Hi, I’m Cosmin Trif — the writer behind Cosmin.us (a.k.a. Cosmin’s Blog).

This site is a working notebook of the VMware and infrastructure-automation problems I run into in production, with the fixes, the screenshots, and the commands that actually worked. Most posts come straight out of upgrade runbooks, troubleshooting sessions, or proofs-of-concept I’ve put together for real environments.

What I work on

  • VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) — installer, fleet management, SDDC Manager, upgrade paths from 4.x through 9.x, lifecycle and Aria suite integration.
  • VCF Automation / Aria Automation — blueprint design, custom resources, ABX actions, Cloud Assembly, day-2 operations.
  • vSphere & ESXi — patching via esxcli, VCSA upgrades, vSAN, NSX, certificate replacement, performance and compliance.
  • Aria / VCF Operations — capacity, rightsizing, custom super metrics, alerts, role-based access, API workflows.
  • Configuration management — Salt vs. Ansible vs. BigFix, deploying SaltStack Config via Lifecycle Manager, Windows patching at scale.
  • Cloud & adjacent — AVS on Azure, GCP three-tier deploys via Terraform / Ansible, Mac mini DFU recovery, and other stray notes.

Why this site exists

If you’re here from a search engine, the post you landed on is the canonical answer to whatever you typed in — no fluff, no preamble, just the fix. Everything is written from a working environment, not a marketing deck.

If something is wrong or has changed in a newer release, the contact links below are the fastest way to reach me.

Certifications

These are my currently public badges on Credly:

  • VMware Certified Professional - VMware Cloud Foundation Administrator 2024
  • VMware Certified Professional - VMware Cloud 2024 [v2]
  • VMware Education Champion - Level One
  • Certification Subject Matter Expert - VMware Cloud Infrastructure 2024
  • VMware Certified - Cloud Infrastructure Administrator 2024
  • VMware Certified Professional - VMware Cloud 2023
  • AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
  • Certification Subject Matter Expert - VMware Cloud 2022
  • VMware Certified Professional - VMware Cloud 2022
  • FinOps Certified Practitioner
  • VMware Certified Advanced Professional - Data Center Virtualization Design 2021
  • CompTIA Linux+ ce Certification
  • CompTIA Linux Network Professional – CLNP Stackable Certification
  • CompTIA Network+ ce Certification
  • VMware Certified Advanced Professional - Data Center Virtualization Design 2020
  • VMware Certified Implementation Expert 6.5 – Data Center Virtualization
  • VMware Certified Implementation Expert - Data Center Virtualization 2020
  • Double VCP - Data Center Virtualization & Network Virtualization
  • Double VCP - Network Virtualization & Cloud Management
  • VMware Certified Professional - Network Virtualization 2019
  • Double VCP - Data Center Virtualization & Cloud Management
  • VMware Certified Professional - Cloud Management and Automation 2019
  • CompTIA Security+ ce Certification
  • VMware Certified Professional 6.5 – Data Center Virtualization
  • MCSE: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure — Certified 2016
  • VMware Certified Professional 6 – Data Center Virtualization
  • Exam 414: Implementing an Advanced Server Infrastructure
  • Exam 413: Designing and Implementing a Server Infrastructure
  • Exam 247: Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud with System Center 2012
  • Exam 246: Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud with System Center 2012
  • Exam 417: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012
  • MCSA: Windows Server 2012 - Certified 2016

Elsewhere

All content here is my own and not affiliated with my employer or with Broadcom / VMware.