Series on Cosmin.us

VCF 9 Fleet Management

Cosmin Trif — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:30:00 +0000

VCF 9 introduced Fleet Management (part of VCF Operations) as the control plane for deploying and lifecycling the fleet. It’s new, and it has sharp edges — this series collects the deployment guide plus the real problems I’ve hit running it: services that don’t survive a reboot, password sync breaking after credential expiry, and leftover components that need scripted cleanup.

For the SDDC Manager side of VCF upgrades, see the VCF Upgrades series.

VCF Upgrades

Cosmin Trif — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 17:30:00 +0000

Every step of the VMware Cloud Foundation upgrade path, in order, from VCF 4.0 to VCF 9.1. Each guide below covers one hop — prechecks, bundle downloads, the upgrade itself, and the verification afterwards — with screenshots and the errors I actually hit along the way.

How to use this series: find your current version in the list (newest last), then follow the guides hop by hop. VCF does not support skipping intermediate versions — if you’re on 4.x you’ll pass through 4.5 and 5.x before reaching 9. For the 9.x era, SDDC Manager updates and Fleet Management (VCF Operations) updates are separate tracks; both are covered here and in the VCF 9 Fleet Management series.

Aria Operations Upgrades

Cosmin Trif — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 17:58:48 +0000

Upgrade guides for the product now called VCF Operations — formerly VMware Aria Operations, formerly vRealize Operations (vROps). Both upgrade methods are covered where they exist: through Lifecycle Manager (vRSLCM/Aria Suite Lifecycle) and directly with a .pak file.

How to use this series: guides run oldest to newest, from vROps 8.6 to the VCF Operations 9.x era. Each title names the target version and the method. If Lifecycle Manager manages your deployment, prefer that path; the PAK-file guides are for standalone deployments or when Lifecycle Manager itself is the problem.

Aria Automation Upgrades

Cosmin Trif — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 05:28:29 +0000

Upgrade guides for the product now called VCF Automation — formerly VMware Aria Automation, formerly vRealize Automation (vRA). This series follows the product across its releases from vRA 8.3 onward, upgraded through Lifecycle Manager (vRSLCM/Aria Suite Lifecycle), via CLI, and without Lifecycle Manager at all.

How to use this series: the guides are listed oldest to newest. Find the release you’re moving to; the method (Lifecycle Manager vs CLI) is in each title. Older 8.x releases are past end of support — if you’re still on one, plan the move to VCF 9, where Automation ships as part of the platform.

NSX Corfu Certificate Replacement

Cosmin Trif — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 21:27:15 +0000

NSX stores its internal certificates in the Corfu database, and each service — AR, CCP, CSM, GM, MP, Cluster Manager, IDPS Reporting, Monitoring, and the Corfu API itself — has its own certificate that expires on its own schedule. When one goes, the symptoms are rarely obvious.

Each guide below replaces one specific certificate via the NSX API, with the exact API calls and verification steps. The procedure is similar across services, but the certificate names and service IDs differ — pick the guide for the certificate that’s expiring in your environment.