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We are living in an era where the dream of reaching 100 is becoming a statistical reality. But as the lifespan expands, a critical question emerges: How do we ensure our healthspan keeps pace? In his transformative book, "Mission 100 Years", renowned psychiatrist Dr. Laxmi Naresh Vadlamani argues that a vibrant century isn't a matter of luck, it’s a mission. Drawing on over three decades of medical experience, Dr. Vadlamani peels back the layers of aging to reveal that the secret to a long life lies at the intersection of mental resilience, purposeful productivity, and deep-seated joy. Whether you are in your thirties planning for the future or a senior looking to reclaim your vitality, this guide offers more than just medical advice; it offers a blueprint for a life well-lived. In today’s post, we’ll explore the key takeaways from Dr. Vadlamani’s work and how you can start your own mission to 100 today. Dr Naresh Vadlamani's Bio One can purchase book here at Amazon. https://amzn.in/d/1fiKqhv

Why Your Doctor Won’t Give You an Answer Right Away (And Why That’s a Good Thing) We’ve all been there: You go to the doctor with a nagging cough or a strange pain in your side, hoping for a quick name for your problem and a prescription to fix it. Instead, your doctor asks a dozen questions, pokes around, and then says, "It could be X, but we need to run tests to rule out Y and Z." This can feel frustrating, but your doctor is actually using one of the most powerful tools in medicine: Differential Diagnosis. What is a "Differential"? In simple terms, a differential diagnosis is a shortlist of suspects.  Because many different conditions share the exact same symptoms, a doctor rarely knows the cause of an ailment the moment they walk into the room. For example, a simple sore throat could be: • A common cold (viral) • Strep throat (bacterial) • Seasonal allergies • Acid reflux The "Differential" is the process of weighing these possibilities against each other to find the truth. How the Detective Work Happens Think of your doctor as a medical detective. They use a three-step process to narrow down your "shortlist": 1. The Interview:  When they ask, "When did the pain start?" or "Does it feel sharp or dull?", they aren't just making small talk. They are looking for "clues" to cross items off the list. 2. The "Must-Not-Miss" Rule:  Doctors are trained to look for the most dangerous possibilities first. Even if they are 90% sure you have a simple muscle strain, they might run a test to make sure it isn't a blood clot. They prioritize your safety over a quick guess. 3. Testing by Elimination:  This is the part that tests our patience. Blood work, X-rays, or swabs are used to "rule out" the suspects one by one until only the correct diagnosis remains. Why This Matters to You Understanding this process can change how you experience healthcare: • Negative results are still good results:  If a test comes back "clear," it doesn't mean the test was a waste of time. It means the doctor has successfully narrowed the search. • You are the lead witness:  The more specific you can be about your symptoms (when they happen, what makes them better, what makes them worse), the faster your doctor can narrow down their list. • It prevents "Anchoring":  Sometimes, we get stuck on a diagnosis we found on Google. Differential diagnosis forces the doctor to keep an open mind, ensuring they don't miss a rare condition just because a common one seems more obvious. The Bottom Line Medicine is rarely a straight line; it’s a process of elimination. The next time your doctor says they want to "run a few possibilities," know that they are being a diligent detective to ensure you get the right treatment for the right problem

Overview Applying VCF Operations fleet management appliance 9.0.1.0 patch on top of version 9.0.0.0 is pretty straight forward. This does not need a reboot of the appliance , as it just triggers a service restart. What we noticed was this VCF Operations fleet management appliance was rebooted for some weird reason we did see 2 issues happening Postgres Service fails to start Certificate of VCF Operations fleet management is regenerated If this appliance isn't restarted, you won't encounter this issue at all. Postgres Exception from vmware_vrlcm.log Sep 18 15:33:07 <> postgres[12859]: pg_ctl: could not open PID file "/var/vmware/vpostgres/current/pgdata/postmaster.pid": Permission denied Sep 18 15:33:07 <> systemd[1]: vpostgres.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE Certificate Issue Browsing to /opt/vmware/vlcm/cert/ will list a new cert and a key generated , the existing one is backed up with the format server.ke y.<> , server.cr t.<> Remediation Login into VCF Operations fleet management via ssh Execute the command systemctl status vpostgres Must be down, if that's the case then execute the following command to fix the permissions chmod 700 /var/vmware/vpostgres/current/pgdata/ Navigate to the /opt/vmware/vlcm/cert directory. The key and certificate files requiring change will have a timestamp in their names (e.g., server.crt.250930102056). Run the following commands to move the timestamped files into place, replacing the filenames with the ones in your directory: mv server.key.250930102056 server.key mv server.crt.250930102056 server.crt Restart NGINX service systemctl restart nginx Restart VCF Operations fleet management appliance service systemctl restart vrlcm-server.service Check the status of the service systemctl status vrlcm-server.service Once the service startup is complete, you should be now good to go.

Environment/Setup VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.0.0 with all of the management components deployed.   Background This document outlines the steps a customer must follow to upgrade from VCF 9.0 to VCF 9.0.1 for management components , eventually followed by the core components. It assists in implementing the newly released maintenance update on the VCF 9.0 GA release. Depot & Binary Management  Online Depot If customer is using an online depot, then they would get a message stating there's a new version available for VCF Operations fleet management to which they can upgrade.  Offline Depot - Local Customer can download the new bundles of VCF 9.0.1 using VCF-DT and then upload the tar into the VCF Operations fleet management appliance's /data path. Once done, they can click on Depot Configuration → EDIT DEPOT SETTINGS to refresh the depot connection which then detects the new upgrade/patch binaries. Offline Depot - WebServer  Customer can download the new bundles of VCF 9.0.1 using VCF-DT and place them on a repository using which this tar bundle can be exposed to the VCF Operations fleet management appliance. Once done, they can click on Depot Configuration → EDIT DEPOT SETTINGS to refresh the depot connection which then detects the new upgrade/patch binaries. In this example , i am leveraging Offline Depot → WebServer mechanism  Patch VCF Operations fleet management appliance  Login into VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management  A banner stating a new version of Fleet Management is available is shown. We need to upgrade Fleet Management appliance before we can upgrade any other component to it's version of 9.0.1 The same banner is made available under Components pane too Note:  VCF Operations fleet management appliance version 9.0.1 is treated as a patch and not an upgrade. Hence, the binary for this fleet management appliance will be made available under VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Binary Management → Patch Binaries Download the VCF Operations fleet management appliance patch binary from VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Binary Management → Patch Binaries  Select the "fleet management" under Patch Binaries and click on "Download" This generates a task, we can monitor the task under the tasks pane. As we can see in the screenshot below, the download of the patch binary is now completed.  Go to VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Settings → System Patches Click on "Create Snapshot" which opens following pane which asks for  vCenter Hostname vCenter Credential By entering or selecting above information and clicking on "SUBMIT" will create a snapshot of VCF Operations fleet management appliance. This is a mandatory step and cannot be skipped so that we have an appropriate rollback or revert option in case of a failure. After taking snapshot, go ahead and click on "New Patch", a pane opens up which shows the patch we just downloaded Select the Patch and Click on "NEXT" Now under "Review and Install" pane , go ahead and review the information of the patch. There's a release note link as well which can be clicked and reviewed. Once done , go ahead and click on "INSTALL" The moment you click on INSTALL , you will be redirected to Tasks pane where you can see the installation task for the patch run and completed. While the patch is being installed and services being restarted int he background , you would see this "Zero Page" as a placeholder. At this point in time , one can monitor following logs to see what's really happening  /var/log/vrlcm/vmware_vrlcm.log /var/log/vrlcm/patchcli.log /var/log/vrlcm/bootstrap.log /data/script.log At this point one can login into VCF Operations fleet management appliance's shell and look or monitor above mentioned logs  Once the services are up, the VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management  page should be back into functional state. Once the services are up, the UI is automatically refreshed. It takes around 5 minutes for it to be back.  We can browse to VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Settings → System Details to validate version  Now you have succesfully patched VCF Operations fleet management 9.0 to version 9.0.1  Downloading Component Binaries We already have the depot configured before , whether it's offline or online. Because we did update the VCF Operations fleet management appliance to 9.0.1 , now we have the rest of the component binaries made available for download as well.  Important to note VCF Automation 9.0.1 and VCF Identity Broker 9.0.1 will be available under "Patch Binaries" VCF Operations 9.0.1 , VCF Operations for Logs 9.0.1 and VCF Operations for Networks 9.0.1 will be available under "Upgrade Binaries" Delete the binaries which you don't need to make some room for the new ones being downloaded. If there's enough room under /data  then , there's no need to delete them. We can check the available size of /data  where the binaries are downloaded to under VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Settings Select the components and click on download so that the binaries can now be downloaded and mapped  As stated above for VCF Operations for Networks , VCF Operations and VCF Operations for Logs , go to VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Binary Management → Upgrade Binaries to download them  As stated above for VCF Automation and VCF Identity Broker  , go to VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Binary Management → Patch Binaries to download them  Downloaded all of the necessary binaries Plan Upgrade Under VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Components , Click on "Plan Upgrade" VCF version would be 9.0 itself as 9.0.1 is a Maintenace Release Click on the "Target Version" for each of the component  Select version 9.0.1.0 The moment target version is selected, Target Build number is auto-populated. Once done , click on "CREATE PLAN" The moment a plan is created , under "Components" pane, the respective Actions which needs to be implemented on the components are enabled  As stated above , Operations-Logs , Operations and Operations-Networks it would be an "Upgrade" Automation and Identity Broker it would be a "Patch" Upgrade VCF Operations 9.0 to 9.0.1 Click on the "Upgrade" on the Component pane or on the Overview Pane A pane opens up with the information which is important to read. It has "Trigger Inventory Sync" which has to be executed as a best practice before executing an "Upgrade" Clicking on "Trigger Inventory Sync" opens up another pane which asks if you want to submit it  Once we click on "Submit" , it will generate a task where progress can be tracked  Once completed , go back to Component or Overview pane and click on "Upgrade". Since "Trigger Inventory Sync" task was already complete, go ahead and click on "Proceed" to launch the upgrade request  Since the binary is alredy available, the repository url is already populated  Run APUAT by clicking on "Run Assessment", It takes few minutes for the assessment to complete. So don't panic. Review and acknowlegde assessment and  click on next Under Snapshot pane , the option to "Take Component Snapshot" is by default checked. Ensure this is not unchecked as part of the upgrade , it will take a snapshot and then upgrade the component. There's an option to "Retain Component Snapshot taken" which will keep the snapshot taken before the upgrade. Click on "NEXT" to move forward Under the "Precheck" pane, click on "RUN PRECHECK" so that the checks begin Now that the Prechecks are now successful, go ahead and click on NEXT  Click on SUBMIT to start the upgrade  Upgrade VCF Operations for Logs from 9.0 to 9.0.1 Click on the "Upgrade" on the Component pane or on the Overview Pane A pane opens up with the information which is important to read. It has "Trigger Inventory Sync" which has to be executed as a best practice before executing an "Upgrade" Clicking on "Trigger Inventory Sync" opens up another pane which asks if you want to submit it  Once we click on "Submit" , it will generate a task where progress can be tracked  Once completed , go back to Component or Overview pane and click on "Upgrade". Since "Trigger Inventory Sync" task was already complete, go ahead and click on "Proceed" to launch the upgrade request  Since the binary is alredy available, the repository url is already populated  Under Snapshot pane , the option to "Take Component Snapshot" is by default checked. Ensure this is not unchecked as part of the upgrade , it will take a snapshot and then upgrade the component. There's an option to "Retain Component Snapshot taken" which will keep the snapshot taken before the upgrade. Click on "NEXT" to move forward Under the "Precheck" pane, click on "RUN PRECHECK" so that the checks begin Now that the Prechecks are now successful, go ahead and click on NEXT  Click on SUBMIT to start the upgrade  Upgrade VCF Operations for Networks 9.0 to 9.0.1 Click on the "Upgrade" on the Component pane or on the Overview Pane A pane opens up with the information which is important to read. It has "Trigger Inventory Sync" which has to be executed as a best practice before executing an "Upgrade" Clicking on "Trigger Inventory Sync" opens up another pane which asks if you want to submit it  Once we click on "Submit" , it will generate a task where progress can be tracked  Once completed , go back to Component or Overview pane and click on "Upgrade". Since "Trigger Inventory Sync" task was already complete, go ahead and click on "Proceed" to launch the upgrade request  Since the binary is already available, the repository url is already populated  Under Snapshot pane , the option to "Take Component Snapshot" is by default checked. Ensure this is not unchecked as part of the upgrade , it will take a snapshot and then upgrade the component. There's an option to "Retain Component Snapshot taken" which will keep the snapshot taken before the upgrade. Click on "NEXT" to move forward Under the "Precheck" pane, click on "RUN PRECHECK" so that the checks begin Now that the Prechecks are now successful, go ahead and click on NEXT  Click on SUBMIT to start the upgrade  Patch VCF Automation 9.0 to 9.0.1  Click on the "Apply Patch" on the Component pane or on the Overview Pane A pane appears displaying important information that must be reviewed. It is critical to verify that SFTP is properly configured and backups are functioning before starting the patch installation. These prerequisites are essential because VCF Automation nodes do not support snapshots. During the patch process, the workflow automatically takes a backup to provide a recovery point in case a failure occurs. How to verify SFTP is working Go to VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Settings → SFTP Settings → SFTP status , there's no exception being reported. Optional: It's fine to take an ad-hoc backup from VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Components → Automation → Backup & Restore (Day-N Operation) → Backup , just to be on safe side.  Select the Patch and also acknowledge that you have verified the SFTP configuration is working  Click on Next to go to "Review and Install" pane for the patch and then click on INSTALL to begin the process.  Patch VCF Identity Broker 9.0 to 9.0.1  Click on the "Apply Patch" on the Component pane or on the Overview Pane A pane appears displaying important information that must be reviewed. It is critical to verify that SFTP is properly configured and backups are functioning before starting the patch installation. These prerequisites are essential because VCF Automation nodes do not support snapshots. During the patch process, the workflow automatically takes a backup to provide a recovery point in case a failure occurs. How to verify SFTP is working Go to VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Settings → SFTP Settings → SFTP status , there's no exception being reported. Optional: It's fine to take an ad-hoc backup from VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Components → Automation → Backup & Restore (Day-N Operation) → Backup , just to be on safe side.  Select the Patch and also acknowledge that you have verified the SFTP configuration is working  Click on Next to go to "Review and Install" pane for the patch and then click on INSTALL to begin the process.

Introduction Introducing a mind map for a customer topology with vSphere and VMware Aria Operations, illustrating their path to VMware Cloud Foundation 9. This blog details the journey step by step, guiding them through component deployments and upgrades, ultimately completing their VMware Cloud Foundation 9 journey. Customer Topology vSphere 8.x with several vCenter Servers, with one vCenter hosting VMware Aria Operations 8.x VMware Aria Operations 8.x There's no NSX deployed Mindmap Upgrading VMware Aria Operations 8.x to VCF Operations 9.0 Obtain Software Upgrade PAK file Snapshot VMware Aria Operations 8.x cluster ​​It is mandatory to create a snapshot of each node in a cluster before you update a VMware Aria Operations cluster. Once the update is complete, you must delete the snapshot to avoid performance degradation. Log into the VMware Aria Operations Administrator interface at https:///admin. Click Take Offline under the cluster status. When all nodes are offline, open the vSphere client. Right-click a VMware Aria Operations virtual machine. Click Snapshot and then click Take Snapshot. Name the snapshot. Use a meaningful name such as "Pre-Update." Uncheck the Snapshot the Virtual Machine Memory check box. Uncheck the Ensure Quiesce Guest File System (Needs VMware Tools installed) check box. Click OK. Repeat these steps for each node in the cluster. Log into the primary node VMware Aria Operations administrator interface of your cluster at https://primary-node-FQDN-or-IP-address/admin  . Click Software Update in the left pane. Click Install a Software Update in the main pane. Follow the steps in the wizard to locate and install your PAK file. This updates the OS on the virtual appliance and restarts each virtual machine. Read the End User License Agreement and Update Information, and click Next. Click Install to complete the installation of the software update . Log back into the primary node administrator interface. The main Cluster Status page appears and the cluster goes online automatically. The status page also displays the Bring Online button, but do not click it. Clear the browser caches and if the browser page does not refresh automatically, refresh the page.The cluster status changes to Going Online. When the cluster status changes to Online, the upgrade is complete. Click Software Update to check that the update is done. A message indicating that the update completed successfully appears in the main pane. When you update VMware Aria Operations to a latest version, all nodes get upgraded by default. If you are using cloud proxies, the cloud proxy upgrades start after the VMware Aria Operations upgrade is completed successfully. Upgrading vCenter Server Appliance Reference Link : https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/9-0/vcenter-upgrade/upgrading-and-updating-the-vcenter-server-appliance.html Upgrading ESX hosts Reference Link: https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/9-0/esx-upgrade/overview-of-the-esxi-host-upgrade-process.html Import an existing vCenter Server as a Workload Domain Reference Link: https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-0/building-your-private-cloud-infrastructure/working-with-workload-domains/import-an-existing-vcenter-to-create-a-workload-domain.html

Retrieving Password from Locker Step 1: Generate API Token To generate an API token, you can use either the VCF Operations Fleet Management appliance  logging into the shell as a root user or any Base64 encoding tool. Encode your credentials in the following format: echo   'admin@local:youradminatlocalpassword'   |   base64 Copy the resulting Base64-encoded string. This will be used for authorization. Step 2: Authenticate via Swagger UI Open the API documentation in your browser:  https:///api/swagger-ui/index.html Navigate to VCF Operations → Developer Central → Fleet Management API → API Documentation . In the Swagger UI, locate the API Token  section. When prompted for authorization, enter the following format in the input field: Basic  Replace  with the string you copied in Step 1. Click Authorize  to authenticate and begin executing API requests. Step 3: Retrieve Passwords from Locker Firstly let’s retrieve all passwords from the locker. So that we can use leverage the VMID out of the response and then retrieve specific password             GET  https://vcf-operations-fleetmanagement-appliance-fqdn/lcm/locker/api/passwords Above API will return response with the paginated list of passwords [   {     "alias": "Default Password for vCenters",     "createdOn": 1605791587373,     "lastUpdatedOn": 1605791587373,     "password": "PASSWORD****",     "passwordDescription": "This password is being used for all my vCenters",     "principal": "string",     "referenced": true,     "tenant": "string",     "transactionId": "string",     "userName": "administrator@vsphere.local",     "vmid": "6c9fca27-678d-4e79-9a0f-5f690735e67c"   } ] Now retrieve the password by using the root password of VCF Operations fleet management appliance. Fetch the VMID of the password from the  POST  https://vcf-operations-fleetmanmagement-appliance-fqdn/lcm/locker/api/passwords/view/{vmid} The Body should be {\"rootPassword\":\"V*********!\"} The response of the previous call will retrieve the password needed.

Presenting mind map of VMware Aria Automation 8.18 to VCF Automation 9.0

In today's fast-paced IT landscape, automation has become a critical component for streamlining operations and enhancing efficiency. One of the most powerful products available for Private Cloud is VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) , which a cohesive infrastructure solution. This blog delves into the intricacies of VCF Automation installation, providing a comprehensive guide for IT professionals looking to simplify their deployment processes. We will explore the prerequisites, installation steps, and best practices to ensure a smooth and successful implementation of VCF Automation, enabling organizations to harness the full potential of their cloud environments. Deployment Types VCF Automation comes with three sizing profiles. Small Medium Large Below table describes Number of nodes deployed for a specific deployment type Number of IP's needed for a specific deployment type Let's now get into the deployment flow and see what all parameters we need for a successful deployment Login into VCF Operations UI , Select Fleet Management -- Lifecycle -- VCF Management -- Overview Click on ADD on the automation tile This would launch the automation installation wizard There are three options here New Install Deploys a new VCF Automation component Import Gives an ability to import Automation 9.0 when it's removed as a management component  from VCF Operations Fleet Management Appliance for troubleshooting purposes post its deployment. Import from legacy Fleet Management Provides an ability for a customer to import their existing VMware Aria Automation 8.18.x instances into VCF Operations fleet management appliance, so that they can be upgraded to VCF Automation 9.0 The initial/first VCF Automation instance you deploy or import will be classified as an INTEGRATED instance. Any subsequent VCF Automations added to the VCF Operations fleet management, whether through deployment or the import & upgrade methods, will be classified as NON-INTEGRATED. Since we would be coverting New Install for this blog, so let's select this option and move forward by clicking on NEXT. We shall select MEDIUM deployment type In the next step, select the certificate which would be used for the deployment If you have a certificate pre-created select it. If you don't have the certificate, then go ahead and click on the "+" sign to Generate it. This would be a VCF Operations fleet management Locker CA based certificate If you have an external party certificate authorized by your organization, then choose Import Certificate and then import it Unlike VMware Aria Automation 8.x, where you need 1 VMware Aria Automation Load Balancer FQDN and 3 VMware Aria Automation node FQDN's, when deploying VCF Automation 9.0 , you just need 1 VCF Automation FQDN. This VCF Automation FQDN is the only one needed while generating the certificate and no other inputs are needed. Select the certificate and click on NEXT for further inputs on the Infrastructure tab Select vCenter Server This would be the management domain where VCF Automation would be deployed If the vCenter Server where you would like to deploy VCF Automation is not listed, then go ahead and check if that's added as one of the deployment targets under VCF Operations - Administration - Integrations - Accounts - vCenter or VMware Cloud Foundation Fleet Management - Lifecycle - VCF Management - Settings - Deployment Target Select Cluster This would be the place where you would like to host your nodes Select Folder Placeholder for placing the VCF Automation ndoes Select Resource Pool Placeholder for placing the VCF Automation ndoes Select Network This would be the network where your VCF Automation nodes would be connected to Select Datastore This would be the datastore where your VCF Automation nodes would be deployed to Once done with the Infrastructure tab , proceed with the Network tab Domain Name Enter the domain name of the organization Domain Search Path Enter the domain search path of the organization DNS Servers Add NEW Server Add a new DNS Server and then select it EDIT SERVER SELECTION Select the DNS Server which you would like to use for this deployment Time Sync Mode Use NTP Server Add NEW Server Add a new NTP Server and then select it EDIT SERVER SELECTION Select the NTP Server which you would like to use for this deployment Use Host Time Leverage the NTP set on the ESXi host where it's deployed IPv4 Details Default IPv4 Gateway Enter the defaut gateway for the deployment IPv4 Netmask Enter the netmask used for the deployment Click on next to enter the component properties Component Properties FQDN Enter VCF Automation FQDN Certificate As we selected this during initial screen, this is pre-populated Component Password Create a 15 character long password If the password is not created, create it using "ADD PASSWORD" on the top right corner of the screen Once created , select the password Cluster Virtual IP FQDN Enter VCF Automation FQDN Yes, you have entered this before, but you need to enter this again. Controller Type Internal Load Balancer When using internal load balancer the VCF Automation FQDN should be pointing to the Primary VIP Internal Load Balancer Others This is an option if a customer wants to leverage an external load balancer like F5, Netscaler , NSX-T etc. When this option is used VCF Automation FQDN should be pointing to the VIRTUAL SERVER IP of the Load Balancer The Primary VIP and Additional VIP's which would be collected as inputs in the subsequent steps should be part of it's POOL Components Node Prefix Specify a unique prefix for the VCF Automation nodes. Ensure the prefix is unique within the VCF Instance fleet to avoid conflicts and enable accurate VM backup identification This is used as prefix to the VCF Automation ndoes we deploy and a suffix is autogenerated during deployment This behavior cannot be changed. Primary VIP The Primary Virtual IP address of the VCF Automation used for accessing the services As described above if using internal load balancer the VCF Automation FQDN should be pointing to this Primary VIP if using others or external load balancer, then this Primary VIP should be part of the pool on the load balancer Internal Cluster CIDR IP Address Range used for internal network communication within the cluster. Choose a range that does not conflict with any existing networks. Note: Once a cluster CIDR is selected and component is deployed, this cannot be changed Additional VIP's You can add upto 2 additional VIP's for VCF Automation This is not mandatory for Greenfield Installs Click on ADD ADDITIONAL VIP POOL to add IP addresses one after another Cluster Node IP Pool A node IP pool is a range of IP addresses allocated for nodes being deployed to host VCF Automation, from which they will receive their IP addresses. For Medium and Large deployment types a minimum of 4 IP's are needed For Small deployment type a minimum of 2 IP's are needed As stated it accepts CIDR based format Individual IP Addresses A range Click on NEXT now to run a PRECHECK Proceed only when PRECHECK is successful Once Prechecks are successful, review the summary and submit the deployment request As stated in the summary page, parallel deployments of VCF Automation or Identity Broker is not supported. Deploy them one after another Once submitted, the deployment procedure begins Deep-Dive into deployment process will be blogged soon

Background We are accustomed to downloading the binaries and copying them into VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle, followed by binary mapping, allowing us to use these binaries for installing, upgrading, or patching the VMware Aria Products in version 8.x. In VCF 9.0, there have been changes. VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle is no longer included in VCF 9.0. Instead, the responsibility for VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle now falls under the VCF Operations fleet management appliance, also known as OPS LCM. OPS LCM allows us to set up a depot for downloading the relevant binaries. Depot Configuration is a must or a pre-requisite before downloading the binaries. So let's understand the process thoroughly. Extending Storage for Binaries The /data  partition is the largest in the VCF Operations Fleet Management appliance. This is where customers upload bundles in the Offline Depot → Local (Dark Site Use Case). If storage is running low, you can extend the /data  partition storage. Browse to VCF Operations  → Fleet Management  → Lifecycle  → VCF Management  → Settings . Click on EXTEND . Enter the vCenter Server FQDN. Select the vCenter Server password. Enter the desired size to which you want to extend the partition. Click EXTEND  to increase the size. This will add additional storage to the /data  partition. Depot Configuration Starting with VCF 9.0, VCF Operations Fleet Management introduces support for Depot configuration. A Depot serves as a source for downloading installation, upgrade, and patch binaries. There are two types of Depot configurations: Online – Connects directly to the online VCF Depot. Offline Web Server – Connects to an offline web server hosting OBTU, suitable for air-gapped environments. Local – Requires copying the tar bundle downloaded via OBTU to the /data partition of the VCF Operations Fleet Management appliance, ideal for dark site environments. Only one Depot connection can be set to ACTIVE at a time. If a connection is already ACTIVE, the option to switch the depot to ONLINE or OFFLINE will be unavailable until the current depot connection is disconnected. Configure Online Depot To enable the Online Depot, generate the download token from   support.broadcom.com  and use it during the setup process. This ensures entitlement to download the required binaries. Fetching Download Token   Login into support.broadcom.com  using your credentials.Post successful login, select VMware Cloud Foundation  In the bottom right side of the screen select “ Generate Download Token ” under "Quick Links" Pick the correct Site and click " Generate" Now that we have the token, let's go ahead and setup the ONLINE depot Login into VCF Operations 9.0 console Browse to VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Depot Configuration Click on Online Depot → Configure Click on the "+" on the Download Token field to add the token to the locker Password Alias Enter an alias to identify the token Password Enter/Paste the token generated from the Broadcom Support Portal Confirm Password Re-Enter the token generated again Password Description Enter a description User Name It's not needed in this scenario. Can be left blank. Click on ADD so that the token is added to the locker Once done, now click on "Select Download Token", just select the token which we just added to the locker Accept the Certificate and then click on "OK" Online Depot connection is now established. Offline Depot Configuration Offline depots simplify artifact distribution for "dark site" or "air-gapped" customers, reducing the steps needed to manage multiple VCF instances. To set up the depot correctly, customers should follow the procedure outlined below. Leverage VCF Download Tool and setup an Offline Depot structure where the binaries can be downloaded. This is not new for VCF Customers. This was called as Offline Bundle Transfer Utility in VCF 5.x days. To set up the "Offline Depot," a dedicated Virtual Machine (VM) must be prepared. Refer to VCF Download Tool documentation for more information.  Note: Both Offline depot methods only expect a bundle from OBTU. This would be a tar bundle with metadata included. Individual binary mapping as it used to happen in VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle  8.x does not work anymore Once we have the VCF Download Tool installed and configured, in order to download the binaries, we can leverage following commands. Explaination of the command /vcf-download-tool.bat: Invokes the VCF download tool batch script (for Windows environments). binaries download: Action to download binary files . -d /Users/Arun/local-depot-config/: Target local directory  where binaries and metadata will be stored. --depot-download-token-file downloadtoken.txt: File containing the secure token  required to authenticate and authorize the download from the Broadcom depot. --vcf-version="9.0.0.0": Specifies the exact VCF version  to download (in this case, VCF 9.0.0.0 ). --lifecycle-managed-by=VRSLCM: Indicates that the binaries are intended to be managed by VCF Operations fleet management appliance (OPS LCM or VRSLCM) . --type=INSTALL: Specifies the type of binaries — in this case, for a fresh install  (not upgrade or patch). Downloads all VCF Management Component Binaries of type "INSTALL" /vcf-download-tool.bat binaries download -d /Users/Arun/local-depot-config/ --depot-download-token-file downloadtoken.txt --vcf-version="9.0.0.0" --lifecycle-managed-by=VRSLCM --type=INSTALL Downloads all VCF Management Component Binaries of type "UPGRADE" /vcf-download-tool.bat binaries download -d /Users/Arun/local-depot-config/ --depot-download-token-file downloadtoken.txt --vcf-version="9.0.0.0" --lifecycle-managed-by=VRSLCM --type=UPGRADE Downloads a specific VCF Management Component Binary of type "INSTALL" /vcf-download-tool.bat binaries download -d /Users/Arun/local-depot-config/ --depot-download-token-file downloadtoken.txt --vcf-version="9.0.0.0" --lifecycle-managed-by=VRSLCM --type=INSTALL --component=VRLI Downloads a specific VCF Management Component Binary of type "INSTALL" /vcf-download-tool.bat binaries download -d /Users/Arun/local-depot-config/ --depot-download-token-file downloadtoken.txt --vcf-version="9.0.0.0" --lifecycle-managed-by=VRSLCM --type=UPGRADE --component=VRNI When the command execution finishes, it will create a bundle on the location mentioned. This is the bundle one has to use to leverage in Offline Depot usecases. Web Server Method Offline Depot Webserver method is catered to solve air-gapped use cases. Keep the Web Server URL handy, then navigate to  VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Depot Configuration → Offline Depot → WebServer should be set to reference the "Offline Depot" The Offline Depot with a Web Server-based connection has now been set up. The username and password provided here are for Web Server Authentication to download the binaries. Local Method The Local Method is used in dark site infrastructures which are secure, isolated network environments with no direct internet access, typically designed for sensitive or high-security operations. To support these environments, the Offline Depot → Local option can be utilized to map bundles and binaries, enabling upgrades, installations, and patching of components. Transfer the bundle we recently downloaded with the VCF download tool into the "/data" partition of the VCF Operations fleet management appliance, as this is the largest partition specifically designed to store the binaries. If there's a need to extend the partition size, steps to extend has been shared above. Once the bundle has been copied over, as shown in the screenshot below, direct it to the location where it has been copied. Click on OK to configure the Offline Depot to point to Local path. We have now completed our understanding of how to configure these Depots. Regardless of the specific depot configuration, once it is set up correctly, the VCF Operations fleet management appliance will read the metadata and subsequently populate the corresponding binaries under Binary Management for download. Now select the required binary , then click on "DOWNLOAD" so that the binary can be staged into VCF Operations fleet management content repo and can be used during install , patching or upgrade. The methods you used in VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle no longer apply to VCF 9.0. Therefore, you should stop copying the ISO, PAK, OVA, and .patch files directly and begin learning the new required methods.

VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.18 Patch 2 is live. This is only needed if your upgrading to VCF 9.0. This patch provides you a capability to upgrade VMware Aria Operations 8.18 to 9.0 & Install the new VCF Operations fleet management appliance 9.0 VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.18 Patch 2 does not have any features or bug fixes. If the customer has no immediate plans to upgrade to 9.0 , then there is no need to install this patch. Release Notes https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/aria/aria-suite-lifecycle/8-18/release-notes/vmware-aria-suite-lifecycle-818-patch-2-release-notes.html

VMware Aria Operations 8.18 HF 6 is now released. Click here for Release Notes Click here for Solution Details Click here to download the VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle wrapped patches which correspond to HF 6 VMware-Aria-Operations-8.18-HF6 VMware Aria Operations 8.18 HF 6 which can be applied on top of VMware Aria Operations 8.18.0 vrlcm-vrops-8.18.1_HF6 VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle wrapped VMware Aria Operations 8.18 HF 6 which can be applied on top of VMware Aria Operations 8.18.1 version vrlcm-vrops-8.18.0_HF6 VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle wrapped VMware Aria Operations 8.18 HF 6 which can be applied on top of VMware Aria Operations 8.18.0 version vrlcm-vrops-8.18.3_HF6 VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle wrapped VMware Aria Operations 8.18 HF 6 which can be applied on top of VMware Aria Operations 8.18.3 version vrlcm-vrops-8.18.2_HF6 VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle wrapped VMware Aria Operations 8.18 HF 6 which can be applied on top of VMware Aria Operations 8.18.2 version