To save license costs, administrators may create DRS rules to ensure that VMs with a specific operating system run on a specific host.
To deploy VMs to groups based on their operating system types:
In a vCenter cluster, create a Cluster VM Group with the following naming convention for each operating system name.
Lic_{clustername}_{osname}_VMs
For example
Lic_vcloudcluster_Windows_VMs
In the abiquo.properties file on the Remote Services server, create properties to map the operating system types to VM groups. The properties should have the following format
com.abiquo.esxi.experimental.vmgroup.gueststartswith.{OSprefix}
For example, Windows guests should have a guestOperatingSystemId that starts with "win". To map them to an "osname" of Windows and assign them to the corresponding group, set this property.
com.abiquo.esxi.experimental.vmgroup.gueststartswith.win=Windows
Now Abiquo will deploy VMs with an osType of Windows using a DRS rule to assign them to the following group
Lic_vcloudcluster_Windows_VMs
Here are some more examples of mapping properties.
com.abiquo.esxi.experimental.vmgroup.gueststartswith.sle=SUSE com.abiquo.esxi.experimental.vmgroup.gueststartswith.suse=SUSE
Remember that you will need to restart the server.
In Abiquo, check that you have correctly set the operating system types of the VM templates. See Modify a VM template#Advanced tab
Screenshot: vCenter cluster VM group
Limitations: This feature is for use at deploy time and the platform won’t add captured VMs to a group and it won’t check the group during the reconfigure process.