# Scott's Tech Blog > Technology blog for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), Microsoft, and Linux ## Posts - [Deploy VCF Operations for Networks](https://www.scottbell.me/deploy-vcf-operations-for-networks/): Login to VCF Operations Navigate to Fleet Management, Lifecycle, and then select Add for Operations-networks Choose your version and deployment type, click Next Choose to generate or import a certificate, I will be importing Select Next Select where the VM is going to be placed and then click Next Provide Domain, DNS, NTP and Gateway […] - [Deploy VCF Operations for Logs](https://www.scottbell.me/deploy-vcf-operations-for-logs/): Login to VCF Operations Select Fleet Management on the left, then Lifecycle and click Add for operations-logs Select your version and deployment type, select Next Either generate or import a certificate. I will be importing Select your certificate and then Next Choose your options from the drop downs and then click Next Provide the information […] - [Configuring Identity Broker](https://www.scottbell.me/configuring-identity-broker/): Login to VCF Operations On the left pane, select Fleet Management, then Identity & Access. Review the information and pre-requisites and then if you agree, check the boxes and select Continue Do the drop down to select a VCF instance to configure for SSO I am pivoting over real quick to create a service account […] - [Install Identity Broker](https://www.scottbell.me/install-identity-broker/): Login to your VCF Ops webpage On the left pane, select Fleet Management, Lifecycle, then click on Add for identity broker Select your version and Deployment type, as this is a homelab and not deployed for HA, mine will be Small. Click Next Click on the + at the end of the certificate line to […] - [Configuring VCF 9 Operations: Certificates and Offline Depots](https://www.scottbell.me/configuring-vcf-9-operations-certificates-and-offline-depots/): Struggling with 'Untrusted Certificate' warnings or trying to figure out how to point VCF 9 to your local binary repository? This step-by-step walkthrough covers the critical post-deployment setup for VCF Operations. Learn how to configure global and instance-specific depot settings and replace default self-signed certificates with trusted Microsoft CA certs to get your environment ready for workload deployment. - [Deploy VCF 9 using VCF Installer](https://www.scottbell.me/deploy-vcf-9-using-vcf-installer/): Pre-Reqs This portion assumes that you already have set up and linked your VCF installer with an offline\online depot. Deploy VCF installer Setup VCF Installer with Offline Depot Offline Depot/Binary Management for VCF Login to your VCF Installer When you login, make sure your Online\Offline Depot is still linked (shown by the Online Depot Connection […] - [ESX 9 Install](https://www.scottbell.me/esx-9-install/): So we are going to start with installing ESX on the hosts. I am using 4x Dell R640 hosts so this will be done using iDRAC and the ESX 9.0.2 ISO Attach ISO Login to your management interface (If applicable) Select the Virtual Console Select Virtual Media Select Connect Virtual Media Under Map CD/DVD select […] - [Clear\Delete VSAN Partitions](https://www.scottbell.me/cleardelete-vsan-partitions/): Greetings, today we are going to be deleting a VSAN Datastore. This might be needed if vCenter crashed and you cant recover it or you’re blowing out your lab and didn’t properly remove VSAN. So to start, login to the ESXi Host Client On the left pane, select Storage Select one of your drives and […] - [Deploy vCenter 7 (OVA)](https://www.scottbell.me/deploy-vcenter-7-ova/): Greetings, so this article is for those in higher security environments where you might not be able to use the executable installer in the vCenter ISO. So to start, navigate to your file location that has the VCSA ISO, right-click the ISO and select Mount You will get a confirmation window before it mounts the […] - [vCenter 8 Deployment: The OVA Method](https://www.scottbell.me/deploy-vcenter-8-ova/): Greetings! This article is specifically for those working in higher-security environments where running the standard executable installer from the vCenter ISO may be restricted by policy. In this scenario, we will deploy the appliance using the OVA file directly.  Preparing the Installation Media Begin by navigating to your vCenter ISO. Right-click the file and select Mount. Confirm the […] - [Deploy vCenter 7 (ISO)](https://www.scottbell.me/deploy-vcenter-7-iso/): Greetings! Today we will be deploying vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 7. This is part of a series covering vCenter installation; this article focuses on using the standard ISO and its built-in executable launcher. Mounting the Installation Media Begin by navigating to the folder containing your VCSA ISO. Right-click the file and select Mount. A confirmation window will […] - [Deploy vCenter 8 (ISO-Executable)](https://www.scottbell.me/deploy-vcenter-8-iso-executable/): Greetings! Today we will be deploying vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 8. This is the first of two articles covering VCSA installation: The UI Installer Method (This Article): Using the standard executable launcher from the ISO. The OVA Method: For environments where security policies prevent running external executables. Phase 1: Mounting the Installation Media To begin, […] - [Configure ESXi 8](https://www.scottbell.me/configure-esxi-8/): Greetings, today we will be configuring an ESXi 8 host after we installed it. Configuring host from the DCUI This will be done as a nested hypervisor instance but the steps are identical. This will be your starting screen, as you can see, there is no IP or name. Hit F2 to Customize the system […] - [Install ESXi 8](https://www.scottbell.me/install-esxi-8/): Greetings, today we will be installing ESXi 8 to a virtual machine. The steps are the same for the actual installation to hardware. So I have made a Virtual Machine with 8 vCPU’s, 48GB RAM, and a 40GB Hard Drive I have also attached the ESXi 8.03 ISO to the VM for this install. There […] - [Setup VCF Installer with Offline Depot](https://www.scottbell.me/setup-vcf-installer-with-offline-depot/): Greetings, so today we will be linking the VCF Installer with the Offline Depot Once you have deployed the VCF Installer and deployed and set up the Offline Depot, the next steps will be to setup the VCF Installer to download the binaries from the Offline Depot.  This configuration assumes that you are operating an […] - [Deploy VCF Installer](https://www.scottbell.me/deploy-vcf-installer/): Greetings, today we will be deploying the VCF Installer So to start, the VCF Installer OVA will need to be downloaded, this will require a Broadcom account and the appropriate license entitlement. Link to the download: https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/productfiles?displayGroup=VMware%20Cloud%20Foundation%209&release=9.0.1.0&os=&servicePk=534266&language=EN&groupId=534924&viewGroup=true At the time of this article being written, it would be this download OVA for 9.0.1.0.24962180 Deploy OVA […] - [Deploying VCF Offline Depot using Photon OS](https://www.scottbell.me/deploying-vcf-offline-depot-using-photon-os/): Greetings, today we will be deploying an Photon Linux Offline Depot for VCF This was done using Aaron Rombaut’s and the Broadcom KB articles. https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-0/deployment/deploying-a-new-vmware-cloud-foundation-or-vmware-vsphere-foundation-private-cloud-/preparing-your-environment/downloading-binaries-to-the-vcf-installer-appliance/connect-to-an-offline-depot-to-download-binaries/set-up-an-offline-depot-web-server-for-vmware-cloud-foundation.html To start, you will need to download the Photon OS from the following link. I will be using the OVA with visual hardware v15 version. https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Downloading-Photon-OS I will be downloading […] - [Modify Default Policy for Automatic Certificate Request (Group Policy)](https://www.scottbell.me/modify-default-policy-for-automatic-certificate-request-group-policy/): Greetings, today we are going to modify the Default Policy Group Policy Object to set domain member computers to automatically request a machine certificate. This assumes you already have a Domain and Certificate Services setup and ready to use for this. If you need to setup your domain or certificate services still, please refer to […] - [Create Certificate Template for VMware Certificate Authority](https://www.scottbell.me/create-certificate-template-for-vmware-certificate-authority/): Greetings, this time we are going to be creating a Certificate Template for VMware Certificate Authority (VMCA). This would allow you to use VMCA to issue certificates for your VMware environment. This is based on the following article: Creating a Microsoft Certificate Authority Template for SSL certificate creation in vSphere Open Certificate Authority Select Certificate […] - [Update ESXi 7 using CLI](https://www.scottbell.me/update-esxi-7-using-cli/): Greetings, today we will be updating ESXi 7 to a newer version of 7 using command line and no vCenter. In this case 7.0.3d to 7.0.3w. Note: All VMs running on the host should be powered off, or vmotioned to another host if there is a vCenter available. To start we will need to have […] - [Building an VCF Offline Depot in Windows using IIS](https://www.scottbell.me/building-an-vcf-offline-depot-in-windows-using-iis/): Greetings, today we are going to be setting up an Offline Depot using Windows and IIS. This is going to assume you have already deployed an Windows Server. You will want an additional drive added with 1TB of space for current and future downloads. You will need: 1TB added drive. If your limited on space, […] - [Create Certificate Template for VMware Services](https://www.scottbell.me/create-certificate-template-for-vmware-services/): Greetings, this time we are going to be creating a Certificate Template for VMware services. This is based on the following article: Creating a Microsoft Certificate Authority Template for SSL certificate creation in vSphere Open Certificate Authority Select Certificate Authority Expand Root-CA01, then right-click Certificate Templates and select Manage Right-click Web Server and select Duplicate […] - [Setting Up IIS SSL Certificate for CA Server for Homelab (CertSrv) (Part 2 of Setting up CA Server)](https://www.scottbell.me/setting-up-iis-ssl-certificate-for-ca-server-for-homelab-certsrv-part-2/): Now that we have IIS installed on our CA Server, it’s time to setup a certificate for HTTPS connections Login, click the Start Menu and type certlm.msc. You can also right-click start and select Run to do the same. Expand Personal and then click on Certificates. Notice there is only the Root-CA’s Cert here, we […] - [Install an CA Server for Home Lab (Part 1)](https://www.scottbell.me/install-an-ca-server-for-home-lab-part-1/): Today we are going to be setting up a Certificate Server for the new domain in my home lab. This is part of the systematic rebuild of the lab so that I can write these articles to document the process to potentially help others and for a record of my own on the next rebuild. […] - [Deploy Windows Server 2022 and Build Active Directory Part 2: Building Active Directory](https://www.scottbell.me/deploy-windows-server-2022-and-build-active-directory-part-2/): Deploy Windows Server 2022 and Build Active Directory Part 2 Greetings, today in part 2 we will be building the Active Directory Domain using the new name for my lab which will be lab.scottbell.me. Lets get to it Snapshot First, login and take a snapshot of the VM just in case. Now that we have […] - [Deploy Windows Server 2022 and Build Active Directory Part 1: Building the Windows Servers](https://www.scottbell.me/deploy-windows-server-2022-and-build-active-directory-part-1/): This will be the start of a series of articles for the rebuild of my lab to properly document the build process. This will start here with Active Directory on Windows Server 2022, building a new Certificate Server on 2022, then continue into VCF oriented steps such as the offline depot, deploying the VCF installer, […] - [Misc Troubleshooting for VCF Deployment](https://www.scottbell.me/misc-troubleshooting-for-vcf-deployment/): So this will evolve over time as I add more to it and organize it Brownfield Import of multiple vCenters\Clusters To do a brownfield import of an existing set of vCenters. The vCenters need to be colocated with the hosts it manages. So having 2 vCenters with both in one cluster will work for the […] - [HomeLab Equipment](https://www.scottbell.me/homelab-equipment/): Overview Greetings, I was recently asked about what equipment is in my lab and its capabilities. In talking with Aaron about it, he was willing to host this on his website (thanks!), so here is a breakdown of the equipment in my newly acquired lab and its intended uses. Overall, this environment will be used […] ## Pages - [All Posts](https://www.scottbell.me/all-posts/) - [Privacy Policy](https://www.scottbell.me/privacy-policy/): Who we are Our website address is: https://www.scottbell.me. Comments When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided […] ## Optional - [Agent (MCP protocol)](websites-agents.hostinger.com/www.scottbell.me/mcp) [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)