Getting StartedVMware Learning Platform

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Getting Started

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Contents

About the Getting Started guide 4

1 What is VMware Learning Platform 5

2 Before you begin 6

3 Subscribe to status updates for VMware Learning Platform 8

4 Working with vApp templates for VMware Learning Platform labs 9Guidelines for setting up vApps for VMware Learning Platform 9

Cloud capacity management for vApps for VMware Learning Platform 10

Authoring Lab Templates 10

Create a lab template 11

Customize a lab template 12

Uploading VMs, vApps, or ISOs 14

Upload VMs, vApps, or ISOs 14

Syncing and updating template changes with the cloud 15

5 Delivering a lab 17Create a lab 17

Create a catalog 18

Create end-user accounts 19

6 Developing a lab manual 21Create a lab manual project 22

Add a lab manual to a lab manual project 22

Publish a manual with VMware Learning Platform 22

Associate a manual with a lab 23

7 Start your lab 24

8 Next steps 25

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About the Getting Started guide

This guide provides a walkthrough of the essential tasks necessary to author and deliver a generic lab using VMware Learning Platform.

Intended AudienceThe primary audience for this guide is tenant administrators and content authors.

VMware Technical Publications GlossaryVMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For definitions of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

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What is VMware Learning Platform 1VMware Learning Platform™(VLP) is a VMware Cloud service that gives organizations the ability to deliver hands-on virtual IT training labs at cloud scale.

The Getting Started guide takes you through the tasks required to set up and run a lab using the VMware Learning Platform Lab Builder. You must have tenant admin permissions.

Terminology

vApp A vCloud Director construct that consists of one or more virtual machines, metadata, a power-on and shutdown sequence, and a networking configuration.

vApp Template A vApp that exists in a Catalog and cannot be powered on. vApp Templates are referred to as lab templates in the Lab Builder.

vApp Template Working Copy

A vApp that can be actively worked on for the purpose of copying iterations into the catalog.

Deployment Pool Defines the vApp deployment parameters for a lab. A deployment pool is used to manage where lab templates are deployed, how many can be deployed, whether a certain number should be pre-populated (that is, deployed and powered-on before a user should need it), and so on. The Lab Builder automatically creates a deployment pool for your lab. Tenant admins can also create deployment pools.

Pre-population A deployment pool capability used to pre-provision (deploy and power-on vApps) ahead of time. Pre-populated vApps minimize the time required between an end-user request for a lab and when it has been delivered. This is especially useful for more complex labs that can require time to power on the vApp’s underlying VMs, run any user-defined preparation scripts, and so on.

Lab Manual A manual written in a specific language.

Lab Manual Project A Lab Manual Project is a collection of one or more lab manuals.

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Before you begin 2Review the system and account requirements for creating a VMware Learning Platform lab before you begin.

Note This guide shows you how to create a vAppvApp using resources in VMware Cloud. You can also use VMs or vApps developed on-premise, but must upload them through the VMware Learning Platform admin UI. See Upload VMs, vApps, or ISOs .

Credentialsn Interface URLs: You must have the URL to both your VMware Learning Platform lab user interface

and the administrator interface.

n Administrator credentials: You have tenant administrator credentials for VMware Learning Platform.

BrowsersBrowser settings must accept cookies, run JavaScript, and support web sockets. The following browsers and browser versions are supported:

n Internet Explorer version 10 or above

n Firefox version 13 or above

n Chrome version 18 or above

n Safari version 6.0 or above

ResourcesMore help and information are available at the VMware Learning Platform support and communities sites.

The support site is at https://console.cloud.vmware.com/csp/gateway/portal/#/support/. Click Submit a request for any issue or assistance required.

The VMware Learning Platform communities page is at https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/vlp/content.

The VMware Learning Platform interfaceThe first screen you see when open VMware Learning Platform is the default dashboard. From here, you can track and view all aspects of building and running labs.

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The menu on the left is the tenant administrator menu. Click the double arrow in the lower right corner to open or close the menu. Click the twistie to see submenu items.

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Subscribe to status updates for VMware Learning Platform 3Subscribe to VMware Cloud Services status updates for VMware Learning Platform to receive email notifications about incidents such as scheduled maintenance or outages.

When you subscribe to VMware Learning Platform notifications, you are also notified of CSP-related incidents.

Procedure

1 Open https://status.vmware-services.io/ in a browser.

2 Click Subscribe to update and enter your email address.

3 Click Subscribe.

4 From the subscription page, select VMware Learning Platform and save the preferences.

5 Check your email inbox and confirm your subscription.

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Working with vApp templates for VMware Learning Platform labs 4Labs in VMware Learning Platform use templates that you build based on a vApp virtual appliance. Templates provide the basis for your lab software environments.

A template comprises one or more virtual machines, metadata, a power-on and shutdown sequence, and a networking configuration. VMware Cloud services includes everything you need to create a vApp.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Guidelines for setting up vApps for VMware Learning Platform

n Cloud capacity management for vApps for VMware Learning Platform

n Authoring Lab Templates

n Uploading VMs, vApps, or ISOs

Guidelines for setting up vApps for VMware Learning PlatformUse these guidelines when you create and administer a vApp for your lab environment.

Right-size the workloadTake the time to size virtual machines efficiently to maximize cost efficiency while still providing a performant experience for the lab users.

n Use as few vCPUs as possible for the application to function properly.

n Avoid configuring virtual machines with more than 4 vCPUs (Note: virtual machines with more than 8 vCPUs are currently unsupported).

n Do not under-provision memory as it leads to paging or swapping within the virtual machine and impacts performance, but do not overprovision, which results in excessive waste.

Managing templatesn After a vApp has been added to the catalog, delete or power off the working copy to conserve

resources. Unlike vSphere, when a vApp is added to a catalog in vCD a copy is made.

n A successful lab deployment requires that the source vApp template virtual machines have been gracefully shut down (vApp stop command) before it can be added to the catalog as a template.

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Importing templatesn Use the process illustrated in Upload VMs, vApps, or ISOs to perform the import through VMware

Learning Platform. VMware Learning Platform provides a reliable mechanism to import virtual machine/vApp exports (OVF/OVA) and ISOs.

n Unless the vApp was created and exported from the same vCD environment, it will likely require some clean-up after the import is finished. Review and reconfigure the network configuration after the import has finished.

n Importing individual virtual machines results in the creation of single virtual machine vApps. You must then copy or move them.

Cloud capacity management for vApps for VMware Learning PlatformUse these guidelines when you plan configuration limits for your vApp.

Cloud capacity consumption is calculated using allocated resources, not utilized resources. For example, if you allocate a 100 GB disk to a virtual machine, but the disk contains 50 GB of data, 100 GB of storage is consumed from the storage allocation.

n Avoid oversizing workloads intended to be used for labs. Idle vCPUs, unused memory, and free disk space are consumed from the capacity allocation, incurring additional costs.

n Maintain good housekeeping of vApp and templates within the virtual data center.

By default, trial capacity is limited to 25 vCPUs | 50 GB RAM | 2500 GB Storage unless otherwise noted in your onboarding session. This allows you to deploy the configurations described in the following table.

Table 4-1. Sample configurations

VMs vCPUs Memory Storage

25 1 2 GB 100 GB

12 2 4 GB 200 GB

6 4 8 GB 400 GB

A vApp that is powered on consumes compute (CPU and memory) and storage resources from the cloud allocation, whereas when powered off, a vApp only consumes storage.

Authoring Lab TemplatesA vApp template is a virtual machine image that is loaded with an operating system, applications, and data. vApp templates used in VMware Learning Platform are called lab templates. These templates ensure that lab environments are configured consistently for all lab participants.

You can clone templates, or create them from scratch. You can modify template properties. Templates are stored in template catalogs.

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Create a lab templateYou can create a lab template by cloning.

In this exercise, you create a template by cloning one from a public catalog. Later, you are shown how to customize the cloned template.

Prerequisites

You must have tenant admin permissions.

Procedure

1 Direct your browser to the VMware Learning Platform Admin user interface.

https://vmwarelearningplatform.com/admin

2 From the Default Dashboard, open the menu on the left and select Lab Management > Lab Builder.

3 Select New Lab Template.

4 Update the Name and Descriptions as needed and click Add VM.

5 On the Add VM page, select Lab Builder Content (Public) from the drop-down to display information for VMware Learning Platform Public catalog and select centos-cli, CentOS 4/5 or later (64-bit).

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6 Click Add.

7 Review the lab template details and the VM you just added. If everything is correct, click Create Lab Template.

What to do next

Customize a lab template.

Customize a lab templateYou can customize the lab template you deployed from the Public Catalog to include information specific to your lab.

Prerequisites

Complete the tasks in Create a lab template.

Procedure

1 If needed, navigate to the Lab Templates screen. Select Lab Management > Lab Builder to open the Lab Templates screen.

2 From the Lab Templates Screen, select the vApp you just created and click Edit.

3 From the Edit Lab Template screen, you can access the console of the VMs within your lab.

a Select the CentOS-CLI VM to access the console directly.

b Power on the VM.

c Log in with the default user name and password:

n User name – Root

n Password – VMware1!

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4 Modify the VM as needed with new user accounts, installed software, or application-specific configurations for the lab you are creating.

5 Optionally, you can include multiple virtual machines within your lab.

a Click Add VM for the Edit lab template screen.

b Select the centos-gui VM.

c Click Add.

The New VM is now included within your lab.

6 VM Details allows you to specify a VM name and hardware configuration for CPU and memory.

a With the VM powered off, set the memory to 2048 on the Centos-CLI VM.

b Click Update to save your changes.

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7 When you are done editing, click Update and Publish.

What to do next

Chapter 5 Delivering a lab

Uploading VMs, vApps, or ISOsIn scenarios where VMs or vApps are developed on-premise you must upload the VM images into the cloud for templatization.

In addition, if a VM is built in the cloud, there can be a need for a unique ISO operating system.

Upload VMs, vApps, or ISOsYou use the Admin UI Upload VMs/ISOs menu item to import VMs and media.

If you develop VMs or vApps on-premises, you might need to upload those VM images into the cloud for templatization. In addition, if a VM must be built in the cloud, there might be a need for a unique ISO operating system.

Procedure

1 Open the VMware Learning Platform Admin UI and verify that Advanced Options is enabled.

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2 Select Lab Management > Labs to navigate to the Lab Templates page.

3 Click the icon next to the New Lab Template button to open a drop-down menu.

4 Click Upload VMs/ISOs.

5 On the Upload VMs/ISOs form, select a vCD catalog destination and click Attach Files to select a large content file. You can upload OVF, OVA, VMDK, and ISO file types.

The Upload VMs/ISOs command transfers your content to your vCD catalog.

Syncing and updating template changes with the cloudAfter you have made your vApp template change, you use the VMware Learning Platform admin user interface to sync the cloud org with the changed vApp and then update the corresponding deployment pool.

Procedure

1 Go to the VMware Learning Platform admin user interface login screen and enter your credentials.

2 In the admin user interface, navigate to the Cloud Org List by selecting Cloud Management > Clouds. This option is available when advanced options are displayed.

3 Synchronize any modified templates with your cloud organization to make them generally available.

n To synchronize an individual cloud org, select it and click the vertical ellipsis icon, then click Sync vApp Templates on that drop-down menu:

n On the Cloud Org List, perform a mass action by clicking Sync vAppTemplates on the mass action pulldown. The mass action syncs all cloud orgs in the list.

4 Navigate to the Deployment Pool List by selecting Cloud Management > Deployment Pools.

5 On the Deployment Pool List, select the deployment pool to which you want to add the changed vApp template and click Edit vApp Templates.

6 On the Edit vApp Templates page, click Add/Remove vApp Templates.

7 On the vApp Templates list, select the vApp template you want to use, then click Done.

8 On the Edit vApp Templates tab, click Update.

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What to do next

If the structure of the vApp you changed is significant enough, your update might fail. In such a case, you must remove all vApp templates from the deployment pool, then add the change.

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Delivering a lab 5After you create a vApp, you create the VMware Learning Platform lab and prepare it for delivery to students.

Procedure

1 Create a lab

A lab is a collection of metadata, a single vApp template, and an instructional manual.

2 Create a catalog

Create a catalog to contain your lab. A catalog is an organized inventory of labs and their descriptions that users can browse or search.

3 Create end-user accounts

End users are the students who take your lab. Each student requires a user account.

Create a labA lab is a collection of metadata, a single vApp template, and an instructional manual.

Procedure

1 From the left side panel, select Lab Management > Labs to open a list of current labs.

2 Click Create Lab.

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3 In the Create Lab window, enter the following information.

Option Description

SKU Stock-keeping unit. A unique identifier for your lab, such as HOL-2085-01-EMT.

Name A name for the lab you are creating.

Deployment Pool A collection of deployment parameters for your lab's vApp created by the VLP Lab Builder when you create your lab's vApp. Select a deployment pool from the drop-down list.

Time Alloted The time you allot for the student to complete the lab.

Manual The user manual for the lab. Select Manual Empty if you want to upload the manual at a later time.

4 Click Next.

5 On the Update Settings screen, accept the defaults and click Next.

6 On the Update Content screen, accept the defaults and click Next.

7 If you are using advanced options, you see the Update VM Metadata screen. In the Update VM Metadata tab, accept the defaults and click Finish.

The lab you created is listed in the table on the Labs tab.

What to do next

Create a catalog.

Create a catalogCreate a catalog to contain your lab. A catalog is an organized inventory of labs and their descriptions that users can browse or search.

When you create a catalog, you can use Tenant Groups to control who can see the catalog. This allows the Tenant Admin to restrict the visibility of labs that should not be available to all users.

Every tenant includes the All Labs catalog. Labs that are added to this catalog are visible to all users.

Procedure

1 Click Lab Management > Catalogs on the side panel.

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2 Click Create Catalog. Enter a name for the catalog. Select Enabled and Public Visible.

3 Click the Labs search box and select the lab you created. Under Tenant Groups, select All Users.

4 Click Create Catalog.

5 On the Lab Order tab, you can change the order in which labs are listed.

6 Click Finish to close.

What to do next

Create end-user accounts.

Create end-user accountsEnd users are the students who take your lab. Each student requires a user account.

Procedure

1 Click Security > User Controls on the side panel.

2 Click Create Account on the Accounts page.

3 Create a user account for a standard user.

a Enter a legitimate e-mail address as the user name.

b Complete the other required text boxes.

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c Select Generate Password, Show Password, and Welcome e-mail.

d Click Create Account, which creates the account and displays the User Access page for the account.

4 Accept the selected default for User Role and click Finish on the User Access page.

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Developing a lab manual 6There are several steps for building and including instructional content for VMware Learning Platform labs.

1 You develop content in the form of a lab manual. Typically, this is done with an application such as ScreenSteps. You can also use the editor that is part of the VMware Learning Platform Content Engine interface.

2 You create a lab manual project to contain all lab manuals, including any translations, for the lab.

3 You publish the manual with VMware Learning Platform. Manuals must be in a published state to be included in a VMware Learning Platform lab manual project.

4 You then upload the lab manual to the lab manual project.

Manuals can be in any of the following states.

n Draft: Refers to the fact that a project can include multiple drafts. For example, a project can include a draft in English and a draft in German.

n Imported: Refers to a manual imported from the ScreenSteps authoring tool or uploaded from your local machine.

n Published: Refers to a manual hat has been made available (published) to your tenancy.

Procedure

1 Create a lab manual project

Create a container project, called a lab manual project, for your lab's instructional content. Later, you'll upload one or more lab manuals to the project, including any translations you provide.

2 Add a lab manual to a lab manual project

You can import a manual from the ScreenSteps authoring tool, or upload instructional content from your local machine authored with the VMware Learning Platform Content Engine editor or other tool.

3 Publish a manual with VMware Learning Platform

You must publish the course manual to make it available to a tenant administrator who can then associate the manual with a lab.

4 Associate a manual with a lab

Now that you have created and published a manual, you must associate it to the lab you created earlier.

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Create a lab manual projectCreate a container project, called a lab manual project, for your lab's instructional content. Later, you'll upload one or more lab manuals to the project, including any translations you provide.

Procedure

1 From the side menu on the administrator user interface, select Content > Content Engine to open the Lab Manual Projects list.

2 Click Add New.

3 Click Start a Manual Project.

4 On the Start a Manual Project form, specify a name for the manual project and then click Create.

What to do next

Add a lab manual to a lab manual project

Add a lab manual to a lab manual projectYou can import a manual from the ScreenSteps authoring tool, or upload instructional content from your local machine authored with the VMware Learning Platform Content Engine editor or other tool.

Use these steps to view the Content Engine interface and options for importing or uploading new content.

Procedure

1 Return to the VMware Learning Platform Admin UI at https://www.learningplatform.vmware.com/admin

2 Click Content > Content Engine on the side panel to go to the Lab Manual Projects window on the VLP Content Engine interface.

3 Click Add New to see a menu of next steps.

4 You can import a manual from ScreenSteps, or upload a locally stored manual. Consult the VMware Learning Platform Content Reference Guide for information about how to proceed to uploading or import the manual format you are using. The steps to follow depend on your specific document format.

What to do next

After you have added a manual to the lab manual project, go to Publish a manual with VMware Learning Platform.

Publish a manual with VMware Learning PlatformYou must publish the course manual to make it available to a tenant administrator who can then associate the manual with a lab.

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Procedure

1 Navigate to the Lab Manual Projects list by clicking the Manual Projects menu item.

2 On the Lab Manual Projects list, click a lab manual project link to open it.

3 Click the vertical ellipses and select Publish.

The instructional manual can now be associated with a lab. When an end user starts a lab, the console presents the appropriate language version of the manual based on the user's profile.

What to do next

Associate a manual with a lab .

Associate a manual with a labNow that you have created and published a manual, you must associate it to the lab you created earlier.

Prerequisites

You must have tenant admin privileges.

Procedure

1 Return to the VMware Learning Platform admin user interface at https://www.learningplatform.vmware.com/admin.

2 Select Labs > Catalog from the side panel.

3 On the Lab List, select the lab you previously created.

4 On the Create Lab form, open the Update tab.

5 From the Manual dropdown, select the manual project.

6 Click Update. Your lab is now associated with the manual you created.

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Start your lab 7When you have a lab environment, a lab manual associated with the lab, and a student roster, you are ready to enroll in the lab you created.

Procedure

1 Go to the console for the lab you created: https://www.vmwarelearningplatform.com/<tenantname>.

2 Log into the console.

The enrollment window for your lab is displayed.

3 Click Enroll to enroll into your lab.

You have finished the getting started exercise for VMware Learning Platform.

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Next steps 8This getting started exercise showed you how to create a lab and add it to a catalog. VMware Learning Platform also helps you with course delivery and event management.

For information about instructor-led and on-demand training, see the VMware Learning Platform Tenant Instructor Reference Guide.

For information about event management for tenant administrators, proctors, and help desk staff, see the VMware Learning Platform Event Management Reference Guide.

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