VCF Operations for Logs 9.0
You upgraded VCF Operations to 9.0, lost the link to VCF Operations for Logs, found there is no upgrade path for it, rebuilt it, and now want the connection back.
You are probably like us, in that 9.0 could not come fast enough. You have already upgraded VCF Operations (formerly Aria Operations) from 8.18.x to 9.0. You lost the connection to VCF Operations for Logs (formerly Aria Operations for Logs) and found that there is no upgrade path for it, only a rebuild. That worked, and now you want the connection to VCF Operations back.
Act 1: connecting VCF Operations for Logs and VCF Operations
Nothing happens without the VCF Fleet Management Appliance. In VCF 9.0, Fleet Management runs the entire lifecycle of every component, and that includes provisioning and importing the former Aria components.
Once the VCF Fleet Management Appliance exists and is linked to VCF Operations, the components appear under Fleet Management -> Lifecycle -> VCF Management. First you import the existing VCF Operations component. Second comes VCF Operations for Logs.
If you have already provisioned VCF Operations for Logs, as I had, choose “Import” and connect the component.
At this point you would assume the integration into VCF Operations is done and that licensing is handled centrally through VCF Operations as well. For licensing that is unfortunately not the case, under certain conditions.
Act 2: VCF Operations for Logs licensing
Logging in to VCF Operations for Logs greets you with an evaluation mode message. Under Management -> License it says “No License”. In 9.0 there is no longer an option to install a licence key, because licensing runs centrally through VCF Operations. So why does that not take effect here?
After some digging I found this KB. Right at the bottom it says “If you have vCenter servers on V8.0 which is licensed correctly with VCF/VVF license this is expected behavior.”
Which means licensing through VCF Operations only works once vCenter is upgraded to 9.0. Until then, VCF Operations for Logs stays in evaluation mode.
What this says about VCF Operations
With the release of VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0, VCF Operations went from an optional add-on to a core component. Everything now runs through it.
Trouble or questions? Get in touch.