This feature is available only if you have a VMware Aria Universal subscription. As an administrator, you can add existing on-premises vRealize Automation 8.x or VMware Aria Automation 8.12 templates to the Automation Service Broker cloud catalog.

After you add the Automation templates as catalog items, your users can request the current on-premises templates or any Automation Service Broker catalog item from a single SaaS catalog. The single catalog provides your consumers with a uniform request experience when they might be requesting templates developed on-premises, in the SaaS instance, or from other content sources.

If you are interested in this feature but you do not yet have a VMware Aria Universal subscription, you can subscribe as you add the integration.

Workflow diagram that shows the steps for Automation.

Review the following considerations to decide if you want to import the vRealize Automation 8.x or VMware Aria Automation 8.12 templates as catalog items.

  • Templates with custom resource types are not imported.
  • During deployment operation, you cannot cancel a deployment. You must wait for the completion of the provisioning process.
  • The request timeout that is set in each project that is running these imported cloud templates should match the deployment time for the cloud template in your VMware Aria Automation instance. The default timeout value is 120 minutes. This might not be sufficient time for a successful deployment. To change the Request Timeout value, select Infrastructure > Administration > Projects, and then click Provisioning.
  • After the catalog item is deployed, you can run only the Delete, Change Lease, Power On and Power Off day 2 actions on the deployment. Even if you have other actions entitled in vRealize Automation 8.x or VMware Aria Automation 8.12, you can only run these actions. To ensure that your users can run these actions, you must create a policy that entitles the project members to run the Deployment.Delete, Deployment.ChangeLease, Deployment.PowerOff, and Deployment.PowerOn actions. This policy might be at the organization or project level. See How do I entitle deployment users to Automation Service Broker day 2 actions using policies. The Change Lease action sets the lease date on your vRealize Automation 8.x or VMware Aria Automation 8.12 instance.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that you have the hostname URL for your vRealize Automation 8.x or VMware Aria Automation 8.12 instance. If you are integrating vRealize Automation 8.x and you have more than one organization, each organization has a unique URL. You must repeat this procedure for each organization, including creating an integration for each organization. The end result is still one catalog.
  • Verify that you have the vRealize Automation 8.x or VMware Aria Automation 8.12 user name and password that has Automation Assembler administrator permissions. These credentials are used to deploy the catalog items in VMware Aria Automation. They are also used to run the allowed day 2 actions on the deployments.
  • Verify that the cloud templates that you are importing are deployable and released in Automation Assembler before you import them.
  • If you want to share templates that were created for another project with the members of this project, verify that you allow sharing in the Automation Assembler template settings.

Procedure

  1. Configure the Automation integration.
    You can configure an integration with on-premises vRealize Automation 8.x or VMware Aria Automation 8.12.
    1. Select Infrastructure > Connections > Integrations.
    2. Click Add Integration and then click Automation.
    3. Enter a name that identifies this instance when you create the content source.
      You cannot change the name after the integration is created.
    4. Enter the Automation URL.
    5. Select or add a Cloud Proxy.
    6. Enter a user name and password for user account that has the Automation Assembler administrator user role in your vRealize Automation 8.x or VMware Aria Automation 8.12 instance.
    7. To validate the credentials and URL, click Validate.
    8. Click Add.
  2. Import the cloud templates.
    1. Select Content and Policies > Content Sources.
    2. Click New, and then click Automation.
    3. Enter the Name for this content source so that you can identify it when you share the content.
    4. Select the Source Automation integration that you configured in the previous step.
    5. Select the Source project that includes the templates that you want to import.
      If you want to import cloud templates for more than one project, you must create a different content source for each project.
    6. Click Create and Import.
  3. Add a project so that you can share the imported cloud templates with Automation Service Broker users.
    If you have a project that includes the users that must be able to deploy the imported cloud templates, you can use an existing project. Otherwise, create a new project.
    1. In Automation Service Broker, select Infrastructure > Administration > Projects, and then click New Project.
    2. Enter the project information on the Summary tab.
    3. Click the Users tab and then click Add Users.
      To add project users, the individuals or the groups must already be active service organization users.
    4. Click Create.
  4. Share the imported cloud templates with a project.
    The people that you want to have permission deploy the imported templates, but be a member of the selected project.
    1. Select Content and Policies > Policies > Definitions, and create a new content sharing policy.
    2. Enter a name for the content sharing policy.
    3. In the Scope list, select the project that includes the users who must have permission to deploy the imported items.
    4. In the Content sharing section, click Add Items and then select one or more catalog items to share with the project members.
      You can select all the items imported from the Automation content source, or you can select individual items. To select only particular items, select All Content in the Content Sources drop-down menu.
    5. In the Users section, select the users and user groups that you want to have access to the content.
      You can share the content with all users and groups in the project, or you can select individual users and groups.
    6. Click Create.
  5. Verify that the cloud template catalog item is available in the catalog to members of the selected project.
    1. Click the Consume tab.
    2. In the Projects drop-down menu, select the project with which you shared the catalog item.

      You can select multiple projects.

    3. On the Catalog page, locate the imported catalog item, and review the projects to ensure that the project you configured is included.
    4. Click Request and provide any required information.
    5. Click Submit.
    The provisioning process begins and the Deployments page opens with your current request at the top.
  6. Monitor the provisioning process to ensure that a catalog item runs successfully.
    Automation catalog items are deployed to the infrastructure allocated in the application.
    1. Select Deployments and locate your deployed request.
    2. Monitor the card status until it is successful.
  7. Verify that your users can run a day 2 action on the deployed catalog item.
    Day 2 actions are changes that you can make to deployed catalog items. The deployment level actions might include Delete, Change Lease, Power Off, and Power On. Your vRealize Automation 8.x or VMware Aria Automation 8.12 instance runs the actions on the target system. Your project members must be entitled to run the actions.
    1. Select Deployments > Deployments and locate your successfully deployed catalog item.
    2. Click the Actions menu on the right side of the card.
      Change Lease, Delete, Power Off, and Power On are the expected actions. Depending on your intent for the item, run one of the actions.

Results

The vRealize Automation 8.x or VMware Aria Automation 8.12 templates are imported into Automation Service Broker and shared in the catalog.

What to do next