vSphere, ESXi, and vCenter Guides

This is the corrected follow-up to my earlier ESXi command-line upgrade articles. The shared public VMware host-update depot used in those examples is no longer valid. Broadcom now uses customer-specific authenticated download URLs, and its current standalone command-line procedure documents an offline depot ZIP with esxcli software profile update. The procedure and release information below were reviewed on August 25, 2026. Reopen the linked Broadcom articles during every change: depot authentication, entitlements, available profiles, release builds and support status can change. ...

This post replaces the unsafe package-removal command that appeared in my older article about removing stale NSX packages from an ESXi host. Broadcom now documents a clear distinction between removing NSX through its management workflow and cleaning up VIBs that remain afterward. Warning: Do not manually remove individual NSX VIBs with esxcli software vib remove. Broadcom identifies that method as unsupported. It can break distributed-switch state, disconnect host networking, and in some failure cases leave reimaging as the recovery path. ...

Breaking Enhanced Linked Mode is one of those changes where the technical command is not the hardest part. The hard part is making sure administrators, service accounts, and external products can still log in and do their jobs after the vCenters no longer share the same SSO domain. In this post I will walk through a repeatable way to export and restore vCenter 8.x RBAC data before splitting Enhanced Linked Mode. The focus is on three permission layers: ...

While reviewing an SOS support bundle from a VMware Cloud Foundation environment, I noticed every ESXi host in the management cluster was logging the same warning, over and over, right up to the moment the bundle was collected: [vob.visorfs.ramdisk.full] Cannot extend visorfs file /vsantraces/vsantracesLSOMVerbose--...zst because its ramdisk (vsantraceFailover) is full. These are -INFO level VOB events, not errors, and they do not touch your data or VMs. But when the same symptom appears on all hosts at once, fires continuously, and never clears on its own, it is worth understanding what is actually happening and fixing it cluster-wide rather than logging into each host by hand. This post walks through the diagnosis and a small Bash script that queries, fixes, and reclaims space on every host in parallel. ...

This historical lab procedure upgraded an ESXi 8 host to the ESX 9.0 GA profile, build 24755229, with esxcli. Review the VCF 9 platform release information and confirm that this standalone method is supported for your environment before continuing. Broadcom’s build-number table now lists later 9.0 releases and a separate 9.1 train. On August 25, 2026, those entries included 9.0.2.0100 build 25595025 and 9.1.0.0200 build 25557999. Neither is an automatic replacement target: use the approved VCF bill of materials, upgrade path, compatibility results and exact depot profile for the environment. ...

The Problem When trying to connect to a vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) using WinSCP, many admins encounter the following error: Received too large (1433299822 B) SFTP packet. Max supported packet size is 1024000 B This occurs because the default shell used by the vCenter appliance (/bin/appliancesh) is not compatible with SFTP, which WinSCP attempts to use by default. The Solution To successfully connect to VCSA and transfer files using WinSCP, you need to: ...

This historical lab procedure updated an ESXi 8 host to ESXi 8.0 Update 3b, build 24280767, with esxcli. Review the ESXi 8.0 U3b release notes and confirm compatibility before continuing. Broadcom’s build-number table now records later releases in the 8.0 Update 3 train, including Update 3k, build 25595708. The profile in this article remains the pinned historical target, not a current release recommendation. Prepare the Host and Enter Maintenance Mode Do not apply an image profile while the host is carrying workloads. Broadcom’s current esxcli patching procedure requires maintenance mode before esxcli software profile update. ...

With the release of vCenter 7 Update 1, VMware introduced the vCLS (vSphere Clustering Service). More information can be found here. Diagnosing the cpuid.mwait Error Looking at the error details it looks like it is looking for a feature called cpuid.mwait Reviewing the VMX file it seems like EVC is enabled on the vCLS VMs. I didn’t want to enable EVC on the whole cluster so I wanted to do it only on the specific VMs. ...

Introduction Logs play a pivotal role in the management and troubleshooting of IT environments. Aria for Logs (formerly known as vRealize Log Insight) provides powerful log management capabilities, enabling deep analytical insights and real-time monitoring of data from various sources, including vSphere. To ensure Aria for Logs effectively collects and analyzes log data, it requires specific permissions within your vCenter Server. This blog post will guide you through creating a custom role in vCenter tailored for the Aria for Logs service account. ...

In the evolving landscape of VMware ESXi environments, maintaining compatibility and ensuring that systems adhere to specific boot requirements is essential. As more environments transition towards UEFI, there might still be a need to check or enforce legacy BIOS boot methods on certain ESXi servers, especially for compatibility with older hardware or specific operational requirements. This blog post will guide VMware administrators on how to automate the process of checking the boot option (UEFI or Legacy BIOS) on multiple ESXi hosts using PowerShell and Plink. ...