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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
- 18
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
Europe's extra year on vSphere 8 draws scrutiny, and the week ends without new patches
- 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 (BleepingComputer) and 11 November for ESX CVE-2026-41709 (Security Affairs), whose fixed builds are in the VMSA-2026-0006 matrix.
- If you run vSphere Standard or Enterprise Plus 8 in the EEA, get the extended-support terms in writing before you count on 2028. Broadcom's portfolio post keeps both editions on sale to 31 October 2027 with extended support to 31 October 2028 at the latest, but Network World notes the blog doesn't define what extended support covers, and the UK and Switzerland aren't included. Everyone else still faces the 11 October 2027 end of general support in KB 459135.
- 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. That pin happily takes this week's 2.17.2, which is only a Go toolchain and dependency bump, but plan the namespace migration before you lift it.
- Security No new VMSA
- Releases & KBs All quiet
- Terraform & Packer vsphere 2.17.2
- 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.