Articles — Page 7

When a vSphere admin places an ESXi host in vCenter maintenance mode, VCF Operations should automatically suppress host alerts for that object, without pausing metric collection, and then restore alerting when maintenance ends. Why this approach? In VCF 9, you can avoid alert noise during maintenance in two ways: Maintenance Schedules , pause both collection and alerts during a defined window (best for planned maintenance). Policy-based alert suppression (this post) , keep metrics flowing but disable host alert definitions while the host is in maintenance. This is done with a policy attached to a dynamic custom group keyed to the host’s Maintenance Mode property. Note on naming: In VCF 9, VCF Operations is the successor to Aria/vRealize Operations and is part of the unified Cloud Foundation experience. If you’re upgrading from Aria Operations, see Broadcom’s “Upgrade to VCF Operations 9.0.” ...

In this post I will go over upgrading Aria Operations 8.18.x appliance to 9.0 using Aria Suite Lifecycle. As a pre requirement we do need to have Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.18 Patch 2. Instructions can be found here. Uploading the 9.0 Upgrade Binaries To get started we can go to Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> Binary Mapping. ...

Patch 2 prepares Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager (ASLCM) for VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 migrations. It does not deliver new features or hot-fixes, so only install it if VCF 9.0 (or the new VCF Operations appliance) is on your near-term roadmap. Why Patch 2 Matters Patch 2 updates the appliance-level services that let ASLCM recognize and orchestrate VCF 9.0 components (for example, Aria Operations 9.0). Without it, the 8.18 lifecycle UI cannot import or upgrade those binaries. If you are staying on VCF 5.x/8.x for a while, you can safely defer this patch. ...

With the release of VCF 9 I wanted to get my lab upgraded. The release blog can be found here and the release notes are here Please note that some of the components within the VCF will still need additional upgrading. Please read the release notes for additional details. Planning the Upgrade We can start by going to Inventory -> Workload Domains -> Select the domain -> Updates -> Plan Upgrade. ...

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. ...

This walkthrough records an Aria Operations 9.0 upgrade with a .pak file and the checks I use to verify the cluster afterward. Preparing for the Upgrade Prerequisites Before starting the upgrade, ensure the following prerequisites are met: Backup the Existing Deployment: Take a snapshot of all nodes in the Aria Operations (Master, Cloud proxies, and any other nodes). Confirm backups. Download the .PAK File: Log in to the Broadcom Support Portal. ...

In this blog we will go over deploying a VCF 9 instance using existing components. This assumes the VCF Installer appliance is already deployed and configured. Once logged on and binaries downloaded we can go through the Deployment wizard Click Deployment Wizard to bring up the menu Click on VMware Cloud Foundation Because I do not yet have any environments upgraded to the new fleet management this will be a new VCF Fleet. ...

With the release of VCF 9 (Official What’s New blog can be found here) I wanted to get my lab environment upgraded so I can try out all of the new features. In my previous post we went over the deployment of the appliance. In this post we will be covering the configuration. Configure the VMware Cloud Foundation Installer appliance Once the appliance is deployed we can navigate to https://ip_address/ui or https://hostname/ui of the appliance. If everything is working properly we should be presented with a login screen. ...

With the release of VCF 9 (Official What’s New blog can be found here) I wanted to get my lab environment upgraded so I can try out all of the new features. To get started we need to download the VMware Cloud Foundation Installer from the VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.0.0 page found here. In this post we will cover only the deployment. The configuration is available in another post. Deploy the VMware Cloud Foundation Installer appliance Once the appliance is downloaded we need to get the ova deployed. ...

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: ...