While trying to remove a vCenter defined as an Aria Suite Lifecycle Datacenter the following error occurs "The following environments are associated with the vCenter. Hence the vCenter cannot be deleted"

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to remove a vCenter Server endpoint from VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle, the action fails with the following error message:

The following environments are associated with the vCenter. Hence the vCenter cannot be deleted.

Environment

VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.x

Cause

This issue is caused by residual configuration entries that still reference the old vCenter Server. While the primary vCenter endpoint for the deployed Aria Suite products has been correctly updated, these underlying references were not changed.

This inconsistency can occur even after the Aria Suite virtual machines have been successfully migrated and an inventory sync in Aria Suite Lifecycle correctly reflects their new location under the new vCenter.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must remove all environments associated with the old vCenter from VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle and then add them back under the new vCenter.

Warning: This procedure requires deleting and re-importing environments. Perform these steps during a maintenance window.

Part 1: Remove Environments and the Old vCenter

1. Backup Aria Suite Lifecycle: Before proceeding, take a snapshot of the VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle appliance. It is also recommended to export the configuration of each environment as a JSON file.
2. Trigger Inventory Sync: In Aria Suite Lifecycle, trigger an inventory sync for all managed products to ensure the configuration is up to date.
3. Delete Environments from Lifecycle Management:
   Navigate to Lifecycle Operations > Environments. For each environment associated with the old vCenter, including the globalenvironment, you must delete it from Aria Suite Lifecycle's management.
   • When prompted, ensure you ONLY check the option to "Delete environment from VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle".
   • DO NOT select the option to delete the virtual machines from vSphere.
4. Delete the vCenter Endpoint: Once all associated environments are removed, navigate to Lifecycle Operations > Data Centers and delete the old vCenter Server endpoint by following the steps in the Official documentation.

Part 2: Add New vCenter and Re-import Environments

1. Add the new vCenter: If you haven't already, add the new vCenter Server to the Data Center in Aria Suite Lifecycle.
2. Discover and Import Environments:
   Navigate to Lifecycle Operations > Environments and begin the import process.
   • First, discover and import the globalenvironment (VMware Identity Manager).
   • After the globalenvironment is successfully managed, import the remaining VMware Aria Suite products.
   • Refer to the official documentation for detailed steps: Import an Existing Environment.