Category: VCF & Infra Series
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NSX 9 Multi-Tenancy: Projects vs VPCs and the Design That Holds Up (NSX Series, Part 22)
NSX 9 makes Projects and VPCs first-class, turning a single NSX deployment into a multi-tenant, cloud-like network. Here is how Projects isolate tenants, how the Transit Gateway changed VPC routing, and when to pick centralized versus distributed external connectivity.
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NSX 9 Micro-segmentation Design: A Zero Trust Methodology That Actually Ships (NSX Series, Part 21)
Most micro-segmentation projects stall because teams jump straight to per-application rules with no visibility. Here is the phased zero trust methodology I use in NSX 9: assess, lock down shared services, segment environments, then ring-fence applications, with the vDefend DFW 1-2-3-4 journey doing the heavy lifting.
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NSX 9 Upgrades and Lifecycle: VCF Integrated LCM, Upgrade Coordinator and the Order That Matters (NSX Series, Part 20)
In NSX 9, upgrades fold into the VCF lifecycle and run from SDDC Manager, with Upgrade Coordinator as the manual fallback. Here is the order that matters, how host and Edge upgrades really behave, and the failure modes that catch teams mid-window.
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NSX 9 Backup and Restore: Config Protection, SFTP Targets and the Passphrase Trap (NSX Series, Part 19)
How NSX 9 backup and restore actually works in VCF 9: the three backup types, SFTP target design, the exact-version restore requirement, and the passphrase that quietly decides whether your backup is worth anything.
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NSX 9 Monitoring and Operations: Traceflow, Alarms and Operations for Networks (NSX Series, Part 18)
The tools that turn NSX from a black box into something you can actually see: Traceflow, Live Traffic Analysis, IPFIX, alarms and health, and Operations for Networks.
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NSX 9 VPN: IPSec and L2VPN, Policy-Based vs Route-Based (NSX Series, Part 17)
NSX runs site-to-site IPSec and L2VPN on the Edge. Policy-based vs route-based IPSec, when each fits, and how L2VPN stretches Layer 2 across sites for migration and DR.
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NSX 9 Advanced Load Balancer (Avi): Architecture and How It Plugs Into NSX (NSX Series, Part 16)
Avi is the strategic load balancer for NSX 9: a controller control plane and elastic service engines. How it is built, how it integrates with NSX, and how a request flows.
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NSX 9 Distributed IDS/IPS and Malware Prevention: From Allow-Deny to Detect-and-Stop (NSX Series, Part 15)
Distributed IDS/IPS and malware prevention add threat inspection to the NSX security stack. Detect vs prevent mode, signatures, the ATP and NDR picture, and how to roll it out safely.
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NSX 9 Gateway Firewall and Perimeter Policy: North-South Security at the Edge (NSX Series, Part 14)
The Gateway Firewall secures north-south traffic at the Tier-0 or Tier-1, separate from the Distributed Firewall. How it differs from the DFW, where it runs, and defense in depth.
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NSX 9 Distributed Firewall Fundamentals: Categories, Applied-To and Zero Trust (NSX Series, Part 12)
The Distributed Firewall puts stateful enforcement at every vNIC. Rule categories and order, the anatomy of a rule, why Applied-To matters most, and the zero-trust pivot.
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NSX 9 NAT, DHCP and DNS Forwarder: The Gateway Services That Need the Edge (NSX Series, Part 11)
NAT, DHCP and the DNS forwarder are the first services that require a service router on the Edge. NAT types and the active-active trap, DHCP modes, and DNS forwarding.
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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