Deployments fail with error Cannot deserialize instance of String out of START_ARRAY

Products

• VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• A deployment test or deployment fails with the following error:

  Cannot deserialize instance of `String` out of START_ARRAY

Environment

VMware vRealize Automation 8.x
VMware Aria Automation 8.x

Cause

An object on the Cloud Template is referenced with count but is linked to another object without using index.

Resolution

The product is working as intended. See the Workaround for additional information.

Workaround:
To resolve this issue, update the Cloud Template to reference the object using count referencing the index.

Example:
A Security Group is referenced with count in order to allow the User to select/de-select the assignment of the Security Group.
The VM network referring to the Security Group needs then to be updated with the primary index:

From:

          securityGroups:
            - '${resource.SecurityGroup.id}'

To:

          securityGroups:
            - '${resource.SecurityGroup[0].id}'