We have been requested interally many times on how we can deploy VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator without VMware Aria Automation.
There are still many customers who have first started using Automation Orchestrator and end up with Automation Orchestrator as their main automation engine.
For them it was really difficult visualize Automation and Automation Orchestrator is the only way to deploy via Suite Lifecycle.
Now, we got this sorted out. This is really a happy moment for us to share with you, that you can deploy Automation Orchestrator ...with Automation ...using Suite Lifecycle and can do complete Lifecycle management..as any other Suite Lifecycle integrated product
In this example , i have following versions being deployed.
VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.12
VMware Aria Orchestrator 8.12I'll be creating a new environment to install product "VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator 8.12 with vSphere Authentication"
Agree EULA
Select appropriate certificate created for this installation
Select appropriate infrastructure configuration for this installation
Input appropriate network details
Just before i go to the next screen , i'd like to state that there's a AD group which was created to be used during vSphere Authentication during Automation Orchestrator deployment. This is the admin group.
Now , going ahead with the Suite Lifecycle product creation flow and entering required information of the product
Prechecks in progress and everything is successful
Review and Submit the request
Request is now submitted and deployment is in progress
Appliances deployment on vCenter
Request in progress and after 43 minutes it completes the deployment of the VMware Aria Automation Cluster version 8.12
Exploring environment details
As we can see in the screenshot below
Authentication Type is set to vSphere, as we deployed a vSphere authentication based VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator cluster 
On the load balancer end , you can see the pool is up
Accessing the cluster with it's VIP works.
One cannot access VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator page per node basis you would get a 404 not found exception.
Behind the Scenes
Different Phases of VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator 8.12 through Suite Lifecycle are documented below
Stage 1 -- Check Product Pre-requisites
Stage 2 -- Install VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
node01
a. Start
b. VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Deployment
c. VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Binary Validation
d. Validate Deploy Inputs
e. Deploy OVF
f. Power On Virtual Machine
g. Check Guest Tools Status
h. Check Hostname / IP
i. Check first boot completion of VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
j. Sync password for VMware Aria Orchestrator
k. Health Check for VMware Aria Orchestrator
l. Final
node02
a. Start
b. VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Deployment
c. VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Binary Validation
d. Validate Deploy Inputs
e. Deploy OVF
f. Power On Virtual Machine
g. Check Guest Tools Status
h. Check Hostname / IP
i. Check first boot completion of VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
j. Sync password for VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
k. Health Check for VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
l. Final
node03
a. Start
b. VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Deployment
c. VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Binary Validation
d. Validate Deploy Inputs
e. Deploy OVF
f. Power On Virtual Machine
g. Check Guest Tools Status
h. Check Hostname / IP
i. Check first boot completion of VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
j. Sync password for VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
k. Health Check for VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
l. Final
Stage:3 -- Configure Telemetry for VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
a. Start
b. Configure Telemetry for VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
c. Finish
Stage:4 -- Install Certificate on VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
a. Start
b. Initiate Certificate on VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
c. Install Certificate on VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
d. Health Check for VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
e. Final
Stage:5 -- Configure Load Balancer
a. Start
b. Start VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Deployment
c. Configure Load Balancer
d. Final
Step:6 -- Configuring Secondary VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
a. Start
b. Start VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Deployment
c. Start joining VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator secondary node to primary node
d. Final
Step:7 -- Configuring Secondary VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
a. Start
b. Start VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Deployment
c. Start joining VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator secondary node to primary node
d. Final
Step:8 -- Configuring VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Cluster
a. Start
b. Start VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Cluster Deployment
c. Start joining VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator cluster deployment
d. Final
Step:9 -- vSphere Authentication on VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator Cluster
a. Start
b. Fetch Configuration ID
c. Configure vSphere Authentication on VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
d. Check if admin group is valid for given vSphere
e. Configure vSphere Admin group on VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
f. Persist vSphere Authentication on VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
g. Final
Step:10 -- VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator SDDC manager watermark configuration
a. Start
b. VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator SDDC manager watermark configuration
c. Final
Step:11 -- Update Environment Details
a. Start
b. Create Environment Inventory Update
c. Final
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