XaaS isn’t a made up term, well maybe it is, but it supposed to stand for “Anything as a Service.” vRealize Automation will allow you to publish vRO workflows in the service catalog. This means that you can publish just about any thing you can think of, and not just server blueprints. If you have a workflow that can order your coffee and have it delivered to you, then you can publish it in your vRA service catalog. Side note, if you have that workflow, please share it with the rest of us.

Create a XaaS Blueprint

Before you begin, make sure that the user who will be adding these new service blueprints is an XaaS Architect.

To create an XaaS Blueprint, go to the Design Tab –> XaaS –> XaaS Blueprints. Click the “New” button to add a new blueprint.

Select the vRO blueprint that should be added to the service catalog.

Give the blueprint a name and description. Click Next.

The inputs from the vRO blueprint should be added to the main form. It is possible to customize how the form will look when published to end users. Rearrange details, add or remove fields and click next when you’re ready.

On the provisioned resource tab, leave the field at “No provisioning”.

When you’re done, you’ll see your XaaS blueprint in the list. Remember that before anything can be requested from that, it must be published.

Summary

An XaaS Blueprint is a great way to add functionality to your cloud portal. The cloud doesn’t need to be used for just server provisioning. Helpdesk requests, or any other types of automated services can also be made available to your users.