Codify

Codify is a CLI-based tool-set for interacting with vRealize content expressed as source code.

Motivation

The following points serve as motivation for developing this tool-set.

• A team-wide way to develop and share content across different projects.
• Mechanism to distribute and share content between environments.
• Allow adopting of modern development practices into vRealize development in a consistent manner.

Main Objectives

• Enable content sharing among team members
• Persistence, version control, and ability to review implementations
• Code/configuration transferability across environments
• Extensible framework for adding additional content types
• Static analysis enablement
• Human/developer-readable content and configuration

Tool Requirements

• Support for content and configurations of the stack the ACoE team works with - initially vRO and vRA
• Support for the various execution run-times of vRO and vRA - JavaScript (Rhino), NodeJS, Python, PowerShell
• Decouple IDEs from implementation
• Extensibility - add new modules for various target systems, e.g. vRO, vRA, SaltStack, LCM, vROps, vRLI, vRNI, etc.

Installation

Prerequisites

Required:

• Node.js 14+

Optional but recommended:

The following prerequisites are needed for ABX bundle development (Python and PowerShell), testing and packaging.

• Python 3+
• Docker

Installation procedure

# Install Codify globally
npm install -g @build-tools-for-vmware-aria/codify

# Verify Codify is installed
codify --version

Getting Started Guide

Here you can find a Getting Started Guide to your first steps in using Codify.

Codify Project Creator

To generate a new Codify project run the following command:

codify create

To generate a new Codify-supported ABX bundle project run the following command:

codify create --abx

The CLI will guide you through a series of questions for your project and will generate one for you.

Codify Content Generator

Codify supports generating various types of content directly within your project. The content generator supports the following commands:

# Generate Codify content from a vRO package available on the vRO server
codify create --from-package
# Alternatively you can set the default values directly using CLI options
codify create --from-package --package com.vmware.acoe.demo --target ./src

The CLI will guide you through a series of questions for your content and will generate it for you.

Usage

In your Codify project create a .env file or export the following environment variables.

• The typical configuration for on-prem vRA with embedded vRO is:

  # .env
  VRO_HOST=<vra-host>
  VRO_USER=<username>
  VRO_PASS=<password>
  VRA_HOST=<vra-host>
  VRA_USER=<username>
  VRA_PASS=<password>

• If you are using a standalone vRO with vRA-based authentication, you can specify a VRO_AUTH_HOST variable:

  # .env
  VRO_AUTH_HOST=<vra-host>
  VRO_HOST=<vro-host>
  VRO_USER=<username>
  VRO_PASS=<password>

• Instead of using username and password you can authenticate using a refresh token:

  # .env
  VRA_HOST=<vra-host>
  VRA_TOKEN=<refresh-token>
  VRO_HOST=<vro-host>
  VRO_TOKEN=<refresh-token>

• For vRA Cloud you need to specify the vRA Cloud API host and pass an API TokenМ

  # .env
  VRA_HOST=api.mgmt.cloud.vmware.com
  VRA_TOKEN=<api-token>

  Note:: Authentication against vRA Cloud using username and password is not supported.

Note: the .env file contain credentials and should not be committed to any code repository. When you generate your project using the codify create command, the .gitignore file already contains rules for the .env files, however if you create your project from scratch, make sure you git-ignore this file.

Use the following commands to push / pull content from remote vRealize environment.

# To upload all objects from a directory and its children
codify upload --source "./src"

# To upload a single object
codify upload --source "./src/actions/com.vmware.acoe.demo/myAction.js"

# To download one or more actions (add an --action option for every action)
codify download --target "src/actions" --action "com.vmware.acoe.demo/myAction"

# To download one or more workflows (add a --workflow option for every workflow)
codify download --target "src/workflows" --workflow "ACoE/My Workflow"

# To download one or more configurations (add a --config option for every configuration)
codify download --target "src/configurations" --config "ACoE/My Config"

# To download one or more packages (add a --package option for every package)
codify download --target "packages" --package "com.vmware.acoe.mypackage"

# To download one or more cloud template (add a --template option for every VCT)
codify download --target "src/cloudtemplates" --template "My Template"

# To download one or more resource action (add a --day2 option for every resource action)
codify download --target "src/resourceactions" --day2 "myaction"

# To download one or more subscription (add a --subscription option for every subscription)
codify download --target "src/subscriptions" --subscription "My Subscription"

# To download one or more ABX actions (add an --abx option for every action)
codify download --target "src/abx" --abx "My Action"

# To run an action directly on the target environment
codify run --action "com.vmware.acoe.demo/myAction" --input=foo:bar --input baz:123

# To view the BOM of project
codify bom

# To assemble a vRO package from source content. You can specify multiple sources by
# adding a --source option for every source. The source can be a single object or a directory.
codify assemble --source src/actions --package com.vmware.acoe.mypackage --description "My package description"

Although Codify does not enforce a specific repository structure, it is a good practice to organize the content in logical categories which would allow for anyone looking at the project source code to easily find their way.

Additional CLI options

The following options are available for the upload and download commands:

--sequential      - Perform sequential download or upload to avoid race conditions.
                    By default download and upload are parallel operations.
--dryrun          - Do not upload or download objects, rather just perform parsing
                    or remote resolution.
--debug           - Print debug logs. Useful when troubleshooting.
--reauthenticate  - Ignore credentials cache and perform re-authentication.
                    The access token will still be cached after the re-authentication.

Content Support

| File | vRO Objet Type | Parsing | Remote Resolution | Upload | Download | | ------------ | ------------------------------------ | ------- | ----------------- | ------ | -------- | | *.js | vRO Action | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.js | vRO Workflow (limited JS format) | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | | *.workflow | vRO Workflow (native format) | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.conf.yaml | vRO Config Element | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.env | vRO environment | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | | *.js | Polyglot action (NodeJS runtime) | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.js | ABX action (NodeJS runtime) | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.py | Polyglot action (Python runtime) | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.py | ABX action (Python runtime) | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.ps1 | Polyglot action (PowerShell runtime) | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.ps1 | ABX action (PowerShell runtime) | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.pgt.zip | Polyglot action bundle * | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | | *.abx.zip | ABX action bundle * | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | | *.vct.yaml | VMware Cloud Template | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.sub.yaml | vRA Subscription | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.day2.yaml | vRA Resource Action | [x] | [x] | [x] | [x] | | *.res.yaml | vRA Custom Resource | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | | *.form.yaml | vRA Custom Form | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | | *.package | vRO Package | [ ] | [x] | [ ] | [x] |

• (*) Polyglot and ABX action bundles are developed and produced externally
• YAML files can have either .yaml or .yml extension
• Limited JS format for workflows allows expression of uni-branch sequence of steps

Supported JSDoc annotations

The following annotations are applicable to any vRO action type, regardless of the runtime.

• @vro_type - (required) polyglot or action
• @vro_id - (optional) vRO object ID, defaulting to a UUIDv5 hash from the unique identifier of the object
• @vro_name - (optional) vRO object name, defaulting to the file name
• @vro_module - (optional) module for the action, defaulting to com.vmware.acoe.temp
• @vro_version - (optional) object version, defaulting to 1.0.0
• @vro_input - (optional) input parameter in the format of {type} name [description]
• @vro_output - (optional) output paramter in the format of {type} [name] [description]
• @vro_entrypoint - (optional) Polyglot action entrypoint, defaulting to handler.handler
• @vro_timeout - (optional) Polyglot action timeout (in seconds), defaulting to 600
• @vro_memory - (optional) Polyglot action memory limit (in bytes), defaulting to 256000000

The following annotations are applicable to any ABX action type, regardless of the runtime.

• @abx_type - (required) abx
• @abx_id - (optional) ABX object ID, defaulting to a UUIDv5 hash from the unique identifier of the object
• @abx_name - (optional) ABX object name, defaulting to the file name
• @abx_project - (optional) project for the action, defaulting to the existing action's project
• @abx_input - (optional) input parameter in the format of {string|constant|encryptedConstant} name [value]
• @abx_entrypoint - (optional) action entrypoint, defaulting to handler.handler
• @abx_timeout - (optional) action timeout (in seconds), defaulting to 600
• @abx_memory - (optional) action memory limit (in bytes), defaulting to 256000000
• @abx_dependencies - (optional) action dependencies in native runtime format, defaulting to empty string
• @abx_shared - (optional) shared action accress projects, false if not specified
• @abx_provider - (optional) on-prem, aws or azure, defaulting to 'Auto Select' (blank value)
• @abx_configuration - (optional) provider-specific configuration in JSON format, defaulting to {}

How to contribute

Read our Contributing guideline.