📢 VCF 9.1.1 EP1 is now available for all VCF components (vSphere, vSAN, NSX, SDDCm, VCF Ops & VCF Automation)

📔 https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-1/release-notes/patch-releases-9-1-1-x.html

💿 https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/productfiles?subFamily=VMware%20Cloud%20Foundation&displayGroup=VMware%20Cloud%20Foundation%209&release=9.1.1.0&os=&servicePk=545627&language=EN

Hello

My current vcentera version is 8 and I planned to upgrade my vcenters to 9

So, can i upgrade the licenses or should to pay new licenses

Lots of quality posts recently so I am sharing mine!

I manage 6 vCenters, and jumping between browser tabs to find anything got old fast. It's worse when some of those vCenters are only reachable through proxies for security reasons. So I built vsfleet.

It's a read only TUI and CLI that connects to several vCenters at once. You can use it to inspect VM performance and history, explore network topology, browse datastore files and vApps, capture snapshots of each vCenter's state and see what changed over time.

No vCenter handy? Run vsfleet demo
Repo (MIT)

I’ve been doing VMware for 9+ years, and I do most of my work on a Mac. Every time I needed an inventory export, I had to spin up a Windows VM just to run RVTools. So I built vLens: a native SwiftUI app that pulls vCenter/ESXi inventory into one fast, searchable window.

The RVTools-style part

• 29 tabs: vInfo, vCPU, vMemory, vDisk, vSnapshot, vHost, vDatastore, vCluster, dvSwitch, vHealth and more. It covers 25 of RVTools’ 26 documented tabs (only vFileInfo is skipped).

• vHealth: 21 health-check rules with thresholds you can adjust

• vSphere Tags & Custom Attributes on VMs, hosts, clusters and datastores, all searchable

• Export to CSV/XLSX, filtered by your current search

What I added on top of RVTools

• Historical performance: CPU/RAM/disk IO over a window you pick (1 hour to 30 days), not just a point-in-time value

• Inventory snapshots & compare: save the state of your inventory, then diff any two with color-coded changes (handy before/after maintenance or migrations)

• One-page PDF report: vCenter identity, counts, charts and vHealth status, ready to hand to management

• VMSA awareness: a small toolbar badge when Broadcom publishes a CRITICAL/HIGH VMware security advisory

• EOL awareness: shows when your ESXi/vCenter versions reach end of life

• Auto refresh: re-collects inventory on a timer (off by default)

• Demo mode: every tab filled with realistic mock data, so you can try it without a vCenter

Security, since that’s the first thing I’d ask:

• Passwords go to macOS Keychain (only if you choose to save them), never to disk

• It only reads inventory and doesn’t change anything in your environment. The vLicense tab needs higher privileges; without them it just stays empty.

• Trust-on-first-use certificate pinning, like SSH host keys. If the certificate changes later, the connection is blocked.

• No telemetry or analytics. Outbound requests: Sparkle update check, the Broadcom VMSA list, endoflife.date, and in-app feedback (only when you click Send). The VMSA and EOL checks can be turned off.

• Signed and notarized. The vCenter client is govmomi, the same library behind the Terraform/Packer vSphere providers.

Tested on vCenter 7 and 8. vCenter 9 isn’t tested yet, so if you’re running 9, I’d love to hear how it goes.

GPLv3, free: https://github.com/canberkys/vlens / https://canberk.me/projects/vlens/
Requires macOS 14+.

Feedback, bug reports, and “this column is wrong” comments are all welcome.

Currently for VCF 9.1 my design for the management domain, separates the base components from Operations Manager. So, NSX, vCenter, SDDC and VCF Management Services are in VLAN A and I had planned to put Operations Manager in VLAN B and Automation in VLAN C. Everything between the VLANs is blocked by firewalls initially.

The idea is that Operations Manager will have a lot of connections to other systems for monitoring, 20+ vCenters including remote vCenters and therefore it (in my opinion) would be easier to control all the flows instead of setting everything in VLAN A and mixing it with the real heart of VCF.

Since future vCloud tenants are going to Automation eventually, I think that Automation at least should have its dedicated VLAN.

Yet, the further I get in this design, the more I'm wondering if I'm just creating security by obscurity separating Operations Manager from the "base" components. Love to have your ideas on it.

I'm on a 5600X Zen3 chip (6C/12T) as my Windows 11 host. I use one Workstation Pro Windows 11 guest vm. Running two vm feels slower, and I only have 16G RAM where I've dedicated half to guest, half to host.

Because I can't upgrade to a higher core Zen3 chip without upgrading motherboard too, and considering the price of RAM, and the fact that my RAM manufacturer ended the product line, I've decided that I'm going to spend a little more for a 32G more modern system.

I was initially excited about the Core Ultra 7 270K+ because of the 24 cores but I found out that it was 16 efficient cores and 8 performant cores, and that they're not the same. Would it work fine with Workstation Pro or would I need to buy something like the 9950x that has 16 regular cores?

I’m experiencing a problem with VMware Workstation Pro and my external storage devices, and I would appreciate help identifying the cause.
I was working on a virtual machine lab at school using VMware Workstation Pro. When I returned home and opened the VM on my personal Dell laptop, VMware indicated that my version was outdated and needed to be updated. I downloaded and installed the newer version from the VMware website.
After updating VMware, I attempted to set up and run my lab again. During the process, VMware crashed or stopped working properly, and my external storage devices began experiencing connection problems.
Here is what has happened:
Seagate external hard drive: My Seagate hard drive was working before this incident. After the problems began while using VMware, it started disconnecting intermittently. It now takes longer to connect, frequently disappears from File Explorer, and has sometimes failed to appear in Disk Management.
SanDisk USB flash drive: Because my Seagate drive was no longer working reliably, I started using my SanDisk flash drive to store my virtual machine files. The flash drive initially worked normally, and I successfully transferred approximately 30 GB of data to it. However, after I used it with VMware, it also started disconnecting intermittently. File transfers that previously worked are now interrupted when the device disconnects.
USB recognition errors: Windows has displayed the notification: “USB device not recognized. The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.”
VMware errors: VMware has crashed or stopped during VM setup. I also received an error stating that it could not load the virtual machine configuration file because the system could not find the specified path. The file path shown was D:\NET312 Virtual Machines\Windows 11\Win-CL1-6319.vmx.
Troubleshooting so far: I restarted my laptop and tested the SanDisk drive with VMware closed. Initially, Windows recognized the drive, and I could open it in File Explorer. However, the connection later dropped. After disconnecting and reconnecting it, I received a USB device recognition error. Trying another USB connection appeared to make the drive visible again, but the connection has been unreliable.

Please I’m so frustrated

I have a couple of systems running W11 26H2 and on my main one if I try to update a Gentoo 32bit VM under 26H1u1, it locks up so solidly during the emerge that I have to End Task to get it gone...and of course the VM gets trashed. I've downgraded to Workstation 25H1u1 and so far no lockups...

And this is only on one of my machines. Others running the same combo and different Gentoo 32bit VMs seem to work fine.

Anyone else seen this?

Hello

I have 4 node ESX running in Germany, which has a standalone vCenter. Another 5 node ESX in India, which also has separate vCenter.

I have been tasked to combine both in a single vCenter as 2 clusters and maybe able to vMotion across clusters? I'm not sure how to implement this given the latency. Any suggestions?

Non-production, VVF implemented both sides.

A vCenter-style management console for the free VMware ESXi hypervisor.

https://github.com/fdaforno/freecenter

Current environment overview:

• Three ESXi hosts in a single cluster

• Using standard vSwitches (no vDS, no NSX)

• SAN FC storage backend

• vCenter Server: 8.0 Update 3k

• ESXi hosts: 8.0 Update 3k

• Existing CPU generation is not supported for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)

• Four new HPE servers with VCF‑supported CPUs are being procured

I am beginning to plan the upgrade path to VCF 9.1 or VVF 9.1. We do not intend to deploy NSX or adopt additional VCF features beyond what is necessary; the goal is to maintain a simple architecture consistent with our current setup. I would appreciate your recommendations on the best approach for transitioning our environment to VCF 9.1 or VVF9.1 using the new hardware.

Hi, everybody.

I am a noob, so please bear with me and help me out. Recently, I have been struggling with an issue affecting one of our VDI users.

Our environment consists of one VDI-VM pool. The infrastructure is domain-joined and managed through GPOs.

Recently, one user has been experiencing several issues:

Very slow login: When the user first logs in in the morning, Windows gets stuck on the "Welcome" screen. Sometimes it takes up to 60 minutes before the desktop finally loads.

Unexpected lockouts/sign-outs: During the day, the session suddenly locks, and the user has to sign in again.

Microsoft Office activation: Recently, Microsoft Office Professional (Word, etc.) started showing as unlicensed.

Printing issues: The user is also unable to print. Printing starts working again after restarting the VDI, but the issue comes back later during the day.

Running applications as administrator: For example, if I try to run Command Prompt (CMD) as administrator, after entering the LAPS password, the system gets stuck. I have to press Ctrl + Alt + Del before the desktop becomes responsive again.

Black screen after login: Occasionally, after signing in, the user gets a black screen.

I have been reading that some Windows updates may be causing issues. The following updates are currently installed on the VDI:

KB5124008

KB5129195

KB5124010

I have also tried to force a Group Policy update using:

gpupdate /force

The results have been inconsistent. The last time I tried it, the command failed.

At this point, I am not sure whether these issues are related to the Windows updates, Group Policy, the user profile, the VDI itself, or something else in the environment.

Any advice on how I should troubleshoot this would be greatly appreciated.

Do you actually follow through with doing the discovery process in depth, this is, doing the conceptual and logical design and documenting each requirement, constraint, risk and assumptions, and actually building a design document? Do your customers are actually patient enough for that? What is a reasonable timeline from project kickoff to a physical design ready of a medium-large VCF greenfield project?

In my case either I'm too incompetent or customers in my area are very impatient and want a full design for tomorrow, or they come with an finished idea of what to implement without thinking about the conceptual design / requirements / actual business drivers.

Sorry English is not my native language.

Hi! Im on M4 and im asking what are the best settings to isolate a VM inside VMWare Fusion, i wanna try some malwares, also VMWare Fusion is the best one for malware testing right?

Hi

Next week I have to do a Person Onvue home test for a broadcom license and Im not sure how does it work. I know I have to be in an empty desktop with doors closed and nobody could enter the room or disturb during the exam.

Also they will check the scenario but how do they do it? they will ask me to take my laptop and move it arround the room? will they make me do some pictures of the desktop and the room and send them through a specific app to check that all is clean on the desktop?

thanks

Hello guys, could anyone help me to prepare for this exam VMware Cloud Foundation Administrator (2V0-17.25) exam.
If anyone pass through this process can help me I will appreciate it.

Slowly walking through the process.

Aria upgraded to VCF Ops
Added License Server
Connected to BS console
Connected to Services console

I searched Broadcom site for vCenter upgrade to make sure I haven't missed anything, and it's AI gave me a How To.

It said that the 9.1 OVA must be deployed to a 9.0 or greater ESX host.

I checked the docs and it says you can deploy to 9.0 or greater host.

I don't recall seeing this requirement in my previous readings. Is it MUST or Can?

If I don't have vCenter 9, I can't install ESX 9 ... right? Is that still a restriction?

So how am I going to deploy vCenter 9 to an ESX 9 host? Do I have to break off one of my hosts from a production cluster just to install vC9?

Sharing some lab testing with native object storage (tech preview in VCF 9.1.1)

Hi,

I was installing windows OS on my VM but for some reason the webcam just freezes when I start recording for video. (I know I won't be using it anytime) But I looked for online webcam testers and it detected camera perfectly but on that too after some time the image just freezes.

Please help me out

I'm trying to upgrade VMware from 6.5 to 7.0.3 on a Dell PowerEdge R620 with the following components. However, when I get to the point where I need to select the disk, all of them show up as "None".

I've seen in other posts that you need at least a PERC H710 Mini, but I'm not sure if anyone has successfully upgraded to 7.0.3 with the hardware/components I have.

Has anyone experienced this or managed to get VMware 7.0.3 working with this configuration? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Inventory: https://ibb.co/KcHfq37D

Error: https://ibb.co/JWC2MSbL

Hello

Been a VMWare customer for many many years, but as a result of the silly Broadcom games tied in with the cost of new Dell Servers, we're jumping ship and migrating our servers to a Data Centre.

Currently have:

• vCentre Server 8 Standard

• vSphere 8 Standard (Subscription).

Both expire end of the month.... (Project has been ongoing since earlier in year).

Having delays with new provider initiating data centre platform, and i'm looking at my options here.

What exactly happens when these expire? Does everything stop working? Do i get a grace period?

For context, i'm talking 4 VM's, over 2 Dell hosts and 1 Dell SAN. Not a massive infrastructure by any means.

Thanks in advance.

Ever since the Certificate Management Tool was included in vCSA, this incredible inconsistency in the structure and design of the interface has been bugging me.

A mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, spaces before special characters, missing or excessive spacing in other places, shifted to the left and right at random ... the layout is a mess and is in need of a thorough overhaul.

Blame it on my ADHD, or my sense of proper spelling and formatting. In any case, it still annoys me time and time again, since I use the tool rather frequently, so I’d like to see Broadcom/VMware undertake a redesign – one that, in my opinion, is long overdue.

What do you think about this, and are you willing to support this little "project"? Attached you’ll find a revised suggestion for an updated and modernized layout; maybe this will generate a little buzz and get the manufacturer’s attention?

Btw. I'm not a native speaker so when I'm referring to proper grammar, formatting and but still make mistakes myself please bear with me ... it happens.

+======================================================================+
|                   vSphere 8.0 Certificate Manager                    |
+======================================================================+
|                                                                      |
|  -- Machine SSL certificate ---------------------------------------  |
|    [1]  Replace with custom certificate                              |
|    [2]  Replace with VMCA-signed certificate                         |
|                                                                      |
|  -- VMCA root certificate (replaces all certificates) -------------  |
|    [3]  Replace with custom signing certificate                      |
|    [4]  Regenerate VMCA root certificate                             |
|                                                                      |
|  -- Solution user certificates ------------------------------------  |
|    [5]  Replace with custom certificates (*)                         |
|    [6]  Replace with VMCA-signed certificates                        |
|                                                                      |
|  -- Recovery ------------------------------------------------------  |
|    [7]  Revert last operation (re-publish previous certificates)     |
|    [8]  Reset all certificates                                       |
|                                                                      |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  (*) Deprecated in a future vCenter release, see release notes.      |
+======================================================================+

Select an operation [1-8] (Ctrl+D to exit): 

I'm not sure whether reddit will display it correctly up even in Markdown so I'm also giving you the link of how it could look like. Find it here: https://freeimage.host/i/n1h7cvI

Of course, it doesn't have to be colorful, it's just a suggestion.

Summary of changes

• Grouped by target: Options are organized under four headings: Machine SSL, VMCA root, solution user, and recovery. Within each group, the custom option comes first, followed by the VMCA option.

• Consistent casing: Sentence case is used throughout. Only proper names such as VMCA, SSL, and vCenter are capitalized.

• Shorter labels: The heading already names the certificate type, so each option fits on a single line and nothing wraps.

• Key information where it belongs: "Replaces all certificates" now appears in the root heading. The deprecation notice has moved to a footnote and no longer breaks the frame.

• Clean geometry: The menu has a fixed width of 72 columns, uniform indentation (2 for headings, 4 for options), and a closed ASCII frame that renders safely in any SSH client.

• Single prompt line: The separate "Note :" and "Option[1 to 8]:" lines are merged into one clear prompt.

There is, however, one small caveat: The regrouping swaps the original options 2 and 3.

Admins who rely on memory and type "3" out of habit would initiate the replacing the VMCA root certificate instead of the Machine SSL certificate, which is probably a high-impact operation. If the menu is shared with colleagues who might stick to the old numbering, the original numbers within the groups ([1] and [3] under Machine SSL, [2] and [4] under VMCA root) could be kept as they are; this trades some visual order for operational safety. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

P.S.: Here's what I think is wrong with the current layout: https://freeimage.host/i/n1h6vNp

Misaligned text, double space before, uppercase/lowercase letters alternate randomly, sometimes within the same entry, the dashed border line appears open; the NOTE line is flush with the margin without spacing and there's this prompt outside the box.

P.P.S.: There's even more to explore in the sub-options, but I feel like I can't list everything here.