For increased ease of user management, the use case assumes that an Active Directory (AD) infrastructure is available for user authentication and group management. VMware recommends that this Active Directory instance be a central instance that the service provider controls. Using centrally controlled instance of Active Directory also simplifies the configuration of managing hosted vSphere environments that are consumed as an endpoint in vRealize Automation.

VMware recommends that a naming convention for the corresponding AD groups be created and maintained. This allows for more consistent implementation of the prescribed automation and reusability of the configuration script. This also reduces the number of inputs required for usage of the configuration script. The following are examples of AD group naming conventions: