Browsing: Guides & Tutorials

TL;DR Scope: VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.0.0 GA (primary platform build 24703748) and the associated 9.0 GA BOM levels for key components: SDDC Manager: 9.0.0.0 build 24703751 vCenter: 9.0.0.0 build 24755230 ESXi: 9.0.0.0 build 24755229 NSX: 9.0.0.0 build 24752083 VCF Operations: 9.0.0.0 build 24705084 VCF Operations Fleet Management: 9.0.0.0 build 24704881 VCF Automation: 9.0.0.0 build 24786202 VCF Identity Broker: 9.0.0.0 build 24786209 Your topology decision is really about failure domains:Single site -> simplest operations.Two sites in one region -> availability engineering (stretched networking and usually stretched storage).Multi-region -> disaster recovery engineering (asynchronous replication + runbooks). Your identity decision is a blast…

TL;DR This post targets VCF 9.0 GA only: VCF 9.0 (17 JUN 2025) build 24755599, with GA BOM examples including VCF Installer 9.0.1.0 build 24962180, ESX 9.0.0.0 build 24755229, vCenter 9.0.0.0 build 24755230, NSX 9.0.0.0 build 24733065, SDDC Manager 9.0.0.0 build 24703748, VCF Operations 9.0.0.0 build 24695812, VCF Automation 9.0.0.0 build 24701403, and VCF Identity Broker 9.0.0.0 build 24695128. Your topology choice is the first big day-0 decision: Single site usually starts with one fleet + one instance. Two sites in one region is typically one fleet + one instance with stretched clusters for higher availability. Multi-region typically becomes one…

TL;DR Converting a VM to managed disks is usually operationally straightforward: deallocate, convert, start, validate. The real work is coordination: availability set batching maintenance windows IP address behavior validation and rollback plan Expect a possible post-migration background-copy window where reads can be slower. Do not skip cleanup: original VHD blobs and storage accounts can keep accruing cost after conversion. Architecture Diagram Table of Contents Scenario Core Concepts Prerequisites Version Compatibility Matrix Step-by-step Validation Troubleshooting Workflow Rollback Considerations Cost Model Snapshot Best Practices Conclusion Scenario You’ve identified one or more production VMs still using unmanaged disks. You need a runbook you…

TL;DR Converting disks is not the finish line. Your real goal is a new steady state: no unmanaged disks no lingering storage account VHD costs guardrails that prevent reintroduction Cleanup is measurable FinOps value: remove unattached disks and old VHD blobs after your validation period. Governance is your long-term win: use Azure Policy to audit VMs that do not use managed disks and surface drift continuously. Architecture Diagram Table of Contents Scenario What “Done” Looks Like Operational Runbook Snapshot Cleanup Workflow Governance Controls Anti-patterns Day-two Operations Best Practices Conclusion Scenario You’ve migrated your VMs to managed disks. The outage risk…

TL;DR If you want clean accountability in VCF 9.0, anchor your operating model to the official hierarchy: VCF private cloud -> VCF fleet -> VCF instance -> VCF domain -> vSphere clusters. This post translates that hierarchy into an operating model: who owns what, where day-0/day-1/day-2 work happens, and how topology (single site vs two sites vs multi-region) changes your posture. Scope and code levels referenced in this article (VCF 9.0 GA component set): SDDC Manager: 9.0.0.0 build 24703748 vCenter: 9.0.0.0 build 24755230 ESX: 9.0.0.0 build 24755229 NSX: 9.0.0.0 build 24733065 VCF Operations: 9.0.0.0 build 24695812 VCF Operations fleet management:…

TL;DR Standardize on the official hierarchy: VCF private cloud -> VCF fleet -> VCF instance -> VCF domain -> vSphere clusters. A VCF fleet is managed by one set of fleet-level management components (notably VCF Operations and VCF Automation), while each VCF instance keeps its own management domain and domain-level control planes. Your fastest path to org alignment is separating two things people constantly mix up: Fleet-level services: centralized operations, lifecycle for management components, automation, and SSO integration. Instance management planes: SDDC Manager, management vCenter, management NSX, plus the vCenter and NSX that belong to each workload domain. Scope and…

TL;DR If you want alignment fast, standardize on this hierarchy and ownership split: Organizational private cloud (program term) -> VCF Fleet -> VCF Instance -> VCF Domains (management and workload) -> vSphere clusters A fleet is the boundary for shared fleet services (operations, automation, identity, governance). It is not “one shared SDDC management plane.” An instance is the boundary for a discrete SDDC footprint with its own management domain and workload domains. A domain is your lifecycle and isolation unit. It is where you place blast radius and change windows on purpose. Scope and code levels referenced in this post…

This is a guest post from Andrew Ferlitsch, author of Deep Learning Patterns and Practices.  It provides an introduction to deep neural networks in Python. Andrew is an expert on computer vision, deep learning, and operationalizing ML in production at Google Cloud AI Developer Relations. This article examines the parts that make up neural networks and deep neural networks, as well as the fundamental different types of models (e.g. regression), their constituent parts (and how they contribute to model accuracy), and which tasks they are designed to learn. This article is meant for machine learning engineers who are familiar with…

Oh, what will happen to our jobs when my company starts using AI? This is such a popular question that comes up when I give talks—even to a pseudo technical audience. Not surprisingly, this question will land sarcastic smiles on the faces of some data scientists and AI experts; you may even catch some eyes rolling.  But it’s a valid question.  Don’t forget, we had a US political candidate run for the presidency on the theme that automation is robbing people of good jobs and we should thus be compensated for the crisis. Popular figures take it to extreme levels…

Listen to my interview with the Insatiably Curious Podcast host, David Gee. Transcript of the podcast is as below. 00:07 Welcome to the Insatiably Curious Podcast, where we invite lifelong learners to join us on a personal and professional journey. Now here to inform, entertain and enlighten, while always keeping it interesting from our nation’s capital. It’s your host, David Gee. David Gee  00:26 Joining us today so glad to have her, Kavita Ganesan… She is the author of “The Business Case for AI: A Leader’s Guide to AI Strategies, Best Practices & Real-World Applications.” Welcome to the show, Kavita.…