WilliamLam.com

  • About
    • About
    • Privacy
  • VMware Cloud Foundation
    • VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1
    • VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0
  • VKS
  • Homelab
    • Hardware Options
    • Hardware Reviews
    • Lab Deployment Scripts
    • Nested Virtualization
    • Homelab Podcasts
  • VMware Nostalgia
  • Apple

PowerCLI remediation script for running NSX Edge on AMD Ryzen for VCF 9.0

06.20.2025 by William Lam // 1 Comment

If you are planning to deploy VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 on an AMD Ryzen processor (consumer CPU), make sure you are aware of the required workaround to get the NSX Edge node to function properly, which I had shared the solution back in 2020.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the workaround is still applicable with VCF 9.0 due to lack of support for Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) with Ryzen processors. One of the challenges you could face depending on where you deploy the NSX Edge, since there is a new workflow that is built right into vCenter Server 9.0 and SSH is not enabled by default, which means you would need to go to VM Console of the NSX Edge VM to apply the workaround.


To make this even less fun, during this time the NSX Edge is going through its initialization process and because it fails to detect DPDK support, the required NSX services can not start and keeps re-trying which is not a bad thing. The reason the looping is a problem is because the workaround requires editing a configuration file and depending on how fast you can type, the initialization process will restart and cause your session to end and you now need to log back in, thus causing a less than ideal experience.

As you can probably guess, I got hit by this re-initialization loop and I just got tired of trying to be faster than the computer ?

[Read more...]

Categories // NSX, VMware Cloud Foundation Tags // NSX, VCF 9.0

Failed to locate kickstart on Nested ESXi VM CD-ROM in VCF 9.0

06.20.2025 by William Lam // 2 Comments

If you are automating the installation of ESXi using a scripted installation (aka Kickstart) and the KS.CFG is located on a CD-ROM device and you happen to be using a Nested ESXi VM and see the following message:

cannot find kickstart file on cd-rom with path -- /KS.CFG


You are probably using an IDE-based controller for the CD-ROM device, which the underlying IDE driver for ESXi has been removed as part of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0.


The fix is to simply remove the IDE controller and use a SATA controller and things will work as expected!

Categories // ESXi, Nested Virtualization, VMware Cloud Foundation, vSphere 9.0 Tags // ESXi 9.0, kickstart, Nested ESXi, VCF 9.0

VCF 9.0 Installer workaround for ESXi hosts with different vendor

06.19.2025 by William Lam // 1 Comment

If you are using ESXi hosts that have mixed hardware vendors, the VCF 9.0 Installer will throw the following error as shown in the screenshot below:

ESX Hosts don't have the same vendor. vLCM is not supported on ESX Hosts with different vendor. Found vendors are: [micro computer (hk) tech limited. gmktec]


The reason as outlined is that vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) does not support heterogeneous hardware vendors when it attempts to construct the vLCM Image Profile for the vSphere Cluster that is for your VCF Management Domain.

With that said, for lab purposes there is a workaround ...

In fact, this was something I had shared a while back which is the ability to simulate custom ESXi SMBIOS strings and I just recalled the solution because I wanted to test something out but unfourntately, my ESXi hosts were from two different hardware vendors.

[Read more...]

Categories // VMware Cloud Foundation Tags // VCF 9.0

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • …
  • 68
  • Next Page »

Search

Thank Author

Author

William is Distinguished Platform Engineering Architect in the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Division at Broadcom. His primary focus is helping customers and partners build, run and operate a modern Private Cloud using the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform.

Connect

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • GitHub
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

Recent

  • Quick Tip: How to Identify Which Kubernetes Cluster Owns a vSphere Container Volume (PV) 06/25/2026
  • What Host Lifecycle Operations Are Available after Importing vCenter into VCF 9.x Fleet? 06/24/2026
  • VCF 9.1 - Enabling High Availability for a Small VCF Management Services (VCFMS) Deployment 06/22/2026
  • Clarifying Minimum Required ESX Hosts for VCF Deployments 06/18/2026
  • VCF 9.1 - Auditing VCF Management Services (VCFMS) IP Pool Usage  06/17/2026
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.

To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Copyright WilliamLam.com © 2026

Loading Comments...