Cannot access the appliance through CNAME or hostname

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

After configuring a CNAME DNS record for the Aria Automation appliance, you are unable to access the UI using the CNAME. This can happen if the CNAME is in a different domain than the appliance hostname or if the CNAME was not correctly registered with the system.

Environment

All supported Aria Automation versions

Cause

This issue has two primary causes:

• Configuration Not Supported: The CNAME FQDN is in a different domain than the appliance hostname. This is not a supported configuration.
• Missing Registration: The CNAME was created in DNS, but the vracli vro authentication set command was not run using the -FQDN switch. The system is unaware of the CNAME alias and will reject access.
• Certificate Mismatch: The certificate applied to the appliance does not include the CNAME FQDN in the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) field.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must ensure all prerequisites are met and then run the registration command.

• Verify Domain: Confirm the CNAME FQDN is in the same domain as the appliance's original hostname. If it is not, you must create a new CNAME in the correct domain.
• Verify Certificate: Check the appliance's certificate to ensure the CNAME is listed as a Subject Alternative Name (SAN). If it is missing, you must apply a new certificate that includes both the hostname and the CNAME.
• Register CNAME: Once the domain and certificate are correct, run the following command to register the CNAME with Aria Automation:

vracli vro authentication set -p vsphere -hn <vCenter FQDN> -u [email protected] --tenant vsphere.local --admin-group Administrators --admin-group-domain vsphere.local --fqdn <cname FQDN>