WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.440 Welcome back to vSphere 8 in the real world. Now we're going to look at content libraries. 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:13.800 So a content library is basically a logical component, a logical object that you can create in vSphere 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:20.900 that allows you to store information, store documents. Documents is probably not the right word. 00:00:20.900 --> 00:00:28.600 But objects in this content library and then share them amongst a bunch of different systems, make them easy to access. 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:35.500 The types of things you would store in here, you would store templates in here, you would store, you can store virtual apps, templates. 00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:41.599 ISOs are a real common thing that you might put in there. And you can put text files. Why would you put a text file in there? 00:00:41.599 --> 00:00:48.400 You might have a text file in there where you've documented certain things, certain maybe configurations or something like that. 00:00:48.400 --> 00:00:53.259 You know, instructions when you're going to deploy this particular vApp, here's all the steps you need to take. 00:00:53.259 --> 00:01:01.360 And so you have the vApp and you have a text file with instructions on how to deploy that virtual app all together, things like that. 00:01:01.360 --> 00:01:14.559 So it's a handy little place, right? And it allows you to put all this stuff together. Traditionally, things like ISOs and templates were stored on these regular data stores. 00:01:14.559 --> 00:01:28.459 Now, a template is kind of easy to find in that you have a files and templates view where you can go in there, you can see folders, you can see all your virtual machines, and you can see your templates, right? 00:01:28.459 --> 00:01:35.959 So that beam and templates view obviously makes it easy to find templates. But if you have a lot, they might get kind of difficult to find. 00:01:35.959 --> 00:01:43.559 But you didn't have really a good place to store ISOs. We used to create a data store and then we create a folder called ISOs on a data store. 00:01:43.559 --> 00:01:53.160 And we might throw the Windows 2016 ISO in there. And then a few years later, we have the Windows 2024 ISO, and we're like, okay, or I'm sorry, 2022 ISO. 00:01:53.160 --> 00:02:00.160 And it's like, okay, where are we going to put this? Oh, here's a data store. Let me create a folder called ISO. Let me throw the ISO image in there. 00:02:00.160 --> 00:02:09.160 And now all of a sudden, we've got, you know, 30 data stores and five of them have ISO folders and things are spread out all over those different locations, right? 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:17.259 We didn't put them on our super expensive flash storage because we knew that was expensive. But we've got this data store over here that's got inexpensive storage. 00:02:17.259 --> 00:02:20.759 This one over here has got inexpensive storage. And so we kind of spread it out. 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:27.259 A content library is a way that we can kind of have a logical place where I'm going to pull all this together. 00:02:27.259 --> 00:02:32.759 I might create a content library, and I might just call it ISOs and only put ISOs in there. 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:39.360 I might have one for a group, and this group is going to need these ISOs and it's going to need these certain templates. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:47.360 And so I'll say, okay, this is for a DevOps content library, and here's the ISOs they need, and here's the templates they need. 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:52.360 And here's some documents, you know, explaining to them how to deploy this particular template. 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:59.360 And here's instructions on how to, you know, mount this ISO onto a virtual machine because they're not VMware engineers. 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:03.960 They're developers, and so here's some kind of cheat sheets for them for that, things like that. 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:11.460 And I might have another content library I can create that I have just for synchronizing Kubernetes machines, right? 00:03:11.460 --> 00:03:16.960 And I could have tools that are going to subscribe to this content library I've created. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:21.460 And when I put new Kubernetes, you know, templates in there, it pulls from there. 00:03:21.460 --> 00:03:25.960 I can deploy a bunch of Kubernetes machines from these templates that I've stored in a content library. 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:28.460 So there's lots of different ways you can use content libraries. 00:03:28.559 --> 00:03:31.559 They're a really, actually, super handy little feature. 00:03:32.559 --> 00:03:36.559 Honestly, I haven't seen them used as much as you might think they would be used, 00:03:36.559 --> 00:03:39.559 but I think it's because one of those things that VMware did, it's pretty cool. 00:03:39.559 --> 00:03:45.559 It probably didn't take them a ton of effort to do, you know, developer-wise and things like that. 00:03:45.559 --> 00:03:48.559 And so they haven't really touted it as much. 00:03:48.559 --> 00:03:52.559 You don't hear them really bragging about this huge, amazing new feature. 00:03:52.559 --> 00:03:55.559 And so a lot of people don't even realize it's there, or they know it's there, 00:03:55.660 --> 00:03:58.660 but they don't really know what it does, how easy it is to use, that kind of thing. 00:03:58.660 --> 00:04:01.660 But they actually are, they're pretty helpful. 00:04:01.660 --> 00:04:02.660 They're useful. 00:04:02.660 --> 00:04:05.660 And they're very, very easy, very fast to create. 00:04:05.660 --> 00:04:08.660 So we can store a lot of different things in them. 00:04:08.660 --> 00:04:10.660 We can also now store templates. 00:04:10.660 --> 00:04:13.660 Before, we only stored OVFs in there, some things like that. 00:04:13.660 --> 00:04:18.660 But now we can store templates in there, which makes them a lot more useful for, you know, 00:04:18.660 --> 00:04:23.660 for sharing information, sharing, you know, resources amongst different groups and things like that. 00:04:23.760 --> 00:04:26.760 So it's a pretty cool resource. 00:04:26.760 --> 00:04:29.760 So to create a content library, it's real simple. 00:04:29.760 --> 00:04:33.760 So up in our little, you know, in our menu, we have the little Big Mac, the three lines. 00:04:33.760 --> 00:04:36.760 Click on that, and we're going to go to our content libraries. 00:04:36.760 --> 00:04:41.760 And then we'll see whatever content libraries have been created already, if any. 00:04:41.760 --> 00:04:44.760 And we just got to go in and say, do we want to create a content library? 00:04:44.760 --> 00:04:47.760 It's going to ask us to go in. 00:04:47.760 --> 00:04:49.760 We're going to start with a brand, give it a name. 00:04:49.760 --> 00:04:52.760 We might put a description there, some things like that. 00:04:52.859 --> 00:04:54.859 Some information about it. 00:04:54.859 --> 00:04:57.859 Is it a subscriber or a publisher? 00:04:57.859 --> 00:04:59.859 You know, some information like that. 00:04:59.859 --> 00:05:01.859 What data store do we want to store it on? 00:05:01.859 --> 00:05:03.859 And then we're going to say next. 00:05:03.859 --> 00:05:05.859 It's pretty simple to create one. 00:05:05.859 --> 00:05:07.859 When we do our demo, we'll walk through creating one. 00:05:07.859 --> 00:05:10.859 You'll see it's actually very, very simple to create. 00:05:10.859 --> 00:05:12.859 So we have different types. 00:05:12.859 --> 00:05:15.859 We have a local content library or a subscribed. 00:05:15.859 --> 00:05:21.859 So on the local, we can enable and say, okay, this is what we want to be a publishing content library. 00:05:21.959 --> 00:05:24.959 And that means it's a local and it's a publishing content library. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:27.959 We can then also say we want to require authentication. 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:29.959 We can enable that you have to authenticate into it. 00:05:29.959 --> 00:05:34.959 The other kind of content library we can create is what's called a subscribed content library. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:41.959 And a subscribed content library is going to point to the local publishing content library. 00:05:41.959 --> 00:05:42.959 Right? 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:45.959 So we'll have the URL for that local publishing content library. 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:49.959 And then the subscribed content library just pulls information from there. 00:05:50.059 --> 00:05:56.059 So we can create subscribed content libraries for groups where they just need to get access to things. 00:05:56.059 --> 00:05:58.059 So maybe we have, again, a group of developers. 00:05:58.059 --> 00:06:02.059 And we want them all to use the same templates. 00:06:02.059 --> 00:06:04.059 We want them to use all the same OVAs. 00:06:04.059 --> 00:06:08.059 We want them all to use the same Kubernetes templates that we've created for them. 00:06:08.059 --> 00:06:10.059 We don't want them to create their own. 00:06:10.059 --> 00:06:13.059 We don't want them to be able to change them and push them back into there. 00:06:13.059 --> 00:06:16.059 Maybe they can make changes once they've pulled it down locally. 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:20.160 But we don't want them to change what's in our master content library there. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:23.160 So it's a read-only kind of thing. 00:06:23.160 --> 00:06:25.160 They only pull from it, and that's it. 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:27.160 You could tell it that you want it to synchronize. 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:29.160 As soon as a file lands, it's new. 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:31.160 The subscribed is going to pull that. 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:34.160 Or you can say basically it's a link to the local. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:37.160 And when you click on it for the first time, then it pulls it over. 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:40.160 It only pulls over what it needs when it needs it, like on demand. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:41.160 Right? 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:44.160 Or you can say you want it to always be pulling over, you know, in real time all the time. 00:06:44.260 --> 00:06:48.260 So there's the local content library, which is the publishing. 00:06:48.260 --> 00:06:52.260 And then there's the subscribed, which is subscribed and subscribes to the published. 00:06:52.260 --> 00:06:56.260 And that is just synchronizing, getting the information that's put into the publishing. 00:06:56.260 --> 00:07:02.260 So I have this group of people who are able to put stuff in the publishing. 00:07:02.260 --> 00:07:05.260 And then I have another group that are able to read that subscribe. 00:07:05.260 --> 00:07:08.260 And the subscribe can read the publishing and get that information. 00:07:08.260 --> 00:07:12.260 And we can, therefore, you know, distribute it out over a pretty broad area pretty quickly. 00:07:12.359 --> 00:07:16.359 And people have, like, a closer, more local version of that. 00:07:16.359 --> 00:07:23.359 So for a subscribing content library, we need the URL of a published content library. 00:07:23.359 --> 00:07:26.359 Publish is also, you know, the local content library. 00:07:26.359 --> 00:07:28.359 You can enable authentication. 00:07:28.359 --> 00:07:29.359 That's optional. 00:07:29.359 --> 00:07:31.359 You probably want to enable authentication. 00:07:31.359 --> 00:07:33.359 And then you can select your download method. 00:07:33.359 --> 00:07:36.359 Are you going to download immediately as soon as the copy is, you know, made, 00:07:36.359 --> 00:07:39.359 sitting there, copied over, or only when needed? 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:43.459 So once it's been published, we say, oh, here's a change. 00:07:43.459 --> 00:07:46.459 I'm going to publish it if that's available. 00:07:46.459 --> 00:07:48.459 But it's really like a link to it. 00:07:48.459 --> 00:07:51.459 And then when you click on it for the first time, now I synchronize it. 00:07:51.459 --> 00:07:53.459 And now you actually got a copy of it locally. 00:07:53.459 --> 00:07:58.459 So if there is 100 files in there, I might have 100, you know, metadata links to it. 00:07:58.459 --> 00:08:02.459 And then when I click on one for the first time to get it, then it copies over that one. 00:08:02.459 --> 00:08:04.459 And if I click on another one, now I have those two. 00:08:04.459 --> 00:08:05.459 That kind of thing. 00:08:05.459 --> 00:08:06.459 You get the idea. 00:08:06.559 --> 00:08:08.559 And then, of course, it does, when you go to create it, 00:08:08.559 --> 00:08:12.559 you will say you want to accept the SSL certificate thumbprint. 00:08:12.559 --> 00:08:14.559 Basically, if you don't have signed certificates, 00:08:14.559 --> 00:08:16.559 it will be an untrusted certificate. 00:08:16.559 --> 00:08:18.559 You say you want to accept this, you accept it. 00:08:18.559 --> 00:08:22.559 That is the thumbprint of the SSL certificate for the host that I'm expecting that to 00:08:22.559 --> 00:08:26.559 come from, and I can trust that. 00:08:26.559 --> 00:08:30.559 So one thing you also need to choose is the data store you're going to put these 00:08:30.559 --> 00:08:32.559 content libraries on. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:34.559 They have to be stored someplace, right? 00:08:34.659 --> 00:08:36.659 If you're creating a new content library, you're going to choose a data store 00:08:36.659 --> 00:08:40.659 for this content library to store the information on. 00:08:40.659 --> 00:08:42.659 So, again, you're going through your whole process. 00:08:42.659 --> 00:08:44.659 You're creating a new content library. 00:08:44.659 --> 00:08:48.659 It says what storage we want to use, and you'll choose the data store for that. 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:50.659 So here we are back in our demo environment. 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:54.659 And, again, we're in VMware's hands-on lab environment. 00:08:54.659 --> 00:08:56.659 So it's hol.vmware.com. 00:08:56.659 --> 00:09:00.659 So it's our hands-on lab.vmware.com. 00:09:00.760 --> 00:09:04.760 So what we do to create a content library, we click on the little hamburger 00:09:04.760 --> 00:09:08.760 up here in the corner, and we go to content libraries. 00:09:08.760 --> 00:09:12.760 And we have, by default, already a content library here. 00:09:12.760 --> 00:09:15.760 I'm going to say create. 00:09:15.760 --> 00:09:17.760 I'm going to give this a name. 00:09:17.760 --> 00:09:21.760 And so the name, I'll just call it demo lib. 00:09:21.760 --> 00:09:23.760 You can get a description if you want to. 00:09:23.760 --> 00:09:27.760 You can specify what vCenter you want this to be associated with. 00:09:27.859 --> 00:09:30.859 What kind of content library are we going to create? 00:09:30.859 --> 00:09:34.859 Are we going to create a local content library or a subscribed content library? 00:09:34.859 --> 00:09:37.859 If I'm going to do a subscribed content library, then I need to already have 00:09:37.859 --> 00:09:41.859 a local content library that has enabled publishing. 00:09:41.859 --> 00:09:45.859 And as we discussed during the lecture, once we enable publishing, 00:09:45.859 --> 00:09:49.859 then subscribed content libraries can go and pull from them. 00:09:49.859 --> 00:09:51.859 It won't push back. 00:09:51.859 --> 00:09:55.859 All we can do with this content library is pull updates from whichever content 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:58.960 library we are subscribed to. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:02.960 And so I am able to control what gets pushed out to these different 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:04.960 subscribed libraries. 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:08.960 So a common thing we might use this for is a developer that is pushing up, 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:12.960 say, for example, Kubernetes templates can go in and publish 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:16.960 those Kubernetes to this content library. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:20.960 And all the different ones that are spread around that are subscribed to it 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:22.960 will pull from this. 00:10:23.059 --> 00:10:27.059 We can have scripts that will go in and deploy them out for us and things like that. 00:10:27.059 --> 00:10:31.059 So we'll do a local content library and say next. 00:10:31.059 --> 00:10:35.059 We're not going to do any kind of policy there for security right now. 00:10:35.059 --> 00:10:39.059 We're going to choose just our regular iSCSI storage, 00:10:39.059 --> 00:10:43.059 say next, and now we're going to complete. 00:10:43.059 --> 00:10:47.059 And I just created my content library. 00:10:47.059 --> 00:10:51.059 The demo one doesn't have anything in there, right? 00:10:51.159 --> 00:10:55.159 But if we go and look at our other content library that VMware 00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:59.159 gave us by default in here, we can see 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:03.159 if we have any OVF templates, if there's any VM templates. 00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:05.159 Here we do have some other type. 00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:07.159 So what we have is we have this ISO, right? 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:11.159 We have this ISO to deploy a Photon OS, 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:15.159 you know, a minimal OS from VMware to a virtual machine. 00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:19.159 Another thing we can publish into our content libraries 00:11:19.260 --> 00:11:23.260 as it shows here is VM templates. 00:11:23.260 --> 00:11:27.260 So I can go back to my inventory and I have my demo 00:11:27.260 --> 00:11:31.260 machine here. I'm just going to go ahead and right click on this. 00:11:31.260 --> 00:11:35.260 I'm going to clone this virtual machine to a template 00:11:35.260 --> 00:11:39.260 to a library. 00:11:39.260 --> 00:11:43.260 I want to give it a name. I'm going to specify where I want it to go to. 00:11:43.260 --> 00:11:47.260 All right, this is the region I want it to go to. 00:11:47.359 --> 00:11:51.359 Location, so I want to go to my demo library here 00:11:51.359 --> 00:11:55.359 and what compute resource 00:11:55.359 --> 00:11:59.359 are we going to use for completing this action? 00:11:59.359 --> 00:12:03.359 What database, yeah, datastore. 00:12:03.359 --> 00:12:07.359 And then we're going to say finish. And we see it pop up there for a second. 00:12:07.359 --> 00:12:11.359 Now it's gone, right? Clone virtual machine has been 00:12:11.359 --> 00:12:15.359 completed. And if I go back to my content library 00:12:15.460 --> 00:12:19.460 and the demo one I just created, it now has a template 00:12:19.460 --> 00:12:23.460 in there, right? So there's my demo one template I just 00:12:23.460 --> 00:12:27.460 created. So as you can see, it's actually really 00:12:27.460 --> 00:12:31.460 easy to create a content library and it's actually very easy to also 00:12:31.460 --> 00:12:35.460 add content to your content library. That's how you create a content 00:12:35.460 --> 00:12:39.460 library. Actually, it's pretty simple, right? Very flexible as you 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:43.460 can see. A lot of benefit to using this 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:47.559 and sending out information to a lot of different people. Different groups 00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:51.559 have different needs. They can subscribe to different things. But you can 00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:55.559 keep things synchronized and in a central logical place. That's a content library.