Modern datacentres run on layers of virtualisation, applications, networks, and security policies that all need to be monitored together, not in isolation. As environments scale, the real challenge is not deploying the technology—it’s keeping it healthy, stable, and predictable over time.

This is where VMware Aria comes in.

VMware Aria is VMware’s cloud management platform designed to give organisations complete visibility across their virtual and cloud environments. It brings together metrics, logs, network flows, capacity insights, and application dependencies into one integrated ecosystem. Instead of monitoring the environment through multiple tools, teams can use Aria to see the full picture: performance, behaviour, security, and dependencies.

Aria is made up of several components, but the three that directly support infrastructure monitoring are:

• VMware Aria Operations
• VMware Aria Operations for Logs
• VMware Aria Operations for Networks

In this blog, we’ll break down what each platform does, how it supports day-to-day operations, and how they work together to give you full-stack visibility.

This section outlines how monitoring will be implemented using the three VMware Aria Operations components:

1. VMware Aria Operations – Monitoring Design

VMware Aria Operations will act as the core monitoring platform for the virtual infrastructure. It collects performance metrics from vCenter, ESXi hosts, and virtual machines, and uses these metrics to evaluate health, performance, and capacity at every layer. Once deployed, the system continuously analyses CPU, memory, disk, and network usage trends to identify performance issues early. Aria Operations does not just present raw metrics; it builds baselines of typical behaviour and highlights deviations that may indicate future issues.

Aria Operations will be configured to pull detailed metrics from each vCenter Server. This includes host hardware status, VM performance counters, datastore capacity information, and cluster-level resource usage. These metrics enable capacity forecasting so teams can see when resources are likely to run out and plan expansions ahead of time. The forecasting engine also identifies oversized or undersized virtual machines, helping the operations team optimise resource consumption.

Dashboards in Aria Operations provide a structured way of monitoring the environment. For example, the Host Performance dashboard allows engineers to quickly identify issues such as high CPU Ready times or memory contention. The VM Troubleshooting dashboard brings together CPU, memory, I/O, and network graphs into one place, making it easier to trace the source of performance complaints. If required, custom dashboards can be created for critical applications or specific business units so their behaviour can be monitored more closely.

Alerts in Aria Operations will be based primarily on VMware’s recommended thresholds, but custom alerting rules will also be applied. For example, alerts may be configured at specific CPU Ready levels, datastore latency thresholds, or memory ballooning levels to match the organisation’s performance expectations. All alerts are designed to provide context and recommended actions, giving the operations team clear guidance on what needs attention. Alerts can also be escalated to service desk tools or email groups.

In addition to real-time monitoring, Aria Operations will support scheduled reporting. These reports include cluster capacity summaries, host performance over time, datastore growth trends, and VM rightsizing recommendations. The operations team can use these reports in monthly service reviews or capacity planning meetings.

Monitoring Scope

VMware Aria Operations is the main platform for performance, health, and capacity monitoring of the virtual infrastructure. It collects metrics from:

vCenter Servers

ESXi hosts

Virtual machines

Datastores

NSX-T Manager and related objects (if integrated)

Aria Operations stores time-series metrics and uses analytics to learn “normal” behaviour and highlight anomalies, issues, and risks.

Data Collection and Adapters

vCenter Adapter

Primary data source for ESXi, VMs, clusters, and datastores.

Collection interval: typically 5 minutes (can be tuned if needed).

NSX-T Adapter (if deployed)

Collects metrics for logical switches, routers, edges, and firewalls.

Other Management Packs (optional)

Additional packs can be added later (e.g. for physical hardware, backup, storage) to extend monitoring.

All collectors use authenticated service accounts with read-only or least-privilege roles defined in vCenter and NSX.

Dashboards and Views

Out-of-the-box dashboards in Aria Operations will be used as the baseline, for example:

vSphere Overview – overall health of clusters, hosts, and VMs

Capacity and Utilisation – CPU, memory, and storage trends

Troubleshooting Dashboards – detailed views for specific objects when investigating issues

Where needed, simple custom dashboards will be created to:

Group objects by site, cluster, or application

Show key KPIs for management (e.g. top 10 busy clusters, host contention, datastore usage)

KPIs and Thresholds

Key metrics monitored include:

Cluster / Host

CPU usage (%)

Memory usage (%)

Disk latency (ms)

Network throughput and packet drops

VM

vCPU ready time and CPU contention

Memory usage and ballooning / swapping

Disk latency and IOPS

Datastores (non-vSAN)

Capacity used / free

Disk latency and outstanding IO

Default Aria Operations alert definitions and dynamic thresholds are used, with adjustments where the environment has known baselines (for example, high but normal CPU usage in test clusters).

Alerts and Notification Flow

Alert Types

Health / performance alerts (e.g. high CPU, datastore latency)

Risk alerts (e.g. capacity exhaustion in 30 days)

Efficiency alerts (e.g. oversized or idle VMs)

Alert Routing

Alerts are grouped and forwarded to the central ticketing system (e.g. ServiceNow, Jira) using email or webhook integration.

Critical alerts (e.g. host down, cluster redundancy at risk) are tagged with higher severity for on-call escalation.

Noise Reduction

Non-actionable alerts (e.g. short, transient spikes) are tuned or disabled after an agreed review period.

Alert policies are scoped per object group (e.g. production vs. non-production) to avoid unnecessary tickets from lab systems.

Capacity and Planning

Aria Operations is used to support capacity planning:

Tracks consumption trends for CPU, memory, and storage

Identifies when clusters are predicted to run out of capacity based on observed growth

Provides simple “what-if” analysis to estimate impact of adding or removing hosts

Capacity reports are generated monthly and reviewed by the infrastructure team.

Reporting and Responsibilities

Daily

Operations team monitors key dashboards and new critical alerts.

Weekly

Review of recurring alerts and potential tuning / remediation.

Monthly

Capacity and performance summary report for management.

The infrastructure operations team owns Aria Operations dashboards and alert configurations, with change control for any major policy changes.

2. VMware Aria Operations for Logs – Monitoring Design

Aria Operations for Logs provides centralised log management for the environment. Instead of manually reviewing logs on individual ESXi hosts or vCenter Server, all system logs are forwarded into a single platform. This ensures that operational and security events are captured reliably and retained for the required duration.

The platform will receive logs from vCenter Servers, ESXi hosts, and other infrastructure components. Logs can include events such as authentication failures, service restarts, hardware warnings, VM lifecycle events, and any configuration changes. If the customer chooses to forward application logs from VMs, those can also be processed and indexed for troubleshooting purposes.

Once logs are ingested, they become searchable in real time. This enables engineers to quickly investigate incidents by filtering and correlating logs from different sources. For example, if a host becomes unresponsive, the platform can show related warnings from ESXi, vCenter’s task history, and any VM-level events around the same time. This reduces the time required to identify the root cause of issues.

Aria Operations for Logs also supports alerting based on log patterns. Alerts can be created to detect repeated authentication failures, storage-related warnings, host PSOD events, or any specific text patterns the customer wants to monitor closely. These alerts supplement the metric-based alerts from Aria Operations, providing more context around system behaviour.

Dashboards in Aria Operations for Logs present log data in an organised manner. Examples include dashboards for ESXi health events, vCenter errors, and security-related events. These dashboards help teams monitor the environment without having to run manual searches. Logs can be retained for 30, 90, or more days depending on compliance and storage policies. The retention period should match operational and auditing needs, as older logs are often required during incident investigation or compliance reviews.

By centralising all logs, the environment gains consistent visibility and much faster troubleshooting capabilities. Instead of connecting manually to each ESXi host, engineers can access an indexed, searchable history of system activity.

VMware Aria Operations for Logs – Monitoring Design
Monitoring Scope

VMware Aria Operations for Logs is the central log management and analysis platform. It collects logs from:

vCenter Servers

ESXi hosts (via syslog)

NSX-T components (Managers, Edges, T0/T1 gateways)

Aria Operations nodes

Optionally, other infrastructure devices and systems that support syslog (e.g. firewalls, load balancers, Linux VMs)

No vSAN log content is required in this design.

Log Collection and Ingestion

ESXi hosts and other syslog sources forward to Aria Operations for Logs using:

Standard syslog (UDP/TCP 514) or

Encrypted syslog (TCP 6514 / 1514) where required.

vCenter sends events, tasks, and alarms through its native integration.

Aria Operations sends events into Logs to link metrics and logs for end-to-end troubleshooting.

Log volume and EPS (events per second) are estimated to ensure the appliance is correctly sized for the environment.

Content Packs and Dashboards

Built-in content packs are used to provide ready-made dashboards, queries, and alerts for core platforms (e.g. vSphere, NSX, Aria Operations itself).

Custom dashboards will be created where needed to:

Show a “single pane” of critical logs for production

Highlight failed logins, configuration changes, and system errors

Provide quick filters by site, environment, or application tag

Log-Based Alerts

Aria Operations for Logs generates alerts when log patterns match known issues or error conditions, for example:

Repeated authentication failures

ESXi host connection failures

NSX component errors

vCenter or Aria Operations service issues

Alert notifications are integrated with the same central ticketing / notification system used by Aria Operations to keep workflows consistent.

Where possible:

Metric + Log Correlation is used (e.g. a CPU spike in Aria Operations plus related error logs in Operations for Logs) to speed up root-cause analysis.

Retention and Storage

Log retention period is defined based on:

Troubleshooting needs (e.g. 30–90 days online)

Any audit or compliance requirements (e.g. longer retention in cheaper storage or external archive)

The appliance storage is sized to keep the agreed retention without impacting performance. When storage usage nears thresholds, the operations team either expands storage or adjusts retention.

Responsibilities

Platform Owners

Ensure all required devices and systems send logs to Aria Operations for Logs.

Maintain parsing rules and log source configurations if new platforms are added.

Operations Team

Review log-based alerts daily.

Use dashboards for incident investigation.

Tune noisy or duplicate alerts in a controlled manner.

3. VMware Aria Operations for Networks – Monitoring Design

Aria Operations for Networks provides visibility into traffic flows, network dependencies, and communication paths across the virtual and physical network. This platform focuses on understanding how applications communicate, detecting abnormal traffic patterns, and mapping the end-to-end network path for any VM.

The system will connect to vCenter Server to discover virtual machines and their relationships to hosts and networks. It can also integrate with physical switches, routers, and firewalls through SNMP, API connections, or flow exports such as NetFlow or IPFIX. This allows it to build a combined view of both virtual and physical network components.

One of the primary benefits of Aria Operations for Networks is the ability to analyse traffic flows. It shows which VMs communicate with each other, the volume of data exchanged, and whether any unexpected or unauthorised flows occur. This is particularly useful for troubleshooting connectivity issues. For example, if a VM cannot communicate with a database server, the platform can display the full path between them, highlighting any firewall drops, misconfigurations, or latency issues.

The system also provides application-level visibility. Aria Operations for Networks can automatically identify application components based on their communication patterns and present them as a visual map. This helps teams understand dependencies and allows better planning for changes or migrations.

Performance monitoring is another important capability. The platform can highlight areas of the network experiencing packet loss, increased latency, or bandwidth congestion. These insights allow the network team to identify potential bottlenecks or misconfigurations before they affect users. If NSX-T is deployed, the platform can also show security group behaviour and suggest firewall rules based on real traffic patterns. This helps maintain a secure and efficient micro-segmentation policy.

Network alerts are generated when anomalies are detected. Examples include detection of unexpected inbound traffic, high latency between specific workloads, or sudden changes in communication patterns. These alerts allow the network team to act quickly and reduce the impact of issues.

Reports generated by Aria Operations for Networks include application dependency maps, firewall rule usage summaries, traffic volume reports, and network health assessments. These reports support regular operational reviews and help validate that the network is functioning as intended.

VMware Aria Operations for Networks – Monitoring Design

Monitoring Scope

VMware Aria Operations for Networks provides network visibility, flow analysis, and security posture monitoring across virtual and (optionally) physical networks.

In this design it is used to monitor:

NSX-T logical switches, routers, and edges

Traffic flows between VMs, tiers, and applications

Connectivity between on-premises data centres and cloud endpoints (if present)

Firewall and security rules (where integrated)

Data Sources and Collectors

Typical data sources:

vCenter Servers – inventory of VMs, port groups, and distributed switches

NSX-T Manager – logical networking, routing, and security rules

Physical devices (optional) – switches, routers, firewalls via SNMP, API, or flow exports

Collector/Proxy nodes are placed close to key data sources to reduce latency and minimise impact.

Dashboards and Visualisation

Default Aria Operations for Networks dashboards are used to provide:

Application Topology Views

End-to-end paths between application tiers

Identification of dependencies (e.g. web → app → DB)

Flow Analytics

Who is talking to whom, over which ports

East-west vs. north-south traffic patterns

Security Posture

Unused firewall rules

Potential micro-segmentation policies

These dashboards help to:

Validate network changes

Understand impact of outages or degraded links

Prepare for future segmentation or migration projects

Thresholds and Alerts

Aria Operations for Networks is configured to raise alerts for:

Loss of connectivity between key application components

Abnormal changes in traffic volume or patterns

NSX-T or network component health issues

Potential security issues, such as new unexpected flows or changes to policies

Conclusion

Monitoring a VMware environment effectively requires more than just collecting metrics or reviewing logs. You need a unified view that connects performance, events, and network behaviour. VMware Aria delivers exactly that through three tightly integrated components: Aria Operations, Aria Operations for Logs, and Aria Operations for Networks.

• Aria Operations shows how the environment is performing.
• Aria Operations for Logs shows what is happening behind the scenes.
• Aria Operations for Networks shows how everything communicates.

Together, they give operations teams the visibility they need to keep systems running smoothly, troubleshoot issues faster, and plan capacity with confidence. By using the full Aria suite, organisations can move from reactive firefighting to proactive management, reducing downtime and improving the overall stability of their environment.

Introduction

The energy inside the Venetian Expo Hall was undeniable as thousands of attendees gathered for the opening keynote at VMware Explore Las Vegas 2025. Broadcom’s President and CEO, Hock Tan, took the stage with a message that was both bold and forward-looking: the private cloud is not just the future—it’s the foundation of enterprise IT today.

Last year, Tan emphasized that private cloud would define the enterprise future. Fast-forward twelve months, and the vision has become reality. The numbers speak volumes: nine out of ten IT leaders now rank private cloud as their top strategic priority, reflecting a decisive industry shift. This isn’t about speculation—it’s about transformation that’s already underway.

With Broadcom’s deep engineering investments since the acquisition, VMware has delivered a fully integrated, software-defined platform that consolidates compute, networking, and storage into a single, unified SKU. The result is VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 (VCF 9.0)—a platform that does not simply compete with public cloud but, in many cases, surpasses it.

Tan’s message was clear: VCF 9.0 is the enterprise standard for a new era—secure by design, developer-friendly by default, and built to deliver agility without compromise. It’s not just another release; it’s the culmination of 25 years of VMware innovation, reimagined for a world defined by AI, cyber resilience, and cloud-native scale.

The result? VCF 9.0 now outperforms public cloud—delivering stronger security, improved cost management, and unmatched control.

Breaking Down the Barriers

Tan highlighted three major friction points IT leaders face—and how VCF 9.0 solves them:

1. Developers vs. Infrastructure
   • Developers don’t want to manage infrastructure—they want velocity.
   • VCF 9.0 unifies containers and VMs, delivering “infrastructure at the speed of the developer.”
2. Siloed IT Teams
   • Networking, storage, compute, and security teams often speak different languages.
   • VCF 9.0 unites them under one seamless platform, accelerating app deployment and reducing operational complexity.
3. Security vs. Agility
   • Businesses often trade off speed for protection.
   • VCF 9.0 comes with integrated, built-in security tools, removing the need for endless add-ons.

Customer Spotlight: Barclays

Stephen Flaherty, Global Head of Infrastructure at Barclays, shared how VCF underpins their mission-critical systems. For Barclays, private cloud is “the lifeblood of all technology across the market.” With AI workloads rapidly emerging, they’re bullish on VCF 9.0 as the foundation to host AI models on-premises with the elasticity, compliance, and security of public cloud—delivered within their own environment.

Barclays’ engineers are already evolving into poly-skilled teams, benefiting from the unified approach. Flaherty described the rollout of VCF 9.0 as “the first time we expect our engineers to have a true public-cloud-like experience on-prem.”

Closing Notes: A 25-Year Journey, A New Beginning

As the keynote drew to a close, Hock Tan reminded attendees that VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 is more than just a product launch—it is the culmination of 25 years of VMware innovation. From the early days of server virtualization to the rise of the software-defined data center, VMware has consistently redefined the enterprise technology landscape.

Tan underscored that VCF 9.0 is not just about running workloads; it’s about enabling IT leaders to step into a new role: becoming the heroes of their organizations. With this platform, IT is no longer confined to managing infrastructure—it becomes a driver of business value, resilience, and competitive advantage.

“We want to make you a hero—the person who drives huge impact in your organization.” – Hock Tan

The message was clear: VMware’s journey has always been about transformation, but VCF 9.0 is where transformation becomes empowerment. It gives developers the velocity they crave, provides enterprises the cyber resilience they demand, and offers IT teams the tools to lead with confidence.

What’s Next: Dive Deeper in Our Blog Series

This keynote recap is only the beginning. Over the coming days, we’ll be publishing four more in-depth blogs that expand on the key announcements and experiences from VMware Explore Las Vegas 2025:

1. Unleashing the Power of Kubernetes with vCF, vSphere, and Ubuntu
2. Cyber Resilience in the Age of Ransomware
3. IT’s New Era – From Bottleneck to Business Enabler
4. VMware Explore Fun & Games – Beyond the Keynotes

Together, this series will give you the full picture of VMware Explore 2025—from the groundbreaking technology shaping the future of private cloud, to the unique experiences that made the event unforgettable.

Stay tuned for Blog 2 tomorrow, where we take a deep dive into Kubernetes, vSphere, and Ubuntu integration inside vCF 9.0.

“We want to make you a hero—the person who drives huge impact in your organization.” – Hock Tan

Key Takeaway: VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 isn’t just an upgrade—it’s a transformation. It breaks down silos, accelerates developer velocity, strengthens security, and provides a unified cloud experience that rivals (and in many cases, beats) public cloud.

If you’re someone who remembers the satisfying click of a floppy drive and has witnessed the grand evolution of enterprise IT, then you’ve seen the pendulum swing more times than a grandfather clock. We started with standard servers, then moved to converged infrastructure, consolidating components, only to further innovate with hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), integrating compute, storage, and networking into elegant, software-defined packages. Just when it seemed like the cloud era meant everything would be public and remote, we’re now experiencing a fascinating “back to the future” moment: private cloud is making a serious comeback, and VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9 is leading the charge. It’s leaner, smarter, and more powerful than anything we’ve seen before.

Public cloud often dominates the headlines, with its stories of massive scale, disruption, and sometimes, eye-watering costs. Yet, behind the scenes, a growing number of organizations are rethinking their approach. They’re looking inward, toward infrastructure they can control, tailor, and inherently trust.

Today’s private cloud isn’t about outdated servers and clunky dashboards. It’s a modern platform built with cloud-native principles, delivering:

• Predictable costs and performance: No more surprise bills or unpredictable resource contention.
• Full data control: Maintain sovereignty and compliance over your most sensitive information.
• Seamless automation and orchestration: Streamline operations and accelerate deployments.

Crucially, it provides the familiar cloud experience without the dreaded vendor lock-in or unexpected charges.

Goodbye Silos, Hello Full-Stack Thinking: A Cultural Shift

This resurgence of private cloud also shines a light on a persistent IT problem: team silos. In many enterprises, security teams rarely interact with infrastructure, developers are distant from network teams, and operations are often the last to know.

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9 fundamentally changes this dynamic by enforcing cross-functional collaboration. It encourages a new kind of engineer – someone who understands not just compute, but also networking, storage, automation, and containers. The days of narrow expertise are giving way to full-stack versatility. This isn’t about fixing printers anymore; it’s about managing Kubernetes clusters, secure overlays, and CI/CD pipelines in real-time.

VCF 9: More Than a Version Update

There’s been a lot of buzz about recent VMware changes, but beneath that noise lies a substantial technical evolution. VCF 9 isn’t just another incremental upgrade; it’s a foundation redesign that reshapes how infrastructure is deployed, secured, and maintained.

What sets it apart?

• Faster, cleaner deployments using refined workflows and automation.
• Tighter integration with Aria for intelligent monitoring and operational insights.
• Robust support for AI workloads with powerful data services and scalable performance.
• vSAN ESA, now fully mature, delivering incredible storage efficiency.
• Enhanced network edge capabilities supporting hybrid and distributed models.

This isn’t merely a patch; it’s a reimagining of what a private cloud platform can be—agile, scalable, and intelligent by default.

The Technical Edge: What’s Under the Hood of VCF 9

Let’s dig deeper into the technical elements that make VCF 9 such a powerful release:

1. Lifecycle Management Done Right

Every component—vSphere, NSX, vSAN, Aria—is governed by a curated Bill of Materials (BOM). The SDDC Manager handles upgrades, validations, and rollback workflows with minimal disruption. Even Day 2 operations, like SSL renewal or password rotation, are fully automated.

2. Network Virtualization That Scales

NSX overlays leverage Geneve encapsulation for high-performance, programmable networking. Each workload domain is isolated with its own NSX-T Manager cluster, and crucially, segmentation, routing, and security policies are completely decoupled from hardware.

3. Seamless Integration with Tanzu and Containers

VCF 9 allows you to deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters natively. You can easily use GitOps workflows for application delivery, enabling true platform engineering without the usual friction between development and operations teams.

4. Resilience and Recovery Built-in

Management and workload domains are separated for high availability. SDDC Manager backups are file-based and easily restorable, ensuring that even in the unlikely event of a control-plane failure, your infrastructure workloads remain online

VCF Licensing: What You Need to Know

While this blog focuses on the technical advancements of VCF 9, it’s important to clarify its licensing model. VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is generally not free for commercial use. Broadcom, the company that acquired VMware, has shifted its licensing model from perpetual licenses to a subscription-based model, with costs typically calculated per core.

However, there are specific scenarios where you can get free personal-use licenses for VCF:

• VMware Certified Professionals (VCPs): If you hold a VCP-VCF (Administrator/Architect) certification, you can often access free, personal-use VCF licenses for your home lab. This is usually tied to obtaining or maintaining your VCP certification.
• VMUG Advantage Members: VMUG (VMware User Group) Advantage members who pass the VCP-VCF certification exam can gain access to free, personal-use VCF licenses for up to three years, provided they maintain an active VMUG Advantage membership. This program specifically rewards certification success with exclusive tools for personal use.

It’s crucial to remember that these free licenses are strictly for personal, non-production use in a home lab environment. Unlike some individual VMware products (like Fusion and Workstation, which have recently become free for all users), this does not apply to VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) for commercial purposes. Therefore, unless you meet the specific criteria for personal-use, home-lab licensing, VMware Cloud Foundation is a paid, subscription-based product.

Final Thoughts: Why Now Is the Right Time for Private Cloud

As digital transformation deepens and AI pushes the boundaries of what workloads demand, organizations need infrastructure that is flexible, efficient, and secure. That doesn’t always mean going public.

Private cloud has evolved, and VCF 9 is at the center of that transformation. Whether you’re running high-performance applications, managing sensitive data, or building modern platforms at scale, VCF 9 delivers the experience developers want, with the control enterprises need.

Ready to modernize your private cloud strategy? Comment below and share your insights!

This video is about VMware Certification Track Explained
This is session I will explain you what is requirement of VMware Certification.
we will focus on VCP DCV certification.
VMware Certified Professional has 5

Data Center Virtualization (DCV) Track
Cloud Management and Automation (CMA) Track
Desktop and Mobility (DTM) Track
Network Virtualization (NV) Track
Digital Workspace (DW) Track

The most fundamental track is Data Center Virtualization (DCV)
VCAP – has two exams Design and Deployment.
VCDX this is not an exam you will need to present your design to a panel of VCDX and defend your design if they approve your design you will get the Certification of VCDX as a VMware Certified Design Expert.

Check out this session which will explain all about it.

What is a VMware Engineer? | VMware Certified Professional – VCP Certification Track Explained https://youtu.be/QO9r3HYT0Vg

All of these courses will satisfy the course requirement if you are looking to become VCP DCV 2020…

VMware vSphere: Fast Track [V6.7]
VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V6.7]
VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V6.7]
VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale plus Troubleshooting Fast Track [v6.7]
VMware vSphere: Skills for Public Sector Administrators [V6.7]
VMware vSphere: Troubleshooting Workshop [V6.7]
VMware Advanced Skills for vSphere Professional Workshop [V6.7]
VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V7]
VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale [V7]
VMware vSphere: Troubleshooting [V7]
VMware vSphere: Fast Track [V7]
VMware vSphere: Optimize and Scale plus Troubleshooting Fast Track [V7]

https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/certification/vmware-certification-tracks-diagram.pdf

Hello All, as you might know, that I have successfully delivered vSphere 6.7 Training on YouTube, with the recent release of vSphere 7, I have decided to run a new YouTube Training for vSphere 7 for Beginners. This is for you if you are just getting started with IT and want to learn virtualization from scratch.

You will find links to the YouTube Sessions on this page so make sure you bookmark this page for future reference.

VMware Tutorial for Beginners vSphere 7.0 / Esxi 7 Introduction to VMware Certification Track

https://youtu.be/LVrfuKZQ3zo

Module 1- Introduction to virtualization and VMware

Module 2 – Installation and Configuration vSphere and vCenter.

Module 3 – Virtual Machines, Templates and Clones.

Module 4 – Storage.

Module 5 – VMware Virtual Networking

Module 6 – vMotion, HA, DRS.

Module 7 – Patching and security.

Module 8 – Advance Troubleshooting.

VMware Tutorial for Beginners vSphere 7.0 Detail Agenda

The details Agenda with the videos will be posted with session names with links to YouTube Sessions given below:

Module 1 Introduction to virtualization and VMware
Session 1 What is Virtualization and VMware ESXi Hypervisor – Introduction – https://youtu.be/6T8Z_N98e7A

Module 2 – Installation and Configuration

Session 2 -How to Download ESXi 7 from VMware for Trial | Session 1 – https://youtu.be/RPa-VzpArZ8

How to install VMware vSpehre 7 nested ESXi | Session 2 – https://youtu.be/CHpjw_QyzOw

Understand VMware vCenter 7, PSC embedded | Session 3 – https://youtu.be/LMzrijuxHA0

Learn the Installation process of vCenter 7 | Session 4 – https://youtu.be/-H8F5aF06q0

Overview of HTML 5 Client -Switch to New Look | Session 5 – https://youtu.be/gFwqDLGxE6A

Overview vCenter7 VCSA Management Interface VAMI Port 5480 | Session 6 – https://youtu.be/nkXEpae27RM

How to Add vCenter to AD for authentication | Session 7 – https://youtu.be/UThVcIzY89M
Licencing VMware products
What’s new in vSphere 7
What’s new in vCenter 7
Walk you through vSpehre Web Client and HTML5 client go through some important tables like configuration, Networks, Storage.

Module 3 – Virtual Machines, Templates and Clones
Teach you how to create your first Virtual Machine
Working with Templates and clone
Snapshots and VM settings
Installing the VMware Tools
Advance features of Hot Add CPU and Hot-plug Memory(live demo)
How to add a disk and extend a virtual disk (vmdk)

Module 4 – Storage
Overview of shared storage protocols FC, ISCSI, NFS.
Adding Storage Datastore, extending Datastore and RDM.
VMFS 5 and VMFS 6 ( No migration tool to upgrade)
Removing Storage Datastore and RDM

Module 5 – VMware Virtual Networking
Networking Standard vSwitch
Networking Distributed vSwitch
Traffic – Management Traffic, vMotion and Fault-Tolerant, VM-Traffic(production).

Module 6 – vMotion, HA, DRS.
Introduction to vMotion,
Migration using vMotion (Compute) and Storage vMotion (storage),
Introduction to HA,
Cluster Configuration, High Availability (HA),
Introduction to Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS),
EVC Mode

Module 7 – Patching and security
VMware Update Manager -Maintenance Patching the ESX host.
VMDS –(VMware Download server for downloading patches via proxy for restricted environments with firewall)
VMware Security and Compliance

Module 8 – Advance Troubleshooting
Advance Troubleshooting Performance monitoring CPU, RAM, Network and disk, also look at Task, Alerts, Events.
Introduction to Advance troubleshooting using vROPs
Getting started with PowerCLI

Extra resources.
Create My learn account
Resources VMware HOL

Extra resources. Create My learn account ØResources VMware HOL

At the end of each session, I will ask the Questions of the day?
Comment below introduce yourself, and tell what’s your favourite topic?
Blog: www.agileops.co.uk
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Enjoy watching and keep sharing!

Hi All,

I will be attending VMWorld Europe this week at Barcelona. Although this is my 3^rd year attending VMWorld, I am very excited about this year in particular because this is the first time I have been awarded vExpert. This gives exclusive access to vExpert lounges and a lot of other advantages too.

and this year i have decided that I am going to daily blog, and if time permits some vLogs for my YouTube channel, with an intention to post daily updates and highlights of the day.

I am being a little bit ambitious here as I have a busy schedule this week lets see how it goes.

If you want to stop by and say hello you might find me in VMVillage at with other bloggers. or feel free to message me on twitter @ibrahimquraishi

I have been asked this question time and time again on how to setup a lab for vSphere to start learning VMware.

In this post today I am going to walk you through how I have created an amazing lab just using simple commodity hardware, which is easy to find and cheap to run with the electricity bills. Especially if you are planning to run it 24/7 as I do.

Hardware – Dell Optiplex 7010

I have purposely used Dell Optiplex 7010 as it is easy and cheap to buy.

Configuring / Billing of Material (BOM)

CPU Intel i7

Memory – 32GB

2TB HDD

CD/DVD

So as you can see this is a simple Dell desktop which you can buy, I have bought this from eBay for £350, The most important thing to remember is the memory, so the more the merrier. In my case, I have messaged the eBay seller and found out the maximum memory that is supported for this desktop which is 32GB and I have got 8 GB X 4 Memory Modules.

Although this looks like a good option sadly, there is no more room for an upgrade of memory as this is the maximum the motherboard supports.

I bought this kit back in Feb 2019, it fit the requirement I had for my basic home lab with vSphere 6.7

Installing ESXi

Once you get the server ready, Install ESX 6.7 you will need to register on https://www.vmware.com and download the ESX 6.7 Update 3 ISO first.

1. register with my VMware portal httpss://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/registration
2. once register login with the credentials

• Once you log-in you will find the downloads

4. click on Trial and Free products.

you will then find vSphere for Download free Trial

You can also have a go at the VMware Hands-on Lab ( HOL) they are very good too.

so once we click on the download link we will get 60 days evaluation for vSpehre 6.7 or any VMware products for that matter. as you can see my Evaluation edition time is compleated

This should let you download your software if you have registered a new MyVMware account.

You can also check out the old products that y you can click on View My Evaluation

Then you will need to burn the ISO to CD or DVD disk to install the ESX hypervisor on the server.

Please follow the blog given below to complete the ESX installation process. although this was done for ESX 6.7 Update 2 the process is the same for Update 3 too.

https://agileops.co.uk/2019/05/02/installing-vsphere-6-7-update-2/

Finally, at the end of the installation, you will find your brand new Hypervisor ready for action. you might need to check if the VT is enabled in the Bios to start nested esx host if that’s what you are planning to do like I have done in my lab.

You can find the full process of Installing the ESX on my YouTube channel where I teach VMware to beginners VMware Tutorial for Beginners | Session 3: installing vSphere 6.7

Then you can start installing the vCetner Server, you can go back to the MyVMware website and download the ISO.

Sometimes you see the error message given below:

You either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product.
Check with your My VMware Super User, Procurement Contact or Administrator.

If you recently purchased this product through VMware Store or through a third-party, try downloading later.

just click on Trail Download and you should be able to download the ISO

httpss://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=ESXI670&productId=742&rPId=24857

You can follow my blog Installing VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2

How does my lab look like, well that’s a good subject? please check the screenshot below:

I have the Physical dell Optiplex server which I have highlighted in red. as as you can see I am chewing almost all the memory on the server currently.

I have two VM running nested esx which are highlighted in the demo cluster running around 7 VM’s

I have the vCetner server and vROPS instance running directory on the dell server.

How can I forget I have used FreeNAS for shared storage which is provisioned using ISCSI software initiators. you will find a full process of how to provide shared storage on the YouTube chanal in two parts.

Part1:

Part2:

In this blog post, I will take you through the Benefits of VMFS6 Upgrade datastore from VMFS 5 to VMFS 6.

Benefits

• Support for 4 kB Native Drives in 512e mode.
• Space Efficient Virtual Disk (SE Sparse disk) is now as default. Automatic Space Reclamation.
• Support for 512 devices and 2000 paths.
• View Storage Accelerator (Content-Based Read Cache (CBRC)) Ref: https://www.yellow-bricks.com/2016/10/…

How to upgrade VMFS filesystem

Unfortunately, there is no direct process to upgrade like we use to from vmfs 4 to vmfs5

Procedure:

1. Log in to the vSphere Client and select the host from the Inventory panel.
2. Click the Configuration tab and click Storage Click Datastores make sure no VM’s are running.
3. Put on maintenance mode Unmount the datastore
4. Delete the datastore
5. Add storage select the LUN Give a new name or the same name
6. Format with VMFS 6
7. Click next and follow the wizard to finish.

You can find the full process on my video below so be sure to check it out and subscribe if you haven’t already done so, and hit the notification bell to make sure you get my weekly updates.

More information can be found on the reference of the KB article httpss://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147824

Single host cluster for trial purpose. however this will then need to scale up to 3 node cluster to be fully supported by VMware.

For a limited time period, customer can take advantage of a new promotion that offers three hosts at the price of two. Promotion extended to Feb 1, 2019. ( too late for this)

No NSX no Problem, some users think that VMware Cloud on AWS can not be setup without having NSX this is simply not correct. We can setup same single host cluster without NSX.

Having NSX gives you the full SDDC stack functionally which you may not be able to leverage.

These are the options for connectivity:

Connection using the VPC provides low latency, high throughput with seamless connectivity to the customer environment .

Using the Direct Connect we can leverage NSX if you have already got it implement with in your SDDC environment.

Alternatively for SDDC customer who needs to connect to more then one VPC’s can create tunnels over AWS backbone infrastructure using an AWS-managed VPN based on the connectivity requirements. 

Remember when you open and account you will be signing up with VMware ( you will eventually get an aws  account created at the back end to be able to leverage all the aws products too). To sign up for an account you can follow the link below: httpss://cloud.vmware.com/vmc-aws