VMware Aria Operations Integration SDK

Welcome to the VMware Aria Operations Integration SDK.

Where should I start?

• If you want to get started creating your first Management Pack, or don't know where to start, read the 'Get Started' tutorial below.
• If you'd like an introduction to VMware Aria Operations, Management Packs, and this SDK, read the introduction.
• All documentation is available from the contents page.

Get Started

This guide will walk through setting up the SDK and using the SDK to create, test, and install a simple Management Pack (integration) onto VMware Aria Operations.

Contents

Requirements

Operating System:

The VMware Aria Operations Integration SDK has been tested in the following OSes:

• Windows 10
• Windows 11
• macOS Monterey
• Debian Linux
• Fedora Linux

Other operating systems may be compatible.

VMware Aria Operations

The Management Packs generated by the VMware Aria Operations Integration SDK will only run on versions that supports containerized Management Packs. Currently, this is limited to on-prem installs, version 8.10 or later. In addition, at least one Cloud Proxy (also version 8.10 or later) must be set up in VMware Aria Operations, as containerized Management Packs must be run on a Cloud Proxy collector.

Note: This version of VMware Aria Operations is currently in a pre-release state. Please contact the vrops-integrations-sdk Slack channel if you require assistance obtaining appropriate installation media.

Dependencies

• Docker 20.10.0 or later. Updating to the latest stable version is recommended. For instructions on installing Docker, go to Docker's installation documentation, choose the OS you need and follow the instructions provided.
• Python3 3.9.0 or later. Earlier versions of Python3 may also work, but updating to the latest stable version is recommended. Python 3.6 and earlier (including Python2) are not supported. For instructions on installing Python, go to Python's installation documentation, choose the OS you need and follow the instructions provided.
• Pip. If Python3 is installed, pip is most likely also installed. For instructions on installing Pip, go to Pip's installation documentation, and follow the instructions provided.
• Git 2.35.0 or later. Updating to the latest stable version is recommended. For instructions in installing git, go to Git's installation documentation, choose the OS you need and follow the instructions provided.

Installation

To install the SDK, download the SDK Git repository and run the installation script.

The installation script performs several steps:

• Verifies the dependencies (currently macOS and Linux only)
• Creates a config file (~/.vrops-sdk/config.json for macOS and Linux, and %LocalAppData%\VMware\vROps Integration SDK\config.json for Windows).
• Generates a Python virtual environment
• Installs several tools (mp-init, mp-test, and mp-build) and their requirements into the virtual environment using Pip.

  Note: By default only Pip's warnings and errors are displayed. For more detailed output about what is being installed, pass the --verbose flag to the installation script.

For Mac and Linux:

git clone https://www.github.com/vmware/vmware-aria-operations-integration-sdk
cd vmware-aria-operations-integration-sdk
./install.sh

For Windows:

git clone https://www.github.com/vmware/vmware-aria-operations-integration-sdk
dir vmware-aria-operations-integration-sdk
install.bat

To use the SDK, activate the virtual environment:

For Mac and Linux:

source vrops_mp_sdk_venv/bin/activate

For Windows:

vrops_mp_sdk_venv\Scripts\activate.bat

To exit the virtual environment, run deactivate in the virtual environment.

Creating a Management Pack

To create a new project, run mp-init in the virtual environment. This tool asks a series of questions that guides the creation of a new management pack project.

1. Enter a path for the project (where code for collection, metadata, and content reside). Path:

   The path can be an absolute path, or a path relative to the directory mp-init was run from. The path should end in an empty or non-existing directory. If the directory does not exist, it will be created. This directory will contain a new Management Pack project.

2. Management Pack display name

   The Management Pack display name will show up in VMware Aria Operations (Data Sources → Integrations → Repository), or when adding an account.

   

   This Management Pack's display name is 'TestAdapter', and uses the default icon

3. Management Pack adapter key

   This field is used internally to identify the Management Pack and Adapter Kind. By default, it is set to the Management Pack display name with special characters and whitespace stripped from it.

4. Management Pack description

   This field should describe what the Management Pack will do or monitor.

5. Management Pack vendor

   The vendor field shows up in the UI under 'About' on the Integration Card.

   

   This Management Pack's vendor is 'VMware'

6. Enter a path to a EULA text file, or leave blank for no EULA

   VMware Aria Operations requires a EULA file to be present in a Management Pack. If one isn't provided, a stub EULA file (eula.txt in the root project directory) will be added to the project which reads:

   There is no EULA associated with this Management Pack.
   

7. Enter a path to the Management Pack icon file, or leave blank for no icon

   The icon is used in the VMware Aria Operations UI if present. If it is not present, a default icon will be used. The icon file must be png format and 256x256 px. An icon file can be added later by copying the icon to the root project directory and setting the value of the "pak_icon" key to the icon's file name in the manifest.txt file.

8. Select a language for the adapter. Supported languages are [...]

   Supported languages are listed. Once selected, the project will be generated, including a template adapter in the selected language. The template adapter collects several objects and metrics from the container that the adapter is running in, and can be used as a starting point for creating a new adapter.

For complete documentation of the mp-init tool see the MP Initialization Tool Documentation.

Testing a Management Pack

To test a project, run mp-test in the virtual environment.

If mp-test is run from anywhere outside of a root project directory, the tool will prompt to choose a project, and will test the selected project. If the tool is run from a project directory, the tool will automatically test that project.

mp-test will ask for a connection. No connections should exist, so choose New Connection. The test tool then reads the conf/describe.xml file to find the connection parameters and credentials required for a connection, and prompts for each. This is similar to creating a new Adapter Instance in the VMware Aria Operations UI. Connections are automatically saved per project, and can be reused when re-running the mp-test tool.

Note: In the template project, the only connection parameter is ID, and because it connects to the container it is running on, this parameter is not necessary; it is only there as an example, and can be set to any value. The template also implements an example Test Connection. If a Test Connection is run (see below), with the ID set to the text bad, then the Test Connection will fail.

The test tool also asks for the method to test. There are four options:

• Test Connection - This call tests the connection and returns either an error message if the connection failed, or an empty json object if the connection succeeded.
• Collect - This call test the collection, and returns objects, metrics, properties, events, and relationships.
• Endpoint URLs - This returns a list (possibly empty) of URLs that have distinct SSL certificates that VMware Aria Operations can ask the end user to import into the TrustStore.
• Version - This returns the VMware Aria Operations Collector API version the adapter implements. The implementation of this method is not generally handled by the developer.

For more information on these endpoints, see the Swagger API documentation. Each response is validated against the API.

For complete documentation of the mp-test tool see the MP Test Tool Documentation.

Building and Installing a Management Pack

To build a project, run mp-build in the virtual environment.

If mp-build is run from anywhere outside of a root project directory, the tool will prompt to choose a project, and will build the selected project. If the tool is run from a project directory, the tool will automatically build that project.

Once the project is selected (if necessary), the tool will build the management pack and emit a pak file which can be installed on VMware Aria Operations. The pak file will be located in the project directory.

To install the pak file, in VMware Aria Operations navigate to Data Sources → Integrations → Repository and click ADD. Select and upload the generated pak file, accept the README, and install the management pack.

To configure the management pack, VMware Aria Operations navigate to Data Sources → Integrations → Accounts and click ADD ACCOUNT. Select the newly-installed management pack and configure the required fields. For Collector/Group, make sure that a cloud proxy collector is selected. Click VALIDATE CONNECTION to test the connection. It should return successfully, then click ADD.

By default, a collection will run every 5 minutes. The first collection should happen immediately, however newly-created objects cannot have metrics, properties, and events added to them. After the second collection, approximately five minutes later, the objects' metrics, properties, and events should appear. These can be checked by navigating to ** Environment → Object Browser → All Objects** and expanding the Adapter and associated object types and object.

The CPU object's idle-time metric in a Management Pack named QAAdapterName.

For complete documentation of the mp-build tool see the MP Build Tool Documentation.

Contributing

The vmware-aria-operations-integration-sdk project team welcomes contributions from the community. Before you start working with this project please read and sign our Contributor License Agreement (https://cla.vmware.com/cla/1/preview). If you wish to contribute code and you have not signed our Contributor Licence Agreement (CLA), our bot will prompt you to do so when you open a Pull Request. For any questions about the CLA process, please refer to our FAQ.

License

This project is licensed under the APACHE-2 License.