You can configure an Automation Config integration to access the Automation Config service and use Automation Config objects and actions in VMware Aria Automation.

With VMware Aria Automation Config, you can provision, configure, and deploy software to your virtual machines at any scale using event-driven automation. You can also use Automation Config to define and enforce optimal, compliant software states across your entire environment.

You can only integrate an on-premises instance of Automation Config with an on-premises instance of VMware Aria Automation. Integrating an on-premises instance of Automation Config with a SaaS instance of VMware Aria Automation is unsupported.

Installation

Before integrating Automation Config with VMware Aria Automation, you must first install it in your environment. See Installing and Configuring Automation Config for more information.

Considerations

Integrated Automation Config is available for VMware Aria Automation with the following conditions:

  • The Automation Config integration is associated to a specific host during installation.

  • Only one Automation Config integration is available per organization.

  • The VMware Aria Automation tenant can support many Salt masters. Salt masters can support multiple minions.

  • Before you can delete an Automation Config integration in VMware Aria Automation, you must delete any existing deployments that use the Automation Config integration.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that you have VMware Aria Automation administrator credentials and Automation Config administrator credentials (root level access).

    You need VMware Aria Automation administrator credentials and Automation Config administrator credentials (root level access) to create an Automation Config integration.

    You also need Automation Config administrator credentials to open and work in the Automation Config service itself.

    You use VMware Aria Automation credentials to access VMware Aria Automation and Automation Config credentials to access Automation Config.

    For information about Automation Config administrator credentials, see the Installing and Configuring Automation Config guide.

  • Verify that the Salt master you are using with the Automation Config integration contains the Master Plugin. See Install and configure the Master Plugin for more information.

  • Verify that you have the Automation Config service administrator role in VMware Aria Automation. See What are the VMware Aria Automation user roles.

  • Verify that you have the Automation Assembler service administrator role in VMware Aria Automation. See Organization and service user roles in VMware Aria Automation.

  • Verify that you have configured a running environment for the Automation Config integration.

Configure the Automation Config integration in VMware Aria Automation

After you install Automation Config for VMware Aria Automation, you can configure the integration in Automation Assembler.

  1. In Automation Assembler, select Infrastructure > Connections > Integrations, and click Add Integration.
  2. Select the Automation Config integration type.
  3. Complete the form.

    Form to create a new integration in Automation Assembler

    1. Enter a name for the integration.
    2. (Optional) Provide a description for the integration.
    3. Enter a hostname for the Automation Config server.
    4. Select the embedded-ABX-onprem running environment.
    5. Enter the Automation Config administrator user name and password used to access the specific host.
    6. Click Validate to confirm your administrator access to Automation Config.

      If validation fails, make sure you entered the correct hostname, user name, and password.

    7. Click Save.

Access your Automation Config integration

After you save your changes to the Automation Config integration point, you can open Automation Config.

To open Automation Config:

  1. If you deployed Automation Config through VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle, you can click the Automation Config service tile from the Cloud Service Console to open the integration and access the host.

    Note: If you do not see the service tile, ensure you have any assigned to you.

    If you did a stand-alone install of Automation Config, you can access the service using your Automation Config hostname.

  2. When prompted to log in to Automation Config, enter your Automation Config administrator user name and password.

If you need to make any changes to the integration, select Infrastructure > Connections > Integrations, select the available Automation Config integration tile, and click Open.

Note:

The hostname cannot be changed after you configure the integration. You can only edit the name, description, running environment, and credentials for the integration.

What's next

Automation Config is a stand-alone product that you can integrate with and use in VMware Aria Automation.

  • Learn how to add the Automation Config Resource to install minions on virtual machines in your Automation Assembler deployments.