How to Bulk Add ESX Hosts as SolarWinds Platform Nodes in VMAN

Previously you could just run a one-hop Network Discovery with the vCenter server as the only IP address.  You just had to put in a valid set of VMware credentials, and everything would get brought in as SolarWinds Platform nodes. With the VMAN appliance integrated, it would automatically marry the data up.  You could even put in WMI and SNMP credentials on the appropriate pages of the Discovery wizard, and it would scan and bring in all of the VM's as well.  It worked great for bulk-adding all of our ESX hosts and VM's into Orion in one big swoop.

Now, however, in VMAN 8.2 (going forward), the page in the Discovery wizard where you used to put in the VMware credentials has been replaced by the "Add VMWare VCenter or Hyper-V Devices" button.  Clicking this button exits you from the Discovery Settings wizard and takes you to the new Add Virtualization Objects page.

The SolarWinds Platform's overall UI technology is migrating to a new technology stack that eventually eliminates the need for things such as the existing page refresh. This new workflow is built using the latest technology stack and is faster to navigate, as well as a more direct path for adding your virtual devices.

Most importantly, the new wizard is a stepping stone into a new discovery wizard workflow for all SolarWinds Platform products. We would like to eventually migrate and add additional functionality to this new wizard step by step, so our products' discovery can become streamlined for all. VMAN was just the first piece of the puzzle.

It is still possible to use the original bulk adding of multiple ESX hosts in the Network Sonar Wizard. This step can be done by changing a configuration setting in the Advanced Configuration Settings:

The advanced configuration settings editor pages are hidden and can be accessed via link:

1. {OrionWebsite}/Orion/Admin/AdvancedConfiguration/Global.aspx - leads to “Global” tab
2. Find DisableOldDiscovery under SolarWinds.VIM.Common.VimSettings
3. Uncheck DisableOldDiscovery (it's checked by default)
4. Save the configuration
5. You will then be prompted to restart the Orion Module Engine. This is safe to do, and should not affect any customer experience in the console.
6. After then you should see the original Virtualization tab in the Network Sonar Discovery wizard (with the "Poll for VMware" checkbox etc.)

Disclaimer: While this change can be considered safe and extremely low-risk to deploy, as always, every change to a production system should be first thoroughly tested, and steps should be taken to allow roll-back if things go awry.

 You can do the discovery first and then use edit properties option through Manage Nodes to add the VMware polling and add them to all your ESX hosts in BULK.

Steps: 

1. Go to Manage Nodes on your Orion Webpage UI.
2. Select all the ESX nodes that you'd like to edit in bulk and put a checkbox next to them.
3. Click Edit. (warning) You can only mass select and edit properties for nodes which share a field selection in the Nodes Edit screen,  ie, they're all agents, or they're all currently added as ICMP nodes, they're all Windows WMI polled nodes, etc.
4. In the Edit Notes Screen look for this field.
5. click submit.

Other References:
WHAT WE'RE WORKING ON FOR VIRTUALIZATION MANAGER (UPDATED NOVEMBER, 2019)

We are actively refining the VMAN roadmap to solve your problems. Participate in user sessions for THWACK points and personalized input into the future of VMAN.