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Quick Tip - Verifying vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) Backup Status

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I recently found out that my vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) scheduled backups had been failing for some time but I was not aware. While there is a default vCenter Server alarm for failed VCSA backups, however it is only visible when you have selected the vCenter Server inventory object in left hand navigation, which is not a typical item that I select as shown in the screenshot below.


Furthermore, I was actually logged into the VCSA's VMware Appliance Management Interface (VAMI) not too long ago while updating to a newer patch release and I had checked to see if backups were successful, which I thought they were when looking at the "Status" column.


It was not until I took a closer look, did I realize that the schedule backup activity log is ordered from oldest to newest, meaning what I saw was a backup that has happend a long time ago and not necessary the latest backup attempt. I found this to be a really strange UX since as you would need to page to very end to check whether the latest backups were succssful or not.

Note: I have already filed an internal bug to ask for the VCSA schedule backup activity to be ordered from newest to oldest, so users can quickly see if the latest backups are successful or not.

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Automating counting cores & TiBs for new VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) and VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) SKUs

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Happy New Year! 🥳🎉🥂

At the end of 2023, we announced two new offerings called VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) and VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) that drastically simplifies our overall vSphere-based portfolio and licensing model.

To help our users understand the new licensing model which uses both CPU cores and TiB (for vSAN storage sizing), I have created a PowerCLI function (Get-FoundationCoreAndTiBUsage) that will inventory your existing vSphere environment and provide a detailed report on the number of CPU Core and/or TiB license count that would be required whether you are considering the VVF or VCF offering.


For those familiar with my previous versions of the vSphere and vSphere+ core counting scripts, this function works in a very similar manner with the output configurable using either console or outputting it to an excel spreadsheet for further processing. For more details on the calculations, where to download and how to use the PowerCLI function, please see VMware KB 95927.

Dynamically generate custom vSAN ESA HCL JSON for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.1

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I recently shared on how you can deploy the latest VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.1 release with vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) using Nested ESXi and leveraging a custom vSAN ESA HCL JSON file, which I had created to workaround the required vSAN ESA pre-check during the VCF Bringup process.

I will admit, I actually did not the create the custom vSAN ESA HCL JSON file manually, it was auto-generated using automation 😉

My initial goal was to make it easier for anyone to play with VCF 5.1 using both Nested ESXi as well any physical system that is capable but may is not on the official VMware vSAN ESA HCL. After a lot of trial and error testing with Nested ESXi, I finally had a functional PowerCLI script that can then be used to run against a standalone ESXi host to dynamically generate a compatible custom vSAN ESA HCL JSON file that can then be used with both VCF 5.1 with vSAN ESA or even a standalone vCenter Server deployment for vSAN ESA enablement.

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