VMware Aria Operations for Networks classifies intents as either system-defined or user-defined.

System-defined intents are provided out-of-the-box. You can clone a system-defined intent to create a user-defined copy, which you can then edit to change its parameters. System-defined intents are enabled by default, but you can deactivate them from the Manage Intents page.

You can define and configure new intents in VMware Aria Operations for Networks. The intents that you define are called user-defined intents. You can edit, delete, and duplicate these intents. You can also select multiple user-defined intents and enable or deactivate them at once.

Every 30 minutes, VMware Aria Operations for Networks verifies whether each intent is met in your network.
  • If the system determines that the intent’s specified conditions are met at that time, it marks the intent status as Pass.
  • If the intent’s specified conditions are not met, the system raises an alert corresponding to this problem and marks the intent status as Fail. If the alerts associated with an intent are closed or archived, then the intent status becomes Pass.

  • If the system determines that one or more entities in the intent configuration are no longer available, it marks the intent status as Invalid and displays the Entity not available warning message with the intent name.

    Also, when you edit the configuration parameters of the invalid intent, the system highlights the invalid entities in red.

    Note:

    VMware Aria Operations for Networks does not process invalid intents. That is, if an intent is invalid, VMware Aria Operations for Networks does not verify whether the conditions defined in the intent are met in your network.

    To validate the intent, you must delete or replace the invalid entities in the intent configuration.

You can access the Intents page from the left navigation pane. You can view the count of all intents and the count of each individual type on this page. You can click each count to filter and view the details of specific types of intents.

VMware Aria Operations for Networks supports many different types of intents for a range of purposes. These intent types are grouped into three broad categories:
  • Device Health
  • Network Health
  • STIG
    Note: STIG intents are supported for the following devices only:
    • Cisco ASA, Cisco ASR 1000, Cisco Catalyst, Cisco ISR 4000, and Cisco Nexus
    • Juniper EX and QFX, Palo Alto

You can filter the intents based on the intent type or intent category. You can view the count of alerts raised by each intent, and you can click this count to see the alert details.

You can also view the intent status (Pass or Fail) and the severity (Critical, Moderate, Warning, Info) of each available intent.

You can also search intents in the list based on their names.