<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[bpatvmware]]></title><description><![CDATA[bpatvmware]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2026 13:57:29 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.brockpeterson.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[VCF Operations for Logs Harvester Part 2]]></title><description><![CDATA[The previous blog detailed harvesting log events from VCF Operations for Logs via the VCF Logs Harvester tool.  That first release was command line only, but a teammate of mine (Scott Bowe) suggested a GUI for those that are more visually included, so here you go.  All the details are in the README, but to use the GUI run this. python3 vcf_logs_harvester_gui.py It'll launch the GUI and wait for your input. I ran a simple query looking for the "logged in" string including the IP address...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vcf-logs-harvester-part-2</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6abf1de082321ceead64e5e8</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations for Logs]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2026 03:49:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_79eb02d1763b42e1917443b172d82846~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VCF Operations for Logs Harvester]]></title><description><![CDATA[There are times I wanted to search log events in VCF Operations for Logs by shortname/FQDN, even though the log events contained only IPs, here's what I did.  All testing and screenshots in this blog are against VCF Operations for Logs 9.0.2 or lower. I extracted log events via the /api/v2/events API endpoint, converted my shortname/FQDN to an IP, then searched the extracted log events for that IP (and whatever else I was looking for).  Ultimately, the tooling is available and documented here....]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vcf-operations-for-logs-harvester</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6abbb3c0b1030c5e8acd9d0a</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations for Logs]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2026 19:10:14 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_14ba0552679c48e08f5aee8864d72432~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Changing Passwords via VCF Operations Fleet Manager 9.0.2 API]]></title><description><![CDATA[We've discussed the VCF Operations Fleet Manager API introduced in VCF 9.0 a few times. VCF Operations 9 Fleet Manager API Delete Certificates from the VCF Operations 9 Fleet Manager API Retrieving Passwords from the VCF Operations Fleet Manager I'd like to change a password via the the Fleet Manager API, here's how I did it.  First, you can access the VCF Operations Fleet Manager API here. Once there you'll be presented with the Swagger UI, remember to authenticate with Base64 encoded...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/changing-passwords-via-vcf-operations-fleet-manager-9-0-2-api</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6ab96fcde3d652319308b676</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Sun, 27 Sep 2026 21:54:28 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_3838b241f59b46f9960a07f8522f28ca~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VM Datastore Placement using VCF Automation Storage Profiles]]></title><description><![CDATA[I built a VCF Automation Blueprint allowing the consumer to select the Datastore for their VM, but it wasn't landing on that Datastore.  Here's how I fixed it.  Screenshots here are taken from VCF Automation 8.18.1. I created a Storage Profile for each Datastore including a Capability tag. I used the Capability Tag of ds:vsandatastore in this case because that's the name of the Datastore I assigned to this Storage Profile. You'd do this same thing for each Datastore store being presented in...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vm-datastore-placement-using-vcf-automation-storage-profiles</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6ab70161531214060b58045e</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Automation]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 23:47:50 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_309b19f8ef964f8a8b0a1a98372e3797~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Deploying a fresh instance of VCF Automation 9.0.2]]></title><description><![CDATA[I have an old 9.0.2 lab running VCF Operations, Logs, and Fleet Manager, but no Automation, let's deploy it! Log into VCF Operations and go to Fleet Management - Lifecycle - Components - ADD COMPONENT.  Of course my Depot has the VCFA 9.0.2 Binaries in it. Select automation. Select the New Install radio button, the Version you want to install (in my case 9.0.2.0), and select the Deployment Type (in my case Small).  Click NEXT. Click the + button to add a Certificate. Give your Certificate an...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/deploying-a-fresh-instance-of-vcf-automation-9-0-2</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aaefb3312f0baf721f3d8ba</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Automation]]></category><pubDate>Sat, 19 Sep 2026 22:17:39 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_34d3b49225824ad29a5ad4574be0abdd~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_998,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Put Newly Built ESX Hosts into Operations Maintenance Mode until they go Live]]></title><description><![CDATA[You're building ESX Hosts and don't want to be Alerted on them until they go live, how to do it?  Of course, you can log into VCF Operations and put the specific Host/s into Operations Maintenance Mode via the UI if you'd like.  You can put them into Operations Maintenance Mode via API if you'd prefer.  Both methods are covered in a previous blog. Another way to do it involves vSphere Custom Attributes, a Custom Group, a Custom Policy, and a Maintenance Schedule, here's how. First, at build...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/put-newly-built-esx-hosts-into-operations-maintenance-mode-until-they-go-live</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aabe205688af445477af022</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:29:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_6bd4e83d0d4341ed8db657bd0f6d195c~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Apply VCF Operations Fleet Manager 9.0.2.0300 Update]]></title><description><![CDATA[VCF 9.0.2 dropped several express patches recently, Release Notes can be found here: VCF Automation 9.0.2.0300 VCF Operations orchestrator 9.0.2.0300 VCF Operations fleet management 9.0.2.0300 VCF Identity Broker 9.0.2.0300 They can be downloaded here.  In this blog, we'll update the VCF Operations Fleet Manager. I'm currently running VCF Operations Fleet Manager 9.0.2.0. I went to Fleet Management - Lifecycle - Binary Management - PATCH BINARIES (VCF Version 9.0) and downloaded the fleet...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/apply-vcf-operations-fleet-manager-9-0-2-0300-update</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aaab9fb1df5eae11201806f</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:29:28 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_c8dcdaafe4284901988abfb51adfa639~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_929,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Find VM Snapshots with Memory Included using VCF Operations for Logs]]></title><description><![CDATA[We've discussed VCF Operations visibility into VM Snapshots several times: VMware Aria Operations and VM Snapshots VM Snapshots in Aria Operations 8.18 Everything you wanted to know about VM Snapshots in Aria Operations One piece of information that is missing is the VM Snapshots inclusion of the VMs Memory. Ideally we'd get this as a Property on the VM Snapshot in VCF Operations, but we don't today (I've opened a feature request for it).  Until that happens we do have visibility into it VM...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/find-vm-snapshots-with-memory-included-using-vcf-operations-for-logs</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aa92e7e922a68fd57d4f7c6</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:13:55 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_4bb593fb6335458aab4cf27f9e7e642d~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_653,h_458,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[vSphere Cluster Memory Metrics in VCF Operations]]></title><description><![CDATA[There are several vSphere Cluster Memory metrics in VCF Operations, formal documentation on these metrics can be found here.  Not all of these definitions are as detailed as I'd like, so let's provide a summary. Total Capacity (KB) - total capacity in KB, API Key is mem|totalCapacity_average.  Hover description is "Amount of physical capacity configured on descendant ESX Hosts".  In reality this is the sum of descendant ESXi Hosts Memory as shown below. Usable Capacity (KB) - usable capacity...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vsphere-cluster-memory-metrics-in-vcf-operations</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aa17e8565014d409c161751</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 23:29:40 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_983039aef8eb40a68ef28f67232a1b2a~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Upgrade VCF Operations 9.1.0.0 to 9.1.1.0 via PAK File]]></title><description><![CDATA[VCF 9.1.1 dropped last week, Release Notes can be found here.  I'm upgrading one of my stand-alone labs right away, here's how I did it via PAK file.  This approach is recommended for stand-alone Operations instances only, not VCF Fleet managed ones. First, I took a Snapshot of my Primary Node VM (only a single Node in this lab).  I then logged into the Operations Admin UI and went to Software Update. Click INSTALL A SOFTWARE UPDATE. Browse for the 9.1.1 pak file and click UPLOAD. Once...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/upgrade-vcf-operations-9-1-0-0-to-9-1-1-0-via-pak-file</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aa02e0c6e4f334c1f512c14</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 18:21:13 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_87bb7fb8245f4433a997654fe4c79ddf~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_792,h_441,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VCF Operations 9.0.2 List AD Groups and Users via API]]></title><description><![CDATA[We discussed how to capture AD Groups and Users brokered by vIDB into VCF Operations 9.1 a few weeks ago.  In this blog we'll do the same, but against 9.0.2, which is a bit different.  First, we need an API Client and Secret, which we can get in the VCF Operations 9.0.2 UI at Fleet Management - Identity &#38; Access - VCF Other Components. Click REGENERATE to regenerate a new Client Secret for your Client ID. Once you have your Client Secret you need to take your client_id:client_secret and...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vcf-operations-9-0-2-list-ad-groups-and-users-via-api</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a90eee635809d196a3f6ceb</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2026 03:08:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_d1d3f537c2724225a9668b4693ef1d83~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_457,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VCF Operations What-If Analysis Output]]></title><description><![CDATA[If you've done any capacity planning in VCF Operations you've likely used the What-If Analysis planning tool.  It can be used for all sorts of use cases: adding/remove VMs from a Cluster, adding/removing ESX Hosts from a Cluster, and more.  It'll provide Scenario Results that look something like this.   In this case I'm running a Scenario to determine Cluster Capacity should I remove 1 ESX Host from it.  The graphs confuse people from time to time, so let's go through them. First, you'll...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vcf-operations-what-if-analysis-output</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9079a7c87e96f27dcd702d</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2026 18:49:48 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_fec8f00bbf1a47c6bf1c80023b1dbdeb~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VCF Operations Workbench Tools]]></title><description><![CDATA[I was doing some work in VCF Operations 9.1 and came across this, what?!  I don't recall seeing it called out in the Release Notes but it is documented formally here. Now when I'm troubleshooting a VM from the VCF Operations Workbench I can SSH directly into it from Operations itself. You'll notice we support both credential based access and SSH Key based access. Executing remote command is also supported. Uploading a script and running it is also supported! All sorts of use cases for...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vcf-operations-workbench-tools</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a8df5fb28d0cf71ca037172</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 22:28:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_19e307d83fe14f5a8fb5d9847a66f5b3~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_956,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VCF Operations Dashboard Recovery]]></title><description><![CDATA[Looking to recover a mistakenly deleted VCF Operations Dashboard I discovered Dashboard backups on my Analytics Nodes.  Specifically, they can be found in the following directory on every Analytics Node in your Operations Cluster: /storage/db/vcops/dashboard_dump From within there will be a directory for each Dashboard Owning User, mine looked like this. root@vcfops-135-110 [ /storage/db/vcops/dashboard_dump ]# ls -latr total 16 drwxr-xr-x  4 admin admin 4096 Jul 14 15:50 . drwxr-xr-x 14...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vcf-operations-dashboard-recovery</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a8dacc06332daeb5c518427</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:48:54 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_fdbb129603024f8b8cd6d82f7fdf961b~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VCF Operations 9.1 Automation Central Enhancement for VM Snapshot Deletion]]></title><description><![CDATA[I was creating a VCF Operations Automation Central Job for deletion of VM Snapshots in my lab and noticed this! I don't recall these options before 9.1, so I checked the Release Notes and sure enough, it's new!  There were several Capacity related enhancements in 9.1, this is taken directly from the Release Notes. Capacity Enhancements Enhanced Storage Capacity Visibility. Improved visibility into storage usage across vSAN, VMFS, NFS, and vVol datastore types on clusters, hosts, and VMs....]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vcf-operations-9-1-automation-central-enhancement-for-vm-snapshot-deletion</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a8b0f29fe6fd82d15070a72</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:28:49 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_ce6ef73619684c40b88c257b7e85678b~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_717,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Publishing vRO Workflows to the VCF Automation Service Broker Catalog]]></title><description><![CDATA[I wanted users to be able to create/delete VM Snapshots from the VCF Automation Catalog, here's how I did it.  All screenshots here are from VCF Automation 8.18.1, but this would work similarly in VCFA 9.x VM Apps. VM Snapshots being a day-2 type action, I immediately started looking for vRO Workflows to meet the need.  These look like good candidates. I don't want users to have to log into vRO to run them though, I want them available on the VCFA Service Broker Catalog.  So, let's publish...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/publishing-vro-workflows-to-the-vcf-automation-service-broker-catalog</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a8a1e23d586cd2fd664d022</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Automation]]></category><pubDate>Sat, 22 Aug 2026 23:27:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_8e55c0249f914cd3a0ac13140f2c202c~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VCF Operations 9.1 Webhook Payloads including Symptoms]]></title><description><![CDATA[If you read the VCF Operations 9.1 Release Notes carefully you noticed the following: The behavior of the ${SYMPTOMS} placeholder in webhook notification payload templates has changed In 9.1, the ${SYMPTOMS} placeholder was redesigned from a plain string to a structured JSON object representing symptom sets, conditions, and related context. As a result, ${SYMPTOMS} can no longer be embedded inline with other variables or text within the same JSON value. For correct usage, place ${SYMPTOMS} as...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vcf-operations-9-1-webhook-payloads-including-symptoms</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a871e841ba312f5c1a311c8</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 20 Aug 2026 17:36:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_bf8667aa086f411bbdf04b4c4e7f4237~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_913,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VCF Operations Maintenance Mode vs vSphere/ESX Maintenance Mode]]></title><description><![CDATA[I see this question a lot: what's the difference between VCF Operations Maintenance Mode and vSphere/ESX Maintenance Mode?  In short: VCF Operations Maintenance Mode puts the Operations Object into Maintenance as indicated by the Collection State of the Object which can be found in Infrastructure Operations - Configurations - Inventory Management - Collection States.  When an Operations Object goes into Maintenance, Operations stops collecting data from it and stops generating Alerts against...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vcf-operations-maintenance-mode-vs-vsphere-esx-maintenance-mode</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a847c488cfa01baa5a0de77</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Operations]]></category><pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:59:45 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_16c92d9a72514c7e8b7876ded76d9433~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[VCF Automation Deployment Failure Notifications]]></title><description><![CDATA[We've discussed email notifications from VCF Automation on successful Deployments, but I wanted notifications on failures, here's how I did it.  All screenshots taken here are from VCFA 8.18.1, but this should work in VCFA 9.x VM Apps as well. I used the same idea of a VCFA Subscription tied to an Event, which called a vRO Workflow.  First, my Subscription looks like this. The Subscription will fire on "Deployment completed" Event Topics, which is basically all completed Deployments...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/vcf-automation-deployment-failure-notifications</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a81efd840f3daf10ba589ef</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Automation]]></category><pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 17:25:30 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_6faed69c0fe44ffaafb0e0209819cbe7~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Set Linux Root Password with VCF Automation]]></title><description><![CDATA[We discussed how to set the Windows Administrator password at build-time with VCF Automation already, but we haven't gone over the same for Linux root password.  Let's do it. We'll use similar methodology, namely a Customization Specification.  Log into vCenter and go to Policies and Profiles. Once there either create a new one or edit your existing Linux Customization Specification. Go to the Customization Script tab and enter the following (using whatever you want for your initial...]]></description><link>https://www.brockpeterson.com/post/set-linux-root-password-with-vcf-automation</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a7e7fdccae5bb2ffa113ccf</guid><category><![CDATA[VCF Automation]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 03:19:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b4065e_b9e8934d25cf40e2a9f1dd7cb1902844~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_494,h_390,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Brock Peterson</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>