Tips for navigating and downloading from new Broadcom Support Portal

The Broadcom Support Portal (BSP) is most likely a new interface for many including myself after the planned VMware by Broadcom Day 2 Transition, which was completed on May 6th, 2024. The BSP is used for more than just support, it is the single place for managing your entitlements/licenses, software downloads, trials, security advisories, knowledge base articles and engaging with the community.

Tip: I have also put together a list of Useful Links for VMware by Broadcom Day 2 Transition in case you have not seen this handy resource.

Note: I know some users are still reporting entitlement issues, you can reach out to support or contact your account team who may be able to assist if you are still unsure. I know several users reported entitlements were finally in their account towards the end of last week, so it may just take a bit longer than expected. I have also seen some of the links on BSP throw 404, but after refreshing it once more, it loads and this might be due to some residual issues with our new CDN provider, CloudFlare.

It definitely took me the whole week to get familiar with the BSP, especially knowing where and how to find things, which was not always the most intuitive. I have been compiling some notes and various tidbits that I have learned over this past week and I wanted to share this in case it can help our customers, partners and colleagues to quickly ramp up on using the BSP.

Tip: For a nice overview of BSP, check out this handy getting started guide which is actually linked on the main BSP site (no login required) which a colleague of mine had shared, which I missed when I first open BSP.

Registration

If you have not already, you need to create a BSP login and if you had an existing VMware Customer Connect account, you should have received an email to setup your account, which will involve resetting your password for BSP. To complete the registration, you will need to build your profile, which will require you to enter your SiteID (often referred to as Support ID, Enterprise Site ID, SID).

Tip: See BCOM KB 142873 for instructions in creating your profile. If you do NOT know your SiteID, you can request it using self-service form, see BCOM KB 197283 for more information.

If you're still having issues, you can contact Broadcom Global Customer Assistance (GCA) using this online form https://broadcomcms-software.wolkenservicedesk.com/web-form and it is recommended that you provide your SiteID (if you know it) for expedited request.

Downloads

To ensure that you are seeing the correct downloads, make sure to select the desired BCOM VMware Division (VMware Cloud Foundation, Tanzu, Application Networking & Security or Software Defined Edge) when you first log in, which is located in the upper right hand corner next to your username. When you go to My Downloads, you will only see downloads that you have been entitled to and if the entitlements have not been updated or loaded, then you may not see everything or anything here.

Tip: For BCOM employees, you will be able to download most if not all BCOM VMware Division software using the BSP, simply login using your Okta credentials. For those looking for non-browser based downloads, you can also use Secure FTP by following the instructions HERE.

Searching for a specific download (e.g. ESXi, vCenter Server, etc) was not as intuitive as I had hoped due to how its organized on the backend of BSP, which is by individual product SKU. While this may not be an issue with a small number of SKUs, VMware had a TON of offers, which of course makes it more tricky when searching for a specific download.

Tip: Check out this blog post for popular VMware downloads that do NOT require an active entitlement.

If you wanted to download ESXi as an example, you will need to navigate to the specific vSphere SKUs (e.g. Enterprise Plus, Platinum, Essentials, etc.) and then under that, find your specific download which may include other components like vSphere Replication as an example since this was not available as a standalone SKU.

Here is a step by step walk through in finding latest ESXi 7.x ISO release:

Step 1 - Search for "vSphere" and then select VMware vSphere Product

Step 2 - Under the Products tab, select desired vSphere SKU and then expand the drop down to then select the desired version

Step 3 - Select the desired component by expanding the "View Group" to find the specific download

Tip: Once you are in a particular SKU, you can quickly change the version by using the filter at the top without having to go back the previous page.

Step 4 - Navigate to the desired component to find the download link, make sure to check the box agreeing to the terms as that will be required to enable the download button (which I totally missed the first time and was wondering why the download button was not working 😅).

Tip: Similarly once you are in the component view, you can also select other versions by using the dropdown filter without going back to previous page and by default it will show the latest version.

For non-primary component downloads, such as additional drivers, plugins, etc. be sure to search under the Drivers & Tools section.

Tip: I was recently helping a customer who was looking for the standalone VMware Remote Console (VMRC) download as they were not able to find it and it was actually located under this section, so make sure to leverage the search bar as that will be your friend! I wish there was a way to provide a direct download link, which would make sharing much easier.

Patches

I never would have guessed to look for an ESXi or vCenter Server patch under the "Solutions" tab after selecting the desired Product, but apparently this is how BSP has been setup. At least, users do not have to navigate to a completely different website, which is how it was before and it often confused users where to go for VMware patches. Ideally, we could have a patch tab within the primary download, this way you can quickly see both the full images and patches all in one view.

Here is a step by step walk through in finding latest ESXi 8.x patches:

Step 1 - After selecting the appropriate vSphere SKU, you can then expand the drop down and select the desired version

Step 2 - You can then use search to filter further and look for a specific ESXi or vCenter Server patch as an example and then click on the link to go to download.

Tip: You can easily switch between the different patch versions by using the drop down and the latest version will be selected by default.

Trials & Betas

The inclusion of customer software trials and betas directly from the BSP is a nice enhancement, you no longer have to hop around to individual product pages and all available and applicable trials and betas will simply show up here. As outlined in the Trial Instructions button in the upper right hand corner, only customers with active entitlements (at least one SiteID) will be eligible for requesting trials and betas, which is completely self-service.

Unlike the current product downloads which are mapped to the old VMware product SKUs, the product trials all reflect the new VMware by Broadcom offers including VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) and VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). After clicking on the Request Trial for a specific offer, you will be asked to specify the quantity, which from the screenshot, you can see is quite generous!

Once the trial request has been approved on the backend, you should receive a license that is good for up to 90 days (clock begins after submitting the request) for evaluation purposes. Most of the VMware products like VVF/VCF also have a built-in 60 day evaluation, which could be useful if needed more time but that will require a reinstall if you have used up your 90 day license key.

Tip: For longer duration proof of concepts, please work with your VMware account team as they have the ability to request for longer duration license keys.

Notifications

A nice feature of BSP is the ability to subscribe to various notifications for a given product whether it is for a new release, security advisories, critical updates or even legal notices. You can subscribe on a per product basis or you can manage it globally by either click on the bell icon and clicking on the gear OR clicking on your username and select Notification Settings. You can then search for a given product across the different BCOM divisions and selectively enable the notifications you are interested in.

It is not clear whether these notifications will only show up when you are logged into the BSP or if an email digest will also be sent out, but I will try to find out and share my findings.

Hopefully this quick primer in navigating the new BSP was useful and I think the downloads will only get simpler as we transition away from the old VMware offers!