Category: Tech Notes
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How to Create a VI Workload Domain in VCF 9.1 (VCF 9.1 Deployment Step by Step Guide, Part 10)
Step by step guide to creating a VI workload domain in VCF 9.1 using VCF Operations, from commissioning ESX hosts to validating a new vCenter, NSX Manager and vSAN datastore.
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How to Set Up VCF Operations in VCF 9.1 (VCF 9.1 Deployment Step by Step Guide, Part 7)
A step by step guide to setting up VCF Operations in a VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 fleet, from credentials and licensing to cloud proxy registration and vCenter collection.
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How to Deploy VCF Management Services and the License Server (VCF 9.1 Deployment Step by Step Guide, Part 6)
Deploy VCF management services and the license server in a VCF 9.1 environment with a step by step walkthrough of the Install Components workflow in VCF Operations.
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How to Deploy the VCF 9.1 Management Domain (VCF 9.1 Deployment Step by Step Guide, Part 5)
Step by step guide to deploying the mandatory VCF 9.1 management domain with the VCF Installer, from the deployment wizard and host bring-up to vCenter, NSX, SDDC Manager and verification.
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How to Deploy the VCF Installer Appliance (VCF 9.1 Deployment Step by Step Guide, Part 4)
A step by step guide to deploying the VCF Installer appliance for VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1, covering DNS and NTP prerequisites, the OVA deploy wizard, the network and password fields, verification, and common fixes.
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VCF 9.1 Network, DNS and NTP Setup (VCF 9.1 Deployment Step by Step Guide, Part 3)
A step by step guide to preparing DNS, NTP, VLANs and IP ranges for a VCF 9.1 management domain, so the VCF Installer prechecks pass on the first run.
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VCF 9.1 Deployment Prerequisites and Readiness Checklist (VCF 9.1 Deployment Step by Step Guide, Part 2)
A step by step VCF 9.1 deployment prerequisites and readiness checklist covering ESX hosts, DNS, NTP, IP addressing, appliance sizing and the installer pre checks you run before bring up.
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VCF 9.1 Deployment Overview and Component Checklist (VCF 9.1 Deployment Step by Step Guide, Part 1)
The three supported ways into VCF 9.1, a greenfield VCF Installer build, converging an existing vSphere estate, or importing a brownfield vSAN and NSX environment, and how to choose the right one for your starting point.
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VCF Design Diagrams Cheatsheet for VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1
An interactive reference for the VMware Cloud Foundation 9 design models. Pick a fleet blueprint or a distributed switch model on the left and get its diagram, published attributes, design requirement identifiers and the failure mode that catches people out.
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Path to AI Engineer, and What to Learn Next (AI Engineering Series, Part 30)
Thirty parts on, here is the honest version of the AI engineering career path: what the market pays, which routes into the role actually work, what a hiring loop tests, and a twelve month plan to close the gaps this series left open.
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Choosing and Switching Providers Without a Rewrite (AI Engineering Series, Part 29)
Provider lock in for an LLM application does not live in the API call. I compare six portability strategies with measured latency overhead, show the compatibility endpoint failure that cost us three days, and name the one I would ship.
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Deployment, Versioning and Rollback for Prompts and Models (AI Engineering Series, Part 28)
A model string in three files is not a deployment story. Here is how I pin model snapshots, version prompts in a registry, canary by tenant hash, and get rollback down from 14 minutes to 8 seconds.
Architect’s Toolkit
PJ’s Tools
- Infra 360 Hub – All Series
- VCF Exam Practice Labs
- VCF 9 Interactive Walkthroughs
- VCF Design Cheatsheet
- VCF Upgrade Planner
- VCF 9 Series Hub
- VCF Deployment Hub
- AI Stack Hub
- AI Infra Sizing & Cost Calculator
- LLM & RAG Cost Calculator
- DrJhaGPT – Ask Pranay
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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