Deploying VMware Aria Operations for Networks through VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle is easy
VMware Aria provides the IT Managers or Cloud admin resources to focus on business-critical initiatives, while improving time to value (TTV), reliability and consistency.
VMware’s Aria Suite of Products are great, they provide lot’s of feature and capabilities.
Supported Products:
VMware Aria Automation
VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator
VMware Aria Automation Automation Config
VMware Aria Operations
VMware Aria Operations for Logs
VMware Aria Operations for Networks
Let's begin this blog where we describe installation of VMware Aria Operations for Networks
We begin with "Create Environment" where we give
Environment Name
Description
Choose the "Default Password," which will be automatically highlighted in the product pane for customer convenience, especially for those who prefer not to maintain separate passwords for individual accounts within the product.
Datacenter would be the location where you would like to provision the product. If a Datacenter has multiple vCenters you can choose one in the infrastructure pane later
If you have deployed vRNI previoulsly and want to use the json exported before in this deployment request you can toggle the button
Select the product you would like to install. In this example, we will select "VMware Aria Operations for Networks"
Accept "EULA" , End User License Agreement
From VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.16.0 onwards, products can be deployed in evaluation mode. So there is no mandatory rule to select a license here. That's why you see "NEXT" option enabled even a license is not mapped.
Select the certificate needed for the product
Key in all the Infrastructure detail in this pane.
vCenter where you would like to deploy to
Based on the selection of vCenter, select the cluster you would like to deploy to
Select the folder and resource pool
Select "Network"
Select "Datastore"
Select "Disk Mode"
Togggle the button, if you woild like to integrate the product being deployed to VMware Identity Manager
If you have uploaded the ova to Conent Libarary and would like to use it for deployment, toggle the other option, if not proceed
Enter appropriate network information in the next pane
Domain Name
Domain Search Path
DNS Servers
Time Sync Mode
NTP Servers
Here comes the Product Pane
Selec the FIPS compliance mode
You have already selected certificate before. If you would like to select / change to the new one , you can very well do it here
If you would like to create an Affinity / Anti-Affinity rule do so
Product Password is already selected to "Default Password" before. If you would like to change you may do it here
Check or Uncheck the box if you would like to integrate with VMware Identity Manager
Select NTP Servers , if you wanna change anything here
Then enter details for components
Enter Platform Details
IP Address
Display Name
Node Size
Enter Collector Details
IP Address
Display Name
Node Size
Click on next to perform a Pre-Check
It performs checks for
Data Validation
Infrastructure Validation
VMware Aria Operations for Networks Validations
Let's say there is a problem, then you would like to fix and then go ahead with the deployment.
Remember, you cannot proceed if the pre-check has failures
Once all checks are passed , go ahead and click on next to review summary and then deploy the product
Now the product is deployed
There are different stages which takes place during product deployment
If we go through each stages
Check Prerequisites
Deploys Platform Node
Start
VMware Aria Operations for Networks Deployment
Validate Deploy Inputs
Deploy OVF
Power On VM
Guest Tools Status check
Hostname/IP status check
VMware Aria Operations for Networks Post Install Check
Check Deployment Status
Check Services status
Check Reconfiguration status
VMware Aria Operations for Networks Init License
VMware Aria Operations for Networks Platform License
Get License VMware Aria Operations
Activate Telemetry Config
VMware Aria Operations for Networks Certificate Init
Apply VMware Aria Operations for Networks Certificate
Change VMware Aria Operations for Networks Password
Check VIDM Registered
Register VMware Aria Operations for Networks O-Auth client
Configure VIDM details
Create VIDM user
Create VMware Aria Operations for Networks app catalog
VIDM Create Web Link App
Finish
Deploys others platform nodes and collectors
VMware Aria Operations for Networks Create Cluster
VMware Aria Operations for Networks collect FQDN
Update environment details
Schedule Notifications
Toggle fips mode of VMware Aria Operations for Networks
Let's explore Day-2 Actions which are available on the product once deployed
Action | Description |
Change Admin Password | Provides ability to change password for local account in VMware Aria Operations for Networks called "admin@local" |
Vertical Scale Up | Provides ability to change sizing of the cluster. Selec the nodes which are part of the cluster , select the sizing and some advance settings as needed and submit the request to scale up. |
Trigger Inventory Sync | Fetches latest data of the product and updates Suite Lifecycle's inventory. Recomended during Upgrades , Patches, Vertical Scale-up and Licensing changes |
Replace Certificate | Replaces Certificate on the Product |
Logs | Generate& Download log bundles |
Add Data Sources | Ability to add data sources in VMware Aria Operations for Networks |
Snapshot | Take snapshot on the whole cluster |
Patches | Install Patches when released by the product team. Check the history as well |
Power Off | Powers Off VMware Operations for Networks product in a systematic manner |
Power On | Powers On VMware Operations for Networks product in a systematic manner |
Toggle FIPS mode compliance | Change FIPS mode on and off on the product |
Change Data Sources Password | This is specific to VMware Aria Operations for Networks. Suite Lifecycle provides ability to change the data sources password |
Add License | Provides ability to change license |
View Compatiblity Matrix | Check Interop between all VMware Aria Products |
Delete Product | Remove the deployed product from VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle's environment |
Update NTP | Updates NTP configuration on the product |
Configure Networks Management Pack | If a management pack for VMware Aria Operations for Networks is dowloaded from Marketplace then it can be installed using this option |
Re-Trust with VMware Identity Manager | Fetches VMware Identity Manager certificate and then ensure it's updated in the product |
Re-register with VMware Identity Manager | Perform re-registration of the product, incase there is a broken integration |
Add Components allows you to add more nodes to an existing cluster of VMware Aria Operations for Netowrks
In the product's pane you can add addiitonal platform and collector nodes as per guidelines
Hope you have got clarity on what options VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle provides for VMware Aria Operations for Networks