7.2

For a complete list of available vRealize Automation commands, log in to the vRealize Automation
appliance console, and enter the following command.
vra-command help
The long list of command names and parameters is not reproduced in separate documentation. To use the
list eectively, identify a command of interest, and narrow your focus by entering the following command.
vra-command help command-name
The vRealize Automation Installation API
The vRealize Automation REST API for installation gives you the ability to create purely software-controlled
installations for vRealize Automation.
The installation API requires a JSON formaed version of the same entries that the CLI based installation
obtains from the ha.properties answer le. The following guidelines familiarize you with how the API
works. From there, you should be able to design programmatic calls to the API to install
vRealize Automation.
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To access the API documentation, point a Web browser to the following vRealize Automation appliance
page.
https://vrealize-automation-appliance-FQDN:5480/config
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To experiment with the API based installation, locate and expand the following PUT command.
PUT /vra-install
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Copy the unpopulated JSON from the install_json box to a text editor. Fill in the answer values the
same way that you would for ha.properties. When your JSON formaed answers are ready, copy the
code back to install_json and overwrite the unpopulated JSON.
Alternatively, you can edit the following template JSON and copy the result to install_json.
/usr/lib/vcac/tools/install/installationProperties.json
You can also convert a completed ha.properties to JSON or vice versa.
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In the action box, select validate and click Try It Out.
The validate action runs the vRealize Automation prerequisite checker and xer.
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The validate response includes an alphanumeric command ID that you can insert into the following
GET command.
GET /commands/command-id/aggregated-status
The response to the GET includes the progress of the validation operation.
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When validation succeeds, you can run the actual installation by repeating the process. In the action
box, just select install instead of validate.
Installation can take a long time depending on the deployment size. Again, locate the command ID, and
use the aggregated status GET command to obtain installation progress. The GET response might
resemble the following example.
"progress": "78%", "counts": {"failed": 0, "completed": 14, "total": 18, "queued": 3,
"processing": 1}, "failed-commands": 0
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If something goes wrong with the installation, you can trigger log collection for all nodes using the
following command.
PUT /commands/log-bundle
Similar to installation, the returned alphanumeric command ID lets you monitor log collection status.
Chapter 7 Silent vRealize Automation Installation
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