vCF (VMware Cloud Foundation)

VMware Cloud Foundation guides for architecture, deployment, upgrades, operations, NSX, vSAN, automation, security, migration, and recovery.

VKS upgrade request is blocked when SystemChecksSucceeded is false because of a zero-disruption PodDisruptionBudget or a policy or service webhook blocker.

KB 433183: Fix VKS Cluster Upgrades Blocked by “SystemChecksSucceeded condition is not True”

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TL;DR Broadcom KB 433183 describes a VKS 3.5 and later upgrade guardrail that blocks a version update when the cluster is likely to become stuck during rolling node replacement. The two broad causes are PodDisruptionBudgets with zero allowed disruptions and third-party admission webhooks that can prevent critical system pods from being created. Treat the condition … Explore: KB 433183: Fix VKS Cluster Upgrades Blocked by…

Introductory visual for VCF NSX 9.1: How Intelligent Networking Becomes the Private Cloud Control Fabric.

VCF NSX 9.1: How Intelligent Networking Becomes the Private Cloud Control Fabric

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TL;DR The real message behind the image is not that VCF NSX 9.1 creates one giant futuristic network map. The message is that networking is becoming a governed private cloud service. Application teams consume Virtual Private Clouds, subnets, gateways, and network services. Provider teams control the physical integration and shared architecture. Security teams add segmentation … Explore: VCF NSX 9.1: How Intelligent Networking Becomes the…

An asynchronous VKS package from the Broadcom release source is manually added through Supervisor Management so the version becomes available for upgrade.

Newer VKS Versions Missing from vCenter: Finding and Registering Asynchronous Releases

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TL;DR A newer VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service version may be fully released and still not appear in the vCenter upgrade dropdown. Broadcom KB 439327 explains that this is expected for asynchronous VKS releases. The dropdown automatically shows the VKS versions embedded in the installed vCenter build, while later asynchronous releases must be registered manually by … Explore: Newer VKS Versions Missing from vCenter: Finding and…

Legacy vSphere clusters and older VCF estates pass through a consolidation decision into a governed VCF 9.1 target state.

Consolidating Legacy vSphere and Older VCF onto VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1: Design Patterns, Migration Paths, and Best Practices

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TL;DR Consolidating older vSphere and VMware Cloud Foundation environments onto VCF 9.1 is not one upgrade procedure. It is a portfolio decision involving four different actions: upgrading an existing VCF instance, converging suitable vSphere infrastructure into a new VCF instance, importing an existing vCenter as a workload domain, or migrating workloads into a clean VCF … Explore: Consolidating Legacy vSphere and Older VCF onto VMware…

Introductory visual for On-Prem Private AI Series (figure 1).

On-Prem Private AI Series: Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA and Red Hat OpenShift AI as the AI Factory Build Pattern

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TL;DR Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA and Red Hat OpenShift AI is the private AI option for organizations that want a validated infrastructure and platform stack instead of building every AI layer themselves. Compared with the VMware approach in the first article, Dell’s center of gravity is less about extending an existing private cloud operating … Explore: On-Prem Private AI Series: Dell AI Factory with…

Introductory visual for What Should Replace VMware in 2026? An Enterprise Decision Framework Beyond Hypervisor.

What Should Replace VMware in 2026? An Enterprise Decision Framework Beyond Hypervisor Feature Charts

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Introduction The VMware replacement debate often begins with the wrong question. Teams ask which hypervisor has live migration, high availability, snapshots, distributed switching, templates, role-based access control, or an API. Those comparisons are useful, but they address only the lowest visible layer of a much larger operating model. A mature VMware estate is rarely just … Explore: What Should Replace VMware in 2026? An Enterprise…

Introductory visual for VCF NSX 9.1 VPC Networking: Secure, Isolated Private Cloud Enclaves.

VCF NSX 9.1 VPC Networking: Secure, Isolated Private Cloud Enclaves

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TL;DR VCF NSX 9.1 Virtual Private Cloud networking is more than a new way to create logical networks. It introduces a stronger consumption boundary for applications, tenants, shared services, routing, placement, and operational ownership. The supplied image captures the intended outcome: multiple isolated VPCs consuming controlled connectivity through a common private cloud fabric. The important … Explore: VCF NSX 9.1 VPC Networking: Secure, Isolated Private…

Enterprise architect comparing Azure Local and VMware Cloud Foundation on a chessboard across workloads, identity, storage, networking, automation, cost, security, and operations.

Azure Local vs VMware Cloud Foundation: Choosing the Right Enterprise Private Cloud Platform

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TL;DR Azure Local and VMware Cloud Foundation can both run enterprise virtual machines, container platforms, software-defined storage, and segmented networks. That does not make them interchangeable. Azure Local is strongest when the organization wants Azure Resource Manager, Azure Arc, Microsoft Entra ID, Azure automation patterns, and Azure governance to become the operating model for infrastructure … Explore: Azure Local vs VMware Cloud Foundation: Choosing the…

Introductory visual for VCF Automation 9.x Explained.

VCF Automation 9.x Explained: Traditional VM Provisioning, Supervisor Based Consumption, and the New Tenant Model

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Introduction VCF Automation 9.x is easy to misunderstand if your mental model was built around vRealize Automation or Aria Automation. The familiar product lineage is still present, but the platform now exposes two materially different consumption paths. One path preserves the established VM-centric automation model. The other places organizations, projects, vSphere Namespaces, and Supervisor-backed services … Explore: VCF Automation 9.x Explained: Traditional VM Provisioning, Supervisor…

Existing VCF capabilities pass through a CIO decision bridge evaluating workload fit, operating capability, migration risk, lifecycle cost, and exit complexity before selecting a modernization path.

Stay on VMware Cloud Foundation or Replatform? A CIO Decision Framework for Private Cloud Modernization

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TL;DR The decision to stay on VMware Cloud Foundation or replatform should not be reduced to a licensing reaction, a hypervisor feature comparison, or a vendor preference. It is a private cloud operating-model decision involving workload compatibility, staff capability, migration risk, ecosystem dependencies, automation maturity, lifecycle economics, and future exit complexity. For many enterprises, the … Explore: Stay on VMware Cloud Foundation or Replatform? A…

Introductory visual for On-Prem Private AI Series: VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 as the Private AI Operating Model.

On-Prem Private AI Series: VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 as the Private AI Operating Model

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TL;DR VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 matters for private AI because it does not treat AI as a separate island. It pulls AI workloads into the same private cloud operating model many enterprises already use for virtual machines, Kubernetes, storage, networking, security, lifecycle, and operations. That is the strength of VMware’s approach, but it is also … Explore: On-Prem Private AI Series: VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1…

Broadcom VKS release package flows through the vCenter Supervisor Services UI to service activation on a target Supervisor and availability for new clusters and ClusterClasses.

KB 439327: How to Find and Register Newer VKS Releases in vCenter

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TL;DR A newer VMware Kubernetes Service version may be missing from the vCenter upgrade interface even when the environment is functioning correctly. VKS versions bundled with the installed vCenter build appear automatically. Newer asynchronous VKS releases must first be downloaded from the Broadcom Support Portal and registered by uploading the release’s package.yaml file. Registration does … Explore: KB 439327: How to Find and Register Newer…

Workflow diagram illustrating Recovery Flow at a Glance for Resetting the admin@local Password on the VMware Cloud Foundation 9 Installer.

Resetting the admin@local Password on the VMware Cloud Foundation 9 Installer

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During a VMware Cloud Foundation 9 deployment, the VCF Installer becomes one of the most important control points in the environment. It is not just a temporary wizard screen. It is the place where deployment state, validation, bring-up workflows, and local administrative access intersect. That becomes a problem when the admin@local password is missing, mistyped, … Explore: Resetting the admin@local Password on the VMware Cloud…

Introductory visual for Recovery During Platform Transformation.

Recovery During Platform Transformation: Protecting Mixed Versions, Mixed Hypervisors, and In-Flight Migrations

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Introduction Platform transformation is usually planned as a sequence of discoveries, upgrades, replication jobs, test migrations, cutovers, and decommissioning activities. Recovery is often treated as a separate operational concern that will somehow continue working while those activities occur. That assumption is dangerous. During a VMware upgrade, hypervisor migration, or multiyear platform replacement, the environment contains … Explore: Recovery During Platform Transformation: Protecting Mixed Versions, Mixed…

Introductory visual for How to Deploy NVIDIA vGPU on VMware vSphere and Validate the Configuration.

How to Deploy NVIDIA vGPU on VMware vSphere and Validate the Configuration

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TL;DR Deploying NVIDIA vGPU on VMware vSphere is not simply a matter of installing a driver and attaching a virtual PCI device. The server, physical GPU, ESXi build, NVIDIA vGPU release, guest operating system, vGPU profile, and licensing model must all form a supported combination. A reliable deployment sequence is: The most important lifecycle rule … Explore: How to Deploy NVIDIA vGPU on VMware vSphere…

Introductory visual for Cloud Repatriation Without Religion.

Cloud Repatriation Without Religion: A Workload Placement Engine for Cloud, VCF, Azure Local, Nutanix, and Bare Metal

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Introduction Cloud repatriation has become another architecture debate that generates more heat than evidence. One side treats public cloud as the default destination for every application. The other treats every unexpected bill, provider outage, or jurisdictional concern as proof that workloads should return to privately owned infrastructure. Both positions fail for the same reason: they … Explore: Cloud Repatriation Without Religion: A Workload Placement Engine…

Introductory visual for How to Install and Configure VMware NSX with an NVIDIA Spectrum Network Fabric.

How to Install and Configure VMware NSX with an NVIDIA Spectrum Network Fabric

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TL;DR A reliable VMware NSX deployment on NVIDIA networking depends less on clicking through the NSX Manager wizard and more on getting the physical underlay right first. The NVIDIA Spectrum fabric must provide stable Layer 3 reachability between every ESXi and NSX Edge tunnel endpoint, consistent jumbo MTU, predictable uplink behavior, and resilient routing to … Explore: How to Install and Configure VMware NSX with…

Introductory visual for The Minimum Viable VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.

The Minimum Viable VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1: Hosts, Storage, NSX, Fleet Services, Licensing, and Operational Overhead

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Introduction The most common sizing question about VMware Cloud Foundation is still framed as a host-count question: How many ESX hosts are required before VCF can be deployed? That question is useful for checking a deployment prerequisite, but it is not sufficient for an architecture decision. A platform can satisfy a minimum host count and … Explore: The Minimum Viable VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1: Hosts,…

Diagram showing why a simple yes-or-no deprecation checklist is not enough.

VCF Deprecations and Removals: An Upgrade Readiness Guide

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VCF 9.1 creates a familiar operational trap: a platform team can complete a release-note review and still not be ready to upgrade. The reason is that support changes do not arrive as one clean class of event. Some capabilities remain functional but are deprecated. Some hardware operates under restricted support. Some components have already been … Explore: VCF Deprecations and Removals: An Upgrade Readiness Guide

Introductory visual for Brownfield vSphere to VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1: Import, Converge, or Rebuild?

Brownfield vSphere to VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1: Import, Converge, or Rebuild?

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Introduction The phrase “import an existing vCenter” sounds safer than it really is. It suggests that VMware Cloud Foundation reads an inventory, registers a few objects, and leaves the underlying environment largely untouched. That description is incomplete. In VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1, brownfield adoption is a change in platform ownership, lifecycle control, management topology, networking … Explore: Brownfield vSphere to VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1: Import,…