The State of VCDX (2026) – #vExpert Rene van den Bedem, vcdx133.com
The VMware Certified Design Expert (original VCDX) program has been retired and all original VCDX certifications expired in June 2026. Original VCDX has been replaced by the VMware Certified Distinguished Expert (revamped VCDX) program, which was announced in 2025. The rest of this article will [..]
From Four Hours to Four Minutes: My AI-Powered VCF Session at VMware Explore 2026 – #vExpert Piotr Tarnawski
At VMware Explore 2026 in Las Vegas, I showed how I connected VMware Cloud Foundation Operations, PagerDuty, Splunk, an internal agile platform, Slack, MCP servers, and GitHub Actions to turn a four-hour manual investigation into a controlled four-minute AI workflow.
A first look at Native Object Storage in VCF 9.1.1 – Cormac Hogan
Many readers may have read this blog article on Native Object Storage from my good pal, Pete Koehler. In that post, which was published back in May of this year and coincided with the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) version 9.1 release, Pete talked about a tech preview of Native Object Storage. […]
Upgrade VCF Operations 9.1.0.0 to 9.1.1.0 via PAK File – #vExpert Brock Peterson
VCF 9.1.1 dropped last week, Release Notes can be found here. I’m upgrading one of my stand-alone labs right away, here’s how I did it via PAK file.First, I took a Snapshot of my Primary Node VM (only a single Node in this lab). I then logged into the Operations Admin UI and went to Software […]
VCF Native S3 Object Storage Tech Preview “available” now! – Duncan Epping
Some may have noticed, others may have read over it, but in VCF 9.1.1 a brand new capability is available as a Tech Preview. VCF 9.1.1 introduces a Tech Preview of native, S3-compatible object storage built directly into vSAN. By eliminating the need for third-party add-ons, native object […]
VCF 9.1.1 – Setting up VCF Private AI Services (PAIS) using Artifact Mirroring Tool (AMT) for Air-Gapped Environments – William Lam
With the rising cost of consuming AI services in the public cloud, the availability of powerful open-weight models, and growing concerns around security and data sovereignty, there was certainly a lot of interest from attendees at last week’s VMware Explore in running their own AI models within [..]
Patching order for VCF Management Components, 9.1 to 9.1.1 | #vExpert Arun Nukula
The order in which to patch the VCF management components when going from 9.1.0.x to 9.1.1.0. Three components go in sequence, then the rest can be patched in parallel.
Data Services Manager version 9.1.1 Network Security – Cormac Hogan
One of the interesting new features of VMware Data Services Manager when it is integrated with VCF automation is the Network Security feature. In a nutshell, what this feature does is implement both distributed firewall rules and gateway firewall rules for each DSM database deployed via VCF […]
VCF 9.1.1 – Deploying Your Own AI Models with VCF Private AI Services (PAIS) 3.0
My recent blog post on the new AI Assistant for VCF in VCF Operations 9.1.1 received a lot of positive feedback from both internal and external readers, especially from those who were not aware that this capability was available and were excited to try it out. The excitement is understandable, as this opens up many […]
The Ultimate VCF 9.1 Skill Upgrade: From Architecture to Desired-State Automation – #vExpert Bart Peeters
Following up on my previous training post, I have some exciting updates to share regarding our learning journey! The VCF learning portal has expanded its Role-Based Framework with brand-new on-demand eLearning courses designed to elevate your technical expertise. Whether you are stepping into […]
Host Power consumed per hour in VCF Operations – #vExpert Vincent Jansen
If you have ever worked with VCF Operations, you might have noticed a discrepancy in the power consumption readings compared to out-of-band management interfaces like Dell iDRAC. This difference occurs because VCF Operations displays power consumption […]
VCF 9.1.1 – Using VCF Private AI Services (PAIS) Models with AI Assistant for VCF – William Lam
For those following along, earlier this week I demonstrated how to configure the new AI Assistant for VCF in VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1.1 using Google Gemini as a cloud-based LLM provider, which is a quick way to get started and explore the new capability. Alongside VCF 9.1.1, we also […]
Running VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.1 on One Physical Homelab Node – #vExpert Devyn Harrington
How I moved from a looping VCF 9.1.1 upgrade and two failed Day-0 Automation attempts to a clean, working management domain on one physical Minisforum MS-A2.
Mastering Data Center Hardening: A Practical Walkthrough of the vDefend Security Journey | #vExpert Apoorv Malmane
Mastering Data Center Hardening with vDefend Hands-On Lab Looking to harden your data center posture without breaking production? Check out the latest step-by-step breakdown of the vDefend Firewall Security Journey hands-on lab, covering micro-segmentation, threat prevention, and automated rule [..]
What’s New with Storage in VCF 9.1 (Deep Dive) – Pete Koehler, Product Marketing Engineer, VMware Cloud Foundation
Join us to explore the latest storage innovations in VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1. We will dive into major efficiency and resilience upgrades, including vSAN Global Deduplication, advanced ZSTD compression, and effortless data protection with Auto-RAID. Additionally, we will cover expanded [..]
Total Host Power consumed per cluster in VCF Operations – #vExpert Vincent Jansen
In my previous blog post, Host Power consumed per hour in VCF Operations, we looked at how to create a custom Super Metric to accurately calculate and display hourly power consumption for individual ESXi hosts. While tracking power usage at the host level provides great granular data, many […]
SQL Server enhancements in Data Services Manager version 9.1.1 – Cormac Hogan
VMware introduced support for Microsoft SQL Server as a data service in VMware Data Services Manager version 9.1. In version 9.1.1, there are a number of enhancements, some of which I will highlight in this post. If you want to get the full list of enhancements, check out the VMware Data […]
Register VCF Operations and Your License Server in Connected Mode – #vExpert Fabio Storni, BIOLNX
With the deployment up and running, the next step is licensing the environment. In this post, I cover how I activated the VVF licenses, the options available, and a few gotchas I ran into along the way — useful if you’re following the same path in your own lab and want to move from a freshly […]
Find VM Snapshots with Memory Included using VCF Operations for Logs – #vExpert Brock Peterson
We’ve discussed VCF Operations visibility into VM Snapshots several times: • VMware Aria Operations and VM Snapshots • VM Snapshots in Aria Operations 8.18 • Everything you wanted to know about VM Snapshots in Aria OperationsOne piece of information that is missing is the VM Snapshots […]
When AI Agents Design and Build Infrastructure – #vExpert Rutger Blom
A VCF 9.1 lab experiment with separate AI architect and implementation agents, exploring how agentic workflows handle design, implementation, real infrastructure constraints, and feedback between […]
