In this guide i will go over the deployment of Aria Automation 8.16 using the Easy Installer. The reason i like the Easy Installer is because it deploys everything that I need: Identity Manager, Aria Suite Lifecycle as well as Aria Automation.

To get started we need to download the installer from here.

Once downloaded mount the iso as a drive using your favorite tool or extract it as a archive using something like 7-zip

Once mounted go to the CDROM in the vrlcm-ui-installer\Mac directory if on mac or vrlcm-ui-installer\win32 if you are on windows. In here run the installer file

We will be presented with the following window:

The image shows the VMware Aria Easy Installer for VMware Aria Automation and vIDM, with an “Install” button and a brief description.

Once we click Install we will be presented with an Introduction of what components will be included part on the installation. In my case i can see Aria Automation 8.16, Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.14, Identity Manager 3.3.7.

The image shows the Introduction step of the VMware Aria Easy Installer for Aria Automation 8.16 and Suite Lifecycle 8.14.

Click Next, Review, accept the agreement and click next

The image shows the “End User License Agreement” step in the VMware Aria Easy Installer wizard.

Provide the vCenter details and click next. In my case i used the administrator account. A detailed list of permissions needed for deployment can be found here

The image shows the “Appliance Deployment Target” step in the VMware Aria Easy Installer, requiring vCenter details for deployment.

Sections 4, 5, 6 and 7 are straight forward so i will skip them

Select a location for deploying virtual appliances in vRealize Easy Installer.

In section 8 select a password that will be used across all products for the local usernames. ex for LCM root and local admin, vIDM admin, sshuser, root etc

Password configuration step in VMware Aria Easy Installer for Aria Automation.

Select a VM name for the Lifecycle Manager appliance and its ip. If you are expecting a large repository in lifecycle manager we can add additional disk under the Increase Disk Size in GB section.

The FIPS Mode compliance option enforces FIPS compliance, however keep in mind that with the FIPS mode enabled there are limitation on what the product can do. This can be disabled later and re enabled as needed.

Complete the fields and click next

Configure VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle settings, then click Next.

The next portion is vIDM. In case there is an existing vIDM appliance in the environment we can also import and existing vIDM appliance. In my case i will deploy a new one.

One important option under vIDM is the Sync Group Members to the Directory When Adding Group. When enabled, members of the groups are synced when groups are added from Active Directory. When this is disabled, group names are synced to the directory, but members of the group are not synced until the group is entitled to an application or the group name is added to an access policy. Note: Post deployment this value cannot be changed from vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. To update this field post deployment, navigate to VMware Identity Manager

My configuration page looks like this:

The image shows the Identity Manager Configuration step in the VMware Aria Easy Installer for Aria Automation and vIDM.

The next section is the vRA Configuration. In here we have a couple of options. We can perform a standard 1 node deployment or a cluster deployment which includes 3 appliances. The FIPS Compliance mode enables FIPS compliance. Unlike LCM this mode cannot be disabled after the deployment. This disables a number of options in vRA from an LCM perspective. Please make sure that its only enabled if required.

The image shows the VMware Aria Automation Configuration step in the Easy Installer wizard, with options for deployment type, environment name, license key, and FIPS compliance.

The advanced configuration at the bottom of the page includes the option to change the internal Kubernetes cluster and Service ip range. This is useful if the default range is already in use on the internal network. We want to make sure we pick an ip range thats not used somewhere else in order to avoid routing issues. Once complete click next

The next page gives us a summary of our deployment and we can click submit to start the deployment.

The summary page shows deployment details for VMware Aria Automation 8.16, including vCenter server, datacenter, and network settings.

Next we are presented with the installation process. We can follow it along, in my environment the full deployment took about 1.5 hrs

Installing VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle in progress.

After the install is complete we are presented to links for the different services

Installation process shows links for VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle, vIDM, and Automation UIs.

Next i would recommend LCM certificate management found here