Prerequisites: A user account with the minimum read-only role is required to enable NetBrain to discover a vCenter network.

Note: Check the Propagate to children option when you create the Read-only account.

 

To understand a VMware vCenter network, you need to first discover the network data model in a NetBrain domain.

1.Add a vCenter Controller

NetBrain retrieves VMware vCenter data through the vCenter Controller by using APIs. Follow the steps below to add a vCenter Controller and specify the address and user credentials to access the controller in the system.

1)Click the domain name from the quick access toolbar and select Domain Management.

2)In the Domain Management page, select Operations > Discover Settings > API Server Manager from the quick access toolbar.

3)Click Add API Server on the API Server Manager tab.

4)Enter a unique name in the Server Name field.

5)Select VMware vCenter from the API Source Type drop-down menu.

6)In the Endpoints field, enter the URL of the vCenter Controller.

7)Enter the username and password to access the vCenter Controller. If more parameters are required when you access the vCenter Controller, you can click Advanced to configure the keys (parameter names) and values.

8)Select a Front Server or Front Server Group.

Note: Make sure that the port 7068 of the server where your NetBrain Front Server is installed is not occupied by other applications because this port is used by service components of a Front Server to communicate with each other.

9)Click OK.

2.Discover Your VMware Virtual Network

1)In the Domain Management page, select Operations > Discover from the quick access toolbar.

2)Click Select API Servers and select Venter1 that you have configured.

3)Click Start Discovery.

Note: If the URL of the vCenter Controller entered in the Endpoints field contains a domain name, you must enter the domain name here for discovery.

Note: The SDN discovery only retrieves basic data of your network and builds L3 topology. After the discovery, you need to execute a benchmark task to retrieve all data and build all components, including visual spaces and data views. See Auto-Updating vCenter Data in NetBrain through Benchmark for details.