How to integrate Windows DNS with vRA 7.x Part II – Delete DNS Record

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Ryan Kelly — 26 Comments ↓

In Part I we learned how to create a DNS record on provisioning. In this guide I will show you how to setup vRealize Automation 7.x to automatically delete a static host A record and a reverse look up pointer in your Windows based DNS when a user destroys a machine. This is most often needed to be able to automate decomissioning of Linux machines as Linux does not play well with Windows Based DNS when you are using static IP address assignment. However, you can also use this with Windows machines if you don’t allow self registration of Windows on your network.

Pre-Reqs

Part I already installed and working see my guide here.
vRA 7 installed and configured with at least one blueprint that has static IP address network profile assigned
vRA Plugin for vRO configured
vCenter Plugin for vRO configured
At least one Windows Server with DNS Server tools installed (DNSCMD.exe) Pro TIP: This could be oe of your vRA IaaS or DEM servers as long as they are visible from the vCenter Plugin.
vRO workflow package downloaded from here
A quiet place where you will not be interrupted see my guide here

First, make sure you can use the dnscmd from the Windows server and have the account rights to create A records.

If you get an error that dnscmd was not found you need to add this role to the server.

Now open the vRO client

Click drop down to Administer
Click the Package Tab
Click Import Package

Locate the package you downloaded and click open

Now click import

Accept any warnings and import the package

Verify the workflow was properly installed

Click the drop down to change to run
Click the Workflows tab
Drill down to the workflow

Update the workflow with the Windows Server and the username and login

Select the workflow
Click edit

Update the attributes

Select the Windows server that has DNSCMD installed
Enter a user with rights to login to that server and rights to administer the DNS server
Enter the password for that user
Click Save and Close

Now open vRA portal as a cloud admin

Click Design
Select a blueprint with a static IP Network Profile
Click edit

Enter the following custom properties

Click Properties
Click Custom Properties
Enter the new property as shown
Click Finish

Extensibility.Lifecycle.Properties.VMPSMasterWorkflow32.Disposing  *

Create and publish a new event subscription

Click Administration Tab
Click Events, Subscriptions
Click +New

Select machine provisioning and click next

On the next screen click Run Based on conditions the choose All of the following

On the Clause Drop down browse down to the following state and select it.

Select Equals and then choose the following constant

Now click add expression

Select the following

Now select Equals and the following constant and then click Next

Now click +add expression

Now select Equals

Now enter the following and then press next

Select the workflow we added then press next

Select blocking set the timeout and then click finish

Select the new subscription then click Publish

Fire off a new request

Note: This won’t work for already provisioned machines as they are missing the new custom property we added. You could add the property to existing machines if you wanted them to remove their IP addresses.

Now destroy the machine you just provisioned

Click the items view
Click deployments
Select the deployment
Click Actions then destroy

Monitor the workflow logs in vRO client

Enjoy not having to manually delete DNS records anymore!

26 Replies to “How to integrate Windows DNS with vRA 7.x Part II – Delete DNS Record”

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nOon on October 19, 2016 at 8:00 am said:

Nice job, i just have an error, it seems that the script don’t force the removal of the record.

So it failed with the error Are you sure you want to delete record? (y/n)

Reply ↓
- nOon on October 19, 2016 at 8:21 am said:
  
  hum my bad i missread the log.
  
  At the end it seems that the dns_server_fqdn stay to null
  
  Reply ↓
- KevinR on January 6, 2017 at 4:50 pm said:
  
  I’m getting this “Are you sure you want to delete record? (y/n)” then it fails
  
  Reply ↓
  - Ryan Kelly on January 6, 2017 at 7:45 pm said:
    
    Try adding a /f at the end of the dnscmd
    
    Reply ↓
    - David on July 31, 2018 at 9:50 am said:
      
      Hi I can’t find where i Add the /f in the VRO Script can someone please share. Thanks
      
      Reply ↓
  - Shirl on March 18, 2017 at 4:52 am said:
    
    Hopefully the lawsuit will help Eunjung to get back her dignity…to lose everything at the same time is mind boggling…CF, WGM, Five Fingers…What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger as the saying goes…Eunjung has the supports of all the CCrs he8e3#r2&0;.Fighting!
    
    Reply ↓
Tung Vu on March 9, 2017 at 11:45 am said:

Hi Kelly, thanks a lot for the post.
I’m looking for the vCO script to delete a computer from AD after machine destroy?

Do you happen to have one?

Thanks a lot.

Tung Vu

Reply ↓
- Ryan Kelly on March 9, 2017 at 5:10 pm said:
  
  Hi Tung, If you are running vRA 7.2 that functionality is built in now, see this guide https://www.vmtocloud.com/how-to-configure-active-directory-ou-placement-policies-in-vra-7-2/
  
  Reply ↓
mclejack on May 8, 2017 at 7:03 pm said:

Great script and mostly works. However, I keep getting the same error when it runs: Command failed: RPC_S_SERVER_UNAVAILABLE 1722 0x6BA

I have an account setup that the rights needed to edit DNS and to log onto the system. For some reason the RPC connection is failing. I’ve even tested using dnscmd commands on it.

Any thought as to what could be going on with this?

Reply ↓
Dennis on May 24, 2017 at 9:27 am said:

I’m getting a similar error to nOon where the dnsserver value is not passed to the script.

The log file gives me:
[2017-05-24 13:15:17.553] [I] Getting the custom properties needed
[2017-05-24 13:15:17.578] [I] toolsOK
[2017-05-24 13:15:17.581] [I] VMware tools on VM ADHQSVRA002 are in state: toolsOk and guest is running
[2017-05-24 13:15:17.779] [I] Replacing variable [DNS_server_FQDN] with value null
[2017-05-24 13:15:17.781] [I] Replacing variable [zone_name_FQDN] with value null
[2017-05-24 13:15:17.782] [I] Replacing variable [record_name] with value ADHQSVDML016
[2017-05-24 13:15:17.784] [I] Replacing variable [record_type] with value A
[2017-05-24 13:15:17.786] [I] Replacing variable [record_value] with value null
[2017-05-24 13:15:17.788] [I] Updated script content
echo y | dnscmd null /RecordDelete null ADHQSVDML016 A null

The strange thing is the Orchestrator plugin for EB-MachineProvisioned-DNSADD works perfectly – the dnsserver custom propoerty in the blueprint is passed to the script and the A and PTR records get created OK.

Any ideas?

Reply ↓
Nagaraju Kandula on September 15, 2017 at 10:19 am said:

Hi Kelly ,

Thanks for great port.
This workflow is for virtual machine (domain controller) which is running on endpoint vCenter. But in my data center we are using Physical Domain controller (DNS) (VC:virtual Machine).So How we can apply this work flow on this scenario.

Regards,
Nagaraju

Reply ↓
Nagaraju Kandula on September 15, 2017 at 10:20 am said:

Hi Kelly ,

Thanks for great port.
This workflow is for virtual machine (domain controller)(VC:virtual Machine) which is running on endpoint vCenter. But in my data center we are using Physical Domain controller (DNS) .So How we can apply this work flow on this scenario.

Regards,
Nagaraju

Reply ↓
- Ryan Kelly on September 15, 2017 at 8:51 pm said:
  
  Hi Nagaraju,
  
  The workflow just needs to run on a Windows Server that has the dnscmd.exe installed on it. That Windows Server needs to be a VM in vCenter. It will execute the command and contact your physical domain controllers. Make sense?
  
  Reply ↓
  - Nagaraju Kandula on September 16, 2017 at 2:51 pm said:
    
    Thanks Kelly,
    
    We ran this script , However i am receiving below error. Can you please suggest?
    
    [2017-09-16 19:50:35.124] [I] Replacing variable [DNS_server_FQDN] with value dc2.test.in
    [2017-09-16 19:50:35.125] [I] Replacing variable [zone_name_FQDN] with value null
    [2017-09-16 19:50:35.126] [I] Replacing variable [record_name] with value VRA06
    [2017-09-16 19:50:35.128] [I] Replacing variable [record_type] with value A
    [2017-09-16 19:50:35.129] [I] Replacing variable [record_value] with value 172.22.10.10
    [2017-09-16 19:50:35.130] [I] Updated script content
    echo y | dnscmd dc2.p3.test.in /RecordDelete null VRA06 A 172.22.10.10
    [2017-09-16 19:51:45.219] [E] Are you sure you want to delete record? (y/n)
    
    Command failed: DNS_ERROR_ZONE_DOES_NOT_EXIST 9601 0x2581
    
    Thanks,
    Nagaraju
    
    Reply ↓
    - Nagaraju Kandula on September 16, 2017 at 3:22 pm said:
      
      echo y | dnscmd /f dc2.test.in /RecordDelete null VRA07 A 172.22.10.10
      [2017-09-16 20:51:15.355] [E] Unknown Command “/f” Specified — type DnsCmd -?.
      
      Reply ↓
      - Nagaraju Kandula on September 18, 2017 at 9:21 am said:
        
        Thanks a lot kelly,
        It is working now.
        
        Regards,
        Nagaraju
David on August 3, 2018 at 1:33 pm said:

I can’t see where i can edit echo | y within the VRO script.
could someone please help me locate this within VRO

Reply ↓
Affreen on August 23, 2018 at 11:42 pm said:

Updated script content
echo y | dnscmd dc2.p3.test.in /RecordDelete null VRA06 A 172.22.10.10
[2017-09-16 19:51:45.219] [E] Are you sure you want to delete record? (y/n)

Command

I m getting the above error while executing the workflow, please help in fixing this..

Reply ↓
- David on September 11, 2018 at 1:42 pm said:
  
  Hi Affreen, Where did you find dnscmd within the DNSREMOVE Script ?
  
  Reply ↓
  - Ryan Kelly on October 5, 2018 at 9:55 pm said:
    
    Hi David, you have to add DNSServer tools to the Windows Box. See step above.
    
    Reply ↓
David Manley on November 19, 2018 at 3:50 pm said:

Hi Ryan,
Like others have had above I’m getting

[2018-11-19 15:32:01.925] [I] Replacing variable [DNS_server_FQDN] with value null
[2018-11-19 15:32:01.948] [I] Replacing variable [zone_name_FQDN] with value null

Which causes an RPC error as DNSCMD tries to run against a server called “__null__”

I’m actually running the DNSCMD on the DNS/AD server itself so obviously RPC won’t be an issue once I get those value populated.
Hope you can help.

Reply ↓
David Manley on November 19, 2018 at 3:53 pm said:

To clarify the actual command that fails to run is

echo y | dnscmd null /RecordDelete null VRASERVER50 A 10.0.0.155

Reply ↓
- David Manley on November 19, 2018 at 5:02 pm said:
  
  ok solved my own issue. Had to create a custom variable dnsserver in the blueprint for the server. Had I done Part 1 I’d have done that already.
  The zonename was taken care of by adding a dnssuffix entry to my network profile.
  
  Now I need to work out why I get
  Command failed: ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED 5 0x5
  However I’m getting that running the command myself manually so I suspect I’ve solved the VRO thing, I just need to get that error fixed myself.
  
  Reply ↓
  - David Manley on November 20, 2018 at 8:32 am said:
    
    Ok so I can get it to run if I run it via an elevated command prompt – I’m just trying how to work out how to get the automated process run the task elevated.
    Slowly moving towards the solution – trying to see if this is achievable in the “Run program in guest” workflow
    
    Reply ↓
Shank on May 20, 2019 at 2:36 am said:

Has anyone been able to workout how to fix the issue of destroying multiple machines at once and only some of them having their DNS records removed?

“Error in (Workflow:Create temporary directory in guest / Scriptable task (item1)#8) The operation is not allowed in the current state” seems to be where it is getting hung up.

Reply ↓