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Getting Started

Welcome! This quick-start guide will walk you through validating your local environment, creating your first VMware Aria automation project, and deploying it to your server.

Step 1: Check Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure your workstation meets the following minimum requirements:

  • Java: 17 - 24
  • Node.js: 22
  • Maven: 3.9+

To easily validate if your system meets these prerequisites, run the following health-check script in your terminal:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vmware/build-tools-for-vmware-aria/main/health.sh | bash

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; Invoke-Expression ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vmware/build-tools-for-vmware-aria/main/health.ps1'))

Step 2: Configure Maven

You need to define your environment connection parameters in your local Maven configuration. Create or edit your settings.xml file located at:

  • Linux / MacOS: ~/.m2/settings.xml
  • Windows: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\.m2\settings.xml

Copy the configuration below that matches your target environment. Be sure to replace the placeholder values under the dev profile with your actual hostnames, credentials, and project/organization names.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.1.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.1.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.1.0.xsd">
    <profiles>
        <profile>
            <id>packaging</id>
            <properties>
                <keystoreGroupId>com.vmware.pscoe.build</keystoreGroupId>
                <keystoreArtifactId>keystore.example</keystoreArtifactId>
                <keystoreVersion>4.19.0</keystoreVersion>
                <vroPrivateKeyPem>target/${keystoreArtifactId}-${keystoreVersion}/private_key.pem</vroPrivateKeyPem>
                <vroCertificatePem>target/${keystoreArtifactId}-${keystoreVersion}/cert.pem</vroCertificatePem>
                <vroKeyPass>VMware1!</vroKeyPass>
            </properties>
        </profile>
        <profile>
            <id>dev</id>
            <properties>
                <vro.host>flt-auto01.corp.internal</vro.host>
                <vro.auth>vra</vro.auth>
                <vro.authHost>flt-auto01.corp.internal</vro.authHost>
                <vro.authPort>443</vro.authPort>
                <vro.port>443</vro.port>
                <vro.username>configurationadmin</vro.username>
                <vro.password>VMware1!VMware1!</vro.password>   

                <vrang.host>flt-auto01.corp.internal</vrang.host>
                <vrang.auth.host>flt-auto01.corp.internal</vrang.auth.host>
                <vrang.username>configurationadmin</vrang.username>
                <vrang.password>VMware1!VMware1!</vrang.password>
                <vrang.port>443</vrang.port>
                <vrang.project.name>Development</vrang.project.name>
                <vrang.org.name>vidm-l-01a</vrang.org.name>
                <vrang.import.timeout>6</vrang.import.timeout>

                <vrealize.ssl.ignore.hostname>true</vrealize.ssl.ignore.hostname>
                <vrealize.ssl.ignore.certificate>true</vrealize.ssl.ignore.certificate>
                <http.connection.timeout>10000000</http.connection.timeout>
            </properties>
        </profile>
    </profiles>
    <activeProfiles>
        <activeProfile>packaging</activeProfile>
    </activeProfiles>
</settings>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.1.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.1.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.1.0.xsd">
    <profiles>
        <profile>
            <id>packaging</id>
            <properties>
                <keystoreGroupId>com.vmware.pscoe.build</keystoreGroupId>
                <keystoreArtifactId>keystore.example</keystoreArtifactId>
                <keystoreVersion>4.19.0</keystoreVersion>
                <vroPrivateKeyPem>target/${keystoreArtifactId}-${keystoreVersion}/private_key.pem</vroPrivateKeyPem>
                <vroCertificatePem>target/${keystoreArtifactId}-${keystoreVersion}/cert.pem</vroCertificatePem>
                <vroKeyPass>VMware1!</vroKeyPass>
            </properties>
        </profile>
        <profile>
            <id>dev</id>
            <properties>
                <vro.host>flt-auto01.corp.internal</vro.host>
                <vro.auth>vra</vro.auth>
                <vro.authHost>flt-auto01.corp.internal</vro.authHost>
                <vro.authPort>443</vro.authPort>
                <vro.port>443</vro.port>
                <vro.username>admin@System</vro.username>
                <vro.password>VMware1!VMware1!</vro.password>   

                <vrang.host>flt-auto01.corp.internal</vrang.host>
                <vrang.auth.host>flt-auto01.corp.internal</vrang.auth.host>
                <vrang.username>admin@System</vrang.username>
                <vrang.password>VMware1!VMware1!</vrang.password>
                <vrang.port>443</vrang.port>
                <vrang.project.name>Development</vrang.project.name>
                <vrang.org.name>vm-apps</vrang.org.name>
                <vrang.import.timeout>6</vrang.import.timeout>

                <vrealize.ssl.ignore.hostname>true</vrealize.ssl.ignore.hostname>
                <vrealize.ssl.ignore.certificate>true</vrealize.ssl.ignore.certificate>
                <http.connection.timeout>10000000</http.connection.timeout>
            </properties>
        </profile>
    </profiles>
    <activeProfiles>
        <activeProfile>packaging</activeProfile>
    </activeProfiles>
</settings>

VCF 9 Authentication

For VCF 9, you must provide your username in the username@domain format. The domain may be the same as the Organization name (if authenticating via an organization admin) or different (e.g., admin@System if authenticating as a provider admin on behalf of an organization).

Enterprise Repositories

The configurations above assume direct access to Maven Central. If your organization uses a mirror repository (like Artifactory or Nexus), you will need additional configurations. Refer to the settings.xml example in the Minimal Infrastructure Template.

Step 3: Create a New Project

To scaffold your first project, run the following Maven Archetype command. This example creates a mixed project (containing both JavaScript actions and XML content):

mvn archetype:generate \
    -DinteractiveMode=false \
    -DarchetypeGroupId=com.vmware.pscoe.o11n.archetypes \
    -DarchetypeArtifactId=package-mixed-archetype \
    -DarchetypeVersion= \
    -DgroupId=com.company.bu \
    -DartifactId=hello-world \
    -DworkflowsPath=hello-world/workflows

This generates a project structure with two submodules: 1. actions: Handles Orchestrator Actions as local JavaScript files. 2. workflows (XML-based): Handles other Orchestrator content like Workflows and Configuration Elements.

Step 4: Deploy Content (Push)

To deploy your newly created project to your target environment, navigate to the root of your project directory and execute:

mvn clean package vrealize:push -Pdev

Step 5: Export Content (Pull)

When you make changes directly in the Orchestrator UI, you can pull those changes back into your local project.

Pulling Actions

To export Actions as JavaScript files:

  1. Navigate to Orchestrator UI -> Assets -> Packages.
  2. Open the com.bu.hello-world.actions-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT package.
  3. Add your modified Action(s) to the package and click Save.
  4. Run the following command locally: 
    mvn vro:pull -Pdev -pl actions

Pulling Other Content (Workflows, Configs, etc.)

To export Workflows, Configuration Elements, Resource Elements, and Policy Templates as XML files:

  1. Navigate to Orchestrator UI -> Assets -> Packages.
  2. Open the com.bu.hello-world-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT package.
  3. Add the content to the package and click Save.
  4. Run the following command locally: 
    mvn vro:pull -Pdev -pl workflows
    (Note: Append -Dvro.packageExportConfigurationAttributeValues=true to the command if you also want to pull Configuration Element attribute values).

Step 6: Create an Installation Bundle

You can package your project, its dependencies, and a deployment script into a single distributable bundle.

From the project root, run:

mvn clean package -Pbundle-with-installer

This generates a .zip file under /workflows/target/com.bu.hello-world-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT-local-bundle.zip.

Deploying from the Bundle

  1. Extract the .zip file.
  2. Navigate into the extracted com.bu.hello-world-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT-local-bundle folder.

  3. Execute the installer script (you will be prompted to provide required data):

    ./bin/installer

    bin\installer.bat

Unattended Installation

To bypass the manual prompts, you can create an environment.properties file inside the /bin folder:

http_connection_timeout=360
http_socket_timeout=360
ignore_ssl_certificate_verification=true
ignore_ssl_host_verification=true
skip_vro_import_old_versions=true
vrang_auth_with_refresh_token=false
vrang_host=flt-auto01.corp.internal
vrang_password=VMware1!VMware1!
vrang_port=443
vrang_username=configurationadmin
vrealize_ssh_timeout=300
vro_delete_old_versions=false
vro_embedded=true
vro_enable_backup=false
vro_force_import_latest_versions=false
vro_import_configuration_attribute_values=false
vro_import_configuration_secure_attribute_values=false
vro_import_old_versions=false
vro_import_packages=true
vro_run_workflow=false

http_connection_timeout=360
http_socket_timeout=360
ignore_ssl_certificate_verification=true
ignore_ssl_host_verification=true
skip_vro_import_old_versions=true
vrang_auth_with_refresh_token=false
vrang_host=flt-auto01.corp.internal
vrang_password=VMware1!VMware1!
vrang_port=443
vrang_username=admin@System
vrealize_ssh_timeout=300
vro_delete_old_versions=false
vro_embedded=true
vro_enable_backup=false
vro_force_import_latest_versions=false
vro_import_configuration_attribute_values=false
vro_import_configuration_secure_attribute_values=false
vro_import_old_versions=false
vro_import_packages=true
vro_run_workflow=false

Then, pass the file to the script:

./bin/installer ./bin/environment.properties

bin\installer.bat bin\environment.properties

For more advanced options, refer to the Installer Documentation.