Compatibility and Support Policy for VMware Aria Operations on Proxmox and Third-Party Hypervisors
Article ID: 425448
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
Customers may inquire whether migrating the VMware Aria Operations (formerly vRealize Operations) virtual appliance or Cloud Proxy from a VMware vSphere environment to a third-party hypervisor, such as Proxmox VE (KVM), is a supported configuration. This article clarifies the official support stance from Broadcom regarding the hosting of Aria Operations components on non-VMware platforms.
Environment
-
Product: VCF Operations / VMware Aria Operations (All Versions)
-
Appliance Type: Analytics Nodes, Witness Nodes, Cloud Proxies
-
Source Hypervisor: VMware ESXi
-
Target Hypervisor: Proxmox VE, KVM, Nutanix AHV, Microsoft Hyper-V
Cause
Broadcom provides VMware Aria Operations as a hardened, pre-configured Virtual Appliance (OVA). This appliance is engineered, tested, and certified specifically for the VMware vSphere stack. Moving the appliance to a third-party hypervisor alters the underlying hardware abstraction layer, which the software is not designed to handle.
Resolution
Running the VMware Aria Operations virtual appliance on Proxmox VE or any other third-party hypervisor is not supported.
To maintain a supported status and ensure operational stability, the following requirements must be met:
1. Supported Hosting Platforms
The VMware Aria Operations virtual appliance and Cloud Proxy must be deployed on hosts running:
-
Managed by VMware vCenter Server 6.5 or later.
Note: If you are currently on ESXi 6.0 or older, you must upgrade your vCenter and ESXi to version 6.5 U1+ before migrating or upgrading to recent versions like Aria Operations 8.18.x.
2. Technical Risks of Unsupported Platforms
While technical workarounds may allow the appliance to boot on Proxmox (KVM), Broadcom does not support this due to:
-
Support Eligibility: Global Support Services (GSS) may request that any reported issue (performance, database latency, or stability) be reproduced on a supported vSphere environment before providing assistance.
-
Upgrade Risks: Aria "Upgrade Paks" contain kernel updates and drivers specific to VMware virtual hardware. Applying these on Proxmox can lead to irreversible filesystem corruption or kernel panics.
-
Integration Failures: The appliance relies on VMware Tools for lifecycle management, quiescent snapshots, and internal health monitoring. These features do not function correctly on non-VMware hypervisors.
Additional Information
Additional Information
For detailed system requirements and the latest interoperability data, please refer to the following official Broadcom documentation:
Feedback
