Which component is mandatory for user authentication in vRealize Automation?

Ivana K.Jun 26, 2026

Workspace ONE Access is the mandatory identity provider component for vRealize Automation, and that is option C. Every vRA deployment integrates with Workspace ONE Access to handle authentication tokens, directory sync, and SSO, so without it the platform simply cannot authenticate users into the Service Broker or Cloud Assembly consoles. Active Directory and OpenLDAP are directory sources you can connect through Workspace ONE Access, but they are not the authentication layer themselves, they are just identity stores feeding into it. vRealize Operations Manager is a separate monitoring product that has no role in the auth stack for vRA.

Prof. SaraJun 16, 2026

The key word in this stem is "mandatory," which immediately should make you think about what vRealize Automation cannot function without at the identity layer. VMware built vRA to delegate all authentication through a centralized identity brokering service, and that service is Workspace ONE Access (formerly called vIDM), making C the only defensible pick here. Active Directory and OpenLDAP are sources that feed INTO Workspace ONE Access as identity providers, but they are not the component vRA itself requires directly. vRealize Operations Manager is a monitoring tool and has no role in the authentication chain at all. Here is my question for the group: if your organization integrates Active Directory with vRA, through which component does that AD connection actually pass before vRA can consume it, and does that change your mental model of where AD sits in the architecture?

Luis F.Jun 26, 2026

Yep, C is right, Workspace ONE Access is the mandatory identity provider that vRealize Automation relies on for user authentication and SSO. Without it configured, you literally cannot log in to the vRA portal, it handles all the token-based auth under the hood.

Carlos M.Jun 25, 2026

Going with D on this one, vRealize Operations Manager, because in my studies every time authentication and user management comes up in the vRA ecosystem the answer ties back to something that has visibility across the whole stack, and vROps is the monitoring and analytics backbone that everything reports into. The way I read it, if vROps is down you lose the ability to verify who has access to what resources, which to me makes it the mandatory piece for auth to function properly end to end. I know people are going to say Workspace ONE but that feels more like an optional SSO add-on you bolt on for enterprise setups, not something mandatory out of the box. Sticking with D, happy to be wrong but that is where my notes are pointing me.