Import VMware Resource Pools as Configuration Items in SCSM 2012 R2

Hi Everyone

I posted previously on how I used Orchestrator to integrate with VMware and SCSM to create or request a new VM in VMware.

Now in my Self Service Portal I had a list user input option that would require me to update the list of resource pools manually when new ones were added or old ones were removed, now this wasn't the best way for me and it also didn't give the requestors a view of the resource pool path which was a requirement.

So I looked everywhere to see if there might be a option to get this data into Service Manager automatically via a connector of some sorts that might be out there already but couldn't find anything. I then remembered the option of maybe using the CSV connector and I thought I would give it a try.

So my configuration went like this:

Firstly I got a list of resource pools and their paths and created a .csv file from it which looked like this:

You will see I used a number, then the Resource Pool name, then the Resource Pool path in the .csv file, where the number I would be using as my key property in the Service Manager Authoring Tool when I created my custom management pack and custom configuration Item.

The following is a view from my custom management pack


I then created a .xml file with the needed configuration item headings as below

<CSVImportFormat>
                         <Class Type="CustomCreatedClassName">
                      	  <Property ID="ResourcePool_ID"/>   
                            <Property ID="ResourcePool"/>
                            <Property ID="ResourcePoolPath"/>
                         </Class>
                      </CSVImportFormat>

Select all Open in new window

Please note, you need to format your XML file correctly and in the same sequence as your csv file is, so like you can see in the csv file, the "Resource_ID" is first because I have my numbering first in the csv file, then it will be the "ResourcePool" and then the "ResourcePoolPath"

Once I have these 2 files and created my MP, I can now Import the MP and then create my views under "Configuration Items" in Service Manager as below.
This was created by creating the new view called "VMware Resource Pools" with the following details
In the above image I chose my new Class that was available after I imported my custom MP and then selected the view I wanted displayed

Once your views are created you can go ahead an import your data using the csv connector in the administration tab under connections.

Below is the data import

Once everything is successfully imported you can go to your newly created view and check the data, in my case it was like this:

This is really simple enough and now all I need to do to keep this up to date is make sure my new additions are in the correct format in the .csv file and all I would need to do is go to the connectors again and do an CSV import and my new resource pools will be added and visible.

This is my Self Service Portal end result

Now with all this done, I just get the relationships in Orchestrator and use the requestors selection to insert the chosen Resource Pool into my "Create VM" activity script and that's it :)

I hope this article has been informative and if there are any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Thank you