While deploying VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator 8.18.1 in standalone mode through Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager (LCM), I encountered the following error during configuration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Error Code: LCMVROVACONFIG100034\nFailed to set VMware Aria Automation as authentication provider in VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator.<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe deployment completed successfully, I was able to login to Orchestrator and it looked healthy, but the request was in a failed state, and the product was not added to the environment in LCM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initial Investigation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A search led me to the following Broadcom Knowledge Base article: https:\/\/knowledge.broadcom.com\/external\/article\/427647\/aria-automation-orchestrator-integration.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe article references reviewing the following log file on the Lifecycle Manager appliance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\/var\/log\/vrlcm\/vmware_vrlcm.log<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nWhile monitoring this log during a retry, I noticed LCM executing the following command on the Orchestrator appliance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Command: vracli vro authentication<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe command itself appeared to complete successfully:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
exit-status: 0\nCommand executed successfully<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nHowever, immediately afterward, the following error appeared in the LCM logs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException:\nUnexpected character ('-' (code 45)):\nExpected space separating root-level values<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThis suggested that LCM was attempting to parse the command output as JSON and failing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking Closer at the Command Output<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The log contained the full response returned by the command. At first glance, the output looked like valid JSON. However, there was something interesting before the JSON payload:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2026-06-16T18:56:56.062818368Z main INFO Starting configuration...\n2026-06-16T18:56:56.065478499Z main INFO Start watching for changes...\n2026-06-16T18:56:56.075515092Z main INFO Configuration started...<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nOnly after these INFO level log messages did the JSON object begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To confirm this behavior, I ran the command directly on the Aria Automation Orchestrator appliance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
vracli vro authentication<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe output showed several Log4j informational messages before the JSON configuration data:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2026-06-16T19:04:13.657392968Z main INFO Starting configuration...\n2026-06-16T19:04:13.659806004Z main INFO Start watching for changes...\n2026-06-16T19:04:13.668725416Z main INFO Configuration started...\n{\n ...\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nFrom a human perspective, this output is readable. From LCM’s perspective, however, it is invalid JSON because the response does not begin with a {<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis explained the parsing exception perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finding the Source<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The log messages referenced the following configuration file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\/usr\/lib\/thin-cfg-cli\/conf\/log4j2.xml<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThat path did not exist directly on my appliance. Using the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
find \/ | grep -i log4j2.xml<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nI located the file within a Docker overlay filesystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nImportant:<\/strong> Editing files directly inside Docker overlay storage is generally not recommended. Container updates, restarts, or image replacements can overwrite these changes. The following modification was performed only as a troubleshooting test to validate the root cause.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nI temporarily changed the log4j status logging level from INFO to WARN:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sed -i 's\/status=\"INFO\"\/status=\"WARN\"\/i' \\\n\/data\/docker\/overlay2\/782e95577448c9191f0d0f2ac4744f55fc0537ff96f2ccdff55a201adb0ac377\/diff\/usr\/lib\/thin-cfg-cli\/conf\/log4j2.xml<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nValidation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
After making the change, I reran the command from the Orchestrator appliance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
vracli vro authentication<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThis time the output contained only JSON:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
{\n \"ch.dunes.authentication.provider\": \"vsphere\",\n ...\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nNo log4j informational messages appeared before the JSON payload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With that result, I retried the failed task in Lifecycle Manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The retry completed successfully and the Aria Automation Orchestrator deployment finished without error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Root Cause<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Lifecycle Manager executes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
vracli vro authentication<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nand expects the response to be valid JSON.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On my deployment, the command emitted log4j initialization messages before the JSON payload. Although the command itself completed successfully with an exit code of zero, the additional logging caused JSON parsing to fail, resulting in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LCMVROVACONFIG100034<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nSuppressing the log4j status messages allowed the command to return valid JSON and enabled LCM to complete the authentication provider configuration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This issue serves as a reminder that a successful command execution does not always mean an automated workflow will succeed. In this case, the actual authentication configuration was valid, and the command returned the expected data. The failure occurred because additional logging output contaminated what Lifecycle Manager expected to be a machine-readable JSON response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you encounter LCMVROVACONFIG100034<\/code> during a standalone Aria Automation Orchestrator deployment, it may be worth checking the output of vracli vro authentication<\/code> directly on the appliance. If informational log4j messages appear before the JSON payload, Lifecycle Manager may be failing during JSON parsing rather than during the authentication configuration itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhile directly modifying files inside Docker overlay storage should not be considered a permanent solution, this troubleshooting exercise helped isolate the root cause and provided a path toward a successful deployment. Hopefully this saves someone else a few hours of digging through logs and chasing what initially appears to be an authentication problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While deploying VMware Aria Automation Orchestrator 8.18.1 in standalone mode through Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager (LCM), I encountered the following error during configuration: The deployment completed successfully, I was able to login to Orchestrator and it looked healthy, but the … Continue reading