Replacing the vRealize Automation 7.3 IaaS Web Certificate
This is a series of posts covering the replacement of vRealize Automation SSL Certificates. This post cover replacing the vRealize Automation IaaS Web Service Certificate.

Written by Christopher Lewis on December 11, 2017 .
Certificates VMware vRealize Automation vRealize Orchestrator
Replacing the vRealize Automation 7.3 Appliance Certificate
This is a series of posts covering the replacement of vRealize Automation SSL Certificates. This post cover replacing the vRealize Automation Appliance Certificate.

Written by Christopher Lewis on December 11, 2017 .
Certificates VMware vRealize Automation vRealize Orchestrator
Replacing SSL Certificates in vRealize Automation 7.3
In this series of posts we will walk through the process of upgrading all of the vRealize Automation Certificates. We will be moving from self-signed certificates that were deployed during the installation, to certificates that have been provided by an Enterprise Certificate Authority (CA).

Written by Christopher Lewis on December 11, 2017 .
Certificates VMware vRealize Automation vRealize Orchestrator
VCAP6-NV Deploy - Objective 4.1 - Configure and Manage Logical Firewall Services
In this post we cover VCAP6-NV Deploy - OObjective 4.1 - Configure and Manage Logical Firewall Services.

Written by Christopher Lewis on November 27, 2017 .
VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO
VCAP6-NV Deploy - Objective 6.3 - Configure and Manage Universal Logical Security Objects
In this post we cover VCAP6-NV Deploy - Objective 6.3 - Configure and Manage Universal Logical Security Objects.

Written by Christopher Lewis on November 20, 2017 .
VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO
VMware vExpert Cloud 2017
The VMware vExpert Cloud 2017 announcement has been released, and I am humbled to be recognised for community contributions in the VMware Cloud space.

Written by Christopher Lewis on October 27, 2017 .
Cloud vExpert vExpert Cloud
VMware Cloud Services - VMware Cloud on AWS
Read all about my views on VMware Cloud on AWS (VMConAWS) in this new article here

Written by Christopher Lewis on October 17, 2017 .
VMConAWS VMware VMware Cloud
VCAP6-NV Deploy - Objective 6.2 - Configure and Manage Universal Logical Network Objects

Objective 6.2 - Configure and Manage Universal Logical Network Objects

Objective Overview

  • Create/configure Universal Logical Switches
  • Create/configure Universal Distributed Logical Routers
  • Configure local egress

Objective Prerequisites

The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:

  • A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment.
  • A working VMware NSX 6.x environment configured for Cross-vCenter NSX

Objective Breakdown

Create Universal Logical Switches

This is essentially the same as the creation of NSX Logical Switches (which is covered in Objective 2.1 ) except that you connect them to the Universal Transport Zone rather than a local Transport Zone. However, we’ll cover the steps again below.


Written by Christopher Lewis on October 13, 2017 .
VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO
VCAP6-NV Deploy - Objective 6.1 - Configure Cross vCenter VMware NSX infrastructure components

Objective 6.1 - Configure Cross vCenter VMware NSX infrastructure components

Objective Overview

  • Configure NSX manager roles (Primary, Secondary, Standalone, Transit) according to a deployment plan:
    • Assign Primary role to specified NSX Manager
    • Assign Secondary role to specified NSX Manager(s)
  • Deploy/Configure Universal Controller Cluster
  • Configure Universal segment ID pools
  • Create/Manage Universal transport zones

Objective Prerequisites

The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:

  • A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment with 2 vCenters, 2 PSC configured in ELM configuration.
  • A working VMware NSX 6.x Manager deployed to both sites.

Objective Breakdown

Assign Primary role to specified NSX Manager


  1. Using your favourite web browser, navigate to the vCenter Server login page (https://vcenter.fqdn).
  1. Enter appropriate User name and Password and click Login.
  1. Click Networking and Security.
  1. Click Installation.
  1. Select the NSX Manager that you wish to promote to Primary.
  1. Click Action and then select Assign Primary Role.
  1. Click Yes to Assign Primary Role.

Assign Secondary role to specified NSX Manager(s)


  1. Using your favourite web browser, navigate to the vCenter Server login page (https://vcenter.fqdn).
  1. Enter appropriate User name and Password and click Login.
  1. Click Networking and Security.
  1. Click Installation.
  1. Select the Primary NSX Manager and click Actions.
  1. Click Add Secondary NSX Manager.
  1. Select the appropriate NSX Manager from the dropdown, enter the User Name and Password, then click OK.
  1. Click Yes.

Deploy/Configure Universal Controller Cluster

Within Cross vCenter VMware NSX, there can be only one Controller Cluster, which is configured against the Primary NSX Manager and is known as the Universal Controller Cluster.


Written by Christopher Lewis on October 12, 2017 .
VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO
VMware Specialist: vSAN - Objective 2.1 - Provide a high-level description of vSAN
This post is part of a series of posts as part of the vSAN Specialist exam. In this post will we will cover Objective 2.1 - Provide a high-level description of vSAN.

Written by Christopher Lewis on October 9, 2017 .
vExpertVSAN VMware VSAN vSphere