Bits, Bytes, & Radio Waves

A Journey Through Discovery

  • VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF): SFTP

    Overview If you are reading this, I bet you are trying to get your SDDC Manager configured to do backups via SFTP…and it’s just not working. You keep seeing a similar message in SDDC Manager, even though you are using all the correct configuration information. Invalid parameter: Validation failed for directory path <configured backup directory>…

  • VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Troubleshooting

    Overview Most of the time, when I am troubleshooting a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) bring-up, networking comes into play. Whether it be NTP, DNS, or other various ports, networking is probably the most important thing to get right for a successful bring-up. Subnets, network borders, Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU), VLANs, trunks, tags, i.e.

  • VMware Cloud Director: Deployment and Initial Configuration

    Overview I stood up a nested VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) lab and decided to delve into the world of VMware Cloud Director. I ran into a couple issues and wanted to make sure that I documented them here so that I do not run into them again in the future. I have a good feeling…

  • The Frugal Administrator: A Minimal Nested VMware VCF Lab

    Overview I have other posts on my site here for more built out installations of VMware VCF. However, while I was researching a build script for a recent nested installation I was building, I came across a post on William Lam’s website about a single host VMware VCF install. This surely piqued my interest and…

  • Nested VMware NSX

    Disclaimer: While I worked for VMware from March 2019 and up until the Broadcom acquisition in November 2023, and continued on with Broadcom, this post (and website as a whole) is solely for my purposes and in no way represents VMware or Broadcom’s views or best practices. Heck, for all I know, this is accidentally…

  • Nested VCF Lab: Virtual Machines

    Overview There are a few necessary services that need to be running for a Nested VCF lab. These services include Domain Name System (DNS) and Network Time Protocol (NTP). A few additional services, while not necessary, are very helpful. These services include a file server and a management virtual machine.

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