Install and Configure Aria Operations for Logs Agent on vCenter Server for cfapi with SSL

Products

• VMware vRealize Log Insight 8.x

Issue/Introduction

This article introduces how to install and configure Aria Operations for Logs Agent on vCenter Server for cfapi with SSL.

Resolution

Download/Install RPM package:

• Access "https://<Aria Operations for Logs IP or FQDN>/admin/agents", click "Download VMware Aria Operations for Logs Agent version 8.x" button then select "Linux RPM (32-bit/64-bit)" file to download;
• Upload the RPM file to vCenter Server;
• Login vCenter Server with SSH, input command "rpm -ivh <Aria Operations for Logs Agent RPM file>" to install Aria Operations for Logs agent on vCenter Server;

Download Certificate from Aria Operations for Logs on vCenter Server:

• Login vCenter Server with SSH;
• Input command below to save Aria Operations for Logs certificate to vCenter Server;
  
  openssl s_client -showcerts -servername <Aria Operations for Logs Address or Hostname> -connect <Aria Operations for Logs Address or Hostname>:9543 2>/dev/null </dev/null |  sed -ne '/-BEGIN CERTIFICATE-/,/-END CERTIFICATE-/p' > /etc/ssl/certs/aria-ops-logs.pem

Copy Agent Configuration for log forwarding:

• Access https://<Aria Operations for Logs IP or FQDN>/contentpack?contentPackId=com.vmware.vsphere
• Click "Agent Groups" menu and find the group name according to actual vCenter Server version, for exapmle: "vSphere 7.0 - vCenter (Linux)"
• Copy all content in "Configuration" to a file (e.g. AgentConfiguration.txt) for later use.

Configure Aria Operations for Logs Agent on vCenter Server (All commands in this chapter are executed on vCenter Server):

• Stop Aria Operations for Logs Agent:
  
  systemctl stop liagentd.service


• Backup/Edit Aria Operations for Logs Agent configuration file:
  
  cp /etc/liagent.ini /etc/liagent.ini.bak
vi /etc/liagent.ini
  
  
• In /etc/liagent.ini, make sure parameters are configured as below:
  
  hostname=<Aria Operations for Logs IP or Hostname>
proto=cfapi
port=9543
ssl=yes
ssl_ca_path=/etc/ssl/certs/aria-ops-logs.pem
  
  
• Paste all content in "AgentConfiguration.txt" into /etc/liagent.ini. You can also remove those part that doesn't need to be forwarded to Aria Operations for Logs
• Save then quit the file /etc/liagent.ini.
• Start Aria Operations for Logs Agent:
  
  systemctl start liagentd.service

With all configuration above done, vCenter Server can forward log to Aria Operations for Logs as the picture below with link "https://<Aria Operations for Logs>/admin/agents":