Aria Automation Windows VM Deployment Fails During Ansible Playbook Execution

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

• When deploying a Windows virtual machine from Aria Automation, the deployment fails while creating the Ansible resource. The virtual machine provisions successfully in vCenter Server and network resources are assigned, but the deployment fails during the Ansible Job Template execution.
• The following error is observed in the vRA UI upon deployment failure:

  PLAY RECAP ********************************************************************* ESC[0;31m<HOSTNAME>ESC[0m : ok=0 changed=0 unreachable=0 ESC[0;31mfailed=1 ESC[0m skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0

• The following sequence of events under /services-logs/prelude/terraform-service-app/console-logs/blueprint-provider-executor.log confirms a functional failure within the playbook logic or the target OS customization phase where Ansible task encounters a fatal error during execution on the guest virtual machine.

  •  Aria Automation successfully issues a request to Ansible Tower to launch the Job Template against the target host. The system registers the job ID and marks the execution state as in progress.

    2026-03-25T05:10:31.968Z INFO blueprint-agent [host=terraform-service-app-#########-##### thread=pool-2-thread-63 user='UserID' org='' trace='' deployment='########-####-####-############'] c.v.t.p.a.t.gateway.AnsibleTowerGateway - Launched job_template [Template-name] on host [hostname]. Job id: [Job-id]
    2026-03-25T05:10:31.968Z INFO blueprint-agent [host=terraform-service-app-#########-##### thread=pool-2-thread-63 user='UserID' org='' trace='' deployment='########-####-####-############'] c.v.t.p.a.t.service.AnsibleTowerService - JOB template launched: [Template-name]. [Index:0]
    2026-03-25T05:10:31.969Z INFO blueprint-agent [host=terraform-service-app-#########-##### thread=pool-2-thread-63 user='UserID' org='' trace='' deployment='########-####-####-############'] c.v.t.p.a.t.t.r.AnsibleTowerOperationHandler - Template execution in progress: Template-name
     

  • The blueprint agent polls the Ansible Tower API and verifies the job is actively executing

    2026-03-25T05:11:02.109Z INFO blueprint-agent [host=terraform-service-app-#########-##### thread=pool-2-thread-63 user='UserID' org='' trace='' deployment='########-####-####-############'] c.v.t.p.a.t.gateway.AnsibleTowerGateway - Retrieved job summary for job id [Job-id]. Status: [running], Failed: [false]
    2026-03-25T05:11:02.109Z INFO blueprint-agent [host=terraform-service-app-#########-##### thread=pool-2-thread-63 user='UserID' org='' trace='' deployment='########-####-####-############'] c.v.t.p.a.t.service.AnsibleTowerService - job_id: [Job-id], status: [running]
     

  • Aria Automation detects that the job has transitioned to a terminal failure state (Status: [failed]). The system records a non-connection failure.

    INFO blueprint-agent [host=<HOSTNAME> thread=pool-2-thread-63 user='<User-ID>' org='' trace='' deployment='########-####-####-############'] c.v.t.p.a.t.service.AnsibleTowerService - Job template 'Template-name' failed with non-connection failure
    WARN blueprint-agent [host=<HOSTNAME> thread=pool-2-thread-63 user='<USer-ID>' org='' trace='' deployment='########-####-####-############'] c.v.t.p.a.t.service.AnsibleTowerService - Host 'null' not found in inventory; considering that it is already removed

 

Environment

VMware Aria Automation 8.x

Cause

The issue is typically caused by a failure within the Ansible playbook execution on the target Windows virtual machine. This can occur due to:

• Errors in playbook logic or task execution
• Misconfiguration in Ansible Tower job templates
• Target host not being properly prepared for Ansible communication

Additionally, one common root cause is a race condition where Aria Automation initiates the Ansible job before vCenter Guest OS customization is fully completed. As a result, the Windows VM may not be ready to accept WinRM/SSH connections, leading to playbook execution failure. Refer KB 419606 for more information.

Resolution

• Review the Ansible Job Template logs in Ansible Tower to identify the exact task failure.
• Validate playbook syntax, roles, and task execution logic.
• Ensure WinRM (for Windows) or SSH connectivity is properly configured and accessible.
• Confirm that the target VM is fully customized and reachable before Ansible execution begins.
• Introduce appropriate delays or dependency checks in the blueprint to ensure guest OS readiness prior to triggering Ansible tasks.

Additional Information

Ansible Automation Platform Fails to Connect to a new vm deployed by Aria Automation Due to Race Condition with vCenter Guest Customization