Overriding Manifest Properties in Advanced Mode

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This topic describes how you can use Advanced Mode to override some manifest properties. This allows you to change properties that you cannot change through the Ops Manager UI or the Ops Manager API.

Overview

Ops Manager is an interface to the BOSH Director manifest and the runtime configs that underlie VMware Tanzu. Ops Manager does not allow you to edit the manifest and configs directly.

When you configure Ops Manager through the UI or API, you set many of the properties contained in the manifest and configs. Ops Manager sets some other properties for you, and other properties use the default values provided by VMware Tanzu or BOSH.

Use the manifest property override feature described in this topic to modify properties that cannot be modified in other ways.

Procedure

To override manifest properties:

  1. If the property that you want to change can be modified through the Ops Manager UI or the Ops Manager API, use the UI or API to change the property.

  2. If the property cannot be modified through the Ops Manager UI or the Ops Manager API:

    1. Determine if the property can be overridden. See Overridable Properties.
    2. If the property is in the BOSH Director Manifest, see Override BOSH Director Manifest Properties.
    3. If the property is in one of the runtime configs, see Override Runtime Config Properties.

You can also use the Ops Manager API to view the BOSH Director manifest, view the list of overrides for the BOSH Director and runtime configs, and delete the overrides. For more information, see Advanced Manifest Configuration in the Ops Manager API documentation.

Overridable Properties

You can edit properties in the BOSH Director manifest, another tile manifest, or two of the runtime configs.

BOSH Director Manifest

In the BOSH Director manifest, you can override properties in the following sections:

  • network
  • instance_group jobs

You cannot:

  • Edit properties in other sections of the BOSH Director manifest
  • Add or delete a network
  • Add or delete an instance group

For an example, see Change the Network Type to Dynamic below.

Tile Manifest

In the tile manifest, you can override properties in the following sections:

  • features
  • update

For an example, see Change Number of Canary Instances or Enable Returning DNS Addresses in Links below.

Runtime Configs

You can edit properties in two add-ons in each of two of the runtime configs files. The table below lists these properties:

Runtime Config Add-on
ops_manager_dns_runtime
  • bosh_dns
  • bosh_dns_windows
ops_manager_system_metrics_runtime
  • system_metrics_agent
  • system_metrics_agent_windows

Override BOSH Director Manifest Properties

To override properties in the BOSH Director manifest:

  1. Set Ops Manager to Advanced Mode by following the procedure in How to Enable Advanced Mode in the Ops Manager in the Knowledge Base. For more information about Advanced Mode, see Advanced Mode in the Ops Manager API documentation.

    Warning:
    • VMware recommends that only skilled operators use Advanced Mode in Ops Manager. If you use Advanced Mode incorrectly, you can disable or destroy your deployment.
    • Ops Manager does not validate the properties that you change using Advanced Mode. For example, if you enter a string where an integer is required, you do not receive an error.

  2. Use the /api/v0/staged/director/overrides endpoint. For more information, see Provide a new list of overrides for the BOSH Director in the Ops Manager API documentation.

  3. After you have completed your changes, disable Advanced Mode by following the procedure in How to Enable Advanced Mode in the Ops Manager in the Knowledge Base.

Override Tile Manifest Properties

To override properties in the tile manifest:

  1. Set Ops Manager to Advanced Mode by following the procedure in How to Enable Advanced Mode in the Ops Manager in the Knowledge Base. For more information about Advanced Mode, see Advanced Mode in the Ops Manager API documentation.

    Warning:
    • VMware recommends that only skilled operators use Advanced Mode in Ops Manager. If you use Advanced Mode incorrectly, you can disable or destroy your deployment.
    • Ops Manager does not validate the properties that you change using Advanced Mode. For example, if you enter a string where an integer is required, you do not receive an error.

  2. Use the /api/v0/staged/products endpoint to get and record the product GUID from the output of the command. For more information, see All staged products in the Ops Manager API documentation.

  3. Use the /api/v0/staged/products/PRODUCT-GUID/overrides endpoint. Where PRODUCT-GUID is the GUID you recorded in the previous step. For more information, see Provide a new list of overrides for the BOSH Director in the Ops Manager API documentation.

  4. After you have completed your changes, disable Advanced Mode by following the procedure in How to Enable Advanced Mode in the Ops Manager in the Knowledge Base.

Override Runtime Config Properties

To override properties in the runtime configs:

  1. Set Ops Manager to Advanced Mode by following the procedure in How to Enable Advanced Mode in the Ops Manager in the Knowledge Base. For more information about Advanced Mode, see Advanced Mode in the Ops Manager API documentation.

    Warning:
    • VMware recommends that only skilled operators use Advanced Mode in Ops Manager. If you use Advanced Mode incorrectly, you can disable or destroy your deployment.
    • Ops Manager does not validate the properties that you change using Advanced Mode. For example, if you enter a string where an integer is required, you do not receive an error.

  2. Use the /api/v0/staged/director/runtime_configs/overrides endpoint. For more information, see:

  3. After you have completed your changes, disable Advanced Mode by following the procedure in How to Enable Advanced Mode in the Ops Manager in the Knowledge Base.

For an example, see Change the Timeout for the BOSH DNS Network Health Check below.

Examples of Overridable Properties

This section contains examples of properties that customers have asked to override.

BOSH Director Manifest Example: Change the Network Type to Dynamic

By default, the network type is set to manual. You cannot change this property through the Ops Manager UI or API.

You can override this default by changing the value of the type property in the networks section of the BOSH Director manifest.

Tile Manifest Example: Change Number of Canary Instances

By default, the number of canary instances is set to 1. You cannot change this property through the Ops Manager UI or API.

You can override this default by changing the number of canary instances in the update section of the tile manifest.

For a list of all the properties you can change in the update section, see Update Block in the BOSH documentation.

Tile Manifest Example: Enable Returning DNS Addresses in Links

By default, use_dns_addresses is set to false. You cannot change this property through the Ops Manager UI or API.

You can override this default by changing the value to true in the features section of the tile manifest.

For a list of all the properties you can change in the features section, see Features Block in the BOSH documentation.

Runtime Config Example: Change the Timeout for the BOSH DNS Network Health Check

By default, the network timeout for synchronous health checks is 1 second. You cannot change this property through the Ops Manager UI or API.

You can override this default by changing the value of the health.health.synchronous_check_timeout property in the bosh-dns add-on of the ops_mananger_dns_runtime runtime config.