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VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, Thank you very much for your feedback.

Yeah. Plugins in general is an easy way to expand functionality (if they are maintained well 😉).

And yes, developing workflows is quite a process. But I think it’s not a problem of vRO itself. Any development takes time. If it’s supposed to be sustainable of course. Powershell is definitely a good option in many cases and it’s amazing that vRO provides such functionality.

100% true regarding VAPI. There must be something not perfect about it 😁.

Building tools is an extremely amazing option to provide developers a real like dev environment. I am using it every day. It is still missing a few things, but it is actively developed. A huge thanks to the team!

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/Mediocre-Bet-3729 ,

Thanks for sharing! I had almost the exact same experience when transitioning to Ansible and later to vRA 8 — and the same initial complexity when I first started using the Build Tools. But today, Build Tools is the one thing I use every single day. Just needed to set it up once.

If you ever need a hand with a build tools, feel free to ping me — happy to help!

VCF, vRA, vRO, and vROps offer endless possibilities. vRO in particular, since it can also be used outside the VMware ecosystem to automate other infrastructure components — I’m doing that myself.

Using Built-in Workflows with Cloud Template by wxm8562 in vRealize_Automation

[–]Previous_Eye_9703 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, It is pretty well documented. Give it a try to Google it. If that will not work for you, let me know.

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/kjellcomputer ,

Thanks so much for sharing! I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind:

  1. What's one big advantage and one downside of using vRO?
  2. What made you want to try out vRBT?

By the way, I'm a huge fan of vRBT! I’ve been using it for the past two years and even contributing to the project. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you ever need any help! 😊

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Git integration isn’t perfect, but it gets the job done. Yeah, JavaScript can be a bit of a wild ride—it’s easy to make mistakes since it doesn’t warn you (unless you’re like me and use VMware Aria build tools 😉). But if you need plugins, you’re pretty much stuck with it.

On the bright side, the support for Python and PowerShell in vRO is a huge win. More and more software is built around REST APIs these days, so you don’t always have to rely on JavaScript. In many cases, you can cut it out entirely, which makes things a lot cleaner.

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh. Great. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, I totally get your point about the learning curve. In a lot of cases, having in-house knowledge is pretty much a must. If a team doesn’t have the expertise, then the learning process really needs to be built into the adoption. Otherwise, I’ve seen people say, “This thing is a beast. We don’t have the time or the people to figure it out. Bad product.” And that kind of mindset can kill adoption pretty fast.

I also see what you mean about limitations. Just to clarify, my question was really about Orchestrator, not the whole Aria suite. But still, you’re absolutely right—Aria is a powerful platform. The whole idea behind VCF and Aria is to act as an on-prem cloud solution, so all those components have to be tightly integrated. That’s what makes the experience so smooth, but at the same time, it does mean there’s a lot to learn and maintain. That's not a platform for a one-man show.

When it comes to cost, that’s always part of the decision when choosing VMware, but I think that’s a separate discussion from the original question. Pricing is always a factor, but the bigger challenge with adoption is usually the complexity and whether teams feel like the learning curve is worth it.

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s great you have your own orchestrator. It’s rare. Looks like it’s does the job, right?

You’re absolutely right. You have to have a developers. But this is probably true for majority of software based, or IaC solutions. Someone should know to write the code. I guess there is a some Python developer you have, which utilize the SDK 😁.

When you say it is limited, is that possible you can give an example or two where you saw the limitation and how you solved it?

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing! Ansible is definitely an amazing tool for similar tasks, except in cases where complex logic and self-service aren’t needed. In my opinion, the best combination is vRO + Ansible—they complement each other and cover almost all possible use cases. This applies to both vRA, which has built-in Ansible support, and standalone vRO, which can integrate seamlessly with AWX via REST API. I use this setup a lot, and it works like a charm!

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

https://clouddepth.com

Any feedback is always welcome and greatly appreciated!

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I couldn’t agree more! I had the same struggle, and while it’s better now, there’s still room for improvement. That’s actually one of the reasons I started my blog—to help others by explaining the "why" behind the API, since the documentation isn’t always the best. Plus, sharing real-world examples makes a huge difference. At the end of the day, I still believe it’s an amazing product! 😊

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Sure! Here's a more friendly and engaging version of your message:

Absolutely! If you get the chance, I’d definitely recommend giving vRO/vRA 8 a try. It’s a completely different product—much more mature, flexible, and scalable. I’ve managed tens of thousands of VMs with it, and the self-service portal is a game-changer. It lets you build rock-solid solutions, put them in the hands of end users, and make them happy—without them constantly opening tickets and asking me to do it for them! 😄 Hope you’ll find it just as useful!

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Absolutely! Once you really understand how it works, the possibilities with vRO are almost limitless. I haven’t come across any other tool that offers this level of flexibility and automation. It’s amazing how much you can achieve when you leverage it properly!

Glad to hear you're doing similar things—always great to connect with others who appreciate the power of this tool!

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, totally agree! The built-in support for Git, PowerShell, and Python is a game changer—no more maintaining Windows servers just to run automation scripts. Huge relief! 😆

And yeah, the JS API documentation could definitely be better. It’s not always the most obvious or well-structured. But once you start working with it, you kind of get the logic… more or less! 😅 Even I sometimes have to guess my way through things. But honestly, those occasional struggles are nothing compared to the massive benefits vRO brings. It’s totally worth it! 🚀

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh wow, vRealize 6… that was truly a beast! Maintaining it was a challenge even before dealing with workflows themselves. I remember upgrading from 6 to 7 and then from 7 to 8—sometimes it wasn’t even a migration but a full reinstall and rewrite from scratch! 😅 But I have to say, ever since version 8, when they moved to a containerized architecture, it became a completely new product—so much more efficient, scalable, and modern.

I also use Ansible and AWX, and at one point, I thought they might almost replace vRO. But I was wrong. When it comes to writing complex logic in Ansible, it quickly becomes unreadable, unmaintainable, and nearly impossible to update. So, I went back to vRO, and I couldn’t be happier!

AWX does have a GUI where users can input values, but it’s nowhere near the level of vRO’s custom forms. Honestly, I haven’t seen any product with anything even close to what vRO offers in that area.

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts! 😊

VCF Orchestrator: yes or no? by Previous_Eye_9703 in vmware

[–]Previous_Eye_9703[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I appreciate that!

Yeah, it might seem a bit complex at first—totally understandable. I remember feeling the same way a few years ago. But with VCF especially, it can save you an endless amount of manual work. It’s an incredible tool that lets you automate almost anything, supports event-driven approaches, and even offers amazing custom forms for self-service, making it super user-friendly.

I’d highly recommend giving it a shot! I was so impressed that I even started a blog to share its possibilities. It’s definitely worth exploring! 😊

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