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The Small
Human Cloud
Blog articles, news and useful information on VMware Cloud Foundation, automation and PowerShell — all from the home lab, where everything gets broken and rebuilt first.
- Blog posts
- 78
- vExpert since
- 2020
- In IT since
- 2008
- Days since I broke the lab
- 17
Deploying VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) 9.1 in a Lab
Guest post · James Tiffany
When it comes to installing your VVF environment you have two options available. The first, and most common, is to use the VCF Installer. Don't let the name faze you, the same installer that deploys VCF will also deploy VVF for you. The great thing about doing it this way is the level of automation you get, this process will deploy vCenter, VCFMS, VCF Operations and the License server...
Installing and Activating VMware Intelligent Assist in VCF Operations
So last week during VMware Explore in Las Vegas, a new feature was announced, VMware Intelligent Assist!
Latest News from the Web
Broadcom brings back a standalone vSphere: vSphere Express, for up to 128 cores
- Keep the Brotli workaround on SDDC Manager, and finish the ESX logging fix before next week's deadlines. VMSA-2026-0008.1 still lists every SDDC Manager fix as "Patch pending", so KB 460732 on 9.1.1 (or KB 460734 on 9.0.x, 9.1.0 and 5.2.x) is what protects you. Press reports put the US federal deadlines at 10 November for the Brotli flaw and 11 November for ESX CVE-2026-41709, whose fixed builds are in the VMSA-2026-0006 matrix.
- If you have small sites on vSphere Standard or VVF, ask for vSphere Express pricing before your next renewal. Per the VCF blog it's vSphere 9 with vMotion, HA, the distributed switch and vCenter Quick Patch for up to 128 cores. The Register reports it's sold per core through distributors and that each instance is managed on its own, with no central management across instances, so it suits isolated sites better than a fleet. In the EEA, vSphere Standard 8 and Enterprise Plus 8 stay on sale until 31 October 2027, with extended support until 31 October 2028 at the latest.
- Keep the vsphere provider pinned to ~> 2.17 if Terraform manages your Supervisor namespaces. The CHANGELOG still marks 2.18.0 as not released, with storage_policies on vsphere_namespace being replaced by storage_policy blocks. Plan that migration before you lift the pin.
- Security No new VMSA
- Releases & KBs vSphere Express
- Terraform & Packer Nothing new
- Next deadline 10 Nov
Code Projects
VMware Explore 2024 Hackathon Winning team
Project and code from the Las Vegas hackathon at VMware Explore 2024.
Simplify VCF Deployment & Operations with Terraform
Session code with examples for deploying VCF and common post-bring-up tasks.
Automating VCF Day 1 Operations
Session code covering Day 1 actions via the API and PowerVCF.
Presentations
Every slide deck and demo from the events I've been lucky enough to present at.