In previous posts we covered how to install, configure and setup vRealize Code Stream Management Pack for IT DevOps (code named Houdini) so that we could get to this point. During this post we’ll take one of our vRA blueprints in the development instance and move it to the production instance. Let’s get started.

To set the stage, here is my development instance where I have several blueprints at my disposal. Some of them even work! (That was a joke) For this exercise, I want to move the “Server2016” catalog from my development instance to my production instance because I have it working perfectly with my vSphere environment.

Package Request

Login to the default tenant where the Houdini solution was deployed with your Houdini admin account. Under the “Packages” service request the “Single Package Request” to being the move.

Just like we saw in parts 1 and 2 the first screen that shows up during a request is an information page. Read the information and move on to the next tab. On the “Choose Actions” tab select the “Capture content from endpoint” and “Release content to production” check marks. NOTE: you could also run unit tests as part of this process but you’d also need to specify a test endpoint as well as setting up some unit tests. This functionality isn’t covered in this blog post, instead we’re focused on promoting our code from the development instance to the production instance only. Stay tuned for doing tests on your blueprints as part of this process.

On the “Content Details” tab select the package type. Since I’m moving a vRA 7 blueprint I’ve chosen “Automation-CompositeBlueprint”. After this, select the source endpoint which will be our development instance. After the screen refreshes you should see a list of your vRA blueprints and you can then select the desired blueprint from the list. Select the “Include dependencies” check box to ensure any blueprints that this composite blueprint depends on will also be moved.

On the “Release Details” tab you’ll need to select the content endpoint where you’ll be deploying the new blueprints. you can also select tags and place a comment on the request.

The “Additional Details” tab will let you place some version information and decide if you want to make a mock request. When you’re ready, click Submit.

After the request has been made you can move over to the “Code Stream” tab. Under “Pipeline Executions” you’ll be able to monitor the request through each phase. You’ll notice that the pipeline below is successful, but also notice that the “Test” phase was skipped because we didn’t enable that during our request.

Once the pipeline has executed successfully you can login to your vRA production instance. You’ll see that the Server2016 Blueprint has been moved over and is available as it is here in my production instance.

Summary

Preventing user error when migrating blueprints or workflows between instances can be mitigated by process. Using vRealize Code Stream for IT DevOps helps to ensure that code is properly moved and tested before going into a production environment. If you’ve got vRealize Code Stream licenses, I recommend trying out Houdini in your environment so you too can prevent those user errors when moving blueprints around. Happy coding!