Aria Automation Web UI Inaccessible and Best Practices for Migrating Configurations to a Greenfield 8.x Environment

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

The primary objective in this scenario is to recover the source environment to use it as a reference point for exporting data—such as Projects, Cloud Templates, Cloud Accounts, and Cloud Zones—and importing it into a newly deployed "greenfield" Aria Automation 8.18 instance.

Note on Migration: A common misconception is that a tool exists to automatically export/import between 8.x environments. While a Migration Assistant exists for migrating legacy 7.x environments to 8.x, there is no native bulk export/import utility for migrating from one 8.x environment to another 8.x environment.

Environment

VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

 

• Source: VMware Aria Automation 8.16

• Destination: VMware Aria Automation 8.18 (Greenfield Deployment)

 

Cause

Aria Automation 8.x does not support a "lift-and-shift" database migration between discrete standalone instances. Infrastructure constructs (like Cloud Zones and Network Profiles) must be manually recreated, as moving from source 8.x to the latest 8.18 requires a manual transition of infrastructure configuration.

Resolution

Manually recreate the logical boundaries and extract the raw code for your new 8.18 deployment. Follow this sequence:

• Infrastructure Configuration:

  • Manually document (or take screenshots of) your Cloud Account Endpoints, Cloud Zones, Projects, Image Mappings, Flavor Mappings, Network Profiles, and Storage Profiles

  • Recreate these foundational constructs manually in the 8.18 Infrastructure tab.

• vRO Workflows (Aria Automation Orchestrator):

  • Log into the Aria Automation Orchestrator (vRO) client on the 8.x source environment.

  • Package your custom workflows, actions, and configurations.

  • Export them as a .package file.

  • Import that .package file into the 8.18 vRO instance.

• Cloud Templates:

  • Open each template in the 8.x Aria Automation Design canvas.

  • Copy the raw YAML code.

  • Create new templates in the 8.18 environment and paste the copied YAML code into the new design canvas.

By following this sequence, you ensure that the foundational infrastructure is in place on the new 8.18 environment before the Cloud Templates and vRO workflows attempt to reference them.