VCF Automation and Aria Automation Guides

While putting together the VCF Automation 9.1 API getting started post, I spent some time in the in-product API Help Center. Log into the VM Apps tenant, click your username, API Help Center > Explore Automation APIs. The Swagger pages render fine, but the moment you try an actual call, it fails. The Servers box for the VCF Automation (Blueprint) API shows: http://localhost:8600 Swagger UI builds Try It Out requests from servers[0].url, so the browser dutifully sends every request to port 8600 on your own workstation. Connection refused, every time. The documentation is correct; the advertised host is not. ...

Back in 2022 I wrote vRA 8 API getting started, two curl calls and you had a bearer token. Since then the product has been renamed twice (vRealize Automation → VMware Aria Automation → VCF Automation) and, more importantly for anyone with scripts in production, the authentication flow changed in VCF 9.x. Neither of the two calls from that post works against a 9.1 appliance. This is the 9.1 version of the same post: the minimum you need to do before you can actually query the API, with curl. ...

Customizing Windows guest instances in VMware environments has traditionally been handled by the VMware Guest Customization Specification (Sysprep-based). While this approach works, it has limitations, especially when you need cloud-agnostic blueprints that work across vCenter, Azure, AWS, and GCP cloud accounts. Enter Cloudbase-Init: the Windows equivalent of Cloud-Init. It provides powerful guest customization capabilities including user creation, password injection, hostname configuration, SSH public keys, and user-data script execution. This guide walks through the full process of installing and configuring Cloudbase-Init on a Windows Server template for use with VCF Automation (formerly VMware Aria Automation / vRealize Automation). ...

If you’re working with Aria Automation (formerly vRealize Automation) and want to give users the ability to add extra disks to a Windows VM (and define their drive letter and volume label) you’re in the right place. This guide shows you how to build a flexible and reusable cloud template (blueprint) that handles additional disks dynamically. We’ll cover: YAML blueprint inputs for user-defined disks Cloud-init with PowerShell to configure drives Handling drive letter and label assignment dynamically Ensuring all disks are initialized and formatted properly Step 1: Define Inputs for Additional Disks In your Aria Automation blueprint YAML, start by defining an input array that allows users to specify up to 4 additional disks, including their desired SCSI unit number, disk size, drive letter, and volume label. ...

In this post, I will cover upgrading my 8.x Aria Automation appliance to version 8.18.1 Patch 1. As a prerequisite, we need to have Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.18. Instructions can be found here. Note that the upgrade does not include the latest PSPACK containing the 8.18.1 Patch 1 Aria Automation release. Instructions for obtaining the PSPACK are available in here. Note: Following the VMware by Broadcom Day 2 transition on May 6, 2024, Customer Connect has been migrated to the Broadcom Support. This migration impacts the VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle as follows: All Product Support Packs, along with product and patch binaries, will now need to be downloaded from the Broadcom Support Portal Users must then manually map these into the VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle can be upgraded using “Check Online” method. Product Support Packs are cumulative, incorporating all updates from previous product support packs as well as patches into the latest version. Downloading the Patch Binaries The Aria Automation Patch 1 binaries can be downloaded from here. In my case, it was VMware Aria Automation 8.18.1 .patch file (vrlcm-vra-8.18.1-8.18.1.36859.patch). Once downloaded, LCM supports local mappings. In my case, I uploaded the patch in /data/temp ...

Following the deployment of vIDM which can be found here, deploying VMware Aria Automation (formerly known as vRealize Automation) enhances your VCF environment with powerful self-service provisioning, automated operations, and streamlined infrastructure management. This step-by-step guide will walk you through deploying Aria Automation using VMware Aria Lifecycle Manager in a VCF 5.2.1 environment, integrating it seamlessly with vIDM for Single Sign-On (SSO) and access management. Prerequisites VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.2.1 Environment: Ensure VCF 5.2.1 is fully set up and operational. Aria Lifecycle Manager (ALCM) Appliance: Make sure Aria Lifecycle Manager is installed and accessible. Identity Management (vIDM): Deployed and configured to allow SSO across VMware products. DNS and Network Configurations: Validated for reachability and FQDN resolution. Step 1: Access Aria Lifecycle Manager Log in to the Aria Lifecycle Manager (ALCM) console with admin credentials. Ensure your ALCM version aligns with VCF 5.2.1, ensuring compatibility. Step 2: Add an Environment in ALCM In ALCM, navigate to Environments and Add New Environment. Input environment details, such as name and description, to organize deployments within the ALCM. Select a Datacenter for the deployment. Click Next. ...

I documented this manual Product Support Pack workflow on an existing 8.x Aria Suite Lifecycle appliance. For background, see VMware’s Product Support Pack overview. Typically the newer Product Support Pack is included part of the upgrade for Aria Suite Lifecycle, however sometimes there are product releases in between releases where product support packs come in handy. As of 8.16.0 Product Support Pack 4 we can no longer automatically download the Product Support Pack files. The release notes can be found here. I covered the newer PSPACK4 upgrade in a separate guide. ...

Changing the IP address of a Aria Automation node requires careful planning to avoid service disruption. Here’s a step-by-step guide: 1. Verify Health of vRealize Automation Run: vracli service status Ensure the cluster or node is healthy before proceeding. 2. Set Alternative IP Address vracli network alternative-ip set --dns <DNS_IP1>,<DNS_IP2> <New_IP>/<subnet> <Gateway_IP> ...

In this post, I will cover upgrading my 8.x Aria Automation appliance to version 8.18. As a prerequisite, we need to have VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.18. Instructions can be found here. Note: Following the VMware by Broadcom Day 2 transition on May 6, 2024, Customer Connect has been migrated to the Broadcom Support. This migration impacts the VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle as follows: All Product Support Packs, along with product and patch binaries, will now need to be downloaded from the Broadcom Support Portal Users must then manually map these into the VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle can be upgraded using “Check Online” method. Product Support Packs are cumulative, incorporating all updates from previous product support packs as well as patches into the latest version. Downloading and Mapping the Binaries The Aria Automation binaries can be downloaded from here. In my case, it was VMware Aria Automation 8.18.0 Update Repository (Prelude_VA-8.18.0.35770-24024333-updaterepo.iso). Once downloaded, LCM supports local or NFS mappings. In my case, I uploaded the binary in /data ...

Upgrading Aria Automation (formerly known as vRealize Automation, vRA) is crucial for maintaining the efficiency, security, and compatibility of your automation tasks. For environments without VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle, you can still perform the upgrade using the vracli command-line utility. If your environment does have Lifecycle Manager, I covered upgrading VMware Aria Automation to 8.18 through it in a separate guide. This blog post will guide you through the process of upgrading Aria Automation using two different methods: from a mounted ISO (CD-ROM) and from an online update repository URL. ...