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VMware Aria Operations

by Zw008

io.github.zw008/vmware-aria

VMware Aria Operations: metrics, alerts, capacity, anomaly detection — 18 MCP tools.

Version 1.5.23
Monitoring
Local
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VMware Aria Operations · v1.5.23

by Zw008

61

VMware Aria Operations MCP Skill

Note: In VCF 9.0 and later, VMware Aria Operations has been rebranded as VCF Operations. This skill works against both names — the /suite-api/ REST endpoints are unchanged.

Author: Wei Zhou, VMware by Broadcom — wei-wz.zhou@broadcom.com
This is a community-driven project by a VMware engineer, not an official VMware product.
For official VMware developer tools see developer.broadcom.com.

AI-assisted monitoring and capacity planning for VMware Aria Operations (vRealize Operations) via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Overview

vmware-aria exposes 27 MCP tools for interacting with Aria Operations through natural language AI agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Goose, etc.):

Category Tools Type
Resources list, get, metrics, health badge, top consumers Read-only (5)
Alerts list, get, acknowledge, cancel, definitions Read + 2 Write (5)
Alert Definitions symptom definitions, create, enable/disable, delete Read + 3 Write (4)
Capacity overview, remaining, time-remaining, rightsizing Read-only (4)
Reports definitions, generate, list, get, delete Read + 2 Write (5)
Anomaly list anomalies, risk badge Read-only (2)
Health platform health, collector groups Read-only (2)

Total: 27 tools — 20 read-only, 7 write

Quick Start

# Install
uv tool install vmware-aria

# Configure
mkdir -p ~/.vmware-aria
cat > ~/.vmware-aria/config.yaml << 'EOF'
targets:
  prod:
    host: aria-ops.example.com
    username: admin
    port: 443
    verify_ssl: true
    auth_source: LOCAL
default_target: prod
EOF

# Set password (never in config.yaml)
echo "VMWARE_ARIA_PROD_PASSWORD=your_password" > ~/.vmware-aria/.env
chmod 600 ~/.vmware-aria/.env

# Verify setup
vmware-aria doctor

CLI Examples

# List top CPU consumers
vmware-aria resource top --metric cpu|usage_average --top 10

# Check active CRITICAL alerts
vmware-aria alert list --criticality CRITICAL

# Acknowledge an alert
vmware-aria alert acknowledge <alert-id>

# Fetch 4-hour CPU + memory metrics for a VM
vmware-aria resource metrics <vm-id> --metrics cpu|usage_average,mem|usage_average --hours 4

# Check cluster capacity
vmware-aria capacity remaining <cluster-id>
vmware-aria capacity time-remaining <cluster-id>

# Find rightsizing opportunities
vmware-aria capacity rightsizing

# Check Aria platform health
vmware-aria health status
vmware-aria health collectors

MCP Setup (Claude Code)

After uv tool install vmware-aria, add to ~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vmware-aria": {
      "command": "vmware-aria",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VMWARE_ARIA_CONFIG": "~/.vmware-aria/config.yaml"
      }
    }
  }
}

v1.5.15+ uses the single-command form vmware-aria mcp. The legacy
vmware-aria-mcp console script is still kept for backward compatibility.
If you must use uvx --from vmware-aria vmware-aria mcp (no install) and hit
invalid peer certificate: UnknownIssuer behind a corporate TLS proxy, set
UV_NATIVE_TLS=true or use the recommended vmware-aria mcp form above.

Then use natural language:

  • "Show me the top 10 CPU consumers right now"
  • "List all CRITICAL alerts and acknowledge them"
  • "How long until the prod cluster runs out of memory?"
  • "Which VMs are over-provisioned? Show rightsizing recommendations"
  • "Are there any anomalies on vm-web-01?"

Authentication

Aria Operations uses vRealizeOpsToken authentication:

POST /suite-api/api/auth/token/acquire
{"username": "admin", "password": "...", "authSource": "LOCAL"}
→ {"token": "abc123", "validity": 1765182896000}  # validity = expiry epoch ms

Subsequent requests: Authorization: vRealizeOpsToken abc123

Tokens have a 6-hour sliding validity (extended on each call, per the official spec); the client re-acquires automatically 60 seconds before expiry. The validity field is the expiry timestamp in epoch milliseconds, not a duration.

Architecture

User (natural language)
  ↓
AI Agent (Claude Code / Goose / Cursor)
  ↓  [reads SKILL.md]
vmware-aria MCP server (stdio transport)
  ↓  [HTTPS + vRealizeOpsToken]
Aria Operations Suite API
  ↓
VMs / Hosts / Clusters / Alerts / Capacity

Companion Skills

Skill Scope Tools Install
vmware-aiops ⭐ entry point VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops, clusters 31 uv tool install vmware-aiops
vmware-monitor Read-only monitoring, alarms, events, VM info 8 uv tool install vmware-monitor
vmware-nsx NSX networking: segments, gateways, NAT, IPAM 31 uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt
vmware-nsx-security DFW microsegmentation, security groups, Traceflow 20 uv tool install vmware-nsx-security
vmware-storage Datastores, iSCSI, vSAN 11 uv tool install vmware-storage
vmware-vks Tanzu Namespaces, TKC cluster lifecycle 20 uv tool install vmware-vks

Security

  • Passwords loaded from env vars or .env file, never from config.yaml
  • Write operations (alert acknowledge/cancel, alert definition management, report generate/delete) audit-logged to ~/.vmware/audit.db (MCP, via vmware-policy) and ~/.vmware-aria/audit.log (CLI)
  • API responses sanitized (control chars stripped, 500-char limit) to prevent prompt injection
  • Supports self-signed certificates (verify_ssl: false) for lab environments

Official Broadcom References

License

MIT — see LICENSE