Homelab VMware vSphere
Manually updating ESXi Hosts
How to manual update you ESXi host with the latest VMware patches.
Homelab Networking VMware vSphere
ESXi 8 on the Maxtang NUC
My latest homelab addition is the Maxtang NX6412 NUC which was given by VMware, together with Cohesity (many thanks!) at VMware Explore EU (in the US co-sponsored by NetApp) to all vExperts who registered for the gift. After adding RAM and a SATA SSD, it was time it ran vSphere Read more…
Homelab PowerCLI PowerShell VMware vSphere
Create ESXi 8 Customized ISO Installer
Once and a while ESXi needs to be installed on a device of which the drivers (NIC / Storage) are not built into the ISO installer (yet). In my case it’s needed for the vExpert homelab Maxtang NUC device. This device has a Realtek PCIe NIC’s not supported by ESXi Read more…
Certification VMware vSphere
VMware Advanced Design vSphere 7.x study links
Although vSphere 8 is released (GA) at VMware Explore Europe 2022 and modified exams can be expected, the vSphere 7 ones are still current. Also at Explore I took the Advanced Design VMware vSphere 7.x exam and passed it to update my VCDX-DCV certification based on vSphere 6.5 to the Read more…
PowerCLI PowerShell Windows
PowerCLI 13 update and installation hurdles on Windows
Since PowerCLI 13 is released last week (November the 22nd, 2022), I started the update process on my Windows and MacOS device. I needed the latest version to be able to create a customized ESXi 8 ISO installer for the vExpert Maxtang NUC that has the Realtek USB NIC drivers Read more…
Cloud Director Networking NSX VMware
Using NO SNAT rules in Cloud Director and NSX
While working with a customer to get them onboarded in a VMware NSX (NSX-T) based Cloud Director environment, a use case for NO SNAT rules presented itself that I want to share. In this case the customer has an NSX-T based Edge gateway (T1) connected to a dedicated (VRF based) Read more…
Cloud Foundation Homelab VMware
Cloud Foundation: Update SDDC bring-up parameters
While troubleshooting of a failed SDDC Manager deploy task in Cloud Foundation 4.4 together with VMware support, the engineer showed a way to update the SDDC bring-up parameters. This can be very helpful because it can restart a failed SDDC deployment with updated parameters. This prevents redeploying the physical servers Read more…
Cloud Foundation Homelab Linux VMware
Cloud Foundation: Deploy of SDDC Manager failed during bring-up
Recently I moved to the latest Cloud Foundation version (v4.4) in a lab environment that I often re-deploy. I noticed that during the Cloud Builder bring-up phase the deploy of the SDDC managed failed ever since, while using the same input parameters in the deployment parameters workbook. So it worked Read more…
Cloud Director Networking NSX Security VMware
Cloud Director: Distributed Firewalling with NSX-T
In the beginning of 2022, I attended the “VMware Cloud Director: Advanced Networking with NSX-T Data Center” training for VCD 10.2. The training touched on a couple of topics, that are blog worthy. Let’s start with the third one in this latest Cloud Director series. Previous ones in this series Read more…
Cloud Director Networking NSX Security VMware
Cloud Director: Comparing Data Center Group network features
In the beginning of 2022, I attended the “VMware Cloud Director: Advanced Networking with NSX-T Data Center” training for VCD 10.2. The training touched on a couple of topics, that are blog worthy. Let’s start with the next one in this latest Cloud Director series. Other posts in this series Read more…