VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator in Practical Application

In automation, reusability is key—such as reapplying scripts across various use cases. VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator (formerly vRealize Orchestrator) provides “Actions” for this purpose. Our workshop focuses on typical scenarios that commonly arise in practice, such as running scripts on virtual machines, registering a VM in DNS, integrating with Active Directory, or automating other VMware products. In the first part, we’ll look at how to manage logging and error handling with VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator.

VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator is a powerful tool, equipped with many ready-made workflows while also allowing users to implement custom logic and call other interfaces and scripts. Using the Scriptable Task, you can implement custom logic through Bash, PowerShell, or batch scripts. For reusing scripts in multiple places, Aria Automation Orchestrator offers Actions, which are simple to implement. We’ll demonstrate this with an example that shows how to retrieve the number of vCPUs assigned to a VM.

To do this, go to the “Library / Actions” page in the Aria Automation Orchestrator GUI and create a new Action. Start by assigning a name. You’ll also need to create a module name, which is generated with the Action. Module names are structured similarly to Java package names: they start with the top-level domain and become more specific, such as “net.sclabs.vmware.vcenter.” The description field is optional. Next, navigate to the Script tab, where, as with workflows, you’ll need to define input and output variables.

Read the full article series for free on IT-Administrator.de: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Author

Dr. Guido Söldner

Managing Director

Guido Söldner is Managing Director and Principal Consultant at Söldner Consult. His areas of expertise include cloud infrastructure, automation and DevOps, Kubernetes, machine learning and enterprise programming with Spring.