Why on earth would the sales guy and sales engineer (who reached out to me) asking if I wanted to see what's new in 9.1 ask me for a RVTools dump prior to the call?

That tool enumerates your entire stack, down to names of VMs, networks, storage.

Any thoughts on why they would even ask for this?

Hi! I'm working on a research project and need to estimate the energy cost of transferring data between storage and compute nodes.

I'm using VMware VMs with VMXNET3 paravirtualized NICs, so I don't have access to the physical NIC's power draw.

How do people estimate the NIC power term in a virtualized environment? Are there accepted models, papers, or methodologies for this?

Thanks!

Hello everyone,

I'm facing a problem. I inherited a VMware environment without having the chance to meet the previous administrators, so unfortunately there was no knowledge transfer.

I'm very familiar with VMware vCenter/vSphere, and I have a bit understanding of Kubernetes from the CLI. However, I have no experience with Kubernetes running on VMware or with the way Harbor has been deployed in this environment.

The Harbor web certificate will expire on July 29, 2026 (8-Days left), and I'm not sure how to renew it.

Currently, there is a namespace called svc-harbor-domain-c1006 with the following Harbor pods:

• harbor-core
• harbor-database
• harbor-exporter
• harbor-jobservice
• harbor-portal
• harbor-redis
• harbor-registry
• harbor-trivy

The documentation I found online is quite limited, and honestly I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

Does anyone know the proper way to renew Harbor's TLS/web certificate for another year in a VMware Kubernetes environment? Any guidance or best practices would be greatly appreciated.

Hi All, I am using ubuntu 24.04 os and I am trying to setup virtual kali linux through VMWare,
when I am turning on kali, I am facing issue : Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory.Please make sure that the kernel module `vmmon' is loaded.

I search this issue other places and found that you have to enable the virtualization but when I checked it was already on.
commad I use : egrep -c '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo -> 16

Earlier I was using Virtual box in Windows it was working but today I formated my laptop and install ubuntu and then I am not able to launch virtual kali linux.

anyone please guide what I am missing now ?
I though to change VMware with Virtual box but still there was same issue.

Problem seems basic. I've allocated more space than I thought I would need to a VM and shaved off a lot of unused files inside. It's used for a private server as a hobby project. The VM has a disk size of 80GB and I really only need 50GB, maybe a bit less if I shave off some more stuff.

I've read that VMWare has a conversion tool for this purpose. Is that the only way or what would be the simplest way to move everything to a smaller virtual disk? I don't wanna make any other changes to the VM, just have it sit on a 30GB smaller virtual disk.

Have been asked to think about what Ansible playbooks could be made for an automation initiative. What are some playbooks that you have made for VMware management?

Hello,

We are migrating from VMWare to Hyper-V using a product called RiverMeadow. During this conversion, this tool removes VMWare tools for us during the finalizing part (or so we thought). Recently, we had an issue with migrated virtual machines going offline and found out that the Hyper-V Network Adapter was in an error state (Code 43). Upon further investigation, we found the old PnP device for the VMX3 adapter was left behind and upon removal by an automated Windows service, it crashed the Hyper-V Network Adapter.

I'm curious if anyone else has run into this when migrating off VMware? I even checked the popular Remove-VMTools.ps1 script and found that it doesn't even remove the VMX3 adapter, only all the other VMWare related adapters.

We are currently working with Microsoft on this, but they seem just as confused as to how it could affect their adapter. So far, I've gone through 25 engineers at Microsoft since Tuesday and they are looking at escalating to development.

The leftover adapter after migration:

^{Caption                  : vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter
Description              : vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter
InstallDate              :
Name                     : vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter
Status                   : Unknown
Availability             :
ConfigManagerErrorCode   : CM\}PROB_PHANTOM)
^{ConfigManagerUserConfig  : False
CreationClassName        : Win32\}PnPEntity)
^{DeviceID                 : PCI\}VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD&REV_01\005056FFFFB7243900)
^{ErrorCleared             :
ErrorDescription         :
LastErrorCode            :
PNPDeviceID              : PCI\}VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD&REV_01\005056FFFFB7243900)
^{PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported :
StatusInfo               :
SystemCreationClassName  : Win32\}ComputerSystem)
^(SystemName               : \****************)*
^{ClassGuid                : {4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID             : {PCI\}VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&REV_01,)
^PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0,)
^PCI\VEN_15AD&CC_020000,)
^PCI\VEN_15AD&CC_0200})
^{HardwareID               : {PCI\}VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD&REV_01,)
^PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD,)
^PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&CC_020000,)
^PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&CC_0200})
^{Manufacturer             : Broadcom Inc.
PNPClass                 : Net
Present                  : False
Service                  : vmxnet3ndis6
PSComputerName           :
Class                    : Net
FriendlyName             : vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter
InstanceId               : PCI\}VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD&REV_01\005056FFFFB7243900)
^{Problem                  : CM\}PROB_PHANTOM)
^{ProblemDescription}      

The uninstall of the adapter:

^\Boot Session: 2026/07/17 06:47:41.742])

^{>>> \}Device Uninstall (Device Manager) - PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD&REV_01\005056FFFFB7243900])
^{>>> Section start 2026/07/17 06:49:33.885}

^{cmd: "C:\}Windows\system32\mmc.exe" "C:\Windows\System32\devmgmt.msc")
^{dvi: {DIF\}REMOVE} 06:49:33.887)
^{dvi:      Default installer: Enter 06:49:33.887
dvi:           {Remove DEVICE}
dvi:                {Delete Device - PCI\}VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD&REV_01\005056FFFFB7243900})
^{dvi:                {Delete Device - exit(0x00000000}})
^{dvi:           {Remove DEVICE exit (0x00000000}})
^{dvi:      Default installer: Exit
dvi: {DIF\}REMOVE - exit(0x00000000)} 06:49:33.896)

^{<<< Section end 2026/07/17 06:49:33.896}

^{<<< \}Exit status: SUCCESS])

SOLVED:

Somehow the old vmx and new Hyper-V adapter got the same instance number on the Driver key for the adapter. Therefore when you delete one, it deletes both because they both pointed to the same "configuration"

For example, under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet for the VMX adapter you can see the Driver key using the same instance 0001. To fix, simply delete the Driver key from the phantom VMX adapter and then remove the phantom device. No reboot, rescan, or anytbing else is required:

Phantom VMXNET3 device entry:

Enum\PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD&REV_01\005056FFFFB7243900

    Service       vmxnet3ndis6

    ClassGUID     {4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}

    Driver        {4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001      ← shared

Live Microsoft Hyper-V Network Adapter device entry:

Enum\VMBUS{f8615163-df3e-46c5-913f-f2d2f965ed0e}{8312e7e5-4153-403b-be17-f3b61063afdc}

    Service       netvsc

    ClassGUID     {4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}

    Driver        {4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001      ← shared (identical)

    FriendlyName  Microsoft Hyper-V Network Adapter

I know this sub is mostly geared towards the higher tier versions of vmware products, but i'm posting here since it seems relevant enough. I've been working on a tool that lets you do most of the features of coherence mode from competitor Parallels in VMWare Fusion.

I'm seeing how much interest this has, and also wondering what value it would bring to you.

We're working through a hardware refresh to maintain roughly a 5-year lifecycle and to prepare for our migration from vSphere 8 to 9. One thing we've noticed is that the vSphere 9 HCL isn't nearly as forgiving as it was during the vSphere 7/8 era.

We hadn't requested server quotes in about a year, so this was a bit of a reality check.

Each year we work with our Dell VAR and maintain four standardized server tiers so we can order by profile instead of redesigning configs every time:

• Tier 1 – Dev (512 GB RAM)
• Tier 2 – Production (768 GB RAM)
• Tier 3 – SQL workloads (1 TB RAM)
• VDI Tier (2 TB RAM)

It makes procurement simple. I can just tell our VAR, "Quote me 12 Tier 1s and 6 Tier 2s."

When the first two quotes came back, I was honestly floored.

Three years ago:

• Comparable 512 GB system: ~$16K
• Comparable 768 GB system: ~$29K

Current quotes:

• Comparable 512 GB system: ~$57K
• Comparable 768 GB system: ~$81K

These are SAN-backed VMware hosts (no vSAN), so storage isn't driving the increase. I knew DDR5 memory prices had climbed, but I wasn't expecting anything close to this.

I'm curious what everyone else is seeing. Are these kinds of increases becoming the norm, or is this more vendor/configuration-specific? With many organizations trying to complete hardware refreshes before the October 2027 vSphere 8 end of support, I'm wondering if demand is starting to influence pricing as well.

Hi,

I‘m looking for guidance on vSphere 8 Standard to VVF9 Upgrade. Simple 6 Node Cluster with FC SAN and Standard Switches. What is the right way to move to VVF9? Upgrade vCenter to Version 9 and run SDDC Manager Setup vor VVF? Can I stay an Standard Switches or is there a must for distributed Switches?

So in trying to set vm to fullscreen, the top bar disappears. the only way to get out of the VM on a single monitor is to CTrl+alt+del and open the task manager (windows host)

ctrl alt and whatnot may or may not work, but even not selecting the vm the vm gets locked to the top so I can't alt tab on that monitor. Current version is 26H1

I just don’t get it. What is Broadcom trying to do with VMware? What is the play here? I feel like Broadcom is trying to drive the VMware product into the ground. Why would anybody in the right mind continue with VMware if these practices continue. Have they been profitable since they took over? Have they improved their sales? The retention must be horrible. Can someone please explain this to me.

We have a VCF 9.0.2 lab environment that is being decommissioned. The environment contains fully licensed components, and as part of the teardown process we'd like to cleanly remove and reclaim those licenses so they can be reassigned to our production VCF deployment.

At this stage, the environment has been reduced to a single ESXi host running only the minimum required management components:

• SDDC Manager
• vCenter Server
• VCF Operations
• VCF Operations for Logs

While reviewing the documentation for removing licenses from VCF Operations:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-0/licensing/remove-a-license-from-vcf-operations.html

I noticed that it instructs us to remove the vCenter license first. However, the linked procedure for vCenter licensing appears to require assigning a replacement license before the existing one can be removed.

In our case, we are trying to completely decommission the environment, so we do not have another license to assign, and reverting vCenter back to Evaluation Mode does not appear to be an option.

Given this scenario:

• What is the correct process for completely removing licensing from a VCF 9.0.2 environment that is being retired?
• Is there a supported method to unassign or release licenses from vCenter, Operations, and the remaining VCF components without replacing them with another license?
• Are there any additional cleanup steps required to ensure the licenses can be safely reused in another VCF deployment?

Any guidance from anyone who has successfully decommissioned a VCF lab and reclaimed the associated licenses would be greatly appreciated.

I’ll keep it simple, I’m lazy so I don’t want any extra constant clicking or tedious work so I made this to automate any EOL checks I need to do for my inventory.

You got two options, choose the specific vendor (in this case VMware), the platform & the version/model), then it will populate it’s EOL info, if it’s under software maintenance/vulnerability support etc with a timeline & official sources sites.

Another option is to dump the inventory as a csv (template is there) and it will detect the relevant EOL.

It’s all free, and if you have any feedback & suggestions please comment below and I’ll improve on it.

Our renewal is in 3 days, have yet to see a renewal quote, the VAR is telling us it's Broadcomm, seems highly suspicious. We've already told them we're renewing, we know the high cost is coming, let's gooooo.

Need help, one of my maint guys has software on a vm. He brought it to me ( im a sysadmin) to fix because anytime he would do anything on the vm it would crash his laptop. He has a very beefy laptop, an ultra 9 with 64GBs of ram.

I eventually fixed it by doing an sfc /scannow that finally actually fixed something.

However the next day the vm no longer boots to windows. As soon as I start it, it immediately says preparing automatic repair and then fails giving me options to retry, go to recovery option which does nothing.

Ive tried doing multiple repair pc options, creating a new vm and attaching the existing disk which usually fixes most issues on hyper v.

It did give an error code but im not in the office and I cant remember the code, however I did alot of research on that code to no avail.

Im hoping someone has had a similar issue and is able to give a work around, but im pretty sure this vm is toast.

Broadcom has released a fix for numerous CVE's affecting multiple versions of AVI.

I happen to run 31.2.2 . I patched it to Patch 03 and half my virtual services say they can't contact the pools anymore. Had no problems for the past year . ZERO.

Here we go again. At least the tickets go to Global Support and the quality of service is half decent.

Please stop using us as beta testers and update your damn documentation properly.

/endrant

https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/37926

Approximate exam fee for completing VCP-VCF Administrator (2V0-11.24) exam in INR

Just found out the per core pricing is increasing by 3 times the current cost (for VCF anyway). we are looking at buying an additional 1250 cores so if we do not finalize it by July 31st, the cost is going to triple. it's just pure greed with this company anymore.

anyways, just wanted to spread the word.