The Optimize Now button provides no data during Workload Placement in Aria Operations

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

•  In Aria Operations, the Optimize Now button for Workload Placement does not display data when attempting to rebalance a cloud zone. This issue prevents the user from viewing or executing placement recommendations.
• The log file /storage/vcops/log/placement-############.log shows the below entries:

34285:2026-07-01T14:35:16,382+0000 INFO  [AsyncFunctionExecutor] com.vmware.vcops.wlp.helper.vsphere.VSpherePlacementDataConversionUtil.convertReportToRebalanceActions - Error status message: [The balance of the selected container cannot be improved.]
./placement-47218398-e006-4151-bb9a-ab8a4b8b251a.log:34286:2026-07-01T14:35:16,382+0000 INFO  [AsyncFunctionExecutor]

com.vmware.vcops.wlp.helper.vsphere.VSpherePlacementDataConversionUtil.convertReportToRebalanceActions - Failed move attempt summary: <block of values removed> failureReason=WHITE_LIST_VIOLATION,errorMessage=Destination cluster does not meet vRA requirement.]]

Environment

Aria Operations 8.18.x

Cause

This issue occurs when a cluster contains virtual machines that are not managed by Aria Automation (formerly vRealize Automation). The presence of non-managed VMs creates a conflict with the placement task, resulting in a WHITE_LIST_VIOLATION error in the logs.

Resolution

1. Identify virtual machines within the vSphere cluster that are not managed by Aria Automation.
2. Remove or migrate the non-managed virtual machines out of the targeted environment.
3. Select Optimize Now and retry the workload placement task.