Notes on VMware, virtualization, cloud infrastructure and automation — written from the trenches of enterprise IT and a well-worn home lab.https://filipmoden.com/enhttps://filipmoden.com/blog/esxi-troubleshooting-esxcli-guide/https://filipmoden.com/blog/esxi-troubleshooting-esxcli-guide/A practical ESXi troubleshooting guide covering common host, network, storage, management, and performance faults, with esxcli commands to identify the failing layer before making a change.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTExplainersESXivSphereTroubleshootingesxcliNetworkingStoragehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-storage-policies-in-vcf/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-storage-policies-in-vcf/A practical guide to vSAN storage policies in VMware Cloud Foundation: what each setting means, how objects land on hosts, and how much capacity common policies consume.Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTExplainersvSANVCFStorage PoliciesESAStretched ClusterCapacity Planninghttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-for-dummies-part-1/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-for-dummies-part-1/A from-zero guide to VMware vSAN for people who have never touched hyperconverged infrastructure. Five parts, from 'what even is HCI' to running a cluster with confidence — building, breaking and operating it yourself.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesvSANStoragevSpherehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-for-dummies-part-2/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-for-dummies-part-2/The design logic behind a vSAN cluster: network, hosts, disks, datastore capacity, and storage policy explained as architecture decisions rather than a deployment walkthrough.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesvSANStoragevSphereArchitectureStorage Policieshttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-for-dummies-part-3/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-for-dummies-part-3/What vSAN does when a host or component disappears: quorum, absent and degraded states, repair timing, resync, and the real meaning of maintenance mode.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesvSANStorageFailuresResyncMaintenancehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-for-dummies-part-4/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-for-dummies-part-4/RAID-5/6 erasure coding explained with actual arithmetic, when stripe width helps, why thin provisioning is the default, and the capacity planning rule that keeps clusters healthy.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesvSANStoragevSphereBest Practiceshttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-for-dummies-part-5/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-for-dummies-part-5/The finale: the network vSAN actually needs, reading the health check like an operator, OSA vs ESA in plain terms, where two-node and stretched clusters fit, and a day-2 routine that prevents 2 a.m. surprises.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesvSANStoragevSphereNetworkingBest Practiceshttps://filipmoden.com/blog/esxtop-esxi-performance-guide/https://filipmoden.com/blog/esxtop-esxi-performance-guide/A practical introduction to esxtop: how to read CPU, memory, storage and network pressure on an ESXi host, and the views worth using during a real incident.Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTExplainersESXivSpherePerformanceTroubleshootingStoragevSANhttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-resync-storm-troubleshooting/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vsan-resync-storm-troubleshooting/A production cluster ground to a halt during what should have been a routine host reboot. Here's how to read vSAN resync behavior, what actually causes resync storms, and the knobs that matter.Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTTroubleshootingvSANvSphereESXiStoragePerformancehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-1/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-1/A practical map of VMware Cloud Foundation 9: its core components, operating model, and why a VCF fleet is more than a collection of vCenters.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesVMware Cloud FoundationVCFvSpherevSANNSXArchitecturehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-2/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-2/How VCF 9 builds and governs the private-cloud foundation: VCF Installer, fleet management, identity, lifecycle, and the ownership boundaries that keep the stack supportable.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesVMware Cloud FoundationVCFLifecycleFleet ManagementArchitecturehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-3/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-3/What VCF Operations does in VCF 9: unified visibility, lifecycle, capacity, cost, compliance, and why monitoring becomes more useful when it understands the fleet.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesVMware Cloud FoundationVCFVCF OperationsMonitoringLifecyclehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-4/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-4/How VCF Automation turns infrastructure capability into repeatable, governed self-service: catalogs, templates, projects, policies, and the operational guardrails behind them.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesVMware Cloud FoundationVCFVCF AutomationSelf-ServiceGovernancehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-5/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-5/How NSX fits inside VCF 9: the difference between the underlay and overlay, workload-domain boundaries, routing, and why distributed security matters to a private-cloud platform.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesVMware Cloud FoundationVCFNSXNetworkingSecurityhttps://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-6/https://filipmoden.com/blog/vcf-demystified-part-6/How vSAN fits into VCF 9: policy-based storage, capacity and failure planning, lifecycle dependencies, and why storage design cannot be separated from private-cloud operations.Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesVMware Cloud FoundationVCFvSANStorageCapacity Planninghttps://filipmoden.com/blog/terraform-vsphere-homelab-pipeline/https://filipmoden.com/blog/terraform-vsphere-homelab-pipeline/The real test of infrastructure-as-code isn't whether apply works — it's whether destroy does. How I structure Terraform for vSphere so entire lab environments are disposable.Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTHome LabTerraformvSphereAutomationHome LabIaChttps://filipmoden.com/blog/powercli-vm-lifecycle-automation/https://filipmoden.com/blog/powercli-vm-lifecycle-automation/Provisioning scripts are easy. Provisioning scripts that handle vCenter quirks, half-failed deployments and auditors are not. These are the PowerCLI patterns I keep reusing.Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTAutomationPowerCLIPowerShellvSpherevCenterAutomationhttps://filipmoden.com/blog/esxi-scheduler-deep-dive-part-1/https://filipmoden.com/blog/esxi-scheduler-deep-dive-part-1/An advanced series on how ESXi actually schedules CPU. Part 1: why %RDY beats every other counter, what co-scheduling really costs wide VMs, and how to read esxtop like the scheduler sees it.Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesESXiPerformancevSphereTroubleshootinghttps://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-for-dummies-part-1/https://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-for-dummies-part-1/A from-zero guide to VMware NSX for people who know what a VLAN is and nothing else. Part 1 builds the one mental model — overlay networking — that makes everything NSX does afterwards feel obvious.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesNSXNetworkingvSpherehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-for-dummies-part-2/https://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-for-dummies-part-2/The architecture behind an NSX overlay: managers, transport zones, tunnel endpoints, segments, gateways, and distributed firewall policy explained without a deployment runbook.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesNSXNetworkingvSphereSecurityArchitecturehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-for-dummies-part-5/https://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-for-dummies-part-5/A calm operational model for NSX: what to monitor, how to troubleshoot a broken flow, and how to make changes without turning policy or routing into archaeology.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesNSXOperationsTroubleshootingvDefendvSpherehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-for-dummies-part-4/https://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-for-dummies-part-4/How vDefend uses NSX groups, distributed firewall policy, and inspection to protect workloads without putting a firewall appliance between every pair of VMs.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesNSXvDefendSecurityMicrosegmentationIDSIPShttps://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-for-dummies-part-3/https://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-for-dummies-part-3/Tier-0, Tier-1, edge nodes, and BGP explained in one practical model: how an NSX segment reaches another segment, a VLAN, or the outside world.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTGuidesNSXNetworkingRoutingBGPvSpherehttps://filipmoden.com/blog/esxi-8-upgrade-field-guide/https://filipmoden.com/blog/esxi-8-upgrade-field-guide/Lifecycle Manager makes upgrades look like one button. The work is everything around the button — driver validation, boot device health, and knowing your rollback story before you need it.Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTWalkthroughsESXivSpherevCenterLifecycle ManagerBest Practiceshttps://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-segmentation-architecture-notes/https://filipmoden.com/blog/nsx-segmentation-architecture-notes/Most NSX microsegmentation projects stall because they start with 'segment everything'. Notes on a phased model that shipped — scope, rule design, and the org problems that matter more than the technical ones.Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTArchitectureNSXNetworkingSecurityvSphereDesign