What’s New for VMware Cloud Foundation offering VMware Aria Operations for Networks 6.12

The latest capabilities from VMware Aria Operations for Networks 6.12 and 6.12.1 can help IT users improve their network visibility, gain insights into network performance, and quickly identify and resolve network issues while using VMware Cloud Foundation.

Capabilities of VMware Aria Operations for Networks are now only available as a part of VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1, as discussed in this recent blog: Dramatic Simplification of VMware Aria as part of VMware Cloud Foundation. VMware Cloud Foundation is a full-stack private cloud solution that combines the scale and agility of the public cloud with the security and performance of the private cloud. VMware Aria Operations for Networks is no longer sold as a standalone product or as SaaS as discussed in this blog: VMware End Of Availability of Perpetual Licensing and SaaS Services. All the capabilities in VMware Aria Operations for Networks as an offering of VMware Cloud Foundation stay the same, including application discovery, topology visualization, network planning, and troubleshooting.

There are many new network visibility capabilities in the latest release, VMware Aria Operations for Networks 6.12, to help VMware Cloud Foundation Networking users improve their application network performance and troubleshoot network issues.

Network Map Scope

Enterprise networks are extensive and complex, so it helps to narrow down which types of devices might be viewed in topology as users troubleshoot particular application network issues. This Network Map Scope capability allows users to create a visual network map scope for specific kinds of devices to understand better where an issue might be occurring.

This new capability to zoom in on a particular type of device rather than looking at everything in the topology can help resolve the issue quickly. The types of devices that will be able to be included in a scope are both Physical and Virtual, such as NSX Host Transport Nodes, NSX Edge Transport Nodes, vCenter hosts, switches, routers, firewalls, load balancers, blade servers, and fabric extenders.

Figure 1. Network map scope choices so that users can narrow their troubleshooting to specific sets of network devices.

Tags for Devices

A new custom tag capability will allow users to create custom tags based on city, location, data center, department, asset tag, or custom property. Tags will help users when running reports or creating dashboards on those tags. Users can add tags to VMs, switches, routers, firewalls, and other physical and virtual devices. Tags will make it easier for users to identify their devices on the network infrastructure for their day-to-day operations.

Figure 2. Tags can be customized to help organize and search for devices while troubleshooting. Tags can be used to describe the location of a data center, asset tag, or other custom label.

APIs and Databus

For better troubleshooting and root cause analysis in NSX environments, several NSX and vCenter APIs for databus will be in the VMware Aria Operations for Networks 6.12 release, which will pull metrics across the NSX Edge, vCenter host, and vCenter host cluster. Examples of improved network visibility will be vCenter host metrics like usage, transmission, or drop rate.

Table/Widget Update Persistence

Do you find it challenging when you change a table or view, but then those view preferences disappear when returning to the same screen after dealing with a different issue? In the 6.12 release, users will find it easier to troubleshoot because adjustments from table sorting, filtering, column ordering, and table preferences that a user makes will be remembered. Also, as a user resizes or repositions widgets, the platform will remember the modified settings in the various screens and custom dashboards.

Email Notifications for Closing Alerts

The 6.12 release now has consistent integrations for closing alerts which generates a SNMP message for tools like ServiceNow and IBM Netcool. A closed alert email can be generated to IT users when alerts are closed in VMware Aria Operations for Networks. This capability will provide better visibility for IT teams, making issues more accessible to track through the IT help desk lifecycle. The new 6.12 closed alert email feature will make it easier for IT users to collaborate and focus on the current open and relevant alerts.

Trial Process and License Updates 6.12.1

The new 6.12.1 release will improve the trial process to allow VMware Cloud Foundation customers to run network assessments to evaluate their network infrastructure for VMware Cloud Foundation and NSX deployments. Before a license is installed, the platform will boot in trial mode for 60 days. Before the trial expires, a customer with paid licensing can utilize the same platform for production. The platform will no longer process incoming source data if the 60-day trial period is over without a paid license. This release will have informative updates to the platform’s trial and licensing notification banners.

Licensing will be simplified in this release. This update allows the VMware Aria Operations for Networks platform to rely on VMware Cloud Foundation for licensing, and licenses are no longer applied to VMware Aria Operations for Networks. The simpler licensing installation applies to new greenfield VMware Cloud Foundation deployments.

VMware Validated Solution

The VMware Validated Solution team has created a new validated solution with VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware Aria Operations for Networks. Please take a look at their latest blog.

These designs have been architected and thoroughly tested for use by customers and partners so that they can become confident with deploying VMware Aria Operations for Networks in their VMware Cloud Foundation environments.

Summary

As IT users look for ways to improve their network operations and troubleshoot network issues for VMware Cloud Foundation more efficiently, the latest release of VMware Aria Operations for Networks 6.12 offers several benefits, including the network map scope, custom tag capability, additional APIs for NSX and vCenter metrics, and a better user experience with persistence of the tables and widget changes. These capabilities will improve identification of the physical and virtual devices during day-to-day network operations for root cause analysis and troubleshooting. Running VMware Cloud Foundation with VMware Aria Operations for Networks 6.12, IT users can reduce the time and effort required to troubleshoot network issues, ultimately improving application performance and reliability. These new capabilities will also provide better visibility and planning insights to customers interested in deploying VMware NSX, a core component of VMware Cloud Foundation. Deploy VMware Aria Operations for Networks 6.12 and its useful new capabilities to prevent network issues from slowing down your business applications.