Blog by PQR

With vCenter 4.0 comes vCenter Orchestrator. This workflow management software was originally developed by Dunes was the base for Lab Manager and Stage Manager. 

Orchestrator is installed by default when vCenter server is installed but to use it, you have to enable it. It doesn't require any additional licenses.

To enable Orchestrator, go to services.msc and set the "VMware vCenter Orchestrator Configuration" service to autostart and start the service. 

Next thing to do is to configure Orchestrator. Go to http://vcenter:8282, log in with vmware/vmware and follow the onscreen instructions until all status indicators are green:

There's a good installation guide available at  http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vco_40_install_config_guide.pdf

Next, fire up the client. It's installed on the vCenter but there's no entry in the start menu. To have a remote Orchestrator client (which should be preferable to a local client on vCenter), go to the \vpx\vmo directory on the vCenter installation CD and start the installer. Choose the client installation and once finished, start that up and log in with your Active Directory credentials (assuming LDAP configuration is correct).

Now the real work can begin. Some sample applications are available at http://www.vmware.com/support/orchestrator/doc/vco_40_examples. 

Or you can just install Lab Manager. The latest version 4.0 now has Stagemanager included as well. They're no longer sold as separate products. To install Lab Manager, download the installable from http://www.vmware.com/download/labmanager/, install a windows 2003 server with IIS and ASP.NET, register and enable ASP.NET with:

• C:\windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe /iru
• C:\windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe /i  /enable

and run the labmanager installer. Next, go to https://LMserver and follow the onscreen wizard. Once that's done, log in and the next screen is presented: