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Quick Tip - Using PowerCLI to query VMware Tools Configuration at scale 

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One of the most powerful and versatile VM management capability in vSphere is the Guest Operations API, providing a rich set of operations from transferring files to/from the guest to running commands directly on the guest as if you were logged in!

An easy way to consume the Guest Operations API is via PowerCLI and using the Invoke-VMScript cmdlet, which I have extensively written about, showcasing all the creative ways this can be used to solve various automation challenges.

I recently came across a Reddit thread where the OP wanted to check to query for a specific VMware Tools configuration as part of the vSphere Security Configuration Guide and was looking for some help as logging into each and every system did not seem like a good idea, which it is NOT! 🙂

Any time you have a use case where you need to scale a specific operation (reading or writing) a change, you should consider Guest Operations API, you can easily use a single API to perform this operation at scale!

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Downgrading new VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) or VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) licenses to 7.x

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When you access your new VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) or VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) license in the Broadcom Support Portal (BSP), it is delivered using the new solution license key type  which can activate multiple components within a VVF or VCF deployment.

By default, VVF and VCF licenses will come entitled for latest vSphere 8.0 Update 2b and VCF 5.1.1 respectively, because those are the minimum versions that support the new solution license key type. With that said, users can also downgrade their existing VVF and VCF licenses to support earlier vSphere 8.x and 7.x releases using the BSP license management system, which was something I had recently learned about and went through the process myself, so here is what it looks like end-to-end.

Note: License downgrade requires both user downgrade permissions in the BSP license management as well as using non-NFR licenses, which can obtained through the BSP self-service "Trials and Beta" or internally for employees. For NFR licenses, downgrade is not available.

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No entitlements needed for these popular VMware downloads on Broadcom Support Portal (BSP)

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As users are getting more familiar with the new Broadcom Support Portal (BSP), especially for downloading VMware software, an active entitlement is required for most downloads.

UPDATE (03/25/24) - Here is a direct link to all the Free downloads on the BSP https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/free-downloads

Note: If you are new to Broadcom Support Portal (BSP), be sure to check out my recent blog post on tips for navigating and downloading from BSP.

However, there are a number of VMware downloads that do NOT require an entitlement at all. After the exciting news from the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Division on our Desktop Hypervisor Products (Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro) being available, completely FREE for personal use, I wanted to highlight other popular VMware downloads that also do not require an entitlement and more importantly where to navigate within the BSP site to download.

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