Category: VCF
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VCF Automation Licensing: What the VCF Subscription Includes and What It Does Not (VCF Automation 9 Series, Part 5)
There is no separate VCF Automation license, it is bundled into the VCF per-core subscription. What that means, the VVF trap, how core counting works, and what still costs extra.
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Deploying and Enabling VCF Automation via Fleet Management (VCF Automation 9 Series, Part 4)
VCF Automation is not installed, it is enabled as a fleet component. The prerequisites, the appliance inputs that trip people up, and what to do the moment it comes up.
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VM Apps vs All Apps Organizations in VCF Automation: Which Model to Choose (VCF Automation 9 Series, Part 3)
VM Apps and All Apps are not two skins on one engine, they are two architectures. The differences, a decision tree, and a clear verdict on which organization type to choose.
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VCF Automation 9 Architecture: Assembler, Service Broker, Orchestrator and How a Request Becomes a Deployment (VCF Automation 9 Series, Part 2)
The architecture of VCF Automation 9: the three services, the deployment engine between them, how a catalog request turns into a running workload, and where extensibility hooks in.
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What VCF Automation Is: The Product Formerly Known as vRealize Automation, in VCF 9 (VCF Automation 9 Series, Part 1)
VCF Automation is vRealize Automation’s lineage on VCF’s architecture. What it is, the three services you work in, the provider/tenant/project model, and the VM Apps vs All Apps fork.
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VCF 9 API Authentication: Tokens, Refresh, Service Accounts and RBAC (Automating VCF Series, Part 3)
Authentication on VCF 9 is a subsystem, not a one-line step. Token pairs, the 60-minute expiry, refresh handling, service accounts and the ADMIN/OPERATOR/VIEWER roles.
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The VCF 9 Automation Toolchain: REST API, SDK, PowerCLI, Terraform and Ansible (Automating VCF Series, Part 2)
VCF 9 has one blessed contract and five good ways to call it. Here is what PowerCLI, Terraform, Ansible, the Unified SDK and curl are each actually for, and how to pick.
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Why Automate VCF 9: The API-First Shift and What Actually Changed (Automating VCF Series, Part 1)
VCF 9 collapsed SDDC Manager, vCenter, NSX and vSAN behind one Unified REST API. Here is what changed, the five tools that share it, and where I would start automating.
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NSX in VCF 9: How SDDC Manager and Fleet Management Own the NSX Lifecycle (NSX Series, Part 25)
In VCF 9, NSX is a managed component, not a standalone product you babysit. SDDC Manager deploys and lifecycles it, VCF Operations and Fleet Management run it across instances, and you deploy greenfield or import brownfield NSX as a Workload Domain. Here is how the ownership actually splits.
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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 Licensing and Editions: VCF vs Standalone and the vDefend Trap (NSX Series, Part 3)
How NSX 9 is licensed in VCF 9: what the base bundle includes, why security needs a vDefend add-on at full core count, and when standalone NSX makes sense.
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VCF 9 Bundle Download Failed in SDDC Manager: Causes and Fixes
VCF 9 bundle downloads showing Failed in SDDC Manager or VCF Operations are almost always a depot authorization or configuration issue, not your network. Diagnose by HTTP code and fix each root cause: token, entitlement (403), HTTPS-disabled depot, proxy, and Product Version Catalog corruption.
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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