VMware Aria Automation 8.18.1 Cumulative Update #3

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

Update 3 provides various fixes to known issues in VMware Aria Automation and VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator.

The files can be downloaded from VMware Aria Automation 8.18.1 U3 and VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator 8.18.1 U3.

Environment

VMware Aria Automation 8.18.1

VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator 8.18.1

Resolution

VMware Aria Automation

Resolved Issues:

• AVI load balancer support - internal re-work
• Image/imageref custom property provided on onboarding plan is not reflecting on the machine
• DNS flooded with IPv6 requests for "contour" (take #2)
• Journal log flooded with errors "Failed to rotate log for container"
• Day-2 confirmation wizard validation glitch
• UI glitch when filtering on project - gets stuck on reload
• UI glitch in Monitor tab when  Monthly period is selected
• Storage Profile Patch API call not working in certain case
• Deployment UI loads slow in case of very large deployments
• Deployment Fails with error "Provisioning Operation Failed. No elements matching the input pattern found" in case of duplicate object names
• Workflow may start without clicking submit, when a second identical parameter is entered
• Updating Aria Automation deployments removes tags/labels from GCP
• LI agent updated to version 8.18.4
• Resolved OOM in case of XXL number of storage profiles used "No matching Placement. Error: No storage profiles are matching the disk requirement." error when using "Add Disk" day2 action on migrated deployments
• Relocation service crashing with OOM in specific scenario
• VA - consumed latest build of PhotonOS to resolve security vulnerabilities 

Automation Orchestrator

Resolved Issues:

• SAML Service Account Ephemeral certificate is not renewed in time.
• Scheduler not honouring time zone
• Login issues when configuring vRO Management Pack for Ops
• Orchestrator cluster inconsistency when using MSSQL plugin
• This update mitigates CVE-2025-48976

This patch is cumulative - it includes all fixes and updates from Update1 and Update2.

Known Issues

None.

 

Step 1: Important Pre-Patch Instructions

Before proceeding, you must complete the following prerequisites to ensure a successful patch process and prevent service interruptions.

• You must back up all VMware Aria Automation or Orchestrator appliances, at the same time simultaneously for all nodes.
  • If you are creating the snapshots manually, you must start the snapshots of the second and third node no more than 40 seconds after you start the snapshots for the first node.
    • If the quiesced state was not achieved for all 3 nodes within the ~40 seconds time frame, the following strings will be found in the logs: "Freeze synchronization failed" and "Sync failed, making inconsistent snapshot".
      • Run the following command from one of the nodes to filter for all vmtoolsd messages:
        journalctl --identifier=vmtoolsd
• When you back up the VMware Aria Automation or Orchestrator appliance, disable in-memory snapshots and enable quiescing.
• It is a best practice to verify the integrity of downloaded files, instructions on how to perform an integrity check can be found in this KB.

 

Step 2: Patch Installation

Option A : For VMware Aria Automation (managed by Aria Suite Lifecycle):

• The patch installation instructions are located in the official Aria Suite Lifecycle product documentation here.
• The vrlcm-vra-8.18.1-8.18.1.37000.patch file can be downloaded here.
• General instructions on how to download files from our Support Portal can be found here.
• API application instructions are located here.

 

Option B : For Standalone VMware Automation Orchestrator (managed or not managed by Aria Suite Lifecycle):

Prerequisites:

• • You are using a standalone instance of VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator 8.18.1
  • The latest *updaterepo.iso file can be downloaded here.
  • There is nothing else mounted in the CD-ROM of the Appliance(s).
  • You have root username and password and SSH access to the appliance(s).
  • Note: This process will require a short downtime for reboot when we run the upgrade.

Procedure:

1. 1. Log in to the Automation Orchestrator Appliance command line as root.
   2. Make a copy of the lcm upgrade profile:
      cp /etc/vmware-prelude/upgrade-lcm.conf  /etc/vmware-prelude/upgrade-lcm-b2b.conf
   3. Modify the /etc/vmware-prelude/upgrade-lcm-b2b.conf file by adding the following value:
      workflow.step.vami-postupdate.reboot.skip=false
   4. Mount the CD-ROM using mount /dev/xxx /mnt/cdrom
      mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom
   5. Run the upgrade in the command line with the new lcm profile:
      vracli upgrade exec -y --profile lcm-b2b --repo cdrom://

 

Review Installed Patch History:

1. To view the history of patches, click Patches > History.
   
2. Click on History.
   Note: Alternatively, the vracli version patch command may be used to validate that the patch is installed.
   Note: The product version and build numbers reported via the Aria Automation GUI will not change after installing any patches. Please use the steps below to validate the patch installation.
   1. Login to one of the Aria Automation appliances via an SSH session.
   2. Run the following command:
      vracli version patch
   3. Verify the patch installed matches the build number - 24862833.

Note: For Standalone Aria Automation Orchestrator the vracli version patch will not show any patch installed. The correct build if the patch is installed should reflect as 24840835, using vracli version.