Articles
VCF 9.1.1 Offline Depot: When a Known-Good Depot Fails in the UI but Works Through the API
Build and refresh a VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.1 offline depot, then work around a VCF Installer 9.1.1 URL validation issue by configuring the known-good depot through the API.
Fixing VCF 9.1 Installer “General error” at Distributed Switch on Nested ESXi
How I resolved a VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 Installer Distributed Switch 'General error' in a nested ESXi lab by tracing intermittent TLS /sdk timeouts to slow RDSEED entropy on AMD Zen 5 and forcing ESXi to use RDRAND.
Recovering an Interrupted VCF 9.1 Deployment After NFS Failure, Cloud Proxy Loss, and Stale Fleet State
A real nested VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 recovery: NFS storage failure, corrupted VCF Operations Cloud Proxy, stale Fleet inventory, stuck Installer workflow, routing and admin@local lockout.
Fixing “Unable to connect host …:443” When Protection & Recovery Uses a .local Domain
How I fixed VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 Protection and Recovery failing to connect to vCenter with Unable to connect host vcsa-b.home.local:443 because Photon OS could not resolve a .local DNS domain.
Resolving vCenter Entra ID “Access Denied” After VVF Ingestion into VCF 9.1
How I resolved Microsoft Entra ID Access Denied authentication failures in vCenter after ingesting a VVF environment into VCF 9.1, traced to an expired OIDC client secret.
Building a VCF 9.1 Manual Depot: How-To, Pro Tips, and Lessons Learned
A first-person VCF 9.1 manual depot how-to covering offline metadata, VCF Download Tool uploads, certificate matching, catalog BOM mismatches, and lessons learned.
Troubleshooting a vSphere Storage vMotion PBM Timeout
A first-person VMware vSphere troubleshooting story: a disconnected datastore took down my DNS VM, which caused VCSA DNS failures, SPS/VASA provider errors, and a PBM PreMigrateCheckCallback timeout during Storage vMotion.
VCF 9.1 Log Management Install Stuck: NFS RPC Limits, VMSP Storage, and a Missing VRLI Fleet Depot Bundle
A VCF 9.1 Log Management deployment looked like a generic lifecycle hang. Underneath it were two completely separate blockers: an NFS server rejecting ESXi 1 MiB writes, followed by a missing Log Management (VRLI) bundle in the Fleet Depot Service.
Cross-vCenter Relocation Fails with “Cannot Connect to Host”
A first-person VMware VCF 9.1 lab troubleshooting story: a powered-off cross-vCenter relocation failed with Cannot connect to host because NFC traffic was sourced from a VCF management VMkernel that had no route to the standalone ESXi host.
ESXi 9.1 Upgraded Successfully — But vCenter Said “Not Responding”
How I recovered an ESXi host that showed Not Responding in vCenter immediately after its ESXi 9.1 upgrade during a VVF 8.0 U3 to VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 lifecycle workflow.
Resolving ESXi “Fatal Error: 8 (Device Error)” After a Move to NFS
How I resolved Fatal error: 8 (Device error) while booting a nested VMware ESXi host after moving its VM files to NFS storage.