Overview of the Deploy vCenter plug-in

10/18/2023 Contributors

The VMware vCenter plug-in for ONTAP Select Deploy is designed for ONTAP Select administrators working in the VMware environment. It provides an alternative to the native Deploy user interface.

Packaged with Deploy

The Deploy vCenter plug-in is packaged with the Deploy administration utility. After using the Deploy user interface to install the plug-in to the vCenter server, you can access the plug-in through the vSphere web interface.

Integration with VMware

For many businesses, VMware vCenter is a central platform for administering virtualized data center and cloud resources. Because the Deploy plug-in is tightly integrated with vCenter, administrators can quickly move between the ONTAP Select and vCenter domains to leverage the relationships among the various resources.

Functionality provided by the Deploy vCenter plug-in

After installing the Deploy vCenter plug-in, there are two primary options available through vSphere in the Global Inventory Lists pane.

ONTAP Select Clusters

The ONTAP Select Clusters option is roughly equivalent to the Clusters tab in the native Deploy web user interface. It provides the functionality described in the following table.

You perform this operation …	By doing this …
Deploy an ONTAP Select cluster	Click New ONTAP Select.
View cluster details	Select a cluster, click Summary, and then click Details.
View cluster event messages	Select a cluster, click Summary, and then click Events.
Move a cluster online or offline, or delete a cluster	Select a cluster, click Actions, and then click the desired action.
Launch System Manager	Select a cluster, click Summary, click Details, and then click Launch System Manager.
View the ESXi hosts used by a cluster	Select a cluster, click More Objects, and then click Hosts. Select a host for more details and further actions.
View the ONTAP VMs used by a cluster	Select a cluster, click More Objects, and then click ONTAP VMs. Select a VM for more details and further actions.
View the datastores used by a cluster	Select a cluster, click More Objects, and then click Datastores. Select a datastore for more details and further actions.
View the networks used by a cluster	Select a cluster, click More Objects, and then click Networks. Select a network for more details and further actions.

You perform this operation …

By doing this …

Deploy an ONTAP Select cluster

Click New ONTAP Select.

View cluster details

Select a cluster, click Summary, and then click Details.

View cluster event messages

Select a cluster, click Summary, and then click Events.

Move a cluster online or offline, or delete a cluster

Select a cluster, click Actions, and then click the desired action.

Launch System Manager

Select a cluster, click Summary, click Details, and then click Launch System Manager.

View the ESXi hosts used by a cluster

Select a cluster, click More Objects, and then click Hosts. Select a host for more details and further actions.

View the ONTAP VMs used by a cluster

Select a cluster, click More Objects, and then click ONTAP VMs. Select a VM for more details and further actions.

View the datastores used by a cluster

Select a cluster, click More Objects, and then click Datastores. Select a datastore for more details and further actions.

View the networks used by a cluster

Select a cluster, click More Objects, and then click Networks. Select a network for more details and further actions.

ONTAP Select Deploy

The ONTAP Select Deploy option is roughly equivalent to the Hypervisor Hosts and Administration tabs in the native Deploy web user interface. It provides functionality through three tabs at the top of the page as described in the following table.

Tab	Description
Summary	Describes the characteristics of the Deploy instance, including the host name and IP address.
Host	Displays information about the ESXi hosts registered with ONTAP Select Deploy. You can add or remove hosts.
Administration	Allows you to perform administrative tasks through the Deploy utility. This functionality is equivalent to the ONTAP Select Deploy native user interface, except that the Credentials and Plugins options are not available with the plug-in.

Tab

Description

Summary

Describes the characteristics of the Deploy instance, including the host name and IP address.

Host

Displays information about the ESXi hosts registered with ONTAP Select Deploy. You can add or remove hosts.

Administration

Allows you to perform administrative tasks through the Deploy utility. This functionality is equivalent to the ONTAP Select Deploy native user interface, except that the Credentials and Plugins options are not available with the plug-in.

Compare the vCenter plug-in to the native Deploy user interface

The functionality provided with the vCenter plug-in through vSphere is equivalent to the native Deploy user interface. However, there are a few features that are not provided with the plug-in and are only available with the Deploy user interface.

Manage the vCenter plug-in

You cannot install, update, remove, or verify the vCenter plug-in using the vCenter plug-in. You must perform these management tasks through the native Deploy user interface.

Manage vCenter credentials

Before installing the vCenter plug-in, you must add the necessary vCenter credentials to Deploy using the native Deploy user interface.

ONTAP Select clusters must be controlled by the same vCenter server

You can only deploy and support the ONTAP Select clusters managed by the single vCenter server where the plug-in is installed. You cannot use the plug-in to access ONTAP Select clusters managed by other vCenter servers or clusters running on standalone ESXi or KVM hosts.