VCF 9 Automation vs Aria Automation 8.x (Part 1)

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Key Differences That Matter for Modern Cloud Automation

With the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9, automation has evolved beyond what Aria Automation 8.x originally delivered. While Aria Automation 8.x was a powerful standalone automation platform, VCF 9 Automation is designed as a deeply integrated, platform-native automation layer.

This blog explains the real-world differences, especially from an architect, automation engineer, and platform operations perspective.


1. Platform Philosophy Shift

Aria Automation 8.x

  • Designed as a standalone automation product

  • Focused on self-service provisioning

  • Required manual integration with vSphere, NSX, vROps, and Code Stream

  • Automation was often project-based, not platform-driven

VCF 9 Automation

  • Built as a core capability of VMware Cloud Foundation

  • Automation is platform-native, not an add-on

  • Tight lifecycle alignment with VCF components

  • Automation is infrastructure-aware by default


2. Installation & Lifecycle Management

Aria Automation 8.x

  • Separate installation and upgrade cycles

  • Dependency-heavy architecture (Identity, LCM, vRO, etc.)

  • Version compatibility had to be manually tracked

  • Upgrades often required planned downtime

VCF 9 Automation

  • Deployed and upgraded via VCF lifecycle workflows

  • Version compatibility is VCF-managed

  • Reduced operational risk during upgrades

  • Faster adoption of new automation features.

Impact:
VCF 9 significantly reduces Day-2 operational overhead.


3. Automation Scope: From VM-Centric to Platform-Centric

Aria Automation 8.x

Primarily focused on:

  • VM provisioning

  • Basic network/storage selection

  • Blueprint-driven deployments

  • Limited infra lifecycle actions

VCF 9 Automation

Expands automation to:

  • Workload domains

  • Cluster lifecycle actions

  • Network and security alignment

  • Policy-driven infrastructure consumption

Example:
In VCF 9, automation understands where a workload belongs, not just how to deploy it.


4. Policy-Driven Automation (Major Improvement)

Aria Automation 8.x

  • Policies existed, but mostly request-time validations

  • Limited enforcement across lifecycle

  • Required custom logic for governance

VCF 9 Automation

  • Policies are foundational

  • Enforced consistently across:

    • Provisioning

    • Scaling

    • Reconfiguration

  • Better alignment with enterprise governance models

Result:
Less custom code, more built-in guardrails.


5. Integration with Kubernetes & Modern Workloads

Aria Automation 8.x

  • Kubernetes support added over time

  • Required additional configuration and components

  • Less awareness of Kubernetes lifecycle context

VCF 9 Automation

  • Kubernetes automation is first-class

  • Better alignment with:

    • Tanzu

    • Infrastructure lifecycle

  • Automation understands both infra and container layers

Key Advantage:
VCF 9 treats Kubernetes as platform workload, not a bolt-on.

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