Category: AI Stack
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Prepare a GPU Workload Domain for VMware Private AI Foundation (Private AI Series, Part 8)
A field-tested, bottom-up procedure for standing up a GPU-accelerated workload domain on VCF 9.0 for Private AI Foundation: firmware, the vLCM vGPU driver, Shared Direct, a single-zone Supervisor, and the mistakes that actually bite.
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VMware Private AI Reference Architecture and Sizing: A Practical Blueprint (Private AI Series, Part 7)
How to size a VMware Private AI Foundation build the right way: two-domain design, choosing the deployment model, and working from workload back to GPU hosts and BOM on VCF 9.1.
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GPU Partitioning for VMware Private AI: Choosing Between vGPU, MIG and Passthrough (Private AI Series, Part 6)
Time-sliced vGPU, MIG-backed vGPU, GPU passthrough and the new ESXi 9 Update 1 hybrid mode each fit different Private AI workloads. Here is how to design the split, with a capability matrix and a reference topology.
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Choosing the Right GPU for VMware Private AI: L40S vs H100 vs H200 vs Blackwell (Private AI Series, Part 5)
A field-tested guide to picking the GPU for VMware Private AI Foundation: how L40S, H100, H200, RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell and A100 compare, why form factor beats the model name, and a clear verdict on which to choose for RAG, inference or training.
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VMware Private AI Foundation Planning and Prerequisites: GPU Hosts, Drivers and Readiness (Private AI Series, Part 4)
A practitioner’s planning guide for VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA on VCF 9: GPU host selection, the vGPU driver and GPU Operator interoperability matrix, sharing-mode choices, and the readiness checks that decide whether your first deployment lands clean.
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VMware Private AI Foundation Licensing: VCF Add-On vs NVIDIA AI Enterprise (Private AI Series, Part 3)
Private AI Foundation is three licenses, not one: VCF per core, the PAIF add-on per core, and NVIDIA AI Enterprise per GPU. Here is how they stack, what bundles with your GPUs, and the verdict on subscription vs perpetual.
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VMware Private AI Foundation Architecture and Components, Layer by Layer (Private AI Series, Part 2)
VMware Private AI Foundation is five layers, not one box. A reference walk through every PAIF component on VCF 9.1: the GPU platform, DSM with pgvector, Private AI Services, and the single-zone limit you have to design around.
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What VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA Actually Is (Private AI Series, Part 1)
Part 1 of the VMware Private AI Series: a clear, opinionated explainer of what PAIF really is, what it is not, the components that do the work, and when it earns its license on VCF 9.1.
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How to Deploy VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA on VCF 9 (VCF 9 Series, Part 26)
A field-tested runbook for deploying VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA on VCF 9: the two deployment paths, the three licenses you need, GPU host prep, the right sharing mode, and the guided workflow, plus the gotchas that stall bring-up.
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5 GPU & vGPU Mistakes That Break VMware Private AI Foundation (and How to Fix Them)
Most failed VMware Private AI Foundation deployments break on host-side GPU configuration, not the model. Here are five vGPU mistakes in VCF 9.1 and the exact commands to confirm and fix each one.
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Introducing the AI Infrastructure Sizing & Cost Calculator
Over the past few months, I have been spending a lot of time exploring on AI infrastructure around VMware Private AI, NVIDIA AI Enterprise, RAG, Agentic AI, and AIOps. One question that comes up repeatedly is: “How much infrastructure do we actually need, and what will it cost?” Is there any sizing calculator that we…
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ML Concepts – Evaluation Matrix and Equations
There are several classifiers can be used to identify the model’s effectiveness. You can assess using the evaluation metrics such as Accuracy, Recall, F1 Score, Precision, False Positive Rate (FPR), and True Positive Rate (TPR). Equations for these metrics are showing below.
Architect’s Toolkit
PJ’s Tools
VMware Cloud Foundation
- VCF Documentation
- VCF 9 Planning & Preparation Workbook
- VCF Bill of Materials (BoM)
- VMware Compatibility Guide
- VMware Interoperability Matrix
- VMware Configuration Maximums
- VMware Ports & Protocols
- VMware Hands-on Labs
- RVTools Download
Nutanix
AI & Cloud-Native Platform
- NVIDIA Build (Model Catalog)
- NVIDIA AI Enterprise Reference Architecture
- NVIDIA NIM Performance Benchmarking
- NVIDIA NGC Catalog
- NeMo Microservices Helm Chart
- Helm Charts Repository
- Hugging Face Models
Architecture & Design
About the Author
Dr Pranay Jha
Dr. Pranay Jha is a Cloud and AI Consultant with 18+ years of experience in hybrid cloud, virtualization, and enterprise infrastructure transformation. He specializes in VMware technologies, multi-cloud strategy, and Generative AI solutions. He holds a PhD in Computer Applications with research focused on Cloud and AI, has published multiple research papers, and has been a VMware vExpert since 2016 and a VMUG Community Leader.
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