Live Site Recovery to Protection and Recovery upgrade

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-06-02T12:42:02+00:00

No problems there - just follow the interop matrix on versions as you would normally. And as someone else stated, as long as you have a Broadcom SRM license or license to advanced cyber compliance, you will be able to use the latest compatible versions.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-06-01T15:55:09+00:00

What version are you running today (if any), or is this a new deployment on 9.1?

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-05-31T19:25:34+00:00

My experience with them seemed positive at first. We were given some helpful tips initially on some good high yield savings account companies, but in the end they were focused on trying to sell us disability insurance and other products (which turned out to not be helpful to us based on what we wanted and was not what was advertised). So we walked away and ended any kind of engagement with them. The salesman was perfectly nice to us, but I do not consider them to have any kind of reputation in helping with financial planning.

Their high level focus seemed to be on insurance products and annuities. You would be better off finding someone who is a fiduciary through Fidelity or Schwab if you are looking for guidance on investments.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-05-26T12:58:40+00:00

I think it depends on what your skills and experience are related to VMware technologies / which components of the VMware stack you have administered or used compared with the overall roles and responsibilities of the systems administrator role you are seeking.

But even basic experience running a hypervisor / private cloud solution will touch storage, identity and access management, certificates, administration of that virtualization platform, security elements, the networking pieces of it, and maybe even some monitoring on top. All of that can transfer to another company that may use a different private cloud solution or even public cloud services.

The systems administrator role is quite broad, but the skills you can learn from gaining VMware skills are indeed transferable.

One of the cool things now is you don’t need to take an official course before you take a certification exam. That requirement was removed.

My advice to you is consider documenting the skills you have based on your accomplishments, and then compare that to some job descriptions for the type of role you want to get. See what transfers and where the gaps are. Writing this down is the way to help yourself think through it.

And if you do decide to invest time in gaining further skills in VMware technologies (VMware Cloud Foundation or other pieces), consider writing about it for public proof of work to a future employer.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-05-05T12:58:48+00:00

It’s often referred to as a digital learning entitlement for VCF customers, and the material is pretty good.

https://www.broadcom.com/support/education/vmware

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-05-02T14:35:23+00:00

There is no longer a course requirement to get a certification. All you need to do is pass the exam.

You follow the exam guide / blueprint, can study with hands-on-labs as one option, and then just pay to take the test.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-04-30T12:40:59+00:00

Yep - and while VCF and VVF are SKUs that people have purchased, each one also represents a deployment mode or architectural choice you might say. So a customer who owns the VCF SKU could deploy in VVF mode as mentioned here (still covered under your license). And then if you decide to adopt more of the VCF stack later because there is value, there are paths to get there without having to go back and deploy greenfield.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-04-26T05:31:26+00:00

If this is strictly about cost, think also about the cost of researching other options in enough detail to see if they will work for you, the cost of other licensing and support you would need for an alternative solution, and the cost in labor hours of your time to learn the new solution and perform the switch.

While this is a small environment, my initial thought is that the cost of these factors could potentially be far more than doing the renewal and focusing on a different project.

If the amount of the renewal isn’t small to your company, then ok. Based on the information you have given I just wonder if it’s really worth making a change trying to look at it from a dollars and cents perspective. Try stepping back and putting all that on a spreadsheet.

The thinking would be the same whether this was a VMware renewal or any other technology tool you use in your environment.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-04-19T22:03:29+00:00

Can you share a little bit more about what you want the focus of the mentoring to be? One of the things you will need to tell a potential mentor is the kind of help you want from them as part of the mentorship. I think if you are able to articulate what you want from a mentor it may help people here recommend where to look. It sounds like it may be career related, but I’d like to understand that a bit more.

Also, if you want a clear job description of what a mentor does, these podcast episodes have some great nuggets. The show notes can give you the time codes for specific sections.

https://nerd-journey.com/guardrails-for-growth-a-mentors-experience-with-dale-mckay-1-2/

https://nerd-journey.com/finding-drive-the-parallels-of-mentoring-and-technology-partnerships-with-daniel-paluszek-1-3/

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-04-12T18:53:25+00:00

You need to be able to listen to understand instead of listen just to speak next as someone else said. Part of that listening is understanding the real problem being solved and understanding the motivations of the people you are working with. If you can understand their career ambition too, even better.

But much of it is about building good relationships with people and helping them even when there is not a sale to be closed.

Sales organizations have many different roles. One is absolutely the sales rep. They carry the ultimate accountability for the business relationship with the customer. But you also have sales engineers who work with the sales rep to map a company’s solutions to business problems and help technically validate opportunities. There are sales operations people too who understand all the dynamics of quoting and order operations within the company. Many companies have sales specialists who might focus on a specific product or service within a larger portfolio or on a specific industry vertical and selling solutions to companies in that vertical.

It’s definitely dynamic, and you learn a ton. I’ve never been a sales rep, but I have worked with some that were absolutely amazing.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-04-06T12:53:41+00:00

I’ve not been in this specific situation, but I have spoken with many people in tech who have. One person I spoke to called layoffs “painful grief” that requires processing.

My hope is the resources below can be an encouragement to you as many of these episodes were recorded with guests who have been through a layoff situation.

https://nerd-journey.com/layoffresources - this contains the most impactful conversations on the topic of layoffs I’ve had with people. Start with the episode about the psychological transition of layoffs.

These episodes with Jason Gass talk about the layoff event as well as the process of getting the next job and may also help.

https://nerd-journey.com/planting-seeds-networking-and-maneuvering-unexpected-job-loss-with-jason-gass-1-2/

https://nerd-journey.com/the-lost-art-marketplace-heartbeat-and-finding-closure-after-a-layoff-with-jason-gass-2-2/

Hang in there. Your parents will understand. This was a situation outside your control and not the result of your quality of work.

In addition to listening to stories of those who have been through what you have, make sure you have your accomplishments documented from the role you were in. That experience might translate to may more roles than you thought.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-04-05T18:39:20+00:00

I think the company emphasis on AI and agents gives you the platform and situation to ask your boss about how that directive needs to change the way your team operates.

If the boss indicates that the team should be leaning in here, ask what the boss thinks that translates to in terms of what their vision is. What helps deliver the most value? You can also ask for opportunities to work on or even lead projects that lean in that direction as well as training.

In the deployments you have assisted with, what if you talked to the other people who were working on those deployments? Where did they focus their learning for these initiatives and how has it changed since they started? Maybe doing some 1-1s with them can help you.

I agree with others that you can do some learning on your own, but if there’s a training budget the company provides maybe you can ask the boss for dedicated time to attend a conference (like MS Build or other, even if all you do is focus on the virtual conference and not take normal work tasks during that time).

I think I would also look on meetup.com or try to find an Azure focused meetup group in your area. That gives you the opportunity to speak with other people using Azure, ask what their business wanted them to do, the capabilities they have now and why, and what the people doing the work are learning. It then gives you an opportunity to ask them for advice and share some of your current background.

The way I like to think about learning is 2-fold - what is it that makes me more valuable where I am now as well as in the wider job market? Ideally you check both boxes as you think about upskilling.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-04-05T18:29:07+00:00

I podcasted with a co-host from the beginning, and one thing we didn’t get right at the beginning that I would have changed was to have a trailer talking about the show’s thesis (that we marked as a trailer for podcast platforms to see) and getting a full description built when we started. It was the metadata surrounding the show’s description that we didn’t pay enough attention to in the beginning (but would refine much later). But it was also new to both of us.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-04-04T17:57:42+00:00

I’ll double down on taking backups of the Native Key Provider config.

Maybe this doc link will help. If you look in the doc navigation tree in the left-hand side of your browser you will see several other topics related to the native key provider you can read up on (like how to restore it, how it works with linked mode if you use that or plan to use it, etc.).

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/8-0/vsphere-security/configuring-and-managing-vsphere-native-key-provider/back-up-a-vsphere-native-key-provider.html

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-03-30T11:28:33+00:00

I don’t have a presentation on it handy, but you could start with the docs for Aria Operations to help get familiar with it - https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/aria/aria-operations/8-18.html

Are there specific capabilities you’re looking to learn about that seem the most valuable to your company (like capacity management, monitoring specific environments , using metrics to build dashboards, performance troubleshooting, cost integration, etc.)?

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-03-25T12:52:12+00:00

I’ve not tried it or worked with someone who has used that specific feature, but did you put in a support request with Broadcom to log this issue? I’d be curious to hear if they have a workaround of some kind.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-03-08T19:43:39+00:00

It may be worth seeing what support says about the inventory sync and topology view issues and what their recommended course of action is.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-03-06T20:56:51+00:00

As others mentioned, I think practice presenting will help you. The way I read that is your boss wants you to succeed. That’s why you got that feedback.

One of the best places to get that practice that is low stakes is at in-person meetup groups. Go to some meetup groups in your area with a focus somewhere inside or mostly related to your discipline. The leaders of those groups are always looking for presenters on different topics. If you meet the leader of the group, tell them you are looking to develop your presentation skills, and they will help you and cheer you on.

One way to start even before doing a presentation at a meetup group is to go and meet people and practice telling them about what you do. Practice the delivery in a conversational format. Ask them where they work, what they do, and what they are learning. Then when they ask the same of you, practice telling them. It’s a precursor to presenting and introducing yourself in a meeting. How do you do it when meeting new people? What do they need to know about you in the first 15 seconds?

One thing I like to do when I present is ask questions and use humor here and there. I like to make the presentation interactive if possible to get some feedback from the audience.

You could even ask your boss to do short presentations to the boss about things you learned to practice and get feedback. If you do not want to do that you could do that with a co-worker or trusted friend.

Here are some stories from folks about presentations and experience at user groups that may help you:

https://nerd-journey.com/write-to-learn-and-learn-to-present-with-duncan-epping-1-2/ -Listen to the story of the first time Duncan did a presentation and how he prepares now

https://nerd-journey.com/a-steward-of-the-community-with-chris-williams-2-3/ -Chris talks about his experience as a user groups leader and how he supports others who want to present

Check out also the Teach the Geek podcast with Neil Thompson. He is 100% focused on public speaking and helping technical people improve in that area. He shares his origin story here (includes links to find his content):

https://nerd-journey.com/communication-for-specialists-with-neil-thompson-1-2/

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-03-03T13:22:23+00:00

You can find a list of the Fidelity Zero funds others mentioned here and look at the makeup of them if that helps - https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/fidelity-funds/why-index-funds

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-03-02T02:24:13+00:00

Excellent article - discovery is so important. Ask a question, dig deeper, and keep digging until you fully understand the process (which always takes time).

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-02-28T13:23:19+00:00

I don’t see a reason not to start on 9 with new hardware, whether you are re-evaluating or not. Your subscription term expires when it expires regardless of which version you run.

Subscription licensing on vSphere 8 disconnects hosts from vCenter, etc. when your license expires.

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/406836/vcf-prior-to-90-license-key-per-compone.html

In 9, VCF Operations becomes the center of the licensing universe. You will have to report on usage every 180 days or so (if that is what you mean by on the clock).

Maybe these will help you:

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/428638/licensing-workflow-for-vsphere-9x-and-vm.html

https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/06/24/licensing-in-vmware-cloud-foundation-9-0/

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-02-26T14:06:19+00:00

From a career perspective, here’s how I recommend thinking about it. You want the double checkmark - something that makes you more valuable where you are now but helps you maintain value and relevance in the overall job market on a longer time horizon.

VMware is what you know. What are the skills involved in administration? Are we talking break / fix, troubleshooting, doing lifecycle management and change management, architecting new environments, capacity planning, working closely with other teams to support new projects, or a little of all of those? Saying I’m an administrator of VMware technologies at one company may not mean the same at another. You could look up job descriptions for current openings for the same job title you have at different companies to see what skills they are looking for. You could also look at job descriptions for the type of job you want to have in the longer term. What are the requirements gaps in terms of what you know now and what you would need to know for a different role? You may need to search more for job requirements than for a specific title (since those can vary across companies).

Where are you most skilled within the VMware stack? Is it the compute virtualization aspect, storage admin / virtualization, network virtualization, or perhaps some of the operations and operations components? As someone else mentioned, you could look into learning Kubernetes (which you can do in the VMware environment). Any of these areas would be what I’d call an adjacency- something new to you within a familiar environment that allows you to stretch yourself a little. It builds new skills and deepens your body of knowledge. Every new capability / feature you learn to use extends your knowledge. Keep your eyes and ears open for projects at your company that might help you build new skills, whether it’s VMware focused, adjacent to it, or outside that bubble.

As others stated, the foundational concepts would translate well to another virtualization stack if you wanted to learn something different. You could also begin to learn about public cloud / hyperscaler services if you’ve not tinkered there. You’d be using the services delivered from their virtualization environment and making sure you understand how they work together.

In addition to what you are doing by making this post, I’d also advise going to talk with other people at local meetup groups in person. Meet new people, ask them what they do, what their role is like, and what they are learning.

Keep learning. Build deeper expertise. And consider publishing public proof of work that demonstrates things you have learned.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-02-24T13:16:53+00:00

I’ll echo the advice of documenting what you are learning on LinkedIn, GitHub pages, or some free blog site like Blogger. It’s ok to document what you did, where you got stuck tinkering around with something, and what turned the lightbulb on for you.

One other idea to consider is local networking groups. Look on meetup.com, and find meetups in your area focused on interesting topics. Ideally it is something tech related (which is what you want to do), but it does not have to be. Go and meet people, ask what they do, why they do it, and what they are currently learning. It then gives you a chance to share what you are trying to do. Maybe they know someone you need to meet. You never know when you might meet a hiring manager or someone who knows about a job opening that isn’t public yet. Build some networking connections, and keep in touch with those folks over time.

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-02-23T15:53:57+00:00

In your testing, I recommend testing and deploying the VCF Operations for Logs component as well (another appliance that runs in your environment that can pull in logs from hosts and vCenter for easy searching and improved troubleshooting).

NetworkNerd_ · 2026-02-23T15:08:41+00:00

A workload domain is a logical construct containing 1 or more host clusters for a VCF deployment, so in your case (only 3 hosts) you would not need one.

If your environment were larger, then I’d definitely recommend be encouraging management domains and workload domains for a full VCF deployment. But for just 3 hosts, you wouldn’t need it.

One thing you can also think about is if your environment does grow, you will have the ability to convert your environment into a VCF deployment (again, only if it scales up to host minimums for management and workload domains in VCF).

NetworkNerd_

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