VMWARE VSPHERE 8.

0
INSTALL, CONFIGURE, MANAGE

Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

Document Version: 2023-03-08

Copyright © 2023 Network Development Group, Inc.

www.netdevgroup.com

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VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc.

Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Objectives ................................................................................................................................................. 3
Lab Topology ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Lab Settings ............................................................................................................................................... 5
1 Prepare the Lab Environment ........................................................................................................... 6
2 Publish a Local Content Library ....................................................................................................... 19
3 Create a Subscribed Content Library ............................................................................................... 22
4 Create a Subscription for Virtual Machine Templates ..................................................................... 27
5 Deploy a Virtual Machine from the Subscribed Content Library ..................................................... 33

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

Introduction

In this lab, you will publish a local content library and create a second library that subscribes to it.

A subscribed content library is a type of content library that is used to share and distribute Virtual
Machine (VM) templates, ISO images, and other files across multiple vCenter Server instances. The
library can be created and managed by a single vCenter Server instance, called the publisher, and then
made available to other vCenter Server instances, called subscribers.

When an instance subscribes to a content library, it receives a copy of the library's files and can use
them to create new VMs or to update existing VMs. The subscriber can also make changes to the files,
such as modifying templates or adding new files, but these changes will not propagate to the original
library.

The advantage of a subscribed content library is that it allows you to share VM templates and other
files across multiple vCenter Server instances, making it easy to distribute and manage VMs in a large,
distributed environment. It also allows for better consistency and standardization across different
locations.

Objectives

• Publish a Local Content Library

• Create a Subscribed Library
• Create a Subscription for VM Templates
• Deploy a VM form the Subscribed Content Library

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

Lab Topology

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Lab Settings

The information in the table below will be needed to complete the lab. The task sections further below
provide details on the use of this information.

Virtual Machine IP Address Account Password

sa-student eth0: 172.20.10.80 sysadmin NDGlabpass123!

sa-vcsa eth0: 172.20.10.94 [email protected] NDGlabpass123!

sa-esxi-01 eth0: 172.20.10.51 root NDGlabpass123!

sa-esxi-02 eth0: 172.20.10.52 root NDGlabpass123!

sa-aio eth0: 172.20.10.10 sysadmin NDGlabpass123!

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

1 Prepare the Lab Environment

In this task, you will increase the size of the iSCSI Datastore and recreate the Lab-Templates folder.

1. Launch the sa-student VM to access the graphical login screen.

To launch the console window for a VM, either click on the machine’s
graphic image from the topology page, or click on the machine’s
respective tab from the Navigator.

2. Launch the Mozilla Firefox web browser by either clicking on the icon found in the bottom toolbar
or by navigating to Start Menu > Internet > Firefox Web Browser.

3. In Firefox, click LAUNCH VSPHERE CLIENT.

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If the VMware Getting Started webpage does not load, please wait an
additional 3 - 5 minutes, and refresh the page to continue. This is
because the vCenter Server Appliance is still booting up and requires
extra time to initialize.

4. To log in to the vCenter Server Appliance, enter [email protected] as the username and
NDGlabpass123! as the password. Click LOGIN.

You may ignore the “browser-OS combination” warning message

presented on the VMware vCenter Single Sign-On page and continue
moving forward with the lab.

5. In the Navigator, Hosts and Clusters tab, select sa-vcsa.vclass.local. In the right pane, select
Datastores and right-click iSCSI-Datastore. In the Actions menu, click Increase Datastore
Capacity….

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

6. In the Increase Datastore Capacity window, on the Select Device step, select LUN 3 and click NEXT.

7. On the Specify Configuration step, leave the defaults, and click NEXT.

8. On the Ready to Complete step, review the information, and click FINISH.

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9. Repeat steps 5 – 8, and expand the iSCI-Datastore using LUN 4 and Lun 2. For Lun 2, you will only
increase the size by 10 GB for lab purposes.

10. Ensure you are still viewing the Datastores tab. Verify that the iSCSI-Datastore is showing a
capacity of 59 GB and at least 32 GB of free space.

11. In the Recent Tasks pane, verify that the iSCSI-Datastore tasks have successfully completed.

12. Expand sa-vcsa..vclass.local. Right-click the ICM-Datacenter object and select New Folder > New
VM and Template Folder.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

13. In the New Folder window, enter Lab-Templates as the folder name, and click OK.

14. In the main menu, select Content Libraries.

15. In the Content Libraries main workspace, click CREATE.

16. In the New Content Library window, on the Name and location step, enter SA-Local-Library as the
name and verify that sa-vcsa.vclass.local is the vCenter Server listed. Click NEXT.

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17. On the Configure content library step, verify that Local content library is selected. Click NEXT.

18. On the Apply security policy step, click NEXT.

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19. On the Add storage step, choose iSCSI-Datastore and click NEXT.

20. On the Ready to complete step, review the information, and click FINISH.

21. In the main menu, select Inventory.

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22. In the Navigator, VMs and Templates tab, expand sa-vcsa.vclass.local and ICM-Datacenter.

23. Convert the Linux-Template VM to a template.

a. Right-click LinuxGUI-01 and navigate to Template > Convert to Template. The icon
indicates that Linux-Template is a VM.

b. In the Confirm Convert window, click YES.

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c. In the Navigator, verify that the icon for LinuxGUI-01 changed. The icon indicates that
Linux-Template is a template.

24. Right-click LinuxGUI-01 and select Clone to Library.

25. In Clone to Template in Library window, select SA-Local-Library. Enter Linux-OVF-LibTemplate in the
Template name box. Click OK.

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26. In the VMs and Templates tab, right-click LinuxGUI-02. Navigate to Clone > Clone as Template to
Library.

27. In the LinuxGUI-02 – Clone Virtual Machine To Template window, Basic information step, enter
Linux-LibTemplate for the Name. Expand ICM-Datacenter and select Lab-Templates. Click NEXT.

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28. On the Location step, select SA-Local-Library. Click NEXT.

29. On the Select a compute resource step, select sa-esxi-02.vclass.local. Click NEXT.

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30. On the Storage step, select iSCSI-Datastore and click NEXT.

31. On the Ready to complete step, review the information, and click FINISH.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

32. In the Recent Tasks pane, monitor the Clone task. Verify that the task has completed before
continuing. The clone will take 2 - 4 minutes to complete.

33. Leave the vSphere Client open, and continue to the next task.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

2 Publish a Local Content Library

In this task, you will publish the SA-Local-Library content library so that other content libraries can
subscribe to it.

There are a few reasons why you might publish a content library:

• Collaboration: Publishing a content library allows other vCenter Server instances to access
and use the templates, ISO images, and other files in the library. This can be useful for
collaboration, as it allows different teams or departments to share and use the same VM
templates, for example.
• Distribution: Publishing a content library allows you to distribute VM templates, ISO images,
and other files across multiple vCenter Server instances, making it easy to manage and
maintain VM in a large, distributed environment.
• Consistency: Publishing a content library allows you to ensure consistency in the
configuration of VMs across different vCenter Server instances. By sharing templates and
other files, you can ensure that all VMs are configured the same way, which can help to
reduce errors and improve the overall consistency of the virtual environment.
• Centralized management: Publishing a content library allows for centralized management
of VM templates, ISO images, and other files. This can make it easier to update, maintain,
and organize these files, which can help to improve the overall efficiency of the virtual
environment.
• Compliance: Publishing a content library allows you to ensure compliance with regulations
or industry standards by sharing templates, ISO images, and other files that are compliant
with these regulations and standards across multiple vCenter Server instances.

It is important to note that when you publish a content library, other vCenter Server instances will
only have read access to the files, and cannot make changes to the original library. So, it is
important to have a proper access control and permissions configured.

1. From the main menu, select Content Libraries.

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2. In the left pane, select SA-Local-Library.

3. In the SA-Local-Library main workspace, click Actions, and select Edit Settings.

4. On the Edit Settings window, check the Enable publishing and Enable user authentication for
access to this content library boxes. Enter NDGlabpass123! for both the Password and Confirm
Password text boxes. Click OK.

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5. In the SA-Local-Library pane, click the Summary tab. Scroll down and find the Publication pane.
Verify that the SA-Local-Library is Published externally and Password protected.

6. In the Publication pane, click COPY LINK to copy the Subscription URL in the Publication panel to
the clipboard. You will then paste the Subscription URL in the New Content Library wizard in the
next task.

7. Leave the vSphere Client open, and continue to the next task.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

3 Create a Subscribed Content Library

In this task, you will configure a content library named SA-Subscribed-Library that is subscribed to SA-
Local-Library.

In a production environment, you typically create the subscribed content

library in a different vCenter instance from the published library. However, for
lab purposes, the published library and the subscribed library are located in the
same vCenter instance.

1. From the main menu, select Content Libraries.

2. In the Content Libraries main workspace, click CREATE.

3. In the New Content Library window, on the Name and location step, enter SA-Subscribed-Library as
the Name, and verify that sa-vcsa.vclass.local is the vCenter Server listed. Click NEXT.

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4. On the Configure content library step, select Subscribed content library. Right-click the
Subscription URL text box and select Paste to paste the URL that you copied in Task 2.

The subscription URL appears in the text box after pasting. If copy and pasting
does not work, you must enter the URL manually.

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5. On the Configure content library step, check the Enable authentication box. Enter NDGlabpass123! in
the Password text box. Under Download content, click when needed. Click NEXT.

6. On the Add storage step, choose iSCSI-Datastore and click NEXT.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

7. On the Ready to complete step, review the information, and click FINISH.

8. Verify and click the SA-Subscribed-Library.

9. In the main SA-Subscribed-Library pane, Templates tab, click OVF & OVA Templates and verify that
Linux-OVF-LibTemplate appears in the list.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

This template is the same template that is in SA-Local-Library, the source

content library.

10. Verify that the Stored Locally column indicates No and that the Size column indicates 0 bytes.

SA-Subscribed-Library is configured to download library content only when

needed. As a result, only the template’s metadata has been synchronized. The
actual template was not synchronized with SA-Subscribed-Library because it is
not yet needed.

11. In the main SA-Subscribed-Library pane, Templates tab, select VM Templates.

Even though SA-Local-Library has the VM template named Linux-LibTemplate,

the subscribed library does not see it yet. You must create a subscription to
access the VM Templates.

12. Leave the vSphere Client open, and continue to the next task.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

4 Create a Subscription for Virtual Machine Templates

In this task, you create a subscription for VM templates in SA-Local-Library (the library that is publishing
content) so that VM templates synchronize with SA-Subscribed-Library (the library that is subscribed to
the local content library).

Creating a subscription for VM templates is important for several reasons:

• Automation: A subscription allows for the automatic deployment of VM templates, making it

easier to deploy new VMs and reducing the time and effort required to do so.
• Consistency: By using a subscription, administrators can ensure that VMs are deployed
consistently and with the correct configurations, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring that
VMs are deployed in a repeatable manner.
• Scalability: A subscription makes it easier to scale the virtual environment by allowing
administrators to quickly deploy new VMs as needed, improving the overall agility of the virtual
infrastructure.
• Maintenance: By using a subscription, administrators can easily maintain their virtual
environment by updating VM templates and deploying the updated versions to all VMs as
needed, improving the overall manageability of the virtual infrastructure.

In summary, creating a subscription for VM templates provides automation, consistency, scalability,

and maintainability benefits, making it an important best practice in managing virtual environments.

1. From the main menu, select Content Libraries.

2. In the left pane, select SA-Local-Library.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

3. Create a subscription for the subscriber library.

a. In the SA-Local-Library main workspace, click Actions, and select New Subsription….

b. In the Create Subscription window, on the Select subscription type step, select Create a
new subscription to an existing Subscriber library. Click NEXT.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

c. On the Configure Subscription step, select SA-Subscribed-Library. Click NEXT.

d. On the Select folder step, select the Lab-Templates folder. Click NEXT.

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e. On the Select compute resource step, select sa-esxi-02.vclass.local. Click NEXT.

f. On the Select networks step, select VM Network. Click NEXT.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

g. On the Review step, review the information, and click FINISH.

4. On the SA-Local-Library main workspace, select the Subscriptions tab. Verify that the subscription
appears in the list. Select Sa-Subsribed-Library and click PUBLISH.

5. In the Publish Library window, click PUBLISH.

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6. From the main menu, select Content Libraries.

7. In the left pane, click SA-Subscribed-Library.

8. In the SA-Subscribed-Library main workspace, click the Templates tab. In the VM Templates pane,
verify that Linux-LibTemplate now appears in the list.

The Stored Locally column indicates No and the Size column indicates 0 bytes
because SA-Subscribed-Library is configured to download library content only
when needed.

9. Leave the vSphere Client open, and continue with the next task.

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Lab 18: Using Subscribed Libraries

5 Deploy a Virtual Machine from the Subscribed Content Library

In this task, you use the vSphere Client to deploy a new VM from Linux-OVF-LibTemplate that is
available in the content library SA-Subscribed-Library.

A VM deployed from the subscribed content library allows for easy access to preconfigured and tested
OSs and applications, reducing the time and effort required for manual setup and configuration.
Additionally, deploying a VM from the subscribed content library ensures that the software and
configurations are consistent across multiple VMs, improving manageability and reducing the risk of
configuration errors.

1. In the main menu, select Inventory.

2. Expand sa-vcsa.vclass.local. Right-click the ICM-Datacenter object and select New Folder > New
VM and Template Folder.

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3. In the New Folder window, enter Lab-VMs as the folder name, and click OK.

4. In the Navigator, right-click the Lab-VMs folder and select New Virtual Machine….

5. In the New Virtual Machine window, Select a creation type step, select Deploy from template. Click
NEXT.

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6. On the Select a template step, click Linux-OVF-LibTemplate located in the Sa-Subscribed-Library.

Click NEXT.

7. On the Select a name and folder step, enter Linux-20 for the Virtual machine fame. Select Lab-VMs
for the location, and click NEXT.

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8. On the Select a compute resource step, select sa-esxi-02.vclass.local and click NEXT.

9. On the Review details step, verify the template details, and click NEXT.

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10. On the Select storage step, click iSCSI-Datastore. Select Thin Provision from the Select virtual disk
format drop-down list. Click NEXT.

11. On the Select networks step, leave VM Network selected for the Destination Network. Click NEXT.

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12. On the Ready to complete step, review the information, and click FINISH.

13. In the Recent Tasks pane, monitor the progress of the template deployment task, and wait for it to
complete.

14. In the Navigator, expand the Lab-VMs folder, and verify that Linux-20 appears.

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15. In the main menu, select Content Libraries.

16. In the left pane, click SA-Subscribed-Library.

17. In the SA-Subscribed-Library main workspace, click the Templates tab. In the OVF & OVA
Templates pane, verify that Linux-OVF-LibTemplate appears. Verify that the Stored Locally column
now indicates Yes and that the Size column indicates a size greater than 0 bytes. Results may vary,
and for lab purposes, the Size column in the screen shot provided shows 9.09 GB.

Since the template was needed in SA-Subscribed-Library to deploy a VM, it was

synchronized with SA-Subscribed-Library.

18. The lab is now complete; you may end the reservation.

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