Introduction to Script Control Center

'Script Control Center' is a versatile management pack for VMware Aria Operations designed to extend monitoring capabilities by executing custom scripts and ingesting their output as metrics.

It bridges the gap between standard Aria Operations monitoring and custom requirements, enabling administrators to run Bash, PowerShell, Python, or other scripts on remote endpoints and visualize the results directly within Aria Operations.

Whether you need to collect custom application metrics, check service statuses using Nagios/Prometheus plugins, or perform specialized health checks, Script Control Center provides a unified and secure platform to manage these tasks.

How does it Work?

The solution operates using a two-component architecture:

Script Execution Agent: A lightweight service running on a dedicated worker node (or multiple nodes). It hosts the scripts and exposes a secure API to execute them.
Management Pack (Adapter): Installed in VMware Aria Operations, it connects to the Agent to trigger script execution, pass parameters, and collect the results.

Features:

Remote Script Execution: Trigger scripts hosted on the Agent from Aria Operations.
Metric Ingestion: Parse script output (Nagios, Prometheus, or raw values) and store them as metrics.
Dynamic Parameters: Pass arguments to scripts, including dynamic placeholders like ${TARGET_HOST}.
Multi-Endpoint Support: Target multiple endpoints with a single script definition.
Secure Communication: Authenticated communication between the Adapter and Agent using API keys.

Benefits

'Script Control Center' delivers significant value for teams looking to customize their monitoring strategy:

Unlimited Extensibility: Monitor anything that can be scripted. If you can write a script for it, you can monitor it in Aria Operations.
Legacy Integration: Reuse existing Nagios or Prometheus plugins without needing complex migration paths.
Centralized Visibility: View custom script metrics alongside standard infrastructure metrics in a single pane of glass.
Operational Efficiency: Automate repetitive checks and gather data from systems that lack native API integrations.
Simplified Management: Configure execution intervals and arguments directly from the Aria Operations UI without logging into remote servers.