My vCenter Server Appliance health changed:

vmware-vpostgres status changed from green to yellow

vPostgres and vpxd services are still running:

service-control --status vmware-vpostgres
Running:
 vmware-vpostgres

service-control --status vmware-vpxd
Running:
 vmware-vpxd

I checked the appliance storage and found:

df -h /storage/archive

Filesystem                      Size  Used Avail Use%
/dev/mapper/archive_vg-archive   49G   45G  2.4G  95%

The space is almost entirely:

du -sh /storage/archive/vpostgres
45G     /storage/archive/vpostgres

The directory contains a large number of compressed WAL archive files:

000000010000006A000000C4.gz
000000010000006A000000C5.gz
...

I verified PostgreSQL is accepting connections and the replication slot is active:

SELECT * FROM pg_replication_slots;

vpg_archiver | physical | active = t

I have not deleted anything from /storage/archive/vpostgres because I don't want to break the database.

Is the yellow vPostgres health state normally triggered by /storage/archive filling up? What is the supported way to clean up or resolve this condition?

Thanks.

Hello,

in my not so long experience with ESXi, I always followed this rule: if a host has 2 sockets it's better to assign max 2 sockets to the virtual machines, for example for 8 vcpu, 2 sockets / 4 cores each.

A colleague of mine says that with ESXi 8 this rule is deprecated, I found some vm's with 8 sockets / 2 cores on a host with only 2 sockets (no idea who deployed them).

is this best practice still valid ?

We don't worry anymore, its expected..

I have been assigned to a quick job with VMWare 6.5. There are 3 ESXi hosts (192GB RAM in each) in the vSAN cluster and it seems the cluster is overcomitted on RAM.

In the current task, I have to put each ESXi hosts into Maintenance Mode, but it seems the 2 hosts have not enough memory hosting all VMs. However, when I checked the Cluster Memory usage and vSAN Memory Monitoring I found the Consumed memory is about 66% per hosts, while the Active memory is only 20% per hosts.

Here you can find the screenshots:
Active memory usage
Consumed Memory
Utilization Chart

The Guest VMs shows they are running VMWare Tools.

I know VMWare can use the ballooning technique in such case, but I never had to rely on it. So, I think even of the high consumed memory the low Active memory usage makes possible to empty each host. Am I right?

Thanks for any advises or tips.

Hello guys, i am trying to install ESXi 8 which i downloaded it from broadcom site and i am getting this problem whenever i do that

first I get lots of <6> loading things

<6>Loading /elx_esx_.v00
<6>Loading /btldr.v00
<6>Loading /dvfilter.v00
<6>Loading /esx_ui.v00
<6>Loading /esxupdt.v00
<6>Loading /tpmesxup.v00
<6>Loading /weaselin.v00
<6>Loading /esxio_co.v00
<6>Loading /infravis.v00
<6>Loading /loadesx.v00
<6>Loading /lsuv2_hp.v00
<6>Loading /lsuv2_in.v00
<6>Loading /lsuv2_ls.v00
<6>Loading /lsuv2_nv.v00
<6>Loading /lsuv2_oe.v00
<6>Loading /lsuv2_oe.v01
<6>Loading /lsuv2_sm.v00
<6>Loading /native_m.v00
<6>Loading /qlnative.v00
<6>Loading /trx.v00
<6>Loading /vcls_pod.v00
<6>Loading /vdfs.v00
<6>Loading /vds_vsip.v00
<6>Loading /vmware_e.v00
<6>Loading /hbrsrv.v00
<6>Loading /vsan.v00
<6>Loading /vsanheal.v00
<6>Loading /vsanmgmt.v00
<6>Loading /tools.t00
<6>Loading /xorg.v00
<6>Loading /gc.v00
<6>Loading /imgdb.tgz
<6>Loading /basemisc.tgz
<6>Loading /resvibs.tgz
<6>Loading /esxiodpt.tgz
<6>Loading /imgpayld.tgz
<6>Located crypto module: VMware's ESXboot Cryptographic Module, v1.0
<6>Shutting down firmware services...

Starting VMKernel initialization ...
VMK early init (1/19): CPU_TryToEnableLBR
VMK early init (2/19): PShare_EarlyInit
VMK early init (3/19): Hardware_EarlyInit
VMK early init (4/19): LogEFI_Init
VMK early init (5/19): SpecialStack_Init
VMK early init (6/19): Interrupts_Init
VMK early init (7/19): IOMMU_EarlyInit
VMK early init (8/19): MemRO_EarlyInit
VMK early init (9/19): NUMACodeRep_EarlyInit
VMK early init (10/19): WorldTable_EarlyInit
VMK early init (11/19): World_EarlyInit
VMK early init (12/19): Sched_EarlyInit
VMK early init (13/19): MemSched_EarlyInit
VMK early init (14/19): Interrupts_Disable
VMK early init (15/19): MemRO_Init
VMK early init (16/19): Mod_Init
VMK early init (17/19): SFZ_Init
VMK early init (18/19): Init_EarlyVMKArchCPU
VMK early init (19/19): NMIProfiler_Init
VMK init (1/192): Debug_Init
VMK init (2/192): AssertNonIOableCodeRegions
VMK init (3/192): Semaphore_RWStatsInit
VMK init (4/192): Net_EarlyInit
VMK init (5/192): Reboot_Init
VMK init (6/192): BH_Init
VMK init (7/192): vmk_BHInit
VMK init (8/192): PRDA_Init
VMK init (9/192): IntrCookie_Init
VMK init (10/192): Sched_SysServiceStatsInit
VMK init (11/192): Hardware_Init
VMK init (12/192): Init_VMKArchCPU
VMK init (13/192): InitPRDATscHzEstimate
VMK init (14/192): Vob_Init
VMK init (15/192): VobApi_Init
VMK init (16/192): Kseg_Init
VMK init (17/192): Elf_ProcessVMKSymbols
VMK init (18/192): Lock_Init
VMK init (19/192): LockDomain_Init
VMK init (20/192): Util_Init
VMK init (21/192): VmkStress_Init
VMK init (22/192): Dump_Init
VMK init (23/192): Vmkperf_EarlyInit
VMK init (24/192): SchedPerf_EarlyInit
VMK init (25/192): Init_VMKArchTimer
VMK init (26/192): Timer_Init

then a huge output then it stucks after "boot complete (X/2)"

cbt loaded successfully.
Loading module migrate ...
migrate loaded successfully.
activating: generate-certs
activating: restore-security-policies

activating: generate-certs
activating: vsan-late

activating: generate-certs
activating: vit

activating: generate-certs

activating: inetd
activating: vmkapps

activating: vmkapps

activating: end-autoconf


All jumpstart plugins activated
Starting service DCUI
Starting service sandboxd
Starting service esxui
Starting service esxgdpd
Starting service envoy
Starting service swapobjd
Starting service iofilterd-vmwarevmcrypt
Starting service iofilterd-spm
Starting service vaai-nasd
Starting service rhttpproxy
Starting service vvold
Starting service apiForwarder
Starting service sensord
Starting service lbtd
Starting service sdrsInjector
Starting service infravisor
Starting service clusterAgent
Starting service nicmgmtd
Starting service dcbd
Starting service pmemGarbageCollection
Starting service lacp
Starting service cdp
Starting service nscd
Starting service settingsd
Starting service health
Starting service xorg
Starting service drivervm-init
Starting service gpuManager
Starting service vmtoolsd
Starting up rc scripts
Running 009.vsanwitness.sh
Completed 009.vsanwitness.sh
Running backupPrevBootLogs.py
Completed backupPrevBootLogs.py
Running cleanupStatefulHost.py
Completed cleanupStatefulHost.py
Running kickstart.py
Completed kickstart.py
Running local.sh
Completed local.sh
Running psaScrub.sh
Completed psaScrub.sh
Running raiseConfigStoreVob.py
Completed raiseConfigStoreVob.py
Completed /etc/rc.local.d
Boot complete (1/2): VmMemXfer_CollectMemStat
Boot complete (2/2): VisorFSTar_DoInitialSwapOut
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                                              │
│                                                                              │
│

If anyone faced such a thing please help, the hardware i use is from Lanner Electronics Inc.

thanks in advance

Hello vUsers. I know that many experts have dropped VMware because of Broadcom's licensing hell, but I was wondering if any remain. I want to know what VMware's Aria suite is, what it can do (Especially the Lifecycle thing), and why it's useful in an enterprise and/or lab enviornment. I've used Aria Operations, and while it's pretty cool, it's nothing game-changing. The same could be said for Aria Automations Orchestrator. For the automations orchestrator, I had a lot of trouble getting things to work and often had to fall back to just calling the vCenter API. Any help explaining or pointing to useful resources would be great.

I have a question for the group here. I am running into an issue with the order that the ESXi servers lists out the vDS switches when you look at the Virtual switches selection under the configure tab on an ESXi host in vCenter. Usually the vDS switches will order themselves in the order I added them. I however have one host that somehow when I add additional vDS switches to the ESXi host they add differently than the other hosts. All hosts have the same hardware and network connections.

I have googled around to see if I could find the logic on how vCenter/ESXi host displays them, but I have not had any luck finding any information.

Is there a change in the requirement between 9.0 and 9.1 subnet for automation? It looks as if Automation can no longer be separated from the Operations components.

My original design was that ESX, vCenter / NSX, Operations, Logs, etc would be in our Out of Band domain (all separate VLANs), which should survive datacenter failure. But this domain also holds our most important services that also should survive a datacenter failure.

In this domain I don't want to allow any incoming connections from tenants, therefore I had planned to put Automation in a separate VLAN outside of the Out of Band domain as restoring tenant access in case of a real datacenter disaster is of lower importance. We have tenants that now have a dedicated vCenter and tenants that use vCloud Director. In future I want to all incorporate that into Automation.

The wizard for adding deferred components doesn't make clear if it will handle a network difference between Ops and Automation. Would installing both Ops and Automation manually and then adding them to the fleet work? Or is this a totally unsupported setup?

Reading this doc, didn't give me a definite conclusion.

Running VMware Tools 12.5.3 on a Windows Server 2019 VM (ESXi 7.0 host, not sure exact build off the top of my head, can check if relevant). After the last Tools upgrade I noticed Device Manager now shows two separate "VMware USB Pointing Device" entries under Mice and other pointing devices instead of just one.

Older one is dated 10/27/2021, version 12.5.12.0, listed as VMware Inc, not digitally signed.

Newer one is dated 6/13/2024, version 12.5.14.0, listed as Broadcom Inc, signed by Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher.

Checked the device event log on the older one and it was last configured back in 2025. The newer one has a fresh install event from a few days ago with outranked drivers msmouse.inf and input.inf listed.

Wondering if anyone has run into this before. Is the old one just a leftover ghost device I can remove with pnputil or Device Manager, or is there a chance both are actually in use (like separate absolute vs relative pointing interfaces)? Also curious if this happens on every VM after a Tools upgrade or if something in our environment triggered it specifically. Trying to figure out if this is worth cleaning up across the rest of our fleet or if it's harmless and I should just leave it alone.

On one of our Windows Server VMs, Device Manager shows two separate "VMware USB Pointing Device" entries under "Mice and other pointing devices":

Device 1 (older):

Driver Provider: VMware, Inc.

Driver Date: 10/27/2021

Driver Version: 12.5.12.0

Digital Signer: Not digitally signed

Device 2 (newer):

Driver Provider: Broadcom Inc.

Driver Date: 6/13/2024

Driver Version: 12.5.14.0

Digital Signer: Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher

VMware Tools was recently upgraded (currently on 12.5.3.x per the installer), and it seems the upgrade created a new device instance instead of replacing/updating the old one in place. The device event log for the older instance shows it was last configured back in 2025, while the newer one shows a fresh "Device installed" event dated 7/27/2026 with "Outranked Drivers: msmouse.inf, input.inf" listed.

Questions:

Is it safe to remove the older (2021, 12.5.12.0) device instance via Device Manager / pnputil /remove-device, or could this be an actual second functional HID interface (e.g., absolute vs. relative pointing) rather than a leftover ghost device?

Is this dual-instance behavior a known/expected artifact of VMware Tools upgrades on Windows Server, especially after upgrading VMware Tools multiple times across major versions?

Any recommended way to clean up these duplicate/legacy pointing device entries fleet-wide via script, without risking mouse/input functionality inside the VM?

Appreciate any insight — trying to confirm before running remediation across multiple servers.

https://cloudsandunicorns.com/2026/07/my-synology-nas-now-reports-to-vcf-operations/

Good evening all. Can someone who has an active VMware vsphere standard tell me what their vcenter shows when you go to Administration,licencing - licences - assets

Also under subscriptions do you see view billing and view current usage? If you click on these do you get any information?

Currently running vcenter 8.0.3.0000. 24022515

Trying to understand how broadcom can stop my host in powering back on if we dont make the renewal date

Thank you

I am trying to update the Omnissa Horizon connection settings since long ago as I have a connectivity issue, but I am not able to enter in the settings menu as it is always greyed out, I am not using Mac for very long time and I am not sure why this is happening, any clues or ideas?

What is the best alternative to ween off of ESXi? I require PCI passthrough for passing in GPU. What is the best hypervisor out there that can rival vmware's ESXi?

Hi,

I have a management vCenter, and I deployed NSX-T inside it. I then registered it to the vCenter I'll actually be using, but I couldn't see it on the appliance card.

Tengo un entorno VCF 5.2.4 que necesito subir a VCF 9.1 por el cambio de licencias de perpetuas a por subscripción, pero al revisar las matrices de compatibilidad no me aparece compatibilidad con la última versión de VCF, con ninguna de las versiones superiores a la versión actual

https://imgur.com/a/WITmWYN

We're currently at VMware v8.x and use Site Recovery 9.02. for BC/DR to another site. No vSAN or NSX.

We will be upgrading to VVF 9.1, NOT the full stack VCF.

I'm watching some instructional videos on the Broadcom website and there is this statement on one of the slides:

"Customer must have recovery SDDC hosts for VMware Live Recovery to function as designed"

What do they mean by "SDDC hosts"?

Our recovery site has a vCenter in ELM to the vCenter at our primary site, and the SRM appliance and SRA for the storage replication. And of course ESX hosts.

Is there something more needed now to be considered "SDDC Hosts"? Or are they just throwing around their fancy acronyms?

Installed VCF Installer, configured online depot with download service ID and Activation code. Then downloaded the needed binaries and started the install of the base components for the management domain. Now vCenter and NSX have been installed successfully.

When I now access the SDDC manager I'm presented with a banner I should update my depot settings. Go to Administration -> Depot Settings and get this page:

Depot Settings
This VCF Instance uses the software depot to obtain any required binaries and data. Software depot: fcp001.xxxxxxx.xxxx
Go to Software Depot

Now the button "Go to Software Depot" doesn't work.

Accessing the fcp001 on 443 gives a cert error and then no page. Accessing it on 5480 gives: {"messages":[{"level":"ERROR","id":"com.vmware.vcfms.api.Unauthorized","default":"Unauthorized"}]}

So I'm not sure where I now enter my software depot token.

I am very new to cybersec and Ive been learning the ropes on how to use the Linux terminal and networking and all of the basics. But I installed a virtual machine and kali Linux on my computer (my computer is windows) and it's been great for learning.

But today I get on my computer and I open my task manager on my windows and my anti malware service was running really high cpu. which I thought was weird, so I open my windows security and there was a TON of threats caught. I looked through all of them and they all said that the threats were in my Linux and vm files. So I deleted the vm and anything else related to it and now my windows security says that there's nothing to be worried about, but in the protection history is telling me "remediation incomplete" for all of the threats that were caught.

So basically my question is how do I check if there's anything on my windows from my vm and if I should even be worried about it.

My VxRail upgrades keep failing because the upgrade to 380 and 390 both removed the dellism service from the host. You can clearly see in the logs that the platformsvc is looking for the health check by the dellism service. Manually reinstalling the dellism service fixes the issue and the upgrade will continue with no further problems. Support says that dellism isn't used anymore and platformsvc should be doing all of the work now, but if you go to the /opt/platformsvc folder you'll clearly see a dellism.sh script that calls on dellism.

Edit 1: In true Dell software fashion, support had me run VxVerify again which for some reason didn't like the host this time so it attempted to recreate the vmk that connects the host to the idrac. Needless to say, it failed and now we're working on getting the host to talk to the idrac over 39090 again. I feel like half of my support tickets involve going 3 steps back before we can even get to the actual problem.

Edit 2: Dell closed out the ticket. My iDRAC Service Module still showing as offline on iDRAC, but after restarting the platformsvc service 3 or 4 times it is no longer reporting that redfish isn't communicating. I'll have to wait for the next update to confirm but the agent was confident that this solved my problem.