Unexplored Territory

For this episode I invited Iwan Rahabok to talk us through the recent announcement of the 5th edition of the IT Ops Management Guidebook. As I mentioned during this episode, this isn't just a book, this is a Resource Kit!

What changed?

• 1000+ pages, and 4 parts. Lots of additional content & corrections compared to the 4th edition 2 years ago.

• Deeper. More technical.

• Leveling up to support private cloud architect.

• A booklet written for higher up management chain.

• New troubleshooting flows. Done in DrawIO so you can tailor for your needs

• Two brand new calculators

• VCF Ops vCommunity adapters. Built by Onur

• An agentic AI webiste: https://isvara.io/ built by Samir.

What does not change:

• Still free.

• Still editable. So you can customize to your own organisation

Download in the usual place: https://broadcom.ent.box.com/v/OpsYourWorld

I read a few articles the last couple of months on the topic of VCF Edge by Dhruv Tyagi , and with the 9.1 release there were a couple of interesting posts about Zero Touch Provisioning, so it was time to invite him to the podcast and explore what VCF Edge is all about. Of course we also touch on things like Zero Touch Provisioning and how it helps customers deploy and manage thousands of hosts across countless locations. A very unique solution for a very specific problem!

Want to know more, these were some of the documents, blogs, and demos discussed during this episode:

VCF Edge:

• VCF Edge Design Library
  
• VCF Edge Design Blueprint for Manufacturing
  
• VCF Edge Design Blueprint for Defense

ZTP:

• Blog - Zero Touch Provisioning: Activating Edge Sites with VMware Cloud Foundation Edge 9.1
  
• Demo Video - Zero Touch Provisioning: Activating Edge Sites with VCF Edge 9.1
  
• Tech Docs for ZTP

With VCF 9.1 the name of VMware Live Recovery, or Site Recovery Manager, seems to have changed to VCF Protection and Recovery. In this episode Velina explains how this platform provides administrators the ability to recover workloads from different types of scenarios. Whether you deleted a VM (operational recovery), lost a whole datacenter (disaster recovery), or had a security breach and found data encrypted (ransomware recovery), VCF Protection and Recovery has an end-to-end solution for you!

Discussed topics:

• Ransomware Recovery Demo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFjSCyLP384
• Cyber resilience in 9.1 - https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/05/announcing-vcf-9-1-modern-private-cloud-built-for-efficiency-and-resilience/

VCF Native S3 Object Storage is a major feature that was announced with VCF 9.1. Pete Koehler introduced it in episode 118 and I wanted to explore what it is all about in this episode with Rakesh.

Rakesh goes over what was announced with 9.1, what the timelines look like, discusses the use cases for the platform, and reveals what you can expect in the (near) future.

All the topics and links discussed can be found here:

• https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/13/native-s3-compatible-object-storage-in-vmware-vsan-for-vcf-9-1/
• https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/05/announcing_vsan_in_vcf_9-1/

Disclaimer: VCF Native S3 Object Storage has not been released yet, it has only been announced. As Rakesh has mentioned, the plan is to release it in a future patch release as a tech preview, followed by an "MVP" release after that. As always, there's no commitment to any timeline or delivery of any feature at this stage.

Recently I realized I hadn't had Bob Plankers on the show yet, so it was time to get him to join the show and talk all things security.

Bob goes over all the various features we introduced related to security in VCF 9.1, and also gives a quick overview of what we've had available in VCF and vSphere for decades now.

All the topics and links discussed can be found here:

• https://github.com/vmware/vcf-security-and-compliance-guidelines
• https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/08/06/confidential-computing-vmware-cloud-foundation-9-0/
• https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/08/05/security-vmware-cloud-foundation-9-0/
• https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/05/platform-security-vcf-9-1/

Broadcom just announced VCF 9.1, so it was time to get an expert on the show to talk us through the enhancements that will be coming for vSAN specifically. As always, Pete Koehler shared all the facts and figures of the release. He discusses Global Dedupe, Native S3 Object Storage, Ransomware Protection and Recovery and much more!

• vSAN 9.1 announcement
• vSAN Compression and Global Dedupe in VCF 9.1
• Cyber Recovery Ready Nodes!
• vSAN Auto-RAID

Arvind is back to provide an update on all things Memory Tiering. The interest in Memory Tiering is high due to insane memory prices and supply chain issues. Arvind goes over the basics of memory tiering and provide an insight into what to expect in the upcoming release of VCF/vSphere when it comes to Memory Tiering!

Some of the items discussed:

• Performance whitepaper here: https://www.vmware.com/docs/memtier-vcf9-perf
  
• Memory tiering doc's which describes how to disable it on a VM: https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/9-0/how-do-i-activate-memory-tiering-in-vsphere-.html
  
• Many different blogs, and an assessment script by Dave Morera: https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/vcf-advanced-memory-tiering/

I sometimes get confused when people talk about VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Fleets, Instances, and Domains! So I decided to invite Gary Blake to the show to explain to us all the various constructs, how they relate to each other, and what you should take into consideration when you are designing a VCF-based infrastructure! You can find the links to some of the discussed articles and documents below.

• VMware Cloud Foundation 9 Latency Diagram
• On-Prem VVD for Ransomware Recovery
• VCF Design Guide

Recently, Frank published a series of blog posts on GPU resource management. I invited Frank to the show to explain why GPU resource management is different than CPU and memory management in vSphere. Frank goes over all the intricate details, and as always, dives deep into the various constructs involved. I highly recommend reading the articles which are part of the following series, and make sure to also check the tool Frank developed, as this helps visualizing the challenges you may face today, or potentially in the future!

• https://frankdenneman.ai/ai-infrastructure/
• 
  https://frankdenneman.ai/understanding-ai-memory/
• 
  

Recently there was a big announcement about the adoption of vSAN Storage Clusters by Audi. All the reasons for me to invite Kalyan back to the show. During this episode, Kalyan not only discusses what was announced specifically with Audi, but also goes over some of the recently introduced functionality like vSAN traffic seperation, vSphere only clusters support for stretched with vSAN Storage Clusters, and much more!

Some of the discussed papers and blogs:

• Audi case study: https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/03/27/audi-introduces-smart-manufacturing-with-vcf-edge/ 
• Lower requirements for vSAN: https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/11/14/driving-down-storage-costs-with-lower-hardware-requirements-for-vsan/

I've been on the Virtually Speaking podcast several times, so it was time to invite one of the hosts to the Unexplored Territory Podcast and discuss his favorite topic, hardware configurations, and the bill of materials!

John Nicholson goes over all the ins and outs of procuring new hardware and talks about ordering components for existing hardware. We discuss NICs, Switches, Ready Node configurations, Emulated Ready Node configurations, NVMe devices, and much more.

During the discussion, various blogs and videos were mentioned, make sure to check those as well!

• https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2023/07/26/expanded-hardware-compatibility-for-vsan-express-storage-architecture/
• https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/326476/what-you-can-and-cannot-change-in-a-vsan.html
• https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2023/07/27/yes-you-can-change-things-on-a-vsan-esa-readynode/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjen1ER8ASc
• https://www.vmware.com/explore/video-library/video/6360757998112

A few episodes ago we had Yves Hertoghs on the show to discuss networking, so I decided it was also time to discuss security. As Chris McCain has been at the forefront of networking and security at VMware for over a decade, it only made sense to reach out and invite him to introduce vDefend!

Not only was Chris part of the Explore keynote, but he also delivered various excellent sessions on networking and security in the past couple of years, and I would highly encourage you to watch those as well!

• Explore 2025 - Demystifying VMware vDefend Distributed Security Within VMware Cloud Foundation
• Explore 2025 - Building Secure Private AI Deep Dive

In 2025 the first VMUG Connect event was held in the US, and as it was a big success VMUG decided to repeat that formula in Amsterdam, Minneapolis, Toronto, Dallas and Orlando. I invited Brad Tompkins to the show to explain what these VMUG events are all about, and also provide some insights into the world of VMUG.

I have the pleasure, and honor, to host a keynote session in Amsterdam at Connect in March. I hope to see all of you there. For more details on pricing, locations, and more, make sure to visit the VMUG Connect website. Also, if you are planning on attending, I would highly encourage you to book asap as we've seen Explore on Tour selling out everywhere...

After Rakesh and I shared the news at Explore, and Explore On Tour, that vSAN would potentially be able to use Fibre Channel as a transport layer, the phone has been ringing nonstop. It was time for me to invite Rakesh and ask him to explain what vSAN over FC is all about. In this episode Rakesh covers the why, the what, but unfortunately the when is still a question. Nevertheless, this episode is a must-listen!

Discussed papers/links:

• vSAN vs Traditional Storage video
• vSAN beats all-flash top storage system

After Rakesh and I shared the news at Explore, and Explore On Tour, that vSAN would potentially be able to use Fibre Channel as a transport layer, since then the phone has been ringing nonstop. So it was time for me to invite Rakesh and ask him to explain what vSAN over FC is all about. In this episode Rakesh covers the why, the what, but unfortunately the when is still a question. Nevertheless, this episode is a must-listen!

Discussed papers/links:

• ​vSAN vs Traditional Storage video
• ​vSAN beats all-flash top storage system

VMware Cloud Foundation 9 has brought the Virtual Private Cloud networking model front and center in the vSphere UI. Not only has it become extremely easy to provide a self-service solution for networking, it comes with a plethora of networking services and capabilities. Maybe even more importantly, it allows networking-noobs (like myself) to consume advanced functionality without having to file dozens of service requests. In this episode, Yves Hertoghs explains what a Virtual Private Cloud is and discusses all the ins and outs around the Transit Gateway, vDefend, subnets and much more.

I had some trouble scheduling guests the past weeks, and as a result, I figured I would try something new. In this episode I go over the various things I announced at Explore and Explore on Tour in London, Paris, and Frankfurt. I talk about VCF Native S3 Object Storage, the enhancements we are planning for Disaster Recovery as well as Cyber Recovery, and I also briefly touch on vSAN on FC. If you like to hear more about vSAN ESA Global Deduplication, make sure to go to this blog on Yellow-Bricks, as it contains the links to the discussion Pete Koehler and I had on the show a while back.

Recently, I read this article about why VCF is the best platform for modern workloads, so I figured I would invite the author, Jad El-Zein. Jad and I discuss all the arguments of why VCF and all components are the perfect destination for containers, or I should probably say your modern workloads.

Recently, I read a fantastic LinkedIn post by Francisco Perez, the founder of ITQ, in which he explained why he believes in Broadcom's strategic direction and the VMware portfolio. It was an interesting read, and for me, a great reason to invite one of our most valued partners in EMEA to the show. I want to thank Francisco for taking the time to sit down, as I know he has a crazy schedule.

Enjoy the conversation!

For this episode I invited our raging reporter on scene Pete Koehler! Pete is going over all the benefits, requirements, and limitations around vSAN ESA Global Deduplication. This feature was released with 9.0.1 and is available per request as discussed in this blog post. If you want to get access make sure to sign up using the form in the blog.

Just as a summary, right now vSAN ESA Global Deduplication requires:

• Version 9.0.1
• 25GbE (or higher) networking
• Telemetry needs to be enabled (CEIP)

There are a few limitations:

• Minimum of 3 hosts and maximum of 16 hosts in a cluster
• Does not support the use of Stretched Cluster functionality
• Cannot be combined with data-at-rest-encryption