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VCF 9.1 - Understanding VCF Converge & Import Scenarios for vCenter Server Without NSX

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When converging or importing a vCenter Server environment that does not already include NSX, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) will automatically deploy NSX as part of the converge or import workflow. While the deployed NSX version will be compatible with the existing environment, it may have implications for future VCF upgrade paths.

The current behavior in VCF 9.1.0 is to deploy the latest NSX version that is compatible with the source vCenter Server version. However, depending on when the converge or import workflow is performed, that NSX version could be a back-in-time release that does not have a direct upgrade path to the current version of VCF.

Below is an example to help illustrate the current behavior. Let us assume we are starting with a vCenter Server 8.0 Update 3c environment. As of this blog post, the Interoperability Matrix, which is the source used to determine component compatibility, shows NSX 4.2.4.1 as the latest compatible version.


Reference: https://interopmatrix.broadcom.com/Interoperability?col=912,&row=2,18560&isHidePatch=false&isHideLegacyReleases=false

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VCF 9.1 - Configuring Harbor to use VCF Identity Broker (IDB) for External Identity Federation

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Similar to Configuring vSphere Supervisor to use VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Identity Broker (IDB) for external identity federation, Harbor also supports OpenID Connect (OIDC) identity providers (IdPs). This would allow Harbor or any components that support OIDC-based IdP to leverage our existing VCF IDB instance that is already integrated with VCF Single Sign-On (SSO), reducing the need to create an additional OIDC client configurations from the IdP itself.

Since I already had VCF Single Sign-On (SSO) configured with Keycloak using my VCF Infrastructure Services (VIS) Appliance Fling, it was easy for me to validate and demonstrate this integration after coming across a question about it this morning in one of our internal Google channels 🙂

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Quick Tip: The Fastest Way to Clear Partitions for ESX Reinstallation

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I often redeploy my VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) lab environment for a variety of reasons, from testing customer scenarios to testing the next version of our software. Because I have fully automated the ESX installation and configuration process in my lab, reinstalling ESX is a trivial task that takes less than 5 minutes from power-on to a fully configured system ready for VCF.

When reinstalling ESX, especially on systems configured with NVMe Tiering, vSAN, and local VMFS storage, the real challenge is clearing the existing partitions so the system is ready for a fresh installation. Traditionally, this can involve several manual steps and, in some cases, booting from a Linux live CD to remove stubborn partitions.

Given how frequently I redeploy my environment, I have developed the following workflow that consistently cleans up the various storage configurations without requiring a separate live CD environment. As I was performing yet another ESX reinstallation while writing this post, I realized I had never documented my workflow, so I thought I would share it in case it helps others.

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