VMware Cloud Foundation

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.1 Is GA: What Changes for AI, VKS, Identity, and EVPN

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TL;DR VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.1 became generally available on September 3, 2026. The release is best understood as a boundary-management update: it changes how tenants share AI models, how operators interact with diagnostics, how quickly VKS telemetry reaches VCF Operations, how identity and certificate state is evaluated across the fleet, and how NSX connects to … Explore: VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.1 Is GA: What Changes…

Protecting the Recovery Control Plane: A VCF 9.1 Management-Component Backup and Fleet DR Runbook

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TL;DR Protecting workload virtual machines does not automatically protect the VMware Cloud Foundation services needed to discover, authorize, network, orchestrate, and validate their recovery. A complete VCF 9.1 recovery strategy needs several distinct mechanisms: native file-based backups for components such as SDDC Manager, vCenter Server, and NSX Manager; image-based protection for VCF Operations; backup and … Explore: Protecting the Recovery Control Plane: A VCF 9.1…

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…

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…

The AI-Ready Cluster Is Different: GPU Placement, Memory Tiering, Storage Policy, and Lifecycle Windows

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Traditional virtualization design habits do not automatically translate to inference-heavy AI platforms. That is not because virtualization suddenly stopped being useful. It is because the constraint model changed. For years, many virtualization clusters were designed around CPU consolidation, memory overcommit, shared storage resilience, and generalized mobility. That model worked well for mixed enterprise workloads where … Explore: The AI-Ready Cluster Is Different: GPU Placement, Memory…

Building a VCF 9.1 Upgrade Runbook: Testing, Fallback, and Readiness Gates

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Scenario The VCF 9.1 upgrade path has been selected. The planning tool has been reviewed. The target version is understood. The team has a maintenance window on the calendar. That does not mean the environment is ready. A VCF 9.1 upgrade runbook needs to prove more than task order. It needs to prove that the … Explore: Building a VCF 9.1 Upgrade Runbook: Testing, Fallback,…

The VCF 9.1 Upgrade Is an Operating Model Project, Not a Patch Window

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TL;DR A VCF 9.1 upgrade should not be treated like a normal maintenance window where each team updates its component, checks a dashboard, and leaves. The sequence matters. The ownership model matters. The readiness evidence matters. For VCF 9.1, VCF Operations is not a side task after the platform upgrade. Existing Aria Operations instances must … Explore: The VCF 9.1 Upgrade Is an Operating Model…

VCF 9.1 Management Services and Aria: Turning the Upgrade into an Operating Model

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TL;DR VCF 9.1 changes the upgrade conversation because the management layer is no longer just a collection of adjacent appliances. VCF Operations, VCF Automation, VCF Management Services, license services, software depot, identity, logging, and lifecycle workflows become part of a more unified private cloud operating model. That means the VCF 5.2.x to 9.1 upgrade should … Explore: VCF 9.1 Management Services and Aria: Turning the…

VCF 5.2.x to 9.1: The Fleet vs Instance Ownership Model

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TL;DR The VCF 5.2.x to 9.1 upgrade is not just a component upgrade. It changes how teams should think about ownership. In VCF 5.2.x, many operational responsibilities were still organized around product lanes and appliances: SDDC Manager, Aria Operations, Aria Suite Lifecycle, Aria Automation, Log Insight, Identity Manager, vCenter, NSX, and ESXi. VCF 9.1 pushes … Explore: VCF 5.2.x to 9.1: The Fleet vs Instance…

Designing Private Cloud SLOs in VCF Operations: Fleet Observability Without Dashboard Sprawl

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The first step in modernizing VCF Operations dashboards is changing the entry point from tools to services. The next step is harder. You have to decide what “healthy” actually means. That is where private cloud SLOs become useful. Not because infrastructure teams need to copy every SRE practice from application engineering, but because VCF operations … Explore: Designing Private Cloud SLOs in VCF Operations: Fleet…

The VCF Upgrade Readiness Review: Decisions Before You Open the Planner

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Quick answer: prove readiness before generating the path An upgrade path becomes actionable only when the inputs, owners, recovery boundaries, and acceptance checks are agreed. Use this review to expose unresolved decisions before the planner session. Jump to ownership, DNS readiness, recovery boundaries, scoped inventory export, or the validation checklist. Broadcom’s VCF Upgrade Planner is … Explore: The VCF Upgrade Readiness Review: Decisions Before You…

Multi-Cloud Is Becoming Multi-Control-Plane: How to Avoid Governance Fragmentation Across Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, and VCF

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TL;DR Multicloud is no longer just a workload placement problem. The harder problem is control-plane sprawl. Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, and VMware Cloud Foundation each bring their own identity model, policy engine, hierarchy, observability stack, network control plane, automation surface, and operational lifecycle. Those native control planes are useful. They become dangerous when each platform … Explore: Multi-Cloud Is Becoming Multi-Control-Plane: How to Avoid Governance…

ESXi PSOD Triage: Turning a Purple Screen into an Evidence-Driven Escalation

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A purple screen on an ESXi host creates an immediate operational problem, but the bigger risk is what happens next. The first reaction is usually to get the host back online. That is understandable, especially when workloads are down, HA is recovering virtual machines, or a cluster is running hot after losing capacity. But if … Explore: ESXi PSOD Triage: Turning a Purple Screen into…

The vCenter Log Partition Runbook: Find Growth, Preserve Evidence, Restore Headroom

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A full /storage/log partition on a vCenter Server Appliance is not just a housekeeping problem. It is a management-plane risk. In a standalone vSphere environment, it can interrupt administration, log collection, patching, and service stability. In VMware Cloud Foundation, the blast radius is larger because vCenter is tied into SDDC Manager workflows, workload domain lifecycle … Explore: The vCenter Log Partition Runbook: Find Growth, Preserve…

EAM Certificate Trust Failures: Why vSphere Extensions Break After Certificate Changes

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Certificate changes in vSphere environments rarely fail in only one place. The obvious place to look is the browser warning, the expired certificate alarm, or the service that recently had its Machine SSL certificate replaced. But in production VMware Cloud Foundation and vSphere environments, certificate changes can also break something less visible: the extension and … Explore: EAM Certificate Trust Failures: Why vSphere Extensions Break…

VLAN Design Translation for VMware: Physical Trunks, Port Groups, and Guest Tagging

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VLAN issues in VMware environments are rarely caused by one mysterious setting. More often, they come from a translation problem. The network team thinks in terms of access ports, trunks, allowed VLAN lists, native VLANs, port channels, and upstream gateways. The virtualization team thinks in terms of vSwitches, distributed port groups, VMkernel adapters, VM network … Explore: VLAN Design Translation for VMware: Physical Trunks, Port…

VM Network Troubleshooting from Guest OS to Uplink: A Layer by Layer VMware Runbook

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Virtual machine network problems rarely arrive with a clean label. The ticket usually says something like “the VM is unreachable,” “the application cannot connect,” “ping fails,” “internet access is down,” or “VMs on different hosts cannot talk.” The underlying cause might be inside the guest OS, on the VM’s virtual NIC, in the port group, … Explore: VM Network Troubleshooting from Guest OS to Uplink:…

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 Upgrade Planning Tool: Why Customers Should Start Now

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VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 is not the kind of upgrade you should treat as a last-minute lifecycle task. For many customers, the move to VCF 9.1 is also a shift in operating model, lifecycle sequencing, management services, resource planning, and cross-team readiness. That is why the new VCF 9.1 Upgrade Planning Tool matters. VMware’s announcement … Explore: VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 Upgrade Planning Tool: Why…

VCF 9.0 GA Mental Model Part 6: Topology and Identity Boundaries for Single Site, Dual Site, and Multi-Region

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TL;DR Architecture Diagram Table of Contents Scope and terminology guardrails You will move faster as an organization if you treat these as non-negotiable guardrails: For topology conversations, you also need consistent physical vocabulary: Assumptions Decision criteria Use these criteria to keep topology and identity debates grounded in operational outcomes: Challenge You need a topology and … Explore: VCF 9.0 GA Mental Model Part 6: Topology…

VCF 9.0 GA Mental Model Part 5: Topology Patterns for Single Site, Two Sites, and Multi-Region

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TL;DR If you want architects, operators, and leadership aligned, you need a topology mental model that starts with VCF objects and only then maps to your physical sites. Architecture Diagram Table of Contents Scenario You are about to deploy VCF 9.0 GA greenfield and you need a shared language for: Scope and version alignment This … Explore: VCF 9.0 GA Mental Model Part 5: Topology…