Settings¶

The Administration > Settings section sets global configuration parameters for the HPE VM Essentials appliance, whitelabeling, provisioning, monitoring, backups, logs, software licenses, and the license for HPE VM Essentials itself.

Appliance¶

Appliance Settings¶

Appliance URL: The default URL used for Agent install and Agent functionality. All Instances and Hosts must be able to resolve and reach this URL over 443 for successful agent install and communication.

Note

Alternate Appliance URLs can be configured per Cloud in the Edit Cloud > Advanced Options section.

Internal Appliance URL (PXE): For PXE-Boot your appliance needs to be routable directly with minimal NAT masquerading. This allows one to override the default appliance url endpoint for use by the PXE Server. If this is unset, the default appliance url will be used instead.
API Allowed Origins: A CORS-related field which specifies the origins that are allowed to access the HPE VM Essentials API. For example, if you were designing a web application which needed to make AJAX calls to HPE VM Essentials API. The origins should be specified here. By default, all origins are allowed. When this field is filled, an exclusive whitelist of allowed origins is established.
Cloud Sync Interval: Data is refreshed through cloud integrations at the interval specified here in seconds, the default value is 300 seconds (five minutes). Appliances managing a very large number of clouds may be adversely affected by setting this value too low.
Cluster Sync Interval: Data is refreshed through provisioned Clusters at the interval specified here in seconds, the default value is 60 seconds. Appliances managing a very large number of Clusters may be adversely affected by setting this value too low.
Usage Retainment: Determines how many days to keep account usage (metered costing data) records. Retainment period is not set by default. Usage records will remain indefinitely if Usage Retainment is not set. Note this does not affect generated Invoice records.
Invoice Retainment: Enter the number of days HPE VM Essentials should keep invoice records in the database. In general, this setting can be left alone but in certain cases may need to be adjusted as very large invoice database tables can affect the stability of the application.
Incident Retainment: Enter the number of days HPE VM Essentials should keep incident records in the database. In general, this setting can be left alone but in certain cases may need to be adjusted as very large incident database tables can affect the stability of the application.
Stats Retainment: Select 30, 60 or 90 days period for stats retainment. Selecting a larger period gives the ability to analyze stats, such as Instance metrics, over a longer period of time. For example, in the Monitoring tab of an Instance detail page, users can select a 60 or 90-day analysis period if the stats have been retained that long
Denied Hosts: A comma-delimited list of IP addresses and/or hostnames which should not be allowed sources for HTTP Tasks or REST-populated Option Lists.
Approved Hosts: A comma-delimited list of IP addresses and/or hostnames which are the only approved sources for HTTP Tasks or REST-populated Option Lists. By entering any values here, all others are automatically denied.
Exchange URL: Enter the URL which should be checked for updates to any installed plugins. The default exchange is: https://share.morpheusdata.com
Skip Agent Install: For appliances in which skipping the Agent install is the default selection, enable this global flag to default to skipping the Agent install during provisioning
Enable SSL Verification of Agent (Communications): Enabling SSL Verification of Agent Communications requires a valid Certificate be installed on the Appliance.
Disable SSH Password Authentication: Only allow ssh login using SSH keys. When true, SSH Password Authentication will not be enabled for VM’s and Hosts provisioned after the setting is enabled.
Default Appliance Locale: Sets the default language and region for all users on the HPE VM Essentials appliance. Users with individual language preferences may also override this selection on their User Settings page
Default Console Gateway: Select a configured HPE VM Essentials Worker as a console gateway or VDI gateway. For more on installation and configuration of a gateway, see the VDI Gateways section of HPE VM Essentials documentation.
Max Option List Size: Sets the maximum size for Option Lists to ensure a very large Option List does not affect performance of the appliance.

Tenant Management Settings¶

Registration Enabled: If enabled, the appliance login screen will have a “NEED AN ACCOUNT? SIGN UP HERE” link added, enabling new Tenant registration.
Default Tenant Role: Sets the default Tenant Role applied to Tenants created from Tenant Registration.
Default User Role: Sets the default User Role applied to the User created from a Tenant Registration.
Docker Privileged Mode: Enable to allow Docker containers running on HPE VM Essentials Docker hosts to run in privileged mode which adds additional access to the host hardware and resources but also comes with additional security risks

User Management Settings¶

Min Password Length: User passwords must at least be as many characters in length as the entered value
Min Password Uppercase: User passwords must include at least as many uppercase characters as the entered value
Min Password Numbers: User passwords must include at least as many numerals as the entered value
Min Password Symbols: User passwords must include at least as many special characters as the entered value
Session Expires (Minutes): A user session is forcibly logged out after the entered number of minutes of inactivity
Session Warning (Minutes): A pop-up warning is shown to the user when they have been inactive for the number of minutes entered. Example: If sessions are set to expire after 90 minutes, warn the user after 60 minutes if you intend to provide 30 minutes advance warning
Expire Password After (Days): User account passwords will expire after the entered number of days. Enter 0 or leave the field empty to opt out of this feature.
Disable User After Attempts (Number of Attempts): Disable a User account after a specified number of failed login attempts. Enter 0 or leave the field empty to opt out of this feature.
Disable User If Inactive For (Days): Disable a User account if inactive for the entered number of days. The User will not be able to log into the appliance again until another User with sufficient rights enables the account. Enter 0 or leave the field empty to opt out of this feature.
Send warning email before deactivating (Days): Enter the number of days prior to account deactivation that a warning email should be sent. For example, enter “5” to warn the User when they are five days short of the deactivation time entered in the prior field. Enter 0 or leave the field empty to opt out of this feature.

Email Settings¶

In this section, you can configure an SMTP server for email notification delivery. You will need to provide HPE VM Essentials the following information, your mail server systems administrator can assist you in filling these fields and with the preferred encryption method.

From Address
SMTP Server
SMTP Port
SSL Enabled
TLS Encryption
SMTP User
SMTP Password

We recommend that you add the HPE VM Essentials server to your SMTP whitelist as well as using user authentication as an additional security measure.

Once you have added your SMTP server information into HPE VM Essentials, scroll down to the bottom of the page and press the blue SAVE button which can be found under the Enabled Clouds section.

When you have saved your SMTP server settings in the HPE VM Essentials appliance you will then need to restart the UI. To restart the morpheus-ui, connect to your HPE VM Essentials server via SSH and run the below command:

sudo morpheus-ctl restart morpheus-ui

Important

If you do not restart morpheus-ui, the notifications will not be sent. Please note it can take up to three minutes for the UI to become reachable again.

Twilio SMS Settings¶

Configure SMS text message delivery for HPE VM Essentials alerts. Previously, customers could use HPE VM Essentials’ own account for delivery, but for security reasons clients must now supply their own. Complete the fields indicated below and then restart all HPE VM Essentials nodes to apply the changes.

Account SID: Twilio Account SID
SMS From #: The “From” number to receive the text message from
Auth Token: The Twilio API authentication token for your account

Proxy Settings¶

The HPE VM Essentials Appliance can be configured to communicate through a Proxy server for Cloud API’s and Agent communication back to the Appliance.

Note

Additional Proxy configuration is available in the Infrastructure > Network > Proxies section. Added Proxies can be scoped to Clouds in the Edit Cloud > Advanced Options section of the Cloud.

Add a Global Proxy server by entering the following:

Proxy Host
Proxy Port
Proxy User
Proxy Password
Proxy Domain
Proxy Workstation
No Proxy

Currency Settings¶

In HPE VM Essentials, Tenants are separate environments which can be defined as using currencies that are unique from one Tenant to the next. In addition, these currencies may be different from the currency in which Price Sets have been defined. In order to present pricing to Subtenant users in their designated currency, HPE VM Essentials allows for integration with currency conversion services “open exchange rates” and “fixer.io”. This article goes through the process of setting up the integration and how it works to determine pricing conversions.

Integrating With a Currency Exchange Provider¶

Navigate to Administration > Settings > Appliance
Under the Currency Settings heading, make a “Currency Provider” selection
Enter your “Provider API Key”

The service is now integrated and can be used as described in the next section.

Consuming Currency Exchange in HPE VM Essentials¶

Currency exchange data is synced from the integrated provider once every 12 hours. When needed, Morpheus will use this cached data to present currency conversions rather than hitting the API directly each time. This limits the total number of API hits and reduces costs.

Exchanged currency values will be shown under conditions similar to the following scenario:

A user is working in a Subtenant configured for Currency B. The user is attempting to provision an instance with pricing sets that have only been defined in Currency A. Morpheus will convert the pricing data from currency A to Currency B for this user (and all users in this Subtenant) since price conversion has been enabled.

Enabled Clouds (Types)¶

Controls which types of Cloud can be created.

When a Cloud type is disabled, it will be removed from the available options when adding new Clouds in Infrastructure > Clouds. Existing Clouds are not affected by changes to this setting.

Provisioning¶

Provisioning Settings¶

Allow Cloud Selection: Displays or hides Cloud Selection dropdown in Provisioning wizard.
Allow Host Selection: Displays or hides Host Selection dropdown in Provisioning wizard.
Require Environment Selection: Forces users to select and Environment during provisioning
Hide Datastore Stats On Selection: Hides Datastore utilization and size stats in provisioning and app wizards
Cross-Tenant Naming Policies: Enable for the sequence value in naming policies to apply across tenants
Reuse Naming Sequence Numbers: When selected, sequence numbers can be reused when Instances are removed. Deselect this option and HPE VM Essentials will track issued sequence numbers and use the next available number each time.
Show Console Keyboard Layout Settings: When enabled Users will see keyboard layout settings in console sessions
Deployment Archive Store: Default Storage Provider for storing Deployment Archives.

Note

Storage Providers can be configured and managed in the Infrastructure > Storage section.

Cloud-Init Settings¶

HPE VM Essentials can add global users for Linux and Windows at provision time. Cloud-init/Cloudbase-Init or VMware Tools installed on the provisioned virtual images is required.

Linux

Username: Enter User to be added to Linux Instances during provisioning.
Password: Enter password to be set for the above Linux user.
KeyPair: Select KeyPair to be added for the above Linux user.

Note

Either a password, keypair, or both can be populated for the Linux user. Keypairs can be added in the Infrastructure > Keys & Certs section.

Windows Settings¶

Administrator Password: Enter password to be set for the Windows Administrator User during provisioning.

Library Settings¶

In this section, enable or disable access globally to provisioning sections of Catalog (self-service shopping cart provisioning), Apps (apps deployed from configured App Blueprints), and Instances

Enable Catalog
Enable Apps
Enable Instances
Provisioning Order: Sets the order for Instances, Apps, and Catalog to appear in the Provisioning menu

PXE Boot Settings¶

Default Root Password: Enter the default password to be set for Root during PXE Boots.

App Blueprint Settings¶

Determines the Default Blueprint Type selected in new App Wizard

Morpheus

ARM Template

CloudFormation

Terraform

Kubernetes Spec

Helm Chart

Terraform Settings¶

Terraform Runtime: Select “auto” or “manual”. When selecting “auto”, HPE VM Essentials will automatically download and use the Terraform version indicated in the VERSION field on the Spec Templates that make up a Terraform Instance type or Blueprint. When selecting “manual”, HPE VM Essentials will use the version of Terraform installed on your appliance.

Backups¶

Backup Settings¶

The Backup settings page allows you enable or disable scheduled backups, select a default backup bucket, and administer global settings related to backups. Changes to global settings only affect new backups going forward and do not affect existing backups.

Note

Appliance backups are subject to a two-hour time limit to complete the backup. Automated backup attempts will be abandoned and will fail once this time limit is exceeded.

HPE VM Essentials Backup Settings¶

Scheduled Backups: Enable automatic scheduled backups for provisioned instances
Create Backups: When enabled, HPE VM Essentials will automatically configure instances for manual or scheduled backups
Backup Appliance: When enabled, a backup will be created for the HPE VM Essentials appliance database. Select the Backup text link to view or edit settings related to the appliance backup
Default Backup Bucket: Select an existing bucket as the default for future backup runs. Click the Infrastructure Storage text link to add a new storage bucket to HPE VM Essentials if needed
Default Backup Schedule: Choose a default schedule interval for automated backups. The available selections in this dropdown menu are Execution Schedules defined in Library > Automation > Execute Scheduling
Default Backup Retention: Choose the default number of backups to be retained for automated Instance and appliance backup jobs
Default Synthetic Full Backup enabled: When enabled, full synthetic backups will be on by default in addition to standard backups for supported workload types
Default Synthetic Full Backup Schedule: Choose a default schedule interval for full synthetic backups. The available selections in this dropdown menu are Execution Schedules defined in Library > Automation > Execute Scheduling

Environments¶

Overview¶

The Environments section is where you create and manage your environment labels, which are available in the Environment dropdown during Instance or App provisioning. An Instance’s environment label can be changed by editing the Instance.

Creating Environments¶

Select + Create Environment
Populate the following for the New Environment:

Name
The friendly name for the environment in HPE VM Essentials

Code
Shortcode used for API and CLI

Description
Environment description displayed on the Environments list page

Display Order
The order in which environments are presented when provisioning, a value of “0” will position the environment at the top of the list

Note

User-created environments can be edited, hidden, or removed from the Actions menu on the environments list page. HPE VM Essentials-default environments can only be hidden from users during provisioning.

License¶

Overview¶

HPE VM Essentials requires a valid license for provisioning new Instances, Apps and Hosts, and converting existing Instances and Hosts to managed. Licenses can be applied and updated in this section, and the current license status can be checked.

Note

HPE VM Essentials is licensed for a certain number of concurrent workload elements (WLEs) that may be managed or inventoried at any one time. See our Knowledge Base for specific information on the types of WLEs that count against HPE VM Essentials licensing.

Current License¶

If a License Key has already been applied, the License status is shown in the Current License section:

Tenant Name: Company name the License was generated for.
Start Date: Date and time the current License started.
End Date: Date and time the current License expires.
Space: Amount of used and unused Managed RAM under the current License.

EXAMPLE: On a 1 TB License with 182 GB of RAM under management, the Space section will show Used Space 182.9GB Unused Space 841.0GB

Note

Once a current License expires or has reached its Space limit, users will no longer be able to provision new Instances, Apps, Hosts, or Bare Metal, or convert existing Hosts, Virtual Machines, or Bare Metal to managed. Morpheus will otherwise continue to function.

Upgrade License Key¶

To add a new or update an existing License:

Copy the License Key into the License Key field
Click UPDATE

If valid, the new License will be applied.

Request new License¶

Licenses can be requested at https://app.morpheushub.com, or by contacting support@ or sales@ morpheusdata.com.

Utilities¶

System administrators have access to a utilities panel with the following options:

Reindex all searchable data: Execute
Toggle Maintenance Mode: Enable

Note

Maintenance mode cleanly places HPE VM Essentials into a state where maintenance can be performed on the appliance. This drains any active sessions and queues so an auto-scaling group can scale down. It also drains active sessions across services. Restarting HPE VM Essentials UI disables maintenance mode.

Note

When using HPE VM Essentials in a Highly Available (HA) environment, it is important to navigate to a node directly and enable maintenance mode, as opposed to using the load balancer virtual IP (VIP). A local host entry to the specific node may be required to ensure the correct node enters mainteance mode. In fact, it is recommended to use the analogous API endpoint to toggle a specific node into maintenance mode to avoid redirects back to the VIP address.

A HPE VM Essentials node in maintenance mode can still be accessible through the load balancer VIP/target group and can queue requests but will not process anything in queue, while in maintenance mode. A node can be removed/paused from the load balancer VIP or have VIP health checks implemented, if the node UI/API will become inaccessible due to maintenance.