Category: VCF
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Bringing Existing vSAN and NSX Under VCF 9: The Brownfield Import Requirements (VCF 9 Series, Part 14)
The VCF 9 import workflow brings an existing vCenter, vSAN and NSX in as a workload domain, but it switches on the Distributed Firewall and trips over ELM, standard switches and baselines. Here is what actually breaks in the field and how to get ahead of it.
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How to Convert vSphere to VCF 9 with the Converge Workflow (VCF 9 Series, Part 13)
Converging a standalone vSphere environment into a VCF 9 management domain is mostly about clearing the right prerequisites before you launch the Installer. Here is the runbook, the blockers that stop a converge cold, and the version matrix.
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VCF 9 Adoption Paths: When to Converge, Import or Start Fresh (VCF 9 Series, Part 12)
VCF 9 offers four adoption paths from vSphere. Here is how converge, import, expand and greenfield differ, plus a decision matrix and tree to choose the right one for your estate.
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Avi Load Balancer vs NSX Native Load Balancing in VCF 9: Which to Choose (VCF 9 Series, Part 11)
In VCF 9 the NSX native load balancer is deprecated and Avi is the strategic choice. A clear feature, architecture, licensing and migration comparison, with a definite verdict.
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NSX in VCF 9 Explained: Transit Gateways, VPCs and the Distributed Firewall (VCF 9 Series, Part 10)
NSX in VCF 9 keeps Tier-0 and Tier-1 but puts a cloud-style VPC model in front: NSX projects, one Transit Gateway each, distributed routing with no Edge VMs, and the DFW.
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Deploy a VI Workload Domain in VCF 9 with VCF Operations (VCF 9 Series, Part 9)
Deploy a VI workload domain in VCF 9 from the VCF Operations console: commission hosts, choose storage and NSX, and the default-on Supervisor toggle worth turning off.
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VCF 9 Management Domain Bring-Up with the VCF Installer (VCF 9 Series, Part 8)
A step-by-step VCF 9 management domain bring-up with the VCF Installer: depot setup, the live-validated wizard, what gets deployed, and the DNS sweep that prevents most failures.
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VCF 9 Reference Architecture: Sizing, Topology and Design Trade-offs (VCF 9 Series, Part 7)
The VCF 9 management domain topology, appliance sizing and the standard versus consolidated decision, plus the one appliance (VCF Automation) that quietly drives your whole BOM.
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vSAN ESA vs OSA in VCF 9: Storage Design and When to Choose Which (VCF 9 Series, Part 6)
vSAN ESA vs OSA in VCF 9: single-tier all-NVMe versus two-tier disk groups, the resilience math, the lowered hardware minimums, and a clear verdict on which to choose.
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VCF 9 Planning and Prerequisites: Sizing, Networking and the Readiness Checklist (VCF 9 Series, Part 4)
Sizing, VLANs, MTU, DNS and the readiness checklist for a VCF 9 deployment. The prerequisites that decide whether your bring-up sails through validation or stalls hours in.
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VCF 9 Licensing Explained: Core Counting, the vSAN TiB Entitlement and 5 Costly Mistakes (VCF 9 Series, Part 3)
VCF 9 licensing looks simple but bites at design time: the 16-core-per-CPU floor, the 1 TiB-per-core vSAN entitlement, and the move of production load balancing to Avi. Five mistakes, with the numbers behind each.
Architect’s Toolkit
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
- AI Infra Sizing & Cost Calculator
- 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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