Gabbs' Random Thoughts – Finding a Way To Fill The Web

Virtual Updates 2026-01-19

NVMe Memory Tiering ….continued.
So noticed the price of RAM went up….
In late November, the price for a 64-GB DIMM was X.
In mid January, the price for a 64-GB DIMM is now 2.2X.
The price of a 3.2-TB NVMe drive ready for Tiering was 1.2X
Let that sink in….
You need to be considering doing this.
Works in vSphere 8 & vSphere 9 (vSphere 9 is only in VCF or VVF).
Part 5 of the NVMe Memory Tiering Blog Post series is here.
Part 6 of the NVMe Memory Tiering Blog Post series is here.
Greenfield, brownfield, and even Nested are discussed (though nested is primarily to verify processes, rather than gain a useful benefit).
Here’s a post from a peer, Danny Alvarez, who beautifully lays outs your 3 options to deal with rising memory prices….

HA is not DR
Have this conversation all the time, for the past 23 years….
Ever since my first DR project in 2004 using ESXi 2 & P2V to recover….
Saying you have a stretched cluster for DR is not correct.
Saying you have a stretched cluster for HA, in case of a datacenter outage, is.
You still need a DR plan.
If your stretched cluster get ransomwared… what then?
Like this post, using VCF as the example….

VCF 9 – Automation if All Apps mode
This is the new way of using VCF Automation.
If you are familiar with any older iteration of VCF Automation, you are familiar with the “legacy” mode that still exists, which is VM centric.
All Apps mode requires VKS, NSX, and VPCs…all which require setup before we can get started with VCF Automation “All Apps” mode.
Daniel Kreiger’s post covers the full deployment (with links to the NSX VPC deployment) or better stated, configuration of VCF Automation from that point.

Building Azure Virtual Desktop Images
Jon Towles spent some time working on AVD (Azure Virtual Desktops) and more importantly the images you use to do the deploy of AVD desktops, and shared his experiences (and scripts!).
Want some help build your AVD images? Just let us know!
Jon’s post is here.

Virtual Mobile Devices (a “nested” phone within a phone)
VMworld in 2011 had discussions focused on “Dual Identity Smartphone”.
This post revisits these thoughts, not from a technical “…can I do this…” but more from a security/political “concerns” that exist in today’s era.
When I went abroad, I took a burner device that I destroyed after my travels.
Funny how that’s exactly the example here as well.
….and of course, it revisits the importance of VDI (for controlling your data).
Tony Foster’s post revisits the need for this in today’s day & age.

(Un)official VMware Stencils for 2026
VirtualG.uk post to the rescue again.
You’d think that VMware could have created Visio stencils in the past 25 years….

Windows Sandbox – VM like capability already on your Windows OS?
I’ve always just fired up a VM in Workstation/Fusion if I ever had this need.
I can see that my team at work does the same thing….
as they were just as surprised when they presented me this post.
HowToGeek post about Windows Sandbox, how to enable, and how to use.
Note that this does require Windows Pro or Enterprise (sorry Home Edition users).
Also worth noting, I did not see this on my Windows 11 ARM running on VMware Fusion with Mac silicone…..guessing there is no Intel-VT on Mac Silicone.

Let’s Encrypt – Certificate for IPs, and 6 day certificate expiry
Well, no secret that certificate lifetimes are shortening .
Especially since we are moving to certificates with a lifespan of
no more than 47 days (by March 2029 – Digicert post is here)
But what surprised me was certificates for IP addresses.
I’m sure there’s a use case out there, beyond the example of homelabs (though I’d figure any homelab needing certificates would use FQND).
Let’s Encrypt post about Certs for IPs and 6 day expiry is here.

Free Learning – GitHub Repo
AWS Workshops
KodeKloud
Nutanix University
Nutanix .NEXT 2026 – April 7-9, Chicago, IL
PluralSight
vBrownBag
VMware Hands On Labs
VMware Explore 2026 – August 31 – September 3, Las Vegas, NV
VMware Explore 2025 Sessions (William Lam’s easier to search list version)

Virtual Updates 2026-01-05

Happy New Year!!!

NVMe Memory Tiering – revisiting again
Now, part 4 of the blog post, with first 3 posts linked.
Why keep harping on this?
Memory is expensive, and one of the most constrained items in the system.

vSphere 8 Update 3h released
Still looks like the latest downloads are 8.0 U3c on Broadcom’s site.
That just means patch after deployment.
There are auto-renewals for vCenter certificates that are nearing the expiration date, but please read the release notes for clarity!
vCenter Release Notes are here.
ESXi Release Notes are here.

Windows Secure Boot UEFI Certificate Expiring
So there are Microsoft Certificates expiring in June 2026.
These certificates are what backs Secure Boot.
This post has PowerShell scripts to check your UEFI status, and how to handle performing the required updates.
This will ensure you are being proactive, if you want the benefits of Secure Boot.
Yes…..VMs need this too (if using Secure Boot).
Blog post is here.
More on the topic from Microsoft Tech community.
Jon Towles has a fully orchestrated answer here.

Omnissa Horizon 2512 released
next iteration of Horizon 8.
now with Nutanix AHV support (more on that below)
Omnissa post is here.
Horizon 8 Release Notes are here.

VCDX – more info on the updated cert
Covers exams required (not all are available yet).
…and of course, ….the Defense….The panel based review/defense.
Blog post is here.

Playstation Network – Creative Hack
Even with MFA and/or a Passkey, you can still get your PSN account stolen.
Not sure who would be at fault in this one, but yea,….don’t share info you don’t need to share online.
Blog Post is here.

Omnissa Horizon on Nutanix AHV
Finally, full GA!
Windows Server operating systems in VDI pools.
Nutanix Post is here.

Prism Central 7.5 released
…as well as 7.5.0.1, so we’ll just skip 7.5.0.0…..
New features including Windows Guest Customization (that actually works).
NKP is finally available in the Prism Central Admin Center –> Marketplace.
Prism Central Release Notes are here.

Nutanix Guest Customization Profiles for Windows VMs – FINALLY HERE!
Requires Prism Central 7.5.
WORKS GREAT!
Even handles NGT enabled for the Windows VM Guest OS
(just wait for LCM to make Prism Central 7.5 available to patch with).
This is something I have complained about to Nutanix for a long time now.
now, build a Windows VM, and don’t sysprep it (you can, but why bother?).
I also worked a bit with them to get this released.
Blog post highlighting the workflow.

Nutanix Flow Network Security 7.5 released
Alongside the AOS & Prism Central 7.5 releases….
Starting to change how it can be deployed (don’t pay attention just yet to the recommended deployment….to resource heavy right now).
But micro segmentation just became easier…using….categories.
(anyone who’s heard me talk Nutanix knows I believe categories need to be mastered).
Blog post is here.

Virtual Updates 2025-12-15

IT Silos Prevent “Private Cloud” models
….I would hedge my bets that this is because of 1 word….change.
No one likes change, myself included.
But, as technology changes frequently, you have to be willing & able to change.
True for VCF, true for Nutanix, true for “fill-in-the-blank-with-what-you-use”
VMware News post is here.

Fidelity sues Broadcom over contract dispute
Heard this before…wonder what the outcome will be….
What is going on with Broadcom here….
Reuters post is here.

VCF – vSAN planning for Network Switches
…but I already have switches.
Yes, you do, but are they up to the task?
It is not just the speed of the port, but the overall performance of your switch.
VMware Blog post is here.

vSAN Erasure Encoding explained
Using comparisons to traditional SAN arrays, this post covers the technical details of how vSAN does Erasure Coding.
VMware Blog post is here.

VCF Automation – Networking Deep Dive
Too many options in VCF 9 networking for you?
Well, Tomas covers some important concepts when using VCF Automation, and the underlying requirements from the NSX side of the world in a lengthy post.
Remember, in VCF Automation, you probably want/need “All Apps” organization, which needs the vSphere Supervisor, over “All VMs”.
But this means you need to get your NSX layer right first….
Tomas Fojta blog post is here.

VCF NSX Security Hardening
Want to use the VCF Operations builtin NSX Hardening Guide?
Here’s a quick walkthrough….
Blog post is here.

vDefend – Intro, deploy/config, onboarding
A series of blog posts, describing the vDefend (add-on License) for VCF.
Start with the overview, see how it deploys & gets configured, and how you start integrating it.
vstellar Blog post part 5 (which links to the first 4) is here.

NVMe Memory Tiering
Yes, I keep posting on this topic….
Anyone notice RAM prices keep going up (astronomically)?
How to size post, around this topic.
Personally, it seems easy & cheap enough to throw a 4-TB NVMe drive at this…
VMware Blog post is here.

Veeam with Universal CDP
It creates replicas, then keeps the replicas up to date.
Veeam Documentation is here.

Verify vCenter before VCF Workload Domain import
William Lam again….
Want to do the recheck with useful output?
Perhaps this script is for your (rather than trying to import, getting the same errors, but not getting easy access to the fix).
William Lam’s post is here.

Proxmox Datacenter Manager 1.0 released
For those who are considering Proxmox, the Datacenter Manager release is out.
Release notes are here.

vExpert 2026 – Applications accepted starting today!
Don’t just sit by the sidelines.
You probably take notes….
A great blog post, talking about what it takes to become a vExpert.
Or a word from Corey Romero, who runs the vExpert program…
It’s not as difficult as many perceive….

VMUG Members – VCF Licensing for Homelab
A friend of mine captured how to get your VCF licensing nicely.
Great for homelab use, with 128-cores of licensing.
you do need to pass a VCF exam, and you’ll get a 50% off voucher.
Licensing is handled a bit differently than your production licensing…
Of course it is linked in this post.
Tommy Grot’s post is here.

Nutanix with Pure FlashArray now GA!
Pure customers are happy now that this is GA.
In the works for a while, this is finally available to use in production.
I was concerned when Nutanix started discussing external storage, as it varied from the HCI that made Nutanix great.
But, the previews I’ve gotten over ahead of time impressed me.
They kept it super simple to work with.
Nutanix Blog post is here.

Nutanix ending SSH access
…a repeated post, but worth noting….
They have been mentioning this for the past year, and I’ve had discussions with folks on the topic…split 50/50 on whether this is good or bad.
Well, I believe it is good, and aligns with Nutanix’s security first approach.
Does that mean we have some work to do (updating our SSH workflows)?
Sure, but they are giving options, & there is still 6 months left to plan…
Blog Post, highlighting your options, is here.
Nutanix Statement post is here.

Nutanix FNS 7.5 – follow me anywhere security
Ok, not ANYWHERE, but anywhere Nutanix AHV is running.
Security Policy migration between Prism Central….or another way to put it…
Security Policy will travel with the VM.
Nutanix Post is here.

Nutanix NC2 – from i3.metal to i7i.metal
A step by step on how to replace your i3.metal with i7i.metal.
Seems WAY too easy here….
Nutanix Tech Center post is here.

Virtual Updates 2025-12-01

VCF 9 CPU – Deprecation & Discontinuance
Depreciation means this is the last version of VCF for the CPU.
Discontinuance means you can not install VCF with this CPU.
Just be aware of this, as you plan your next upgrade….
Broadcom Article ID: 318697 link is here.

IBM Cloud – no new VMware Cloud offerings
“Effective 31 October 2025, IBM Cloud will no longer sell VMware on IBM Cloud offerings to customers who do not have at least one active VMware Workload running on IBM Cloud before that date.”
The Register post is here.

vDefend – Zero Trust Micro-segmentation is a just weeks
Nice post, as it covers the high-level steps over a 1-month time.
Remember, it IS an add-on to VCF (not VVF, as no NSX is included).
VMware Blog post is here.

VCF Operations – vCommunity Management Pack – continued
…added Post 3
A community created set of dashboards, views, reports, and super metrics.
…well, led by OnurYuzseven (Broadcom TAM)….
Covers how to install, as well as how to consume.
Brock Peterson’s Blog post is here.
Brock Peterson’s part 2 post is here.
Brock Peterson’s part 3 post is here.

NVMe Tiering – revisited
I keep harping on this topic.
RAM is one of the more expensive components for a server, especially as the desnisty of each DIMM goes up.
Being able to double that with a 2nd tier of memory (NVMe Memory Tiering) will be worth the effort for many workloads.
VMware Blog Post is here.

VCF 9 – configuring an offline depot
Another post that covers (step-by-step) how to build the offline depot.
Start with an Ubuntu (or other) VM, and goes into the step-by-step on how to configure everything you need.
Blog post is here.

vSphere Supervisor via Terraform
Subject is self explanatory….
Blog post is here…

Harbor – Configure your internal private registry
Didn’t realize the history here mentioned in the post….
VMware started Harbor, then gave it to the community….
Why your own private registry?
Control over what is published & how (plus avoiding limitations from other registry providers.
Anyway, this post covers standing up your own Harbor Registry.
VMware Blog post is here.

AVD (Azure Virtual Desktop – now on-prem!
Wow….never thought this would happen…..
AVD can run on your Nutanix or VMware environments.
caveat? …..full desktops only. Requires Microsoft Arc enabled servers.
VMs will function as session hosts.
Microsoft TechCommunity post is here.

Omnissa Horizon 8 on VCF – Reference Architecture
While it reads like a marketing document, it does cover the use cases, technical capabilities, and takes security into account.
The reference architecture document is linked in the post.
VMware Blog post is here.

1password – manage your .env files
I thought this was cool, as I have been using 1Password for a while now.
There are a couple of password managers that do this.
Way better management for .env files….even though this is a beta release…
1password post is here, & it walks you through this (and has a video demo too).

Microsoft AI Agents – can access your files?
Want your Windows 11 AI to skim through your files?
Awesome feature or privacy invasion? …up to you….
PCGamer post is here.

Microsoft Open Sources Zork
The text based games from the 80s? Yup!
Slashdot post is here.

AWS Workshops – free training
Just came across this.
Quite a few offerings listed….
AWS Workshops are here.

Nutanix ending SSH access
They have been mentioning this for the past year, and I’ve had discussions with folks on the topic…split 50/50 on whether this is good or bad.
Well, I believe it is good, and aligns with Nutanix’s security first approach.
Does that mean we have some work to do (updating our SSH workflows)?
Sure, but they are giving options, & there is still 6 months left to plan…
Blog Post, highlighting your options, is here.
Nutanix Statement post is here.

NKP (Nutanix Kuberenetes Platform) 2.16.1 released
Tons of improvements starting with Kubernetes 1.33 support.
Too much to just post here, the post has a long list of what’s new.
Nutanix Blog post is here.

Prism Central – Planning your backup
Part of backing up Prism Central, is planning how to backup AND recover.
Prism Central has 2 x types of backups it can perform.
Can you back it up via traditional means (VM based backup)?
Sure, but that is not a supported way to do backups (more importantly, restores).
Don’t underestimate the planning step…..
Mike Dent wrote up a great post about it.

Virtual Updates 2025-11-17

VCF 9 – Principal Storage meaning changed?
Came across Broadcom Article ID 416270, Supporting all Principal Storage Options in VCF 9.
iSCSI, NFS v4.1, and NVMe over Fabrics (FC or TCP) have been know as supplemental storage, but here, they are referred to as Principal.
Either way, this shows how to use Supplemental Storage to stand up a VCF Domain (either Management or Workload).
Not sure about this nuance in Principal vs Supplemental….
VMware Blog post is here.

vSAN ESA ReadyNode Hardware Guidance
Found in the VMware Hardware Compatibility Guide, this calls out some of the details when selecting drives to use with vSAN ESA.
There is a reason for these guides…..
vSAN ESA ReadyNode Hardware Guidance link is here.

vSAN Data Protection – sample use cases
Rapid recovery, cloning, and of course, replication with/without DR.
VMware Blog post is here.

VCF 9 Memory Tiering – How to configure
Take advantage of this capability!
Double the RAM in your system via an NVMe drive!
…don’t forget that the NVMe drive must be dedicated to tiering…
Blog post is here.

VCF Operations – vCommunity Management Pack
A community created set of dashboards, views, reports, and super metrics.
…well, led by OnurYuzseven (Broadcom TAM)….
Covers how to install, as well as how to consume.
Brock Peterson’s Blog post is here.
Brock Peterson’s part 2 post is here.

VCF 9 Advanced Exams – 1st batch released
VCAPs are taking a turn in the new Broadcom Era…..
VCAPs are now considered “specialties”.
Right now, 3 VCAP exams cover:
Automation, Operations, or VKS (vSphere Kubernetes Service.
More VCAPs are coming soon….
I’m taking the VCF 9 Operations exam this week, so we’ll see how that goes…
VMware Certifications Page is here.

VCDX – now VMware Certified Distinguished Expert
Looking forward to seeing the details….
Did get a preview of things at the Broadcom Knights event at VMware Explore, but can’t share till the proper details are released officially.
VMware Blog post is here.

VCF 9.0.1 Homelab & vSAN ESA HCL
I missed this post originally, and William Lam pointed it out.
With VCF 9.0.1, you can run your Nested ESXi hosts with vSAN ESA.
Just follow this post, make some changes on the VCF Installer.
If you are going to be doing a Workload Domain….
Further down the post are the changes needed on t he SDDC-Manager.

Palo Alto & Arista Partnership
Arista’s AI for networking expertise using AVA (Autonomous Virtual Assist) with Palo Alto Networks NGFW (Next Generation Firewalls) and the Strata Network Security platform.
Arista Blog post is here.

Nutanix NKP – deploying in a Dark Site
A nice walkthrough on how to deploy in a site with no internet access.
Nutanix Dev post is here.

Nutanix Flow – building a basic VPC
An example with “No NAT” configured.
Blog post is here.

Free Learning – GitHub Repo
KodeKloud
Nutanix University
Nutanix .NEXT 2026 – April 7-9, Chicago, IL
PluralSight
vBrownBag
VMware Hands On Labs
VMware Explore 2026 – August 31 – September 3, Las Vegas, NV
VMware Explore 2025 Sessions (William Lam’s easier to search list version)

Virtual Updates 2025-11-03

Broadcom Change to Download Token
This has been true since early September…can’t believe I missed it…
Just be aware that you have to update your Broadcom Tokens….
It has to do with the end of your subscription, so you’ll see it eventually….
As with Broadcom, a poorly worded post leaves a lot of question….
Broadcom post is here.

Today I Learned…
Windows OVAs can be deployed using answer files in vSphere.
Most vSphere admins are accustomed to building a VM, marking it as a Template VM, and then using a predefined answer file (Customization Specification) to have it go through Sysprep and anything else (including setting IP, hostname, and domain join).
Not sure when this became possible, it changes things when using Content Libraries. It is not possible to sync templates without ELM, which is gone now (you use vCenter Groups in VCF Operations to get the equivalent).
So, using OVAs and Answer files together provides the same functionality!
I assume this means linux distros will use CloudInit in the same way….

vSAN 9 – Global Deduplication
Been waiting for this….
ESA only, and does away with OSA’s disk group limitation for deduplication (which was per host, and then per disk group on that host).
It is available with VCF 9.0.1, but on a per request basis.
Duncan Epping’s post has info, links to podcasts where he discusses this, and a link to request this in VCF 9.0.1.
Looking forward to seeing it as part of the base product of VCF…

vSphere Memory Tiering – add RAM to ESXi host via NVMe drive
This has been around since vSphere 8.
Add an NVMe drive, and increase the size of the RAM in your ESXi host.
Relatively cheap and effective way to increase your useable RAM.
Yes, you still need RAM.
This blog post covers the how & why (it has 3 parts, all linked on this page).

VCF Operations – Identify & Clean Up Orphaned Disks
Walkthrough on how to take a report, or run it via API.
How to clean it up easily?….that depends…. 😉
Brock Peterson blog post is here.

vCenter Converter 9.0 – available now
Converter has been a great tool for many years….
Need to P2V or V2V?
What about using V2V to “clean up” a VM that has 183 snapshots starting from 5 years ago?
You can find it in the “Free Software” section of My Downloads.
Link to the download (Broadcom login required).
Link to Product Docs are here.

VCF Software Depot Structure
William Lam has posted about this often, and done it via a Synology (for us homelabbers).
If you run your software depot in Online Mode, no problem.
Once you decide for Offline Mode, additional work is required, and hosting the Software Depot needs to be done right.
Lengthy post, but it talks through all steps to get this done….
William Lam’s post is here.

VMware Holodeck 9.0.1 released
Holodeck lets you deploy VCF on a single node ESXi host (or even a cluster).
The initial 9.0 had its bugs….hopefully, they are all ironed out…
VMware Blog post is here.

F5 to Avi Load Balancer Migration
Migrations happen, and moving from F5 to Avi Load Balancer is possible.
According to the post, here is why: F5 configurations are often static and CLI-driven. Avi supports declarative APIs, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools like Terraform, Ansible, Jenkins, and CI/CD pipelines for automated deployments.
Blog post is here.

AWS Outage – Design Your Apps right then
Always amazes me when any cloud provider has an outage.
Usually, it only effects 1 datacenter location or region, so it would have been easy to architect it across regions to avoid that medium probability, high impact scenario.
First I heard was local news here.
Reuters article is here.
AWS situation report here.
….and it was DNS…..

Azure Outage
Alaska Air, Heathrow Airport, Vodafone, and more were affected.
Reuters’ post is here.

Alaska Airlines Outage
…as a result of the above noted Azure Outage….
Anyone who flies dreads this kind of news….all flights grounded.
An IT issue…..I am sure that a well architected solution could have avoided that..
Wonder what the outage cost them?
Wonder if the savings were worth the outage?
Alaska Airlines statement is here.

Virtual Updates 2025-10-20

VCF 9 – Decipher the Release #
What does 9.0.0.0000.1234567 actually mean?
Major, minor, maintenance, express patch, hot patch, & build number.
Also covers the expected cadence for releases.
Broadcom ID# 410435 link is here.

VCF – how many instances in a VCF Fleet?
…it depends.
In short?… it’s now based on the # of objects & metrics VCF Operations is keeping track of.
VMware is working on providing sizing tools to simplify the sizing.
William Lam’s blog post is here.

vSAN Global Deduplication – where is it?
It’s coming…. VCF 9.0.1 it became available upon request.
I’ve been looking forward to this, and to see the actual impact in the lab.
VMware Blog post on vSAN Global Dedupe is here.

VCF – Data Services Manager (DBaaS)
With VCF 9, Data Services Manager is integrated with VCF Automation.
You get D PostgreSQL & MySQL (Microsoft SQL still in preview) as a Service.
Yes it is an Advanced Service (additional licensing)….but automating self-service databases consumption is becoming the norm.
Blog post is here.
Cormac Hogan on MS SQL Enhancements part 1 & part 2.

VxRail – now with VCF
VxRail was specifically excluded from VCF 9.
With VCF 9.1, there is a single VCF release that supports VxRail.
They are now treated as vSAN Ready Nodes.
To me, it sounds like VxRail.next is the HSM for VxRail nodes.
Blog post is here.

VCF Operations – Build Custom Alarms
This example uses VMs affected by an HA restart (failed host).
Nice and simple walk through.
Blog post is here.

Workstation & Fusion – new versioning
Now aligned with calendar years….
So, you will see 25H2 as the version (25 Calendar year, H2 is 2nd half of year).
VMware Blog post is here.

Windows 11 VDI Image for Omnissa
Never hurts to share information more than once….
Need to build a proper Windows 11 image, with Office, and optimizations ready to go?
How to deal with vTPM as you build, and then later, as you deploy.
Stephen Wagner’s post is here.
Yes, it has a 1-hour video covering the process.
That means there are lots of details to get right….

F5 breach exposes Big-IP Source Code
Never think you are impervious to being hacked…
HackerNews post is here.

Notepad++ – time to get patched
We all should be patching anyway, but sometimes it gets missed.
Just get your Notepad++ installs updated…
Blog post is here.

Nutanix AHV – Now supporting Cisco UCM
Cisco UCM (Unified Communications Manager) is now supported on AHV!
Availability of this is coming early 2026.
I’ll be interested in what magic exists for the integration of Cisco Intersight with Nutanix Prism….
Cisco Blog post is here.

Nutanix Database Services (NDB) 2.9 release
This is a great tool for orchestrating the lifecycle of database servers, and the ongoing operations (deploy, patch, clone for dev/test/qa).
Think policy driven approach to databases in production, freeing up your DBAs time.
Nutanix’s Magnus Andersson’s post is here.

Nutanix Files – Synchronous Data Protection
Introduced in Files 5.2, you can achieve a zero (0) RPO across clusters.
Yes, consider bandwidth & latency, as with any synchronous solution.
Blog post is here.

Nutanix X-Ray 6.2 released
Great stress testing tool.
This version requires a net-new deploy…just be aware….
Nutanix Blog post is here.