Abiquo 4.7 features

Abiquo 4.7 introduces the following features:

Allow access to the platform by network addresses

Abiquo 4.7 enables administrators to set multiple IP addresses or a range of IP addresses to allow access to the console and API. The default is to allow connections from any address. The administrator can set the network addresses to allow when they create or modify users. This feature is controlled by the Manage user allowed CIDRs privilege.

Allow Application Level Gateway access in NSX DFW

Abiquo 4.7.0 introduces support for Application Services with Application Level Gateway (ALG) access in NSX distributed firewall rules, which can apply to services or protocols.

Billing dashboard improvements

The billing dashboard now enables the user to view combined data for All providers. For the main bar chart, the user can select Grouped or Stacked presentation, and switch currencies. The platform will perform a conversion based on the conversion factor that was configured by the administrator. The round chart at the top shows a breakdown of the last bill by providers. After selecting a provider, the user can also display the latest bills broken down by services, for example, virtual machines, storage, networks. The platform uses the categories found in the provider's bills to create the breakdown. The round chart at the top shows the last bill broken down by services.

Budget control

Administrators can create budgets to control spending for one or more enterprises and providers. The platform evaluates budgets using the billing data that it also displays on the billing dashboards. Budgets can trigger action plans when cloud costs pass specified thresholds. A use case for this feature might be “When an enterprise has consumed 50 % of its budget amount in AWS, send an email to the System Administrator.” Users manage budgets in the Control view. There are new privileges to Access budgets section and Manage budgets, as well as a privilege to View enterprise hierarchy for platforms with multiple levels such as resellers and their customers.

Hot reconfigure remote access to vCenter VMs with native console

Abiquo 4.7.0 introduces optional support for VMware’s native HTML5 console (WebMKS) for vCenter 6.0+. Abiquo already uses the WebMKS console for remote access to vCloud. For details of how to white-label the WebMKS console window, see Branding WMKS. See Configure remote access to virtual machines

Improvements to event management

Abiquo 4.7 introduces changes to how events are managed on the platform and some improvements to the display of events in the user interface. Update integrations that use the outbound event streaming API. For the new event format, see Trace entity. The new version of the M module does not require a user in the database or Abiquo Configuration Properties to configure this user.

Improvements to VM capture in private cloud

Administrators can assign cost codes to VM templates for use in pricing and billing of VMs. Now you can also assign a cost code to a VM during the capture process. The platform now creates templates with hot-reconfigure of VMs to enable remote access

Privileges to control virtual networking

Abiquo 4.7.0 introduces new privileges to control the use of public and external networks in virtual datacenters and virtual machines. This is helpful in providers where users manage networks at the virtual datacenter level

Public cloud storage

Abiquo 4.7 introduces public cloud storage for Amazon and Azure. In Amazon, the platform creates EBS volumes and in Azure it creates Managed Disks.

vCloud Director hard disks

Abiquo 4.7.0 extends the existing vCloud hard disk functionality that detects additional hard disks. Users can now edit VMs to add and remove auxiliary hard disks in Abiquo.

Public cloud improvements

Abiquo 4.7.1 introduces support for the following regions in the Middle East: Azure - UAE North Dubai;  Amazon - Middle East Bahrain ("me-south-1"). Abiquo 4.7.1 introduces support for separate credentials in regions or groups of regions. For example, regions in China require their own credentials, so users can select a separate provider for these groups of regions. In Abiquo 4.7.1, users can create encrypted EBS disks in the platform and onboard encrypted disks. When you create an AWS region, the platform now displays the region name, instead of the region provider ID, and the default region name is name + _sequence number + region name.

Abiquo Java Stream Client

Abiquo 4.7.1 introduces a new Java Stream Client to receive the Abiquo events streamed by the Abiquo Outbound API. The API Stream Client supports OAuth authentication to enable secure connections. The Java Stream Client will enable developers to build event-based integrations and it complements the Abiquo API Java Client. The Java Stream Client is now available as part of the API Java Client.

API improvements to virtual machines

Abiquo 4.7.1 introduces some changes to the API for VMs, including a new “light” version of the VM DTO and some VM metrics values. The VM entity now has a boolean attribute to indicate that a VM is deallocated in Azure, which is used by the user interface.

NAT in vCloud Director

In Abiquo 4.7.1, the vCloud Director integration introduces support for NAT networks and NAT rules for VMs. This functionality is configured for the NSX Edge gateways of the orgVDCs, at the same level as the Abiquo classic firewalls. To use NAT in vCloud Director, the network administrator must use a CIDR that is compatible with an Edge interface network connected to external networks.

Support for fenced vApps in vCloud Director

Abiquo 4.7.1 reintroduces support for fenced vApps in vCloud Director by default. When private networks have a connection to the outside world, "fenced" means that vCloud creates a routed NAT configuration and maintains the configuration of MAC and IP addresses between vCloud deployments.

Manage external networks in vCloud Director

Abiquo enables users to create and delete OrgVDC networks inside the Org VDC and routed through the Edge as external networks. Users can also onboard and synchronize these networks from vCloud Director. Users manage vCloud External networks in the Virtual datacenters view. External network definitions should be unique in the Organization virtual datacenter (public cloud region of the enterprise).

SAML Integration for secure SSO

Abiquo 4.7.1 introduces an integration with SAML 2.0 to incorporate your cloud platform into your secure SSO environment. The administrator creates the tenants and user roles in Abiquo and designates the SAML attributes to match them. Then when a new user logs in, Abiquo authenticates their login with SAML, and automatically adds the new user to the appropriate cloud tenant, and assigns them the appropriate access privileges. See SAML integration.

Backup pricing per gigabyte

In private cloud datacenters, you can set prices for backup policies and Abiquo 4.7.1 also introduces a price per gigabyte. These two types of prices are independent and you can use them together or separately.

Recommended datastore tiers for VM templates

Abiquo 4.7.2 introduces recommended datastore tiers for VM templates in private cloud. This feature is similar to the recommended hardware profiles feature. This feature enables you to simplify the use of datastore tiers for your users. It also enables you to direct where VMs deploy based on datastore tiers. When you edit a VM template, there is a new Recommended tab for datastore tiers and hardware profiles, when available. When the user creates a VM, the platform will display the tiers that are available to the user's enterprise and recommended for the template. If you select the option to Enable only recommended DS Tiers, then the user can only select from the recommended tiers. 

External scopes

Abiquo 4.7.2 introduces external scopes for assigning scopes based on the user's groups in an external authentication system such as LDAP or OpenID, which you have already configured for the platform. When you create a user, the platform will select a scope for the user based on the external scopes that you enter on the Create user dialog. External scopes are the groups of the user in the external system and they are similar to external roles. Optional: Specify attributes of an external system to define the user groups that this scope should apply to. An example of external scopes could be an LDAP group for the user. Used in external authentication modes (e.g. openid, ldap). A user's external scopes must map to a single scope (local or global). See LDAP and Active Directory Integration and Abiquo OpenID Connect Integration

Allowed CIDRs for roles and scopes

Abiquo 4.7.2 introduces "allowed CIDRs" for roles and scopes, in addition to the user allowed CIDRs attribute. The user allowed CIDRs attribute is a list of network addresses (in CIDR format) from which the user can log into the platform. In addition to the usual privileges to manage roles and scopes, this feature has a new privilege to Manage role and scope allowed CIDRs.