Terraform automation: Control center (Stepstone, DNS, NTP, AD, Etc.)
The control center VM will have different functions within the nested labs. The main purpose will be that this VM will be the stepstone to perform management inside the nested lab and access all the internal lab resources and services. Because all traffic will not be routed outside the nested lab we need to have a control point. The control center VM will also offer AD, DNS and NTP services.
This VM is also pre-prepared with a Windows 2019 Server installation and various services are configured and different software is pre-installed.
This is the list of the services I have installed and configured together with the software installs:
- Enable Remote Desktop
- Turn off all Personal Firewalls
- Install Windows Updates
- Install VMware Tools
- Change the hostname to “control”
- Configure AD
- Configure DNS for domain “lab.local”
- Install and Configure DNS Server on Windows Server 2019
- Also make sure you configure an “A” record for vcsa.lab.local -> 192.168.11.10
- Configure NTP Server
- Install RoyalTSX
- Install Google Chrome
- Install Putty
- Install Notepad ++
- Install Visual Studio Code
- Install Gitkraken
- Install PowerCLI
- Install WinSCP
- Install DeamonTools
- Install Postman
- Install RVTools
- Install Chocolatey (Windows Package Manager)
- [1](https://chocolatey.org/ Chocolatey Install]
- Install Terraform through the Chocolatey windows package manager
- Change password policies and make sure passwords never expire or need to be changed
After the Windows 2019 Server VM is fully installed and the services are preconfigured and the software is pre-installed we can start cloning it using the below Terraform script:
❯ tree ├── main.tf ├── terraform.tfvars ├── variables.tf
terraform.tfvars
CLICK ON EXPAND ===> ON THE RIGHT ===> TO SEE THE OUTPUT (terraform.tfvars code) ===> :
vsphere_user = “administrator@vsphere.local” vsphere_password = “<my vCenter Server Password>” vsphere_server = "vcsa-01.home.local" vsphere_datacenter = “HOME” vsphere_datastore = “vsanDatastore” vsphere_resource_pool = “Lab1” vsphere_network = “L1-APP-MGMT11” vsphere_virtual_machine_template = “control-template” vsphere_virtual_machine_name = “l1-control”
variables.tf
CLICK ON EXPAND ===> ON THE RIGHT ===> TO SEE THE OUTPUT (variables.tf code) ===> :
root # vsphere login account. defaults to admin account variable “vsphere_user" { default = "administrator@vsphere.local" } root # vsphere account password. empty by default. variable “vsphere_password” { default = “<my vCenter Server Password>” } root # vsphere server, defaults to localhost variable “vsphere_server” { default = “vcsa-01.home.local” } root # vsphere datacenter the virtual machine will be deployed to. empty by default. variable “vsphere_datacenter” {} root # vsphere resource pool the virtual machine will be deployed to. empty by default. variable “vsphere_resource_pool” {} root # vsphere datastore the virtual machine will be deployed to. empty by default. variable “vsphere_datastore” {} root # vsphere network the virtual machine will be connected to. empty by default. variable “vsphere_network” {} root # vsphere virtual machine template that the virtual machine will be cloned from. empty by default. variable “vsphere_virtual_machine_template” {} root # the name of the vsphere virtual machine that is created. empty by default. variable “vsphere_virtual_machine_name” {}
main.tf
CLICK ON EXPAND ===> ON THE RIGHT ===> TO SEE THE OUTPUT (main.tf code) ===> :
provider “vsphere” { user = “${var.vsphere_user}” password = "${var.vsphere_password}" vsphere_server = "${var.vsphere_server}” allow_unverified_ssl = true } data “vsphere_datacenter” “dc” { name = “${var.vsphere_datacenter}” } data “vsphere_datastore” “datastore” { name = “${var.vsphere_datastore}” datacenter_id = “${data.vsphere_datacenter.dc.id}” } data “vsphere_resource_pool” “pool” { name = “${var.vsphere_resource_pool}” datacenter_id = “${data.vsphere_datacenter.dc.id}” } data “vsphere_network” “network” { name = “${var.vsphere_network}” datacenter_id = “${data.vsphere_datacenter.dc.id}” } data “vsphere_virtual_machine” “template” { name = “${var.vsphere_virtual_machine_template}” datacenter_id = “${data.vsphere_datacenter.dc.id}” } resource “vsphere_virtual_machine” “cloned_virtual_machine” { name = “${var.vsphere_virtual_machine_name}” wait_for_guest_net_routable = false wait_for_guest_net_timeout = 0 # Important of Terraform will set BIOS by default - Fix below firmware = “efi” resource_pool_id = “${data.vsphere_resource_pool.pool.id}” datastore_id = “${data.vsphere_datastore.datastore.id}” num_cpus = 2 memory = 8192 #num_cpus = “${data.vsphere_virtual_machine.template.num_cpus}” #memory = “${data.vsphere_virtual_machine.template.memory}” guest_id = “${data.vsphere_virtual_machine.template.guest_id}” scsi_type = “${data.vsphere_virtual_machine.template.scsi_type}” network_interface { network_id = “${data.vsphere_network.network.id}” adapter_type = “${data.vsphere_virtual_machine.template.network_interface_types[0]}” } disk { label = “disk0” size = “80” # unit_number = 0 } clone { template_uuid = “${data.vsphere_virtual_machine.template.id}” } }
So we are ready to execute the terraform code on a per-directory basis.
Validate your code:
ihoogendoor-a01:#Test iwanhoogendoorn$ tfenv use 0.11.14 [INFO] Switching to v0.11.14 [INFO] Switching completed ihoogendoor-a01:Test iwanhoogendoorn$ terraform validate
Plan your code:
ihoogendoor-a01:Test iwanhoogendoorn$ terraform plan
Execute your code to implement the Segments:
ihoogendoor-a01:Test iwanhoogendoorn$ terraform apply
When the segments need to be removed again you can revert the implementation:
ihoogendoor-a01:Test iwanhoogendoorn$ terraform destroy