Blog Dell Dell XR4000
09.10.2026

Dell XR4000 – Witness Node Upgrade

If you run a two-node vSAN cluster at the edge, you need a witness. Dell’s PowerEdge XR4000w is a compact witness sled that does the job nicely, but it comes with a catch: it is a stripped-down server without an iDRAC, so you cannot simply mount an ISO through a virtual console. The first ESXi installation has to be done over a serial connection. In […]

Blog Dell Dell VxRail
07.10.2026

VxVerify: “DO host queries failed”

We wanted a VxVerify health check before updating the environment to the latest 8.0.x. The package was unpacked on the appliance and we started it the way we had done on older clusters. The message points in two directions, and both were wrong for us. “DO host queries failed” suggests that the do-host microservice or the ESXi nodes have a problem. “Rerun as root” suggests […]

Blog Dell Dell VxRail
05.10.2026

Recovering a VxRail Manager with nearly every pod in CrashLoopBackOff

The VxRail Manager VM had been rebooted and the VxRail pages in the vSphere Client no longer loaded. VxRail Manager runs its services as Kubernetes pods on the appliance itself, so the first look was at one of the pods that was obviously unhappy. Two details matter here. The container starts and finishes within the same second, and the exit code is 1. That rules […]

Blog Cloud Foundation ESX VMware
05.10.2026

Upgrading ESX in VCF 9.1.1 from VCF Operations: “There are no images available”

Another field report from a VCF 9.1 → 9.1.1 upgrade: why the ESX step of the Configure Upgrade wizard asks for an image maybe didn’t configured yet, how to create and import it, what the prechecks said. Abstract Prerequisites: The ESX upgrade comes after SDDC Manager, NSX and vCenter in the management domain sequence. Before you start, make sure that: The Component Versions view of […]

Blog Cloud Foundation NSX VMware
03.10.2026

VCF 9.1 → 9.1.1: “Failed to upload NSX bundle” in the NSX Upgrade Coordinator

Today I wrote a field report from a VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 to 9.1.1 maintenance upgrade: the order that matters, the error that stopped the NSX Manager upgrade, how to prove the bundle was not the problem, and what got the upgrade moving again. Abstract Prerequisites: Everything above NSX must already be on 9.1.1 Before touching NSX, be clear about where you are in the […]

Blog NSX VMware
29.09.2026

VCF 9.1: Fixing an Exhausted NSX TEP Pool

While running a Host Add Workflow in my VCF 9.1 environment, the validation step “Validate IP Address Availability for Edge Overlay (TEP) IP Assignment” failed right away with the following error: The message is pretty clear: the Host Add workflow needs 4 new tunnel endpoint (TEP) IP addresses, but the NSX IP address pool that provides them is completely used up. Every overlay-enabled transport node […]

Blog ESX VMware
21.07.2026

TPM Encryption Recovery Key Backup Alarm

Immediately after the successful bring-up of the VCF 9.1 environment, the following warning alarm was triggered on all four ESX hosts within the vCenter Cluster Monitor page: “TPM Encryption Recovery Key Backup” This alarm appeared on all hosts simultaneously and was not an indicator of a deployment error, but rather an expected consequence of the hardware and software configuration in use. Root Cause Starting with […]

Blog Linux Ubuntu
17.07.2026

Ubiquiti Travel Router (UTR) and Wireguard VPN Setup

Before diving into the technical details, I want to give credit where credit is due. This whole journey started with a video by my colleague Dennis Schröder. I came across his content, watched his take on the UniFi Travel Router, and was immediately sold. His video is one of those rare pieces of content that doesn’t just show you a product – it makes you […]

Blog Cloud Foundation VMware
15.07.2026

Deploying/Activating VCF Log Management in VCF 9.1.0.400+

Since VCF 9.1.0.x, a lot has changed in the platform — and one of the more noticeable shifts is how Log Management works. It is no longer a standalone virtual appliance you deploy and patch on its own. Instead, it now runs as a service inside the VCF Management Services Cluster, the same Kubernetes-based runtime that also hosts Fleet Management and the other core management […]

Blog Cloud Foundation VMware
13.07.2026

Resetting admin@local Password on VMware VCF Installer Appliance

This guide walks through the process of resetting the admin@local password on the VMware VCF Installer Appliance (previously known as Cloud Builder) when both the admin and root passwords are unknown. This procedure has been tested on VCF 9.1 / ESX 9.1. Prerequisites Step 1 – Interrupt GRUB at Boot Step 2 – Modify Boot Parameters In the GRUB editor, locate the line starting with […]

Blog Dell Dell VxRail
20.04.2026

Dell VxRail: VXR124015 ALARM Host management account no longer valid

VxRail Manager cannot access the ESXi host with the recorded management account information. Once you’ve verified that none of the passwords have expired or been changed, the explanation is relatively simple: This environment uses lockdown mode. Lockdown Mode in vSphere is a security feature that restricts direct access to ESXi hosts and enforces centralized management through vCenter Server. Instead of allowing administrators to connect directly […]

Blog Dell Dell VxRail
19.01.2026

Dell VxRail: Unable to show physical view due to a failure of loading physical view data for the host

In some Dell VxRail environments, the Physical View within the VxRail plugin in the vSphere Client fails to load. Instead of displaying the physical hardware layout of a host, the UI shows an error indicating that the physical view data cannot be loaded. When accessing the Physical View, administrators may see the above mentioned error message. This prevents visibility into the physical components of the […]

Blog Cloud Foundation VMware
10.12.2025

Certificate for ‘Host.domain’ doesn’t match any of the subject alternative names

Before starting your VCF deployment, you should prepare your ESX servers. One part of this preparation is the topic of certificates. You must regenerate the certificates for each ESX server before adding them to the VCF installer. If you do not regenerate the certificates, the above error will occur with an additional message: localhost.localdomain. This means that all of the ESX servers have the same […]

Blog Dell Dell PowerStore
04.12.2025

Dell PowerStore – Local discovery fetch error (0xE04040010004)

More Details: Unable to load system configuration data. Contact your service provider for assistance: Service unavailable. Please retry in a few minutes. So trying again after a few minutes (or even a week) didn’t work. However, this error message appeared immediately after the initial deployment of a “Unified” PowerStore, as soon as you try to login. After a little research and Feedback by my appreciated […]

Blog VMware vSphere
30.09.2025

Changing vCenter IP via DCUI fails

I prepared a demo environment for one of my customers, who requested IP changes at short notice, so I wanted to adjust them over the DCUI accordingly, but I got the following error message: To change IP addresses, netmasks, gateways, and host names in general, there is another option that works on a CLI basis. To do this, open the vCenter Shell. Then we open […]

Blog VMware vSphere
06.08.2025

vSphere 8 Update fails: Error in method invocation Timout happens while sending message to microservice

This error occurs due to an outdated PID file of the update microservice or an error during staging of corrupted media. Strangely enough, I requested the update via the VAMI interface (port 5480), so it may have been corrupted during download. As always, there is a solution, and this time there are even three. The first solution is to restart vCenter, but this did not […]

Blog VMware
01.08.2025

Looking for a specific VMware Build ISOs @ Broadcom Support Portal?

One of my esteemed colleagues asked me today about a specific vCenter version and told me that, in his view, he can only download the major release of 8.0 U3. The reason why my colleague cannot see the specific versions is that he looked for the ISO images under Product in the VMware vSphere product category, but they can be found under Solutions. Once you […]

Blog Dell Dell VxRail
27.07.2025

VxRail: VxVerify – kube_diff: Kubectl Client data mismatch found

During another deployment and HealthCheck by VxVerify on my favorite HCI appliance, VxRail, I ran into the warning above. If you look at Dell’s KB 212809 article, you can only perform various test command to see if it is a issue that only support could fix, these include: With the following command, we can see how long various rke2 services have been running and pay […]

Blog Dell Dell VxRail
26.07.2025

VxRail: VxVerify – ntp_reach: NTP not reachable from vCenter (Bug)

Another Day and another VxVerify Challenge, this time we will talk about the above mentioned Failure. VxVerify checks the NTP Connection between vCenter and NTP Server by using SSH, if this connection cannot be established, VxVerify will display a corresponding message. However, this may be a VxVerify bug. You can check whether the NTP connection from vCenter and VxRail Manager is working. To do this, […]

Blog Dell Dell VxRail
25.07.2025

VxRail: VxVerify – suoders: Missing permissions in ‘/etc/sudoers’

Even though I find it very sad how the fantastic hyperconverged and VMware-integrated solution Dell VxRail is currently being handled, there are still plenty of customers who are thrilled with it. During a vSphere 8 patch from 8.0 U2 to 8.0 U3, I was confronted with the above mentioned challenge from VxVerify. Don’t know what VxVerify is? See here: This warning occurs when the configuration […]

Blog VMware vSphere
21.07.2025

Failed to move a VM out of maintenance mode candidate host since the VM is in manual mode!

The vSphere 7 to 8 upgrade (and soon to vSphere 9) series continues successfully, this time I had the above-mentioned challenge during the Check Compliance or Run Pre-Check State inside Image Based Patching. The error message says that there are VMs that cannot be migrated Fully Automated, which is very useful in the context of Image Based Patching. You want to use the luxury of […]

Blog VMware vSphere
18.06.2025

Cannot download VIB: “This might be because of network issues or the specified VIB does NOT exist or does NOT have a proper ‘read’ privilege set. Please make sure the specified VIB exists and is accessible from vCenter”

Keeping an eye on the clock and sensitizing my customer (vSphere 7 EOL, Oct 25), I was on a vSphere 7 environment today where we wanted to install the latest patches. However, I was confronted with the error message above. Let’s fix this real quick, first we need SSH access to our VCSA, via the Shell Command and Stop the VMware Update Manager Service: Now […]

Blog Home Lab Stage VIII
26.01.2025

irgNET – LAB 8.0 U2

Let’s start the year with a HomeLab update! Well, my HomeLab grows from year to year with big steps. After finishing my 14th generation Dell server upgrade, it was time to focus on the VMware Holodeck. I swapped out my Dell PowerEdge R640 for a new R740 that was designed for data protection, so I can use the R640 for the Holodeck only, which requires […]

Aria Blog Dell PowerEdge VMware
13.12.2024

Add Dell PowerEdge Servers to VMware Aria Operations

In my previous blog post, I described how to prepare your Dell PowerEdge servers for integration with VMware Aria Operations for comprehensive dashboards and monitoring. This time we will talk about how to configure/add them to Aria Operations. First, get the Dell PowerEdge Management Pack from Dell/Broadcom and then log into your Aria Operations instance. Go to Administration -> Integrations -> Repository. There you will […]

Aria Blog Dell Dell PowerEdge
12.12.2024

Configuring SNMPv3 on Dell iDRAC9 for VMware Aria Operations

I am currently working a lot with VMware Aria Operations and the matching Dell Management Packs that are available. One of the most interesting is the integration of PowerEdge Servers, from which you can view various alarms about: These are exactly the informations I want to integrate into Aria Operations to get/build a dedicated dashboard. In order to send these informations to Aria Operations, SNMPv3 […]

Blog Dell Dell OpenManage Enterprise
08.12.2024

Upgrade Dell OpenManage Enterprise 4.0.1 to 4.1

In this blog post I would like to describe the Upgrade Process from OME 4.0.1 to 4.1, but let’s start with some news first: Resolved Issues Platform Support Important Recommendation Limitations For customers who are still on version 3.10.x, a new deployment will be necessary, which I have described in this post: Updating from 4.x upwards is very relaxed. So let’s head over to the […]

Blog Dell Dell OpenManage Enterprise
06.12.2024

Upgrade Dell OME from 3.10.x to 4.0

The latest version of Dell OpenManage Enterprise 4.0 was released on October 30, 2023. Some customers are already using the 4.0 version and are giving generally positive feedback, especially regarding performance. That’s why I would like to describe the upgrade path from 3.10.x to 4.0 in this blog post. Before we start, I want to give you some basic upgrade paths, because you can only […]

Blog PowerCLI VMware
04.12.2024

PowerCLI: Connect-VIServer The SSL connection could not be established

I wanted to make my life easier again in a customer situation and use my PowerCLI scripts to shorten repeating tasks. The customer had given me an Ubuntu OS notebook and I installed PowerShell/PowerCLI on it. When I tried to use my script, I got the following error message: So it’s all about certificates, let’s take a look at our current PowerCLI configuration: As you […]

Blog VMware vSAN
03.12.2024

The Witness host must not be part of a vSAN enabled Cluster

As part of a vCenter 7 to a brand new vCenter 8 migration, the vSAN clusters had to be moved in addition to the normal clusters. When we disconnected the vSAN Witness Appliance from the old vCenter in the last process and then wanted to add it to the fault domain in the new one, we were confronted with the following error message: Although these […]

Blog VMware vSphere
03.12.2024

Host prevents entering Maintenace Mode: There are insufficient memory resource on standby hosts

In a vSphere 8 – 2-Node Cluster Update I have had to deal with the following message during the Check Compliance process: High Availability (HA) Admission Control is enabled and set to specify a failover host, which is reserved for HA failover purposes. However, in a 2-node cluster you ultimately only have the 2nd host and if the resources on this host are not sufficient, […]

Blog VMware vSphere
30.11.2024

A problem with one or more vFAT bootbank partitions was detected. (PSOD Alarm!)

During a VMware vSphere 7 to 8 upgrade, more precisely after the compliance check, I was confronted with the above error message. In this blog post I would like to show you how to solve the problem. Corrupt vFAT partitions already existed in vSphere 6.7 times and unfortunately they also appear today with vSphere 8. The problem? If you go through with the upgrade in […]

Blog VMware vSAN
06.11.2024

Moving a vSAN cluster from one vCenter Server to another

vSphere 7 to 8 updates are slowly in full swing, many customers are migrating to October ’25 -> EOL for vSphere 7. Some of my customers want a brand new vCenter right away, because some of theirs are still from version 5, the ex-colleague fiddled in the Postgre database before he quit and so on and so forth – the reasons seem to be endless. […]

Blog VMware vSphere
04.11.2024

Image Compliance shows hardware compatibility issues

During an ESX server cluster update on image basis, I was confronted with a strange thing. The message says that there are hardware compatibility issues. However, if you look at the details, you will quickly realise that there is nothing under the firmware version. If you then scroll down a little, you will see the warning ‘Device is incompatible with the Driver/Firmware in clusters image‘. […]

Blog VMware vSphere
28.10.2024

vSphere UI Client Plugin is at N/A state before vSphere 8 Upgrade

We are rapidly approaching the end of vSphere 7 support (October ’25), and during a vSphere 8 upgrade pre-check at my customer’s site, we ran into the problem mentioned in the title. The so-called “…vmware.h4…” plugin was in a N/A state. In the past this plugin has appeared several times and should be unregister beforehand, this is the VMware Cloud Director Availability Plugin, which cannot […]

Blog Dell Dell VxRail
23.10.2024

Dell VxRail / vSphere 8.0.310 Update – Advisory Report identified issues with BOSS Device

In a VxRail 8.0.300 deployment, I wanted to upgrade the appliance to the latest 8.0.310 after the initial cluster deployment, but I was confronted with a very strange phenomenon in the advisory report. Important details: Normally, all components of a VxRail node are updated with the RASR or Update image to the version provided by the Image, e.g. 8.0.300. This time, however, I was confronted […]

Aria Blog VMware
19.10.2024

Generate a VMware Aria Operations Passphrase for Node Adding

For new deployments or extensions of Aria Operations Cluster, the admin credentials are required to add the nodes. To prevent this, especially as a security concern, the administrator can generate a temporary passphrase in the Admin Console of Aria Operations. I would like to describe how this works in this blog post. First, we log in to the admin console of Aria Operations: Under “Nodes […]

Blog Dell Dell PowerEdge Dell VxRail
18.10.2024

How to kill a Dell iDRAC Session of another User

Now one or the other will ask themselves, why should I kill an iDRAC session of another user, well, if you know the admin credentials of the iDRAC anyway and the colleague has e.g. forgotten to close his iDRAC session and has gone on lunch break and you absolutely want to complete the RASR process of the VxRail – then it might make sense to […]

Blog Dell Dell PowerProtect
17.10.2024

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager Root Password expired

As the title of the blog post says, it is about restoring the root password of the PowerProtect Data Manager. Because once this password has expired, the system will not run properly until the password is restored. You can set the expiration time for passwords to “never” in the UI of the PPDM, which I recommend for HomeLab purposes, but never for productive environments! Important: […]

Blog Dell Dell PowerProtect
18.07.2024

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager Setup

In this post, I want to give you a feel for how easy the setup of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is. Starting in the welcome area, you can select whether you want to restore from a backup or whether it is a new installation. In my case it is a new installation, I skip the view of the EULA which we have to accept either […]

Blog PowerCLI VMware
26.06.2024

PowerCLI Add-VMHost: Unable to verify the authenticity of the specified host

Yep, I also started using PowerCLI more intensively. It’s really fun and makes repeating tasks easier to apply. As a Rookie in whatever you’re starting out with, there are obstacles that you might not be able to explain straight away. So let’s start with something small and I wanted to add an ESX host to my vCenter with the following command: But this failed because […]

Blog VMware vSAN
11.06.2024

vSAN Skyline Health: A possible storage capacity limitation with vSAN OSA versions 8.0U2 and 8.0U2b

Another Day another Warning inside vSAN Skyline Health. 🙂 Frequent Deletion of VMs….. Hmm….. I’ve been using vSAN since vSphere 6.7 U3 in my home lab and I’m pretty sure I deleted VMs more frequently, especially in my rookie times and never had this kind of warning in vSAN Skyline Health. Anyway, lets try to fix it! 😉 What I really like about vSphere 8 […]

Blog VMware vSAN
10.06.2024

vSAN Skyline Health: Network diagnostic mode (Warning)

Today, I saw the above warning in vSAN Skyline Health, and I would like to share the solution with you. The following information can be found under Details: Network diagnostic mode is enabled more than 24 hours (94 hours). The network diagnostic mode is only used for troubleshooting, if the troubleshooting is done, please disable it. No sooner said than done, we switch to the […]

Dell Dell OpenManage Enterprise
21.04.2024

Dell OpenManage Enterprise Darksite Plugin Implementation

I recently had the challenge of retroactively implementing the PowerManager plugin in a dark site for a Dell OpenManage Enterprise Appliance. Since dark sites are not uncommon, I thought I would describe the process. If you look under Application Settings -> Console and Plugins you should see plugin installation options for an OME appliance with internet access, in a dark site this does not happen […]

Blog Dell Dell VxRail
25.03.2024

Dell VxRail 7.0.482 deployment validation with external vCenter fails

I recently had a VxRail deployment with an external vCenter, which drove me crazy. 🙂 In the normal case, if you select “Join existing vCenter Server” under Global Settings (Step 7), the next Cluster Configuration steps should adapt. This means that under Virtual Network Settings (Step 12), under vCenter Server Network, you only have to choose between Static or Ephemeral Binding. However, I had the […]

Blog VMware vSphere
22.03.2024

The number of VMware vSphere HA datastores for this host is 0, which is less than required: 2

Recently I had the situation that at cluster level, the vSphere HA displayed a heartbeat of datastores at zero, whereby I have defined two specific datastores under vSphere HA settings under Heartbeat Datastores and these must always be pingable. The two defined datastores were no longer visible under Datastores, which is why the warning appeared. After consulting with the storage team, it turned out that […]

Home Lab Stage VIII
04.03.2024

irgNET – LAB 8.0 U1

I want to start my 8.0 HomeLab U1 Update with a full lifecycle, which means that all my 13th Gen Dell PowerEdge servers have been replaced by 14th Gen Dell PowerEdge servers and my Datacenter has even grown. But that’s not all – I’ve implemented 2 new Data Protection solutions in my Datacenter – Dell PowerProtect & Cohesity and I’ve replaced my HPE 1GbE switches […]

Blog VMware vSphere
01.03.2024

How to Reset vCenter 8.0 Root Password

Yep, there are still vCenter’s out there with expired root passwords. 😀 Therefore, I will describe the workaround to reset the root password for vCenter 8.0, which also works for vSphere 6.5 through today’s releases. First, take a snapshot of your vCenter VM: Then switch to the ESXi Host Client and open a virtual console from the vCenter VM: Now reboot the vCenter and watch […]

Blog Dell Dell PowerStore
26.02.2024

Dell PowerStore Upgrade from 3.2.1 to 3.6 (Dark Site)

Last week I had the challenge of upgrading a Dark Site PowerStore from 3.2.1.0 to 3.6.0.0. PowerStore 3.6 brings a lot of new features, for me there are the following highlights: Starting with the Upgrade BIN file, you will first need to login into your Dell Support account, whereupon you will need to enter the service tag of the PowerStore system. Then filter by operating […]

Blog Dell Dell PowerStore
26.02.2024

Dell PowerStore: CPU utilization level too high. Reduce system load prior to NDU. (cpu_usage_level_exceeded)

During a PowerStore Appliance upgrade, one of the most common warnings during a pre-upgrade health check (PUHC) is the message: CPU utilization level too high. Reduce system load prior to NDU: This is a 2-node PowerStore cluster which is to be upgraded from 3.2.x to 3.6.x. The existing checks used to find CPU usage include management and platform CPU cores. As a result, on an idle […]

Blog Dell Dell PowerEdge Home Lab Stage VIII
07.02.2024

irgNET – LAB 8.0

I know it’s been a long time, almost 1 year (in 2 days), so it’s time for another HomeLab update. In my last HomeLab update I told you about my VMware SD-WAN / SASE solution, this time we’ll take another look at my Data Protection Server. Because I replaced it with a Dell PowerEdge T430 in November 2023. You can find the documentation of my […]

Blog Dell Dell PowerProtect
28.01.2024

Dell PowerProtect – Cannot reset CBT while VM has an existing snapshot

In my last backup jobs I noticed in the Dell PowerProtect Data Manager that 1 asset was Completed with Exceptions. The warning was as follows: I have to admit that the warnings and errors in PowerProtect DataManager are mostly self-explanatory and well detailed. We can see that the backup job was successful, but Change Block Tracking (CBT) could not be reset due to an existing […]

Blog VMware vSphere
24.01.2024

Bug Alert: Powering On VM in VMware vCenter stucks at 66%

Today I had a strange issue in my vCenter, after a maintenance operation on my server I wanted to power on several VMs and I noticed that they got stuck at 66% in the power on process. There are no warnings or errors. Some VMs take up to 60 minutes to power on and some remain at 66%. Officially, I could not find a KB […]