VMware 2V0-31.20 Practice Test Questions, VMware 2V0-31.20 Exam Dumps

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A Foundation for the Professional VMware vRealize Automation 8.1 (2V0-31.20 Exam)

Embarking on the path to master cloud automation with VMware requires a deep dive into its flagship platform, vRealize Automation. The Professional VMware vRealize Automation 8.1 certification, validated by passing the 2V0-31.20 Exam, stands as a testament to a professional's skill in designing, installing, configuring, and managing this powerful solution. This certification signifies that you possess the expertise to help organizations accelerate their digital transformation by automating IT service delivery across multi-cloud environments. This series is designed to be your comprehensive guide, breaking down the complex topics into manageable sections.

In this first part, we will lay the essential groundwork for your certification journey. We will begin by exploring the modern architecture of vRealize Automation 8.1, understanding its core components and how they interact. From there, we will outline the key objectives of the 2V0-31.20 Exam, providing a clear roadmap of the knowledge domains you will need to master. We will cover the initial installation and configuration steps, which form the bedrock of any successful deployment. This foundational knowledge is absolutely critical for tackling the more advanced topics in later sections and for your ultimate success.

Understanding the vRealize Automation Architecture

The latest iteration of vRealize Automation represents a significant architectural shift from its predecessors. It has been re-architected from the ground up on a modern, container-based microservices platform, primarily running on Kubernetes. This new architecture provides greater scalability, resilience, and ease of deployment. For anyone preparing for the 2V0-31.20 Exam, understanding this fundamental change is crucial. The platform is delivered as a single virtual appliance that contains all the necessary components, simplifying the installation process dramatically compared to previous versions that required multiple appliances and complex configurations.

The solution is composed of several key services that work in concert. Cloud Assembly is the blueprinting engine where you design and build infrastructure and application templates. Service Broker provides a curated self-service catalog, allowing you to publish your blueprints for consumer use. Code Stream is the CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery) component, enabling the automation of software delivery pipelines. Finally, vRealize Orchestrator, a long-standing and powerful workflow engine, is now fully integrated, providing robust extensibility for custom actions and integrations. A solid grasp of each service's role is a key objective for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

This microservices architecture ensures that each component can be updated and scaled independently, providing a more agile and robust platform. The entire system is managed through a unified user interface, providing a consistent experience whether you are designing a blueprint, managing the service catalog, or building a delivery pipeline. This modern approach is a central theme of vRealize Automation 8.1, and being able to articulate its benefits and components is a fundamental aspect of the knowledge tested in the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Key Objectives of the 2V0-31.20 Exam

The 2V0-31.20 Exam is meticulously designed to validate the skills required for a minimally qualified candidate to implement and manage a vRealize Automation solution effectively. The exam objectives are broken down into several distinct domains, each covering a critical aspect of the product. The first major domain is centered on installation, configuration, and setup. This includes deploying the appliance using the Easy Installer, integrating with vSphere and VMware Identity Manager for authentication, and performing the initial system setup. These tasks form the initial foundation of any deployment.

Another significant portion of the exam focuses on the configuration and management of cloud resources. This involves creating cloud accounts to connect to various endpoints like vSphere, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. It also covers the setup of cloud zones, projects, flavor mappings, and image mappings, which are the essential building blocks for creating cloud-agnostic blueprints. The ability to correctly configure this infrastructure layer is a core competency that the 2V0-31.20 Exam aims to verify. Without this, no automation can take place.

Finally, the exam delves deeply into the creation and management of automation resources, which is the heart of the platform. This includes designing and authoring Cloud Assembly blueprints (now called Cloud Templates) using YAML, creating and managing a Service Broker catalog, and using Code Stream for CI/CD pipelines. It also covers extensibility topics, such as using vRealize Orchestrator and Action-Based Extensibility (ABX). Mastering these objectives demonstrates that you can not only set up the platform but also use it to deliver tangible automation value.

The Role of a vRealize Automation Specialist

A certified vRealize Automation specialist is a key player in any organization's cloud strategy. This individual is much more than just a system administrator; they are an enabler of IT agility and a driver of operational efficiency. Their primary role is to translate the needs of developers and business units into automated, self-service IT offerings. They design and build the blueprints that allow users to provision their own virtual machines, applications, and environments on-demand, without having to file a traditional IT ticket and wait for days or weeks.

The specialist's day-to-day responsibilities are diverse. They are responsible for the health and maintenance of the vRealize Automation platform itself, ensuring it is secure, performant, and available. They work closely with infrastructure teams to integrate the platform with various cloud endpoints and with other IT management tools for DNS, IPAM, and configuration management. A significant amount of their time is spent in Cloud Assembly, writing YAML blueprints, and creating a standardized library of reusable components for developers to consume. The skills tested in the 2V0-31.20 Exam directly map to these real-world tasks.

Furthermore, the specialist acts as a governance gatekeeper. They use the platform's policy engine to enforce corporate standards, such as naming conventions, lease times for deployments, and resource quotas. By publishing curated and compliant services through the Service Broker catalog, they provide developers with freedom and speed while ensuring that the IT organization maintains control and oversight. This balance between agility and governance is a critical function of the role, and the 2V0-31.20 Exam validates that a professional understands how to achieve it.

Navigating the Installation and Initial Configuration

The journey to a functional vRealize Automation environment begins with the installation process. The 2V0-31.20 Exam requires a thorough understanding of this initial deployment phase. VMware has greatly simplified this with the vRealize Easy Installer, a single utility that guides you through the deployment of vRealize Automation and the integrated VMware Identity Manager (vIDM). The installer is an ISO file that you mount on a workstation, and its wizard-based interface collects all the necessary information, such as network settings, passwords, and license keys.

The installer handles the deployment of the virtual appliances for both vRealize Automation and vIDM onto your target vCenter Server. Once the appliances are deployed and powered on, the installer configures the communication and integration between them. VMware Identity Manager is a mandatory component as it provides the platform with robust identity and access management capabilities. It is used to configure user authentication, typically by integrating with an existing enterprise directory service like Microsoft Active Directory. Understanding this dependency is key for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

After the Easy Installer completes its work, there are several initial configuration tasks to perform within the product's user interface. This includes activating licenses, running initial content creation wizards, and verifying the health of the deployed services. You will also need to configure the roles and permissions for the administrators who will be managing the platform. A smooth and correct installation is the first and most critical step in a successful implementation, making it a foundational topic for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Configuring Cloud Accounts and Cloud Zones

Once vRealize Automation is installed, the first step towards enabling automation is to connect it to your infrastructure endpoints. This is done by creating Cloud Accounts. A Cloud Account is simply a set of stored credentials and connection details that allows vRealize Automation to communicate with the API of an underlying cloud platform. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will expect you to know how to configure Cloud Accounts for various platforms, with a primary focus on vSphere, but also including public clouds like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.

When you create a vSphere Cloud Account, you provide the vCenter Server address and the credentials for a service account that has the necessary privileges to discover resources and provision virtual machines. Once the Cloud Account is created, vRealize Automation will perform a data collection process, discovering all the compute resources (clusters and hosts), datastores, and networks available in that vCenter environment. This inventory of resources becomes the pool from which you will provision new workloads.

Next, you must define Cloud Zones. A Cloud Zone is a logical grouping of compute resources within a single Cloud Account. It essentially represents a placement target for deployments. For a vSphere Cloud Account, a Cloud Zone could be a single cluster or a group of clusters within a datacenter. You can tag Cloud Zones with capabilities (e.g., 'pci-compliant' or 'disaster-recovery') to control where blueprints can be deployed. This concept of using tags and constraints to direct deployments is a core principle of the platform and a vital topic for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Managing Projects and User Access

vRealize Automation uses a project-based model to achieve multi-tenancy and to organize users, resources, and blueprints. A Project is a container that brings together a group of users with a specific set of cloud resources, allowing them to deploy a defined set of blueprints. Understanding how to configure and manage Projects is fundamental to providing a self-service cloud experience and is a key knowledge area for the 2V0-31.20 Exam. Each deployment within the system is always associated with a single Project.

When you create a Project, you first add the users or groups who will be members. You can assign them one of two roles: an administrator, who can manage the Project's settings, or a member, who can only deploy blueprints associated with the Project. Next, you must associate one or more Cloud Zones with the Project. This defines the pool of infrastructure resources (compute, network, storage) that the Project's members are allowed to consume. You can also set resource limits or quotas for each zone within the Project.

This structure provides a powerful way to segregate resources and delegate administration. You could have a separate Project for the development team, the QA team, and the production operations team, each with access to different infrastructure and different levels of permissions. You can also add blueprints to a Project, making them available for deployment by that Project's members. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will test your ability to construct this organizational and governance framework correctly to meet specific business requirements.

Working with Flavor Mappings and Image Mappings

To create truly cloud-agnostic blueprints, vRealize Automation uses several abstraction layers that separate the blueprint's design from the specific details of the underlying cloud platform. Two of the most important of these abstractions are Flavor Mappings and Image Mappings. The 2V0-31.20 Exam requires a solid understanding of how these mappings work and why they are essential for multi-cloud automation. A Flavor Mapping allows you to define standardized "T-shirt sizes" for virtual machine compute resources.

For example, you can define a flavor called "small" that maps to a specific VM configuration (e.g., 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM). You can then create different definitions for this "small" flavor for each of your Cloud Zones. In a vSphere zone, "small" might mean 2 CPUs and 4 GB RAM, but in an AWS zone, it could map to a 't3.medium' instance type. This allows you to design a blueprint that simply requests a "small" machine, and vRealize Automation will automatically deploy the appropriate configuration based on the target cloud.

Similarly, an Image Mapping is used to abstract operating system templates. You can define an image name like "centos-8" and map it to a specific vSphere VM template in one Cloud Zone, an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) in an AWS zone, and an Azure Image in an Azure zone. Your blueprint can then simply request "centos-8" without needing to know the specific template name or ID on each cloud. These mappings are the key to portability and are a critical concept to master for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Understanding Network Profiles and Storage Profiles

Just as flavors and images are abstracted, network and storage configurations are also managed through profiles. These profiles allow you to define standardized configurations and capabilities that can be referenced in your blueprints. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will test your ability to configure these profiles to support automated network and storage provisioning. A Network Profile groups together a set of network properties, such as subnets, gateways, DNS servers, and IP address ranges.

You can create different Network Profiles for different environments, such as development, testing, and production. These profiles can be associated with Cloud Zones and Projects. When a blueprint requests a network, it can be matched to an appropriate Network Profile based on tags and constraints. This enables the automated allocation of IP addresses from a predefined range and the configuration of the correct network settings on the deployed virtual machine, often integrating with an external IPAM (IP Address Management) system.

Storage Profiles serve a similar purpose for storage. They allow you to group your datastores based on their capabilities, which you define using tags. For example, you could tag your high-performance SSD datastores as "tier-1" and your lower-cost SATA datastores as "tier-2." Your Storage Profile would then define these tiers. In a blueprint, a developer can simply request "tier-1" storage without needing to know the name of a specific datastore. This capability-based placement is a powerful feature and a core concept for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Blueprinting and Service Delivery with the 2V0-31.20 Exam

Having established the foundational infrastructure in the first part of our series, we now move to the heart of vRealize Automation: creating and delivering automated services. This part is dedicated to the design and authoring of Cloud Assembly blueprints, which are now officially called Cloud Templates, and the subsequent publication of these services through the Service Broker catalog. A deep and practical understanding of this process is the most critical skill set for any vRealize Automation specialist and forms a major component of the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

We will start by exploring the structure and syntax of blueprints, which are authored in the industry-standard YAML format. We will build blueprints from the ground up, adding compute, network, and storage resources, and learning how to make them dynamic and reusable through the use of inputs and properties. We will then shift our focus to the consumer's experience, looking at how to take a completed blueprint and publish it as a user-friendly catalog item in Service Broker. Mastering this end-to-end flow from creation to consumption is essential for success in the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Introduction to Cloud Assembly Blueprints

At the core of vRealize Automation's functionality lies the Cloud Assembly blueprint, or Cloud Template. A blueprint is a declarative file that defines the desired state of an application or infrastructure deployment. It describes all the components of the desired environment, such as virtual machines, networks, and storage volumes, as well as their properties and relationships. The 2V0-31.20 Exam places a heavy emphasis on blueprint authoring skills, as this is the primary mechanism for defining what will be automated.

The blueprinting engine in vRealize Automation 8.1 uses a code-based approach. All blueprints are written in YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language), a human-readable data serialization format. This "infrastructure-as-code" methodology allows blueprints to be treated like software code. They can be version-controlled in systems like Git, peer-reviewed, and reused across different projects and environments. This is a significant shift from the drag-and-drop canvas used in previous versions, and proficiency with YAML syntax is now a prerequisite for any administrator.

When a user requests a blueprint, the Cloud Assembly service reads the YAML file and interprets the desired state. It then intelligently determines the best placement for the requested resources based on the configured cloud zones, projects, and policies. The service then communicates with the APIs of the target cloud platforms to provision and configure the resources exactly as defined in the blueprint. This declarative model simplifies the authoring process, as you only need to define 'what' you want, not 'how' to create it. This is a fundamental concept for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Designing Basic Cloud Templates using YAML

Authoring a blueprint in vRealize Automation begins with understanding the basic structure of the YAML file. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will expect you to be comfortable reading and writing this syntax. A blueprint has several top-level sections. The name and version sections are straightforward, providing a unique identifier and version for the blueprint. The most important section is resources, which is a dictionary where you define all the components of your deployment.

Each resource you define, such as a virtual machine, is given a logical name within the blueprint. Under this logical name, you define its properties. The most critical property is type, which specifies what kind of resource it is. For example, a vSphere virtual machine would have a type of Cloud.vSphere.Machine. The platform provides a rich library of resource types for various cloud platforms and components, allowing you to construct complex environments.

A very basic blueprint might define just a single virtual machine. Under the resource definition, you would specify properties for the image and flavor you want to use. These values would correspond to the image and flavor mappings you configured in the underlying infrastructure. This simple structure is the starting point for all blueprints. As you prepare for the 2V0-31.20 Exam, it is essential to practice writing these basic blueprints from scratch to build a solid foundation.

Adding Compute, Network, and Storage Resources

A useful blueprint typically consists of more than just a single virtual machine. You will need to add network and storage resources to create a complete and functional environment. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will test your ability to correctly define and connect these different resource types within the blueprint's YAML code. To add a network connection to a virtual machine, you first define a network resource, for example of type Cloud.vSphere.Network.

You can then associate this network with your virtual machine resource. This is done by referencing the logical name of the network resource from within the virtual machine's properties. This creates a dependency, ensuring that the network is provisioned before the machine that connects to it. You can define properties for the network, such as assigning a static IP address to the virtual machine. This declarative way of defining relationships is a powerful feature of the blueprinting engine.

Similarly, you can add block storage volumes, with a resource type like Cloud.vSphere.Disk. You would define the disk's capacity and other properties, and then attach it to a virtual machine resource by referencing the machine's logical name. This allows for the dynamic provisioning of additional storage as part of the application deployment. The ability to compose these different resource types together is a key skill for building realistic blueprints and for passing the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Using Inputs and Custom Properties for Flexibility

Hardcoding values like image, flavor, or network names directly into a blueprint makes it rigid and not very reusable. To create flexible and dynamic blueprints, you must use inputs. The 2V0-31.20 Exam heavily emphasizes the use of inputs as a best practice. The inputs section of a blueprint allows you to define parameters that the user will be prompted for at request time. This allows a single blueprint to be used for multiple purposes.

For each input, you define a name, a data type (such as string, integer, or boolean), a title, and an optional default value. For example, you could create an input called deploymentSize that allows the user to select between "small", "medium", and "large". The user's selection can then be referenced elsewhere in the blueprint to dynamically set the flavor of the deployed virtual machine. This is done using the syntax ${input.deploymentSize}.

In addition to user-provided inputs, you can also define custom properties. These are key-value pairs that you can attach to any resource in the blueprint. These properties can be used for a variety of purposes, such as passing metadata to other systems, specifying configuration details for software, or controlling the behavior of extensibility actions. For example, you could add a property costCenter: "R&D" to a machine to aid in financial reporting. Understanding the difference and proper use of inputs versus properties is crucial for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Leveraging Cloud-Agnostic and Cloud-Specific Properties

The blueprinting language in vRealize Automation is designed to be cloud-agnostic wherever possible. This allows you to create a single blueprint that can be deployed to multiple cloud endpoints without modification. This is achieved by using generic resource types like Cloud.Machine instead of a vendor-specific type like Cloud.vSphere.Machine. The generic resource types use a common set of properties that are understood across all supported clouds, such as image and flavor.

However, there are times when you need to access a feature that is unique to a specific cloud platform. For these situations, the blueprint language allows you to add cloud-specific properties to your resources. For example, if you were deploying to vSphere, you might want to specify a particular storage policy or set an advanced vCenter property that does not have a generic equivalent. You can add these specific properties to your Cloud.vSphere.Machine resource, and they will be ignored if the same blueprint is deployed to a different cloud like AWS.

The 2V0-31.20 Exam will expect you to know how to construct blueprints that strike the right balance between portability and functionality. The best practice is to keep blueprints as generic as possible and only use cloud-specific properties when absolutely necessary. This maximizes the reusability of your code and simplifies the management of your blueprint library. This strategic approach to blueprint design is a key characteristic of an experienced automation specialist.

Versioning and Sharing Blueprints

As you develop and refine your blueprints, it is essential to manage their lifecycle effectively. vRealize Automation provides built-in versioning capabilities for all blueprints. Whenever you make a change and save a blueprint, you can add a description of the changes. The system maintains a complete history of all versions, and you can view the differences between any two versions. You can also revert to a previous version if a change introduces an issue. This is a critical feature for maintaining stability and control.

More advanced teams will want to integrate their blueprint development with an external source control management system, such as Git. The 2V0-31.20 Exam recognizes this as a best practice. vRealize Automation can be configured to synchronize blueprints with a Git repository. This allows developers to use their standard tools and workflows, such as branching, pull requests, and code reviews, for managing their infrastructure-as-code. The blueprint in vRealize Automation becomes a read-only reflection of what is in the Git repository, which becomes the single source of truth.

Once a blueprint is tested and ready for use, you need to share it with the intended consumers. This is done by adding the blueprint to one or more Projects. By associating a blueprint with a Project, you make it available for deployment by the members of that Project. You can also release specific versions of a blueprint, ensuring that users are deploying a stable and approved version while you continue to work on a new draft. This controlled sharing is a key aspect of the platform's governance model.

Configuring Service Broker for Catalog Management

While Cloud Assembly is where administrators and blueprint developers work, Service Broker is the interface for the end-users or consumers of IT services. It provides a simple, user-friendly, and curated catalog of items that have been approved for consumption. The 2V0-31.20 Exam requires you to be proficient in configuring Service Broker to provide this polished self-service experience. The primary task in Service Broker is to import content from various sources and publish it to the catalog.

The most common content source is, of course, Cloud Assembly. You can configure an integration with your local Cloud Assembly instance, which allows you to browse and select the blueprints that you want to make available in the catalog. You can import blueprints from one or more Projects. This allows you to create a central catalog that aggregates services from different development teams or business units, while still respecting the underlying permissions and governance defined in the Projects.

In addition to Cloud Assembly blueprints, Service Broker can also import content from other sources. For example, you can import vRealize Orchestrator workflows, AWS CloudFormation templates, and even simple OVA/OVF templates. This allows you to create a single, unified service catalog for your organization that provides access to a wide range of automated services, regardless of the technology used to create them. This aggregation capability is a key value proposition of Service Broker and an important concept for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Creating and Managing Content Sources and Content Sharing

To populate the Service Broker catalog, you must first define one or more Content Sources. As mentioned, the primary source type is for Cloud Assembly blueprints. When you configure this source, you select the source Project(s) from which to import. This means that only blueprints that have been shared with those specific Projects in Cloud Assembly will be visible and available for import into Service Broker. This provides an initial layer of control over what can be published.

Once the content source is set up and the blueprints are imported, you need to decide how to share them with your consumers. This is managed through Content Sharing. Content Sharing allows you to specify which Projects have access to which catalog items. This is a critical governance step. For example, you might have a set of basic infrastructure blueprints that you share with all Projects, but a set of more advanced, application-specific blueprints that you only share with the development team's Project.

This ensures that users only see the catalog items that are relevant and appropriate for their role. It prevents a user from one department from accidentally deploying a resource that was intended for another. This separation is key to providing a clean and targeted user experience and for enforcing organizational policies. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will test your understanding of this two-step process: first importing content from a source, and then explicitly sharing that content with consumer Projects.

Customizing Catalog Items and Deployment Forms

When you import a blueprint into Service Broker, it becomes a draft catalog item. Before publishing it, you have the opportunity to enhance and customize it to create a better user experience. The 2V0-31.20 Exam expects you to know how to perform these customizations. One of the first things you can do is change the name and description of the catalog item to be more business-friendly. You can also assign a custom icon to the item to make the catalog more visually appealing.

A more powerful feature is the ability to customize the request form using the built-in form designer. When a blueprint has inputs, Service Broker automatically generates a form with a field for each input. The form designer allows you to modify this generated form. You can reorder the fields, group them into sections, add help text, and even set advanced constraints. For example, you could make one input field appear or disappear based on the value selected in another field.

You can also apply custom CSS to the form for branding purposes. This ability to create dynamic, user-friendly, and branded request forms is key to driving user adoption of your self-service portal. It transforms a technical blueprint into an easy-to-consume service. Mastering the form designer is a practical skill that is highly valuable for any vRealize Automation administrator and is an important topic to study for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Advanced Blueprinting and Extensibility in the 2V0-31.20 Exam

Building upon our knowledge of basic blueprinting and service catalog management, this third part of our series ventures into the more advanced and powerful capabilities of vRealize Automation. Here, we will explore complex blueprint designs, Day 2 operations, and the critical concept of extensibility. Extensibility is what allows you to integrate vRealize Automation with the broader IT ecosystem and automate processes that go beyond simple infrastructure provisioning. A deep understanding of these advanced topics is what separates a competent administrator from an expert, and it is essential for success on the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

We will delve into the two primary methods of extensibility: vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) workflows and the modern, lightweight Action-Based Extensibility (ABX). We will also examine how the Event Broker Service (EBS) acts as the glue, allowing you to trigger these extensibility actions at specific points in the machine lifecycle. Furthermore, we will cover advanced blueprinting topics like using cloud-init for guest customization and defining policies for governance. Mastering these concepts will enable you to solve complex, real-world automation challenges.

Deep Dive into Complex Blueprint Components

While simple blueprints might only contain a single machine, real-world applications are often more complex, consisting of multiple tiers, load balancers, and security groups. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will expect you to be able to model these more sophisticated topologies in your blueprints. The YAML-based blueprinting canvas is well-suited for this, allowing you to define multiple resources and the dependencies between them. For example, you can define a web server virtual machine and a database server virtual machine in the same blueprint.

To manage dependencies, you can use the dependsOn property. If the web server needs the database to be available before it starts, you can add a dependsOn property to the web server resource that points to the logical name of the database server resource. This ensures that Cloud Assembly will fully provision the database server before it even begins provisioning the web server. This explicit dependency management is crucial for ensuring that multi-tier applications are deployed correctly.

You can also model network components like load balancers and security groups as resources within your blueprint. You would define a load balancer resource (e.g., of type Cloud.NSX.LoadBalancer) and then associate your web server virtual machines with it as members. This allows for the complete, end-to-end automation of a multi-tier, load-balanced application stack from a single blueprint. The ability to construct these complex blueprints is a key skill tested in the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Implementing Day 2 Actions and Resource Management

Provisioning a resource is only the beginning of its lifecycle. Once a machine or application is deployed, users and administrators need to be able to manage it. These post-provisioning management tasks are known as Day 2 actions. The 2V0-31.20 Exam requires you to understand how to enable and create these actions. vRealize Automation provides a set of out-of-the-box Day 2 actions for common tasks like power on, power off, reboot, and delete (decommission). These are available on all deployments by default.

However, the real power of the platform comes from the ability to create custom Day 2 actions. These actions can be used to perform any management task you can imagine, such as resizing a virtual machine, adding a new disk, installing a software patch, or backing up a database. These custom actions are typically backed by an extensibility workflow, either in vRealize Orchestrator or Action-Based Extensibility, which contains the logic to perform the actual task.

You define a custom Day 2 action in Cloud Assembly and associate it with a specific resource type. For example, you could create an action called "Resize VM" and make it available on all Cloud.vSphere.Machine resources. When a user views their deployment, they will see this custom action as a button they can click. This empowers users to manage their own resources in a controlled and automated way, reducing the burden on IT administrators. This is a critical concept for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Integrating with vRealize Orchestrator

vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) has long been the cornerstone of VMware's automation strategy, and it is now fully integrated into the vRealize Automation platform. vRO is a powerful and mature workflow engine that allows you to automate complex sequences of tasks. It comes with a vast library of pre-built workflows and plug-ins for interacting with a wide range of technologies, including vCenter, NSX, Active Directory, and many third-party systems. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will expect you to understand the role of vRO and how it is used for extensibility.

Within vRealize Automation, vRO workflows can be used in several ways. As we just discussed, they are commonly used to back custom Day 2 actions. You can also use vRO workflows to extend the provisioning lifecycle itself. Using the Event Broker Service, you can trigger a vRO workflow at any stage of the provisioning process, such as before a machine is powered on, or after it has been fully configured. This allows you to inject custom logic into the process.

For example, you could trigger a vRO workflow during provisioning to create a record in a third-party Configuration Management Database (CMDB), or to get the next available IP address from an IPAM system. This ability to integrate with other IT management tools is essential for creating a fully automated, end-to-end process. Proficiency in how vRealize Automation calls vRO workflows and passes data to them is a key skill for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Creating and Using Action-Based Extensibility (ABX)

While vRealize Orchestrator is incredibly powerful, it can have a steeper learning curve for those not familiar with its specific development environment. To provide a more lightweight and developer-friendly alternative, vRealize Automation introduced Action-Based Extensibility, or ABX. ABX allows you to write extensibility scripts, called actions, using standard scripting languages like PowerShell, Python, and Node.js. These scripts run in a serverless, function-as-a-service (FaaS) environment directly on the vRealize Automation appliance. The 2V0-31.20 Exam covers ABX as a key modern extensibility option.

ABX actions are ideal for smaller, more targeted automation tasks that do not require the complexity of a full vRO workflow. For example, you could write a simple Python script to make a REST API call to an external system, or a PowerShell script to perform a task within a Windows guest operating system. Because they use standard languages, it is often easier for developers and infrastructure administrators who already have scripting skills to get started with ABX.

Like vRO workflows, ABX actions can be triggered by Event Broker subscriptions to extend the machine lifecycle, and they can also be used to create custom Day 2 actions. When an ABX action runs, it receives a payload of context information about the event that triggered it, such as the properties of the machine being provisioned. The script can then perform its logic and pass data back to the calling process. Understanding when to use ABX versus vRO is an important design consideration for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Leveraging Event Broker Service (EBS) Subscriptions

The Event Broker Service, or EBS, is the mechanism that allows you to trigger extensibility actions at specific points in a resource's lifecycle. It acts as a message bus that publishes events for all the major stages of provisioning and management. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will expect you to be proficient in creating subscriptions to these events. A subscription is essentially a rule that says, "when a specific event occurs, run this specific action."

The EBS provides dozens of different event topics you can subscribe to. For a virtual machine, these include events like "Compute allocation," "Compute provision," "Network configure," and "Compute post-provision." You can choose to run your action before the event (a pre-condition) or after it completes (a post-condition). This gives you fine-grained control over when your custom logic is executed. For example, you could run a workflow after the "Compute post-provision" event to install an application on the newly created machine.

When you create a subscription, you define the conditions under which it should fire. This can be as simple as triggering on every machine deployment, or it can be a complex condition based on the properties of the deployment, such as the image being used, the project it belongs to, or a custom property. This conditional logic is very powerful, as it allows you to apply different automation policies to different types of deployments. Mastering EBS subscriptions is fundamental to implementing real-world extensibility solutions.

Using Cloud-Init and Software Components for Configuration

Extensibility is not just about integrating with external systems; it is also about configuring the software inside the virtual machines you deploy. vRealize Automation provides several ways to perform this guest operating system customization. The 2V0-31.20 Exam covers these methods. The most common and cloud-agnostic method is to use cloud-init, which is the industry standard for cross-platform cloud instance initialization.

You can embed a cloud-init script directly into the YAML of your blueprint. This script can be used to perform a wide range of configuration tasks, such as setting the hostname, creating user accounts, installing software packages, or writing configuration files. The script is passed to the virtual machine during the cloning process, and the cloud-init service within the guest OS executes it on the first boot. This provides a simple and powerful way to automate the initial setup of a machine.

For more complex software configurations, you can use the software components feature. A software component is a reusable script (e.g., a Bash or PowerShell script) that can be dragged onto a virtual machine in the blueprint's graphical design canvas. You can create a library of these components for common tasks like installing a web server or a database. This allows for a more modular and reusable approach to software configuration management than embedding large scripts directly into the blueprint YAML.

Managing Leases, Policies, and Governance

A key function of a private or hybrid cloud platform is to provide governance and control over resource consumption. vRealize Automation provides a robust policy engine to enforce your organization's business and operational rules. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will test your ability to configure these various policy types. One of the most common and important policies is the Lease policy. A lease policy defines the maximum amount of time a deployment is allowed to exist.

When a deployment's lease expires, it is automatically destroyed, freeing up the resources for others to use. This is crucial for preventing resource sprawl, especially in non-production environments. You can define different lease policies for different projects or environments. Another important policy type is the Quota policy, which allows you to set limits on the amount of resources (e.g., CPU, memory, storage) that a project is allowed to consume. This helps to manage capacity and control costs.

In addition to these, there are policies for Day 2 actions, which control who can perform which management tasks on a deployment, and Approval policies, which can be used to require managerial approval for certain types of requests. For example, you could create an approval policy that requires a manager's sign-off before any large or expensive resource can be provisioned. These policies are the primary tools you will use to implement a secure and well-governed self-service cloud.

Advanced Scenarios for the 2V0-31.20 Exam

To truly test your understanding, the 2V0-31.20 Exam will likely present you with complex, scenario-based questions that require you to combine several different features of the platform to create a complete solution. For example, a question might describe a requirement to deploy a two-tier application, register the new servers in an external CMDB, assign an IP address from a third-party IPAM tool, and require manager approval if the request originates from a junior developer.

To answer such a question, you would need to draw on your knowledge from multiple domains. You would need to know how to create a multi-machine blueprint with dependencies. You would need to understand how to use the Event Broker Service to trigger a vRO or ABX action to call the CMDB and IPAM systems. You would also need to know how to configure a conditional approval policy based on the user's role. It is this ability to synthesize your knowledge and design end-to-end solutions that the exam aims to validate.

The best way to prepare for these types of questions is to get as much hands-on experience as possible. Go beyond the basic labs and try to build your own complex, integrated scenarios in a test environment. Think about a real-world business process and try to automate it from start to finish. This practical application will help you to see how the different components of vRealize Automation fit together and will give you the confidence to tackle any scenario the 2V0-31.20 Exam throws at you.

CI/CD with Code Stream and Orchestrator in the 2V0-31.20 Exam

In this fourth part of our series, we shift our focus from infrastructure automation to the realm of application delivery and DevOps. We will explore two powerful and deeply integrated VMware tools: Code Stream, the CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery) service within vRealize Automation, and vRealize Orchestrator (vRO), the versatile workflow engine. While we introduced vRO in the context of extensibility, here we will look at it more as a standalone automation tool. The 2V0-31.20 Exam expects a solid understanding of how these components enable modern software delivery practices.

The ability to automate the entire lifecycle of an application, from code commit to production deployment, is a critical requirement for organizations embracing DevOps. Code Stream provides the pipeline engine to model and execute this process, while vRO provides the powerful, task-level automation to integrate with the wide array of tools used in a typical software development toolchain. We will explore the fundamentals of building pipelines, creating workflows, and how these two services work together to bridge the gap between infrastructure and application teams.

Introduction to DevOps and CI/CD Pipelines

Before diving into the tools, it is important to understand the concepts they support. DevOps is a cultural and professional movement that emphasizes collaboration and communication between software developers and IT operations professionals. The goal is to automate and streamline the software delivery process, enabling organizations to release applications faster and more reliably. A core technical practice of DevOps is CI/CD. The 2V0-31.20 Exam content is built around enabling these modern IT practices.

Continuous Integration (CI) is the practice of developers frequently merging their code changes into a central repository. Each merge triggers an automated build and test process, allowing teams to detect integration issues early. Continuous Delivery (CD) extends this principle by automatically deploying all code changes to a testing and/or production environment after the build stage is complete. This entire end-to-end process is modeled and managed as a pipeline.

A CI/CD pipeline is an automated sequence of stages that a new software change goes through to get from a developer's machine to production. A typical pipeline might include stages for building the code, running unit tests, provisioning an environment, deploying the application, and running acceptance tests. VMware's Code Stream is a tool specifically designed to model, execute, and manage these pipelines, making it a key enabler of DevOps for vRealize Automation users.

Navigating the VMware Code Stream Interface

Code Stream provides a clean and intuitive user interface for managing all aspects of your CI/CD pipelines. When you first access Code Stream, you are presented with a dashboard that provides a high-level overview of pipeline executions, showing recent successes and failures. This allows you to quickly assess the health of your software delivery process. The 2V0-31.20 Exam requires you to be familiar with the main sections of this interface and their purpose.

The core of the interface is the Pipelines canvas. This is a graphical designer where you build your pipelines by arranging stages and tasks in a logical sequence. You can drag and drop different task types onto the canvas and configure their properties in a right-hand pane. This visual approach makes it easy to understand the flow of the pipeline and to communicate it to others. You can also view the execution history of any pipeline, allowing you to drill down into the details of a specific run to see logs and troubleshoot issues.

Another key section is Endpoints. An endpoint is a configuration that allows Code Stream to connect to and interact with a third-party tool. For example, you would create a Git endpoint to connect to your source code repository, a Jenkins endpoint to trigger a build job, or a vRealize Automation endpoint to deploy a blueprint. Code Stream comes with out-of-the-box support for a wide range of common developer and operations tools, and understanding how to configure these endpoints is a fundamental skill for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Creating and Configuring Endpoints

Before you can build a meaningful pipeline, you must configure the endpoints for all the tools you want to automate. An endpoint is essentially a stored set of connection details and credentials. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will expect you to know how to set up several key endpoint types. For a source control endpoint, such as GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket, you would provide the server URL and an access token or credentials that allow Code Stream to poll for new code changes and clone the repository.

For an automation endpoint like vRealize Automation, you would provide the connection details for your vRA instance. This allows a pipeline task to trigger the deployment of a Cloud Assembly blueprint, which is a common way to provision a fresh testing environment for each pipeline run. For a collaboration tool like Jira, you would configure the endpoint to allow Code Stream to automatically update tickets as the pipeline progresses, for example, moving a ticket from "In Progress" to "Done" when the deployment is successful.

Each endpoint type has its own specific configuration requirements. The system validates the connection details when you save the endpoint, providing immediate feedback if there is a problem. By abstracting these connection details into reusable endpoints, you can build pipelines that are cleaner and easier to manage. You can simply select the desired endpoint from a dropdown list within a task, without having to hardcode credentials directly into your pipeline definition.

Building Your First CI/CD Pipeline

Building a pipeline in Code Stream follows a logical structure. A pipeline is composed of one or more Stages. Stages represent major milestones in your delivery process, such as "Build," "Test," and "Deploy." Stages run sequentially by default; the "Test" stage will not begin until the "Build" stage has completed successfully. Within each stage, you have one or more Tasks. Tasks are the individual actions that are performed, and tasks within the same stage can run in parallel to speed up the process. This structure is a core concept for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

To build a simple CI pipeline, you might start with a "Build" stage. This stage could contain a task that checks out the source code from a Git endpoint, and then another task that uses a Jenkins endpoint to trigger a pre-configured build job. The next stage could be "Static Analysis," containing a task that runs a code quality tool like SonarQube to check for bugs and vulnerabilities.

The pipeline is typically triggered automatically. You can configure a Git trigger that starts the pipeline whenever a new commit is pushed to a specific branch in your repository. This ensures that every single change is automatically built and tested, providing rapid feedback to the developer. The ability to create this basic, trigger-based pipeline is a foundational skill that you will need to demonstrate for the 2V0-31.20 Exam.

Using Stages, Tasks, and Variables in Pipelines

As you build more complex pipelines, you will need to leverage the full range of features available in Code Stream. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will test your knowledge of these more advanced capabilities. Code Stream provides a rich library of out-of-the-box task types for common operations. These include CI tasks (like Jenkins, Bamboo), deployment tasks (like vRealize Automation), and notification tasks (like sending an email or a Slack message). There is also a generic REST task that allows you to make API calls to any system.

You can also use control tasks to manage the flow of your pipeline. For example, a "User Operation" task will pause the pipeline and wait for a user to provide manual approval before proceeding. This is often used for approvals before deploying to a production environment. You can also define input parameters for a pipeline, allowing a user to provide values when they run it manually. These inputs can then be used as variables throughout the pipeline tasks.

Variables, also known as pipeline parameters, are essential for creating flexible and reusable pipelines. You can define static variables or extract them dynamically from the output of a previous task. For example, after a vRealize Automation deployment task runs, you can extract the IP address of the newly created virtual machine and use it as an input to a subsequent testing task. Understanding how to pass data between tasks using variables is a crucial skill for building effective pipelines.

Understanding vRealize Orchestrator Fundamentals

Shifting our focus slightly, we now look at vRealize Orchestrator (vRO). While Code Stream is excellent for modeling the high-level flow of a pipeline, vRO is the tool you will use for creating the detailed, low-level automation tasks. The 2V0-31.20 Exam will expect you to have a foundational understanding of vRO concepts, as it is the primary tool for any custom automation that goes beyond what the out-of-the-box Code Stream tasks can do.

The core component of vRO is the workflow. A workflow is a sequence of actions that accomplishes a specific task. You build workflows using a graphical, drag-and-drop interface. You can drag schema elements, such as other workflows, scripts, or decision points, onto a canvas and connect them together to define the logic. This visual programming model makes it relatively easy to create powerful and complex automation routines without being a professional developer.

vRO is powerful because of its plug-in architecture. A plug-in extends vRO's capabilities, allowing it to interact with a specific technology. There are plug-ins for vCenter, NSX, Active Directory, REST APIs, SSH, and hundreds of other third-party products. These plug-ins provide a library of pre-built actions and workflows that you can use as building blocks in your own custom workflows, significantly accelerating the development process.

Creating and Running Basic Workflows in Orchestrator

Creating a workflow in vRO starts with the drag-and-drop canvas. The 2V0-31.20 Exam requires you to know the basic elements and how to assemble them. You start with a "start" element and end with an "end" element. In between, you add other elements to perform the actual work. The most common element is the "scriptable task," which allows you to write custom code using JavaScript. This is where you can write logic to make API calls, manipulate data, or perform calculations.

A simple workflow might consist of a single scriptable task that takes a string as an input, modifies it in some way, and then returns it as an output. You define the inputs and outputs of the workflow in a dedicated tab. These parameters allow you to pass data into the workflow when you run it and to receive results back when it completes. This ability to parameterize workflows is what makes them reusable and modular.

Once a workflow is created, you can run it directly from the vRO client. The client will prompt you for any required input parameters. When you run the workflow, you can see its progress in real-time, and you can inspect the values of variables at each step, which is very useful for debugging. The ability to create, run, and debug a simple workflow is a fundamental skill for anyone working with the vRealize suite.

Integration Concepts for the 2V0-31.20 Exam

The real power of Code Stream and vRealize Orchestrator comes when they are used together. For the 2V0-31.20 Exam, you need to understand the primary ways these tools, along with Cloud Assembly, integrate to create end-to-end automation solutions. The most common integration pattern is for a Code Stream pipeline to call a vRO workflow as one of its tasks. This allows you to encapsulate complex, custom automation logic within a vRO workflow and then easily invoke it as part of your CI/CD process.

For example, your pipeline might need to perform a complex series of steps to configure a specific application. Instead of trying to script this directly in Code Stream, you would build a vRO workflow to handle the configuration. Then, in your Code Stream pipeline, you would simply use the vRO task to run that workflow, passing in any necessary parameters. This keeps your pipeline clean and readable, and your custom automation logic becomes a reusable component in vRO.

Another key integration is between Code Stream and Cloud Assembly. As mentioned earlier, a pipeline can deploy a Cloud Assembly blueprint to provision an environment. The pipeline can pass input parameters to the blueprint, allowing you to customize the environment for each pipeline run. This tight integration allows you to fully embrace the concept of "environment as code," where the application environment is provisioned on-demand, from a version-controlled template, as part of the automated delivery pipeline.

Integration, Management, and Operations for the 2V0-31.20 Exam

In this penultimate part of our series, we focus on the crucial aspects of integrating vRealize Automation into the wider IT ecosystem and the ongoing operational tasks required to manage the platform effectively. A successful implementation is not just about automating provisioning; it is about creating a solution that is reliable, secure, and works seamlessly with other existing IT management systems. The 2V0-31.20 Exam includes objectives related to these important integration and day-to-day management topics, ensuring that certified professionals are well-rounded.

We will explore how to integrate vRealize Automation with common enterprise tools for IP address management (IPAM) and IT Service Management (ITSM). We will also delve into the platform's API, which opens up possibilities for programmatic interaction. From an operational perspective, we will cover essential topics such as monitoring system health, managing logs, performing backups, and handling upgrades. A solid understanding of these areas is vital for maintaining a healthy and robust cloud automation environment in a real-world production setting.

Integrating with IPAM and ITSM Systems

For automation to be truly seamless, it must integrate with existing systems of record. The 2V0-31.20 Exam expects you to understand how vRealize Automation integrates with two key types of enterprise systems: IPAM and ITSM. IP Address Management (IPAM) systems are used to track and manage the allocation of IP addresses within an organization's network. vRealize Automation can integrate with leading IPAM solutions out-of-the-box or via the vRO plug-in framework.

This integration allows a blueprint deployment to automatically request the next available IP address from the IPAM system for a new virtual machine. The IPAM system reserves the address and passes it back to vRealize Automation, which then configures the machine's network interface with it. When the machine is decommissioned, vRealize Automation notifies the IPAM system to release the IP address back into the pool. This eliminates the manual and error-prone process of managing IP address spreadsheets.

IT Service Management (ITSM) integration, often with tools like ServiceNow, is another common requirement. This integration can work in two ways. First, a user can request a vRealize Automation catalog item directly from within the ServiceNow portal, providing a single pane of glass for all IT requests. Second, vRealize Automation can automatically create a Configuration Item (CI) record in the ITSM's Configuration Management Database (CMDB) for every new machine it provisions, ensuring the CMDB is always up-to-date.

Using the vRealize Automation API

Like most modern enterprise platforms, vRealize Automation is built with an "API-first" approach. This means that virtually every action you can perform through the user interface can also be performed programmatically by making calls to its comprehensive set of REST APIs. The 2V0-31.20 Exam requires a high-level understanding of these APIs and their capabilities, as they are the key to advanced automation and integration scenarios. You are not expected to be a developer, but you should know what is possible.

The APIs allow you to automate the management of the platform itself. For example, you could write a script to automatically create new projects, add users, or configure cloud zones. This is particularly useful in large environments where you need to manage the configuration of the platform as code. You can also use the APIs to request blueprint deployments, check the status of a request, and retrieve details about deployed resources.

This opens up a world of possibilities for custom integrations. A custom front-end portal could use the APIs to provide a highly tailored service request experience for its users. A custom script could use the APIs to gather data about deployments for a specialized reporting or billing system. The APIs are well-documented and follow standard REST principles, making them accessible to anyone with basic scripting or development skills. Knowing that this powerful tool exists is key for a vRealize Automation specialist.

Monitoring Deployments and System Health

Once your vRealize Automation platform is in production, ongoing monitoring is essential to ensure its health and performance. The 2V0-31.20 Exam includes objectives related to these operational monitoring tasks. The platform itself provides several built-in dashboards that give you an at-a-glance view of the environment. The Deployment dashboard shows the status of recent provisioning requests, highlighting any failures that may need investigation. You can drill down into a failed deployment to see the detailed event log and identify the root cause of the problem.

For monitoring the health of the vRealize Automation appliance itself, you can use the vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager (vRSLCM), the tool that is often used for the initial deployment. vRSLCM provides a system health dashboard that checks the status of all the underlying microservices running within the appliance. It will alert you if any service is down or experiencing issues. It also allows you to monitor resource utilization, such as CPU, memory, and disk space, on the appliance.

For more advanced, holistic monitoring and performance management, organizations typically integrate vRealize Automation with vRealize Operations Manager (vROps). vROps provides deep insights into the performance and capacity of the entire software-defined data center. The vRealize Automation management pack for vROps provides pre-built dashboards for monitoring the health of the automation platform, tracking resource consumption by project, and identifying optimization opportunities in your deployed workloads.

Conclusion

The landscape of IT automation is in a constant state of evolution, and VMware is continuing to innovate at a rapid pace. The future of vRealize Automation and the broader vRealize Suite is aligned with the industry's move towards multi-cloud operations, Kubernetes, and AI-driven management. As a certified professional, staying aware of these trends is key to keeping your skills relevant. The platform is increasingly focused on providing a consistent management plane across all major public and private clouds.

The integration with VMware Tanzu for Kubernetes management is a major area of investment. Future versions of the platform will likely offer even deeper capabilities for automating the deployment and lifecycle management of containerized applications alongside traditional virtual machine workloads. This will position vRealize Automation as a unified platform for managing both legacy and modern applications, which is a critical need for most enterprises today.

We can also expect to see more artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) capabilities being woven into the fabric of the product. This will enable more intelligent placement decisions, predictive capacity management, and proactive troubleshooting. The role of the administrator will evolve to become a manager of an intelligent system, focusing on strategic outcomes rather than manual, reactive tasks. Your journey, which starts with the 2V0-31.20 Exam, places you at the forefront of this exciting evolution.

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