Customer Success Stories
Real VMware Aria Automation, NSX, and infrastructure automation implementations from production engagements.
These aren’t marketing case studies. They’re detailed technical narratives covering the challenges, the patterns discovered, the lessons learned, and the open-source code that came out of the work.
Each story below corresponds to a workstream from a real customer engagement. Read individually, or start with the modernization overview for a complete multi-workstream narrative.
All Stories
When the NSX Manager Certificate Is Already Expired
An expired NSX Manager certificate is replaced through the API: one certificate per node, the cluster VIP last, plan by default. The data plane is not touched.
When Regional Harbor Sticks, VKS Stops
In VCF 9.1, regional Harbor is the registry Supervisor services and VKS add-ons pull from. A region teardown can leave it mid-removal. Retrying the uninstall does not bring the cluster back.
Cisco ACI and Aria Automation When the Vendor Plugin Stops
The Cisco ACI plugin for vRealize was validated through 8.4 and never caught up to Aria Automation 8.18. Orchestrator actions place the VM in the EPG instead.
Air-Gapped VKS on VCF 9: How the Kit Actually Arrives
Three ways a kit still arrives at a disconnected site, and the VCF 9.1.1 depot path those older inventories should not be merged with.
The VCF Workload Domain That Said It Was Already Upgraded
After the management domain reached VCF 9.1.1, the workload domains showed every component on target and greyed out the plan buttons. The release record said otherwise.
VCF on VxRail: What to Check First When the Estate Has Been Left Alone
A quiet VCF on VxRail estate does not need a credential rotation as the first move. It needs a fixed order of health checks, including a depot check on clusters that can already reach the internet.
Avi GSLB Across Two Sites: Prove Failover Before the Production Names Move
Two VCF sites, two Avi controllers, one GSLB service. The production names do not move until failover and failback have already been proved.
Moving NSX DFW Between Global Managers Without Turning the Rules On
A Global Manager to Global Manager firewall move stages every policy disabled. API acceptance is not proof the rule is realized.
Moving Avi from Blue to Green Without Ever Writing Back to Blue
A blue-to-green Avi move converges every virtual service onto the new site’s own cloud and SE group. DNS names flip one at a time. A flipped application is frozen.
Getting a Standalone ESXi Host Ready for VCF Commissioning
VCF host commissioning rejects a host that is already in a cluster, already in a vCenter, or still in maintenance mode. The prep script plans by default and leaves those hosts alone.
NSX Federation Made the Same Segment Appear Twice
Global Manager and Local Manager both show Aria Automation the same segment. Network profiles fill with duplicates. The cleanup keeps one and does not invent the gateway.
From Aria Automation 8.18 to VCF Automation 9.1: Building a Migration Tool That Refuses to Guess
Open-source tooling to capture an Aria Automation 8.18 environment as YAML and rebuild it on VCF Automation 9.1, with a placement check that catches API calls returning HTTP 200 and doing nothing.
When the Installer Sees Zero Disks: Building a Custom ESXi ISO for HPE Synergy SAN Boot
HPE Synergy SAN-boot blades show zero storage at install. Build a custom ESXi 9.0.2 ISO merging the VMware base depot with the HPE Synergy AddOn via PowerCLI Image Builder.
STIG Compliance at Federal Scale: Building VMware Compliance Tooling for vSphere 8.0
VMware vSphere 8.0 STIG compliance tooling for federal environments: train-vmware password fix, enhanced InSpec runner with -allhosts, and CKL→CKLB converter for STIG Viewer 3.x.
Dynamic Ansible Inventory: Bridging Aria Provisioning and Configuration Management
Two Python inventory generators bridging Aria Automation provisioning to Ansible: vSphere with intelligent IP resolution and HPE OneView 6.6/8.9/10.0 multi-version support.
Idempotent Windows Post-Deploy: Replacing Decades of Bolted-On PowerShell
Replace decades of bolted-on Windows post-deploy PowerShell with 10 idempotent Ansible roles. Desired-state dispatcher, vault-stored secrets, no more 8-minute sleep timers.
vRO Actions for Aria Automation: When the Blueprint Isn’t Enough
Three production vRO JavaScript actions: dynamic Service Broker dropdowns, intelligent network profile routing, and post-provision disk attach. When the blueprint isn’t enough.
One Blueprint, Three OS Families: Unifying Windows, Linux, and Oracle VM Provisioning
One Aria Automation blueprint. Three OS families. Two datacenters. 26 inputs. The hybrid VLAN/NSX network pattern, count:0 conditional NICs, and dynamic catalog forms.
Infrastructure-as-Code for Aria Automation: Consistency Across Environments
Python toolkit for Aria Automation IaC: aria_mapping.py, mapper.py with NSX multi-profile management, and Federation-aware cleanup. From 2,500+ stale entries to 155.
Production-Ready BlueCat IPAM Integration for VMware Aria Automation
Production-grade BlueCat IPAM provider for VMware Aria Automation. Federation-aware, ABX-based, handles Strategy-4 prefix-stripping for NSX Global Manager segments.
New stories are added to this page when they are published. Fleet work still in revision is not listed.