VCenter

In the previous post, I covered how to license a standalone ESX 9.0 host by importing a private license file directly on the host with esxcli. That workflow was straightforward: generate a keypair, grab a license file from the portal, scp both files to the host, run two esxcli commands, done. VCF 9.1 changes everything. Starting with 9.1, you cannot generate individual ESX host licenses from the VCF Business Services console and apply them directly. Instead, Broadcom introduced a License Server appliance — a small OVA that sits between the portal and your hosts. You import your private license file into the License Server, and the License Server issues host-scoped licenses to each ESX host via API. ...

As organizations adopt VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0, a common question comes up: what do I do with my existing vCenter 8.x environments? The good news is that VCF 9.0 supports backwards compatibility with 8.x vCenter instances. You can import them as workload domains directly from the VCF Operations console, bringing your legacy infrastructure under VCF management without rebuilding from scratch. In this post I will walk through the full import process — from prerequisites and networking requirements to NSX deployment and validation — so you know exactly what to expect before you hit the “Import” button. ...

If you upgraded (or deployed) ESX/ESXi 9.0 in a lab and let the evaluation expire, you can end up in the classic chicken-and-egg situation: your vCenter is a VM, but you can’t power it on because the host is no longer licensed. With VCF / vSphere Foundation 9.0, licensing moved away from the old 25-character keys and into license files(normally handled through VCF Operations), which is great… until you don’t have VCF Ops up yet. (VMware Blogs) ...

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9 brings a suite of powerful automation tools, and for many administrators, deploying the Operations Orchestrator (formerly vRO) as a standalone, external appliance provides greater flexibility and isolation. In this guide, I will walk you through the process of deploying VCF Operations Orchestrator 9 using the OVA method, followed by the necessary command-line configurations to get your authentication up and running. Prerequisites Before you begin, ensure you have the following: ...

Deploying the VCF Fleet Management (Operations / Fleet Manager) appliance using an OVA is a common approach when standing up a new VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9 environment or re-deploying the component. Below is a refined guide covering the deployment, configuration, and integration steps. 1. Prerequisites & Downloading Binaries Before you deploy the OVA: Log into the Broadcom Support Portal and obtain the required binaries and OVA files for the Fleet Manager. Direct link can be found here. ...

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.” ...

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 (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: ...

If your vCenter logs are flooded with ApiGwServicePrincipal messages about token expirations, you’re not alone. These frequent “info” level logs in the apigw.log file can clutter your system, making it tough to identify real issues. Fortunately, there’s a simple workaround: adjust the logging severity from “info” to “error.” Below, I’ll guide you through the exact steps to reduce this log noise effectively. The Issue: Too Many ApiGwServicePrincipal Logs In vCenter, you might see repeated log entries like: ...