulk configuration enabled

Resolution

First you will need to deploy the new vmware probe to the new robot, and open the GUI in admin console and check/uncheck the boxes as follows -- don't add any profile/vcenter yet, change these boxes first, then click save-

1. Enable bulk configuration
2. Uncheck "apply bulk config default template" as you will be applying your own.

note: the following instructions are focused on a Linux deployment but the same applies to Windows (other than the difference in folder/path structure.)

Don't add any profiles/connections to the vmware probe -- instead just leave it as-is for now.

Open a SSH/RDP session to the robot where you already have the vmware probe installed, where the template you want to copy is already present.

Locate the equivalent folder: /opt/nimsoft/probes/application/vmware/bulk_config/raw_templates

in here you will see some .gzip files. There will be the default templates, and then one or more with a long string for a name, as follows:

The one with the long string will be the one you created. If there is more than one, you can make an update to the one you are interested in, then check the file date/timestamp and look for the one which is most recently updated.

Unfortunately we can't just copy this file directly, as the filename is tied to the instance so we have to make a copy of it to make a more "generic" one.

To do this follow these steps:

Note: The following steps may be performed in either Linux or Windows depending on where you are most comfortable. It is not strictly necessary to copy the files to a Windows system to manipulate them. However, if you plan to create a superpackage to deploy the template(s) on a wider basis, it would be a good idea to use the Windows workstation where your Infrastructure Manager client is installed so that you will have the files available.

Copy this .gzip file to your Windows machine, where the IM client is installed.

In Windows, you will need some utility like Winzip, 7-Zip, etc which can unzip .gzip files. Extract the file:

After unzipping it you will have a file with the same filename but no extension:

Rename this file to something meaningful that will be the name of the template, e,g, MyTemplate:

Now open this file with a text editor of your choice.

Do a search-and-replace for the original filename string and replace it with your chosen template name:

Save this file and add it to a new .gzip archive:

The default filename extension may show as .gz, so make sure to rename the file to .gzip.

Now copy this file to the same folder on the new instance: ($UIM_HOME)/nimsoft/probes/application/vmware/bulk_config/raw_templates:

Now deactivate and activate the vmware probe where you copied this to.

Now, you will be able to see the new template in the vmware probe Template Editor.

This .gzip file can also be used to create a configuration package which can be used to distribute the template through DX UIM instead of manually copying it to new instances.

in Infrastructure Manager navigate to the Archive
right-click in the Archive window and select New...
Fill out the package details as appropriate, then right-click on the empty Tab and click Add Section...
Name the section "vmware" in all lowercase and click OK.
Now inside the new section under Files, right-click and select Add File...
click Browse and locate the .gzip file which you created above:
For the "Path" variable, set it to: probes/application/vmware/bulk_config/raw_templates
Click OK, then OK again and the package will be saved in the Archive.

This package may now be distributed to any instance of the vmware probe on any OS to distribute that template.