VCF
Everything written here about VMware Cloud Foundation, grouped into a reading order: design decisions, upgrade paths, operations, security, AI and the business case.
111 pieces, from the first 9.1 design notes in May through to the work on the vSphere 8 end of general support. Grouped by the problem you are trying to solve rather than the date each one went up, because almost nobody arrives at a blog wanting to read it in order.
01 · 9 pieces
Start here
If the end of general support for vSphere 8 is the problem in front of you, read these in order. They were written as one argument and they chain into the two tools at the foot of this page.
Your estate no longer has a version numberOct 2026You are estimating from the wrong numberOct 2026Will the hardware come with you?Nov 2026The Staged Path From vSphere 8 to VCF 9.1Sep 2026The Engineer's Companion: Topology, Network, Storage and Integrations at Each StageSep 2026What you have to be able to restoreNov 2026The management plane got smaller. Your estate did not.Oct 2026Fleet operations without a fleetOct 2026The First Ninety Days on 9.1Sep 2026
02 · 10 pieces
Design decisions
The choices that are cheap to make early and expensive to revisit.
Tenancy DesignOct 2026The VCF 9.1 Design Gaps Checklist What Architects Need to Decide Before They BuildAug 2026The Sources Behind the Design Gaps Checklist What Each One Is, and When You'd Actually Read ItAug 2026VCF 9.1: An Architect's Field Guide to the Design Changes That MatterAug 2026VCF 9.1: Designing Fleet and Instance Topology From HLD to LLDMay 2026VCF 9.1 Fleet & Multi-Fleet Design Under Regulatory Compliance A Multi-Jurisdiction Field GuideJun 2026VCF 9.1 Networking Deep Dive: VPCs, Transit Gateways, and the New Consumption ModelMay 2026VCF 9.1 Storage Architecture Deep Dive: vSAN ESA, Global Deduplication, Object Storage, and the Disaggregated ModelMay 2026EVPN as the Meeting Point VCF Networking and Cisco Nexus OneSep 2026VCF 9.1.1 Is Billed as a Maintenance Release. The Networking Documentation Says Otherwise.Sep 2026
03 · 4 pieces
The Design Topology Field Guide
Four parts, written to be read together.
VCF 9.1 Design Topology Field Guide Part 1: Foundational Topology PatternsJun 2026VCF 9.1 Design Topology Field Guide Part 2: Network Topology PatternsJun 2026VCF 9.1 Design Topology Field Guide Part 3: Compute, Storage, and AI Topology PatternsJun 2026VCF 9.1 Design Topology Field Guide Part 4: Identity, Security, Operations, and Recovery Topology PatternsJun 2026
04 · 5 pieces
The Upgrade Series
Five parts covering the documented paths end to end.
VCF 9.1 Upgrade Series Part 1: Pre-Upgrade Readiness & PlanningJun 2026VCF 9.1 Upgrade Series Part 2: VCF 5.x to VCF 9.1 Major Version UpgradeJun 2026VCF 9.1 Upgrade Series Part 3: VCF 9.0 to VCF 9.1 Minor Version UpgradeJun 2026VCF 9.1 Upgrade Series Part 4: Brownfield Import vSphere / Aria to VCF 9.1Jun 2026VCF 9.1 Upgrade Series Part 5: Post-Upgrade Operations, Validation & RollbackJun 2026
05 · 6 pieces
Migrating from vSphere and Aria
One per storage platform, because the storage layer is where these migrations actually differ.
Upgrading to VCF 9.1 from vSphere + Aria Operations: A Customer Migration GuideMay 2026Upgrading to VCF 9.1 from vSphere + Aria + NetApp ONTAP: The Storage-Specific Migration GuideMay 2026Upgrading to VCF 9.1 from vSphere + Aria + Pure Storage: The Storage-Specific Migration GuideMay 2026Upgrading to VCF 9.1 from vSphere + Aria + Dell Storage: The Storage-Specific Migration GuideMay 2026Upgrading to VCF 9.1 from vSphere + Aria + HPE Storage: The Storage-Specific Migration GuideMay 2026Brownfield Import in VCF 9.1 Converting Existing vSphere Into VCF Domains, TechnicallyAug 2026
06 · 8 pieces
Lifecycle and patching
How the estate stays current once it is current.
VCF 9.1 Lifecycle Deep Dive: Patching, Upgrades, and Brownfield ImportMay 2026VCF 9.1 Fleet Lifecycle Management A Day 0/1/2 Field GuideJun 2026Baselines Are on Borrowed Time The Architect’s Guide to Moving ESXi Patching to vLCM ImagesJul 2026Faster Security Patching with Fewer Disruptions in VCF 9.1 The Three-Layer Model ExplainedJul 2026VCF 9.1.0.0300 Express Patches Now Generally AvailableJul 2026Security Express Patches for VCF and VVF 9.0.2 and the ESX Fix Is Live-PatchableJul 2026The Layer Below the Hypervisor Why Bare-Metal Lifecycle Became a Compliance ProblemSep 2026Cloud Director 10.6.2: A Migration Release, and a Lifecycle StatementSep 2026
07 · 18 pieces
Operations and the day 2 model
What running it actually looks like.
VCF Operations as the Day-2 Operating Model: How to Actually Run a VCF 9.1 FleetMay 2026VCF Operations and Observability in VCF 9.1 A Day 0/1/2 Field GuideJun 2026Eleven Management Packs in One Day: What VCF Operations Just BecameSep 2026Memory Tiering What-If Analysis in VCF Operations 9.1 Capacity Engineering with EvidenceJul 2026vCenter Resize API and Image Integrity in vSphere 9.1 Two Runbook Upgrades Hiding in the Release NotesJul 2026vMotion Modernisation in vSphere 9.1 The Quiet Changes That Speed Up Every Day 2 OperationJul 2026Certificate Lifecycle in VCF 9.1 The Renewal Trap Nobody Plans ForAug 2026VCF Automation and Self-Service Consumption in VCF 9.1 A Day 0/1/2 Field GuideJul 2026Centralising GitOps: Argo CD Lands Natively in VCF Automation 9.1.1Sep 2026vSphere Elastic Provisioning in VCF 9.1 Zero Touch Provisioning and Fleet Onboarding at ScaleJun 2026Live Application Stack Blueprints in VCF 9.1 The Application Platform Layer Finally ArrivesJun 2026VCF 9.1 for MSPs and Operations Teams Fleet-Scale Lifecycle, Multi-Tenancy, and the Day-2 RealityJun 2026Data Services Manager 9.1 The Database Layer Joins the Platform’s Operating ModelAug 2026The VKS Policy Bundle Admission Control as a Distributed Enforcement ProblemAug 2026Shared VMDK Expansion on vSAN in VCF 9.1: Retiring the Last Outage Window for Clustered ApplicationsJul 2026Native Object Storage on vSAN in VCF 9.1 The On-Platform S3 Story (Tech Preview)Jun 2026Avi Load Balancing in VCF 9.1 Self-Service Delivery and the First LB Features Built for Agentic AIJul 2026The Open Ecosystem Story in VCF 9.1 EVPN, EDR, GPUs, and Cloud Native Reference ArchitecturesJun 2026
08 · 3 pieces
Resilience, backup and recovery
There is no documented rollback for a 9.1 upgrade, which makes this the part worth reading twice.
09 · 17 pieces
Security, identity and compliance
VCF 9.1 Identity Broker and SSO Federation A Day 0/1/2 Field GuideJun 2026VIDM to Identity Broker Migration in VCF 9.x The Scripted Path for 5.x UpgradersJul 2026Broadcom Publishes the VCF 9.1 Identity Design Best Practices WhitepaperJul 2026Confidential Computing GA in VCF 9.1 Data-in-Use Protection as a Placement AttributeJul 2026Hypervisor-Native EDR in ESX 9.1 Closing the SOC’s Oldest Visibility GapJul 2026File Integrity Monitoring in VCF 9.1 From Compensating Control to Platform PropertyJul 2026Fleet-Level Password Management in VCF Operations 9.1 Credential Hygiene as Declarative ConfigurationJul 2026STIG Compliance in VCF 9.1 What DoD Hardening Standards Mean for Every Regulated EstateJul 2026Harvest Now, Decrypt Later What Post-Quantum Actually Means for Your VCF EstateSep 2026Sovereign Cloud for Regulated Industries: Four Requirements, Not OneOct 2026What a Bank Would Ask Before Installing the vCommunity Management PackOct 2026VMSA-2026-0006 Is Rated Critical The Full Severity Picture, and the Remediation Map for Every StreamAug 2026VMSA-2026-0006 on the 9.1 Stream One vCenter Quick Patch and You’re DoneJul 2026VMSA-2026-0006 for the vSphere 8 Estate ESXi and vCenter 8.0 U3k, and the Live-Patch CatchJul 2026The ARIE Track A Security Certification That Actually Names the TechnologiesSep 2026Assess, Architect, Implement, Upskill Broadcom's Frontier AI Security Programme, Read as a Design MethodSep 2026Only 26% of AI-Generated Patches Worked. That's Why TrueSource Exists.Sep 2026
10 · 13 pieces
AI and GPU on the platform
The six short ones from October are a series: start with memory bandwidth and work forward.
Your GPUs Are Two Thirds IdleSep 2026Your GPU Is Not Slow, It Is Waiting for MemoryOct 2026A Quarter of the Card Is Not a Quarter of the CapacityOct 2026Smaller Numbers, Faster TokensOct 2026What Does a Token Actually Cost You?Oct 2026Which Inference Engine, and Does It Matter?Oct 2026RAG Is a Distributed Systems ProblemOct 2026A Real GPU Reference Architecture VCF 9.1 on Supermicro HGX, Down to the CableSep 2026VCF 9.1 for Production AI: An Architect’s PlaybookMay 2026VMware Private AI Cloud What Broadcom Announced, and What to Ask About ItSep 2026MCP-Based Agentic AI Workflows in VCF 9.1 Building the Secure Substrate for Enterprise AgentsJun 2026AgentMinder and the Problem Your IAM System Wasn't Built ForSep 2026Governed Data for Agents Tanzu's AI-Ready Data FoundationsSep 2026
11 · 10 pieces
The business case
For the conversation that happens after the architecture is agreed and before anything is funded.
The Enterprise Case for VCFSep 2026The Business Case: Building a TCO Model That Survives the QuestionsOct 2026How Much of Your Platform Are You Actually Using?Oct 2026What You Already Paid For and Haven't Switched OnOct 2026The Numbers Behind the Self-Service Business Case What the IDC White Paper Actually SaysAug 2026The Hardware Line Item An Architect’s Guide to ODM Server Economics on VCF 9.1Aug 2026Bring Your Own Licence Is No Longer OptionalSep 2026Amazon EVS, Explained for VCF ArchitectsSep 2026Same Stack Underneath, Different Deal About Who Does the WorkOct 2026The Platform Decision: How to Run the Evaluation Without a Recommended AnswerSep 2026
12 · 8 pieces
Dispatches
Time-bound, kept for the record.
Explore 2026 Starts Today What I'm Watching From SydneyAug 2026188 Sessions. Here Are the Ones Worth Watching.Sep 2026What 188 Sessions Tell You About Explore 2026Sep 2026VMware Explore 2026 The FSI Architect’s Technical Session GuideAug 2026Explore 2027 moves to springSep 2026Two Weeks in VCF Memory Tiering’s Fine Print, the Hardware Crisis Thesis, and the Explore Session WaveAug 2026Eleven Posts, Four Days, and a Date for SydneySep 2026A new home for this publicationAug 2026
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Everything here is checked against Broadcom documentation at the time of writing, and the more recent pieces carry the date the information was captured. Documentation moves, so verify anything load-bearing before it reaches a plan.
The full tool list is at mohammadsiddiqui.com/tools. Views expressed here are my own.