Bits, Bytes, & Radio Waves

A Journey Through Discovery

  • VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Bundle Transfer Utility v5.2 for Windows

    Overview This post walks you through setting up and using the Bundle Transfer Utility (BTU) to upload install bundles into VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Lifecycle Manager (LCM). It’s especially useful in air-gapped environments where internet access isn’t available. If your SDDC Manager appliance isn’t connected to an online or offline depot, the BTU allows you…

  • VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and Third-Party Certificates

    Using Third-Party Certificates with VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) I consider this a “Day 1.5” task—VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) has been successfully deployed (Day 1), but there’s still some essential configuration work to be done before handing it off to the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) team for Day 2 operations. Certificate Management in VCF By default,…

  • VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Bundle Transfer Utility (v 5.2) and Offline Depot

    Overview If the SDDC Manager appliance is not connected to an online or offline depot, you can use the Bundle Transfer Utility to download the bundles to a different computer and then upload them to the SDDC Manager appliance. Moreover, in cases where an organization comprises numerous VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) instances or operates within…

  • ESXi – iSCSI Boot from SAN

    If you’re setting up iSCSI boot from SAN for your ESXi hosts, there’s an important detail to keep in mind right from the start: each ESXi host gets its own dedicated LUN. That means there’s a one-to-one relationship between LUNs and hosts—these boot LUNs can’t be shared across multiple hosts. Once your hosts are up…

  • TrueNAS NFS and VMware vSphere

    Overview I am not going to mention versions as as soon as I publish, I know they will be out of date. Either way, I was struggling to get TrueNAS NFS attached to my vSphere lab over the weekend and thought I would capture the details here for future reference. For personal reasons, I do…

  • Upgrade vSphere 7.0 to vSphere 8.0 U3 for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Conversion

    Overview VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is a suite of products that you are likely already familiar with if you have used VMware products in the past. VCF is not a product in of itself and does not require use of a public cloud; it allows you to build and maintain your own private cloud. The…

This is how it all started…

I started this site with the intent to aggregate as much information as possible in one place. I use this to record lessons learned or frustrating configurations I have experienced on the job or just tinkering (learning) and just couldn’t find a better resource available. I have tried to be as thorough and accurate as possible, but technology is rapidly evolving and every environment is different. I may miss things along the way and my setup most likely differs compared to yours.

I hope you find this site has some value to you.

Welcome to Bits, Bytes, and Radio Waves! 

If you have any questions or comments (or just want to give me a shout-out), please feel free to contact me!

Aaron Rombaut

Writer & Technologist