Casa service is not starting in Aria Operations with error 'sudo: a password is required' and fails to load the Admin UI

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

In Aria Operations, when attempting to access the Admin UI, the following message is persistently displayed:

"VMware Aria Operations is not available. You will be redirected when the service is available. Log into the Admin UI to configure, check, or repair the cluster."

• To begin troubleshooting, check the status of the casa service using the command:
  service vmware-casa status
  
  
• If the service is not active, review the Casa service logs located at /storage/log/vcops/log/casa/casa.log

Look for the following error:
'sudo: a password is required'

Example from casa.log:
2025-04-25T12:20:29,119+0000  INFO  [localhost-startStop-1] support.subprocess.GeneralCommand:255 -
Command '/usr/bin/sudo -n /usr/lib/vmware-python-3/bin/python /usr/lib/vmware-vcopssuite/utilities/pakManager/bin/vcopsPakManager.py --action query_pak_env'
threw exception: CommandLineExitException: key=general.failure; args=1, sudo: a password is required

Environment

VMware Aria Operations 8.x

Cause

This issue can occur due to permission or content changes in the /etc/sudoers file.

Resolution

Note: Before proceeding, take snapshots of the Aria Operations nodes as described in Snapshot Creation in VMware Aria Operations

• Navigate to the /etc directory and compare the contents and permissions of the sudoers file with those from a working environment running the same version of Aria Operations.
• Add any missing content to the current /etc/sudoers file and correct the file permissions if necessary.
• After applying the changes, restart the casa and analytics services.