VMware

I Went to VMware Explore 2026

I Went to VMware Explore 2026

This year I attended VMware Explore 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, from August 31st to September 3rd at the Venetian Expo.

If you aren’t familiar with VMware Explore, it is a conference hosted by Broadcom about everything VMware. VMware Explore in Las Vegas is the main event, but there is a smaller version held in different cities. The smaller version is called VMware Explore on Tour.

This was my second time attending VMware Explore. The first time I attended was in 2024. You can read about my first experience in my blog post, I Went to VMware Explore 2024.

In this post, I will detail my experience at VMware Explore 2026 in Las Vegas.

Day 0

My VMware Explore 2026 adventure began on Sunday, August 30th, with a travel day. My travel day was a shared one as I was traveling with my friend Stephen Wagner. Our trip to VMware Explore started with a direct flight from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Once we arrived in Las Vegas, I got checked into the Palazzo. This time, my room was on the 9th floor (in 2024, it was on the 35th floor). The view from my hotel room was pretty good. I could actually see the people at the pool. Sadly, I could not see the Vegas Sphere from my room.

View from my room on the 9th floor in the Palazzo.

Next, it was time to check in to VMware Explore. This time I had a better sense of where things were and knew that Venetian Expo floor 2 is not floor 2 of the Palazzo, which is the Grand Canal Shoppes. I found registration quickly and checked in.

My VMware Explore badge

After registration, I met up with some friends and hung out. Later that evening, I attended a VMUG event called VMUG Warm-Up Party as a Service (WUPaaS) Community Meetup, where I chatted with other VMUG members and reconnected with many friends I hadn’t seen in a while.

Day 1

Day 1 began normally with breakfast, then I headed to the VMware Explore conference space. I had received an email from the vExpert program inviting me to interview with the VMware marketing team to get my take on VMware Explore. I completed that, and shortly after, there was the vExpert meetup. All of the vExperts posed for a giant group photo.

vExperts 2026 VMware Explore Meetup

After the vExpert meetup, it was time for the session VMware Cloud Foundation Certification 2026: Tips, Tricks, and Guidance from the Global Community [CMTYQT1317LV], which was hosted by my friends Dave Bradley (aka Chicago Dave) and Kristof Asaert. It was also unofficially hosted by me.

Due to software limitations, Broadcom could not add me as a third presenter, but that did not stop the three of us from presenting together. We planned to show up and see what happened, sharing a microphone if needed. To our surprise, they provided lapel microphones to all three of us.

Our presentation was about what the three of us have done to earn various VCP (VMware Certified Professional) certificates, along with tips and tricks everyone can use. We encouraged others to get VMware certifications because it’s free at the conference.

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Configure VCF Installer Online Depot

Configure VCF Installer Online Depot

Once you have deployed the VCF Installer, you need to configure a depot connection to access the binaries needed to deploy VCF (VMware Cloud Foundation) or VVF (VMware vSphere Foundation).

In this post, I will show you step by step how to configure an online depot connection for the VCF Installer and download the binaries for VCF or VVF.

Before VCF 9.1, you configured the VCF Installer online depot connection using a download token. In VCF 9.1, the process has changed. You now need to register the VCF Installer in the VCF licensing portal.

Prerequisites

  • VCF Installer deployed.

If you need to learn how, my blog post Deploy VCF Installer details the steps.

  • Internet access on the VCF Installer appliance.

A list of URLs that the VCF Installer needs access to is available from Broadcom here.

The Process

  • Login to the VCF Installer as the admin@local user.
  • In the Get Started section, in the Download Binaries tile, click on Depot Settings and Binary Management.
  • In the Online Depot tile, click on Configure.
  • Copy your Download Service ID.
  • Click on Software Depot Registration.
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Deploy VCF Installer

Deploy VCF Installer

When you want to deploy VCF (VMware Cloud Foundation) or VVF (VMware vSphere Foundation), you typically use the VCF installer. Even though the VCF installer has VCF in its name, it can be used to deploy VVF.

In this post, I will show you step by step how to deploy the VCF installer on VMware ESX.

Prerequisites

  • Static IP for the VCF Installer appliance.
  • FQDN for the VCF Installer appliance with forward and reverse DNS records.
  • Enough resources to run the VCF Installer VM.
    • The VCF Installer VM will need:
      • 4 vCPU
      • 16GB RAM
      • 914GB disk space
  • A root password for the VCF Installer appliance.
  • A local user password for the VCF Installer appliance.
  • NTP Servers.

The Process

The entire VCF Installer deployment process is divided into two sections.

Download VCF Installer

Before we can deploy the VCF Installer, we need to download it first.

  • Click on Software > VMware Cloud Foundation > My Downloads.
  • Click on VMware Cloud Foundation or VMware vSphere Foundation.
  • Click VMware Cloud Foundation 9 or VMware vSphere Foundation 9 to expand the releases, then click the release you want.
  • Beside VCF Installer click on View Group.
  • Before you can download anything, you need to read and review the Terms and Conditions and the Compliance Reporting Terms and Conditions.
  • Click on Terms and Conditions to read them.
  • Click on Compliance Reporting Terms and Conditions to read them.
  • After reading, if you agree to the Terms and Conditions and the Compliance Reporting Terms and Conditions, select I agree.
  • Download the VCF SDDC Manager Appliance OVA.

Technically, you are downloading the VCF SDDC (Software Defined Datacenter) Manager.

The SDDC Manager has two purposes:

  1. The VCF Installer for VCF and VVF
  2. The SDDC Manager for VCF.
    • If you deploy the VCF Installer on an ESX host that will be part of your VCF management domain, the VCF Installer will convert into your SDDC Manager.

Deploy VCF Installer

Now that we have the VCF Installer downloaded, we can deploy it.

If you deploy the VCF Installer to an ESX host that will be used for the VCF Management Domain, it will convert to the SDDC Manager and can no longer be used as an installer.

  • To use the VCF Installer, you need to deploy it to something. The following are supported:
    • VMware vCenter
    • VMware ESX
    • VMware Workstation
    • VMware Fusion

In my example, I will deploy the VCF Installer to an ESX host. The process will be similar on other platforms.

  • Login to VMware ESX.
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I’m Going to VMware Explore 2026

I’m Going to VMware Explore 2026

I’m super excited that I can attend VMware Explore in Las Vegas this year. The last time I attended VMware Explore was in 2024, and I learned so much. I’m eager to learn even more this year and build on what I’ve learned since last time.

If you want to read about my experience at VMware Explore 2024, check out my blog post I Went to VMware Explore 2024.

If you aren’t familiar with VMware Explore, it used to be called VMworld. VMware Explore is a conference hosted by Broadcom about all things VMware. The main VMware Explore event takes place in Las Vegas, and there’s a smaller version called VMware Explore on Tour, which visits a few different cities. In 2026, VMware Explore on Tour will be at the following locations.

  • Mumbai (September 29th to 30th)
  • Singapore (October 1st to 2nd)
  • Frankfurt (October 13th to 14th)
  • Tokyo (October 20th to 21st)
  • London (November 18th to 19th)
  • Washington, D.C. (December 8th)

VMware Explore in Las Vegas will take place from August 31st to September 3rd.

At VMware Explore in Las Vegas, there are over 250 sessions. Thankfully, the sessions are recorded, as it’s impossible to attend all of them. Here are a few of the sessions I’m planning to attend.

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Deploy Horizon Edge Gateway on VMware vSphere

Deploy Horizon Edge Gateway on VMware vSphere

If you have an Omnissa Horizon subscription, you should deploy the Horizon Edge gateway appliance to license your Omnissa Horizon setup.

The Horizon Edge Gateway for vSphere is a VM that you deploy on your VMware vSphere environment. In addition to automatically licensing your Horizon setup, the Horizon Edge gateway also serves as a connector to the Horizon Control Plane hosted by Omnissa, enabling Omnissa and you to monitor your Horizon setup for issues. In older versions of Horizon, the Edge Gateway was called the Cloud Connector.

In this post, I will show you step by step how to deploy the Omnissa Horizon Edge Gateway on VMware vSphere.

Prerequisites

  • Static IP for the Horizon Edge Gateway appliance.
  • FQDN for the Horizon Edge Gateway appliance with forward and reverse DNS records.
  • Enough resources in vSphere for the Edge Gateway VM.
    • The Edge Gateway will need
      • 8 vCPU
      • 16GB RAM
      • 40GB disk
  • A Root password for the Horizon Edge Gateway appliance.
  • An Admin password for the Horizon Edge Gateway appliance.
  • Service Account configured as an admin in Horizon.

If you need to add the service account as an admin to Horizon, my blog post, Add Administrators to Omnissa Horizon covers how to do so.

The Process

  • Under the Launch Services section, click Horizon Cloud.
  • In the Get Started section, in the Horizon 8 tile, click Select.
  • In the Horizon Edge tile, click Start Deployment.
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Schedule VMware Exam

Schedule VMware Exam

In this post, I will show you step by step how to schedule a VMware exam.

The Process

The entire process is split into a few stages.

Testing Portal Login

  • In the Additional Resources section, on the Education Portal tile, click Explore.
  • On the new page that opened up under the Addition Resources section, click on Certification.

If you want, you can skip those clicks and go directly to the following URL https://cp.certmetrics.com/vmware/en/home/dashboard

  • Under Features, click on Schedule your exam.
  • Click on SSO to Vue.

Private Access Codes

If you are taking a VMware exam at a conference, you will likely have a private access code to access the on-site exam center.

  • Click Private Access Code, type in the Private Access Code, then click Enter.

Exam Selection

  • Click on View exams.
  • Depending on the exam you are taking, you may need to click on VMware Professional Level Exams or VMware Advanced Level Exams. You can also search for the exam.
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I Went to VMUG Connect Minneapolis 2026

I Went to VMUG Connect Minneapolis 2026

I recently attended VMUG Connect in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, from April 7th to 9th. This is the second round of VMUG Connect conferences. After the success of the first VMUG Connect in St. Louis, VMUG ended their UserCons and replaced them with VMUG Connects.

Due to VMUG Connect replacing UserCons, there is more than one VMUG Connect conference. For 2026, VMUG Connect will be in the following cities.

  • Amsterdam, Netherlands (March 17th to 19th)
  • Minneapolis, Minnesota (April 7th to 9th)
  • Toronto, Ontario (May 12th to 14th)
  • Dallas, Texas (June 9th to 11th)
  • Orlando, Florida (October 20th to 22nd)

In this post, I will detail my experience at VMUG Connect 2026 in Minneapolis.

Travel Day

My adventure to VMUG Connect in Minneapolis was a shared one, as I was traveling with my friend Stephen Wagner. Our journey started with a direct flight from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

This was my second time going to Minneapolis, as I had traveled to Minneapolis in August for EUC World Amplify last year. You can read about that experience in my blog post, I Went to EUC World Amplify 2025.

Once we arrived in Minneapolis, we got all checked into the hotel. While we waited for our friends to arrive, we decided to explore downtown a bit. To my surprise, downtown Minneapolis actually has its own version of the Plus 15s that we have in Calgary, in Minneapolis they are called Skywalks. Plus 15s or Skywalks are a way to get around the downtown core without going outside. It’s super useful when the weather is bad. Minneapolis also has a double-decker Skywalk.

Minneapolis Skywalk

We then met up with some of our friends and went out to lunch. We ended up going to a restaurant named Hell’s Kitchen (it has nothing to do with Gordon Ramsey). We asked them who came first, and they said they did, and they had a licensing deal with Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen, which allowed them to use the name.

Hell’s Kitchen in Minneapolis

After lunch, we met up with more friends and went to the Mall of America. I had never been to the Mall of America before. It is currently the largest mall in America.

Mall of America amusement park

In Canada, we have the West Edmonton Mall, which is currently the largest mall in Canada. What’s interesting is that both malls are owned by the Triple Five Group. The West Edmonton Mall is 5.3 million square feet, and the Mall of America is 5.6 million square feet. What’s interesting is that the West Edmonton Mall has over 800 stores, while the Mall of America has only over 500. Both malls have an indoor amusement park, but only the West Edmonton Mall has an indoor waterpark.

After visiting the Mall of America, we all went back to the hotel and hung out at the hotel bar.

Day 1

The first day of VMUG Connect is registration day, and includes a few sessions. VMUG calls this day PreConnect.

I started by registering and collecting my badge.

My VMUG Connect Minneapolis badge
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Deploy Sophos Firewall on VMware vCenter

Deploy Sophos Firewall on VMware vCenter

A virtual SFOS (Sophos Firewall Operating System) can run on many hypervisors, including VMware.

In this post, I will show you step by step how to deploy a virtual SFOS on VMware vCenter.

The Process

  • Download the ZIP file for the SFOS version you want to deploy from Sophos.

There are two locations where you can download the Sophos firewall files. The first is the Sophos Firewall Installers page, and the second is the Sophos Knowledge Base Article KBA-000007972.

  • Extract the ZIP file contents.

Inside the ZIP, there are a few files. The files we care about are sf_virtual_vm8_paravirtual.ovf, sf_virtual-disk1.vmdk, and sf_virtual-disk2.vmdk.

The sf_virtual_vm8_paravirtual.ovf is the most important because it supports VMXNET 3.

  • In VMware vCenter, right-click the cluster or host you want to deploy SFOS to, and click Deploy OVF Template.
  • Select Local file and click Upload Files.

The Sophos documentation instructs you to select the manifest file sf_virtual.mf, the OVF file you want to use, and the VMDKs. This process only work if you are using the sf_virtual.ovf OVF file.

If you use the manifest file sf_virtual.mf with any OVF other than sf_virtual.ovf, the vCenter checksum verification will fail, and you can not proceed.

If you open the manifest file sf_virtual.mf with notepad, you see that it only contains the checksums for sf_virtual.ovf, sf_virtual-disk1.vmdk, and sf_virtual-disk2.vmdk.

This explains why the vCenter checksum verification fails when you select any OVF other than sf_virtual.ovf.

We don’t want to use the OVF sf_virtual.ovf because it uses the Vlance network adapter, which is an emulated version of the AMD 79C970 PCnet32 LANCE NIC, a 10 Mbps NIC.

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Sophos Firewall Interface Mapping on vSphere

Sophos Firewall Interface Mapping on vSphere

When you deploy a Sophos firewall on VMware vSphere, you start with 3 network interfaces PortA for LAN, PortB for WAN, and PortC is unassigned.

In VMware vCenter, PortA is Network adapter 1, PortB is Network adapter 2, and PortC is Network adapter 3.

However, when you add more network adapters in VMware vSphere, the mappings between SFOS (Sophos Firewall Operating System) and VMware vSphere no longer align.

In this post, I will show you, step by step, how to add more network interfaces to SFOS (Sophos Firewall Operating System) running on VMware vSphere and how to map the interfaces between SFOS and VMware vCenter.

The Process

Adding Interfaces

  • In vCenter, shut down the SFOS VM.
  • Once the SFOS VM has shut down, click on Edit Settings.
  • To add additional network adapters, click Add New Device, then click Network Adapter.

VMware vCenter VMs can have up to 10 network adapters.

In my example, I will add 7 more network adapters, bringing the total to 10.

When adding network adapters, it defaults to the E1000 adapter type, which you can use, but it’s recommended to use the VMXNET 3 adapter type.

  • On each new network adapter, change the Adapter Type from E1000 to VMXNET 3.
  • Power on the SFOS VM.

Mapping Interfaces

Once the SFOS VM has booted after adding the additional network adapters, the interface mapping between vCenter and SFOS won’t match, except that the SFOS network interface PortA always maps to network adapter 1 in vCenter.

Since PortA in SFOS is always vCenter network adapter 1, we will update its name in SFOS to reflect this mapping in vCenter.

  • Login to the SFOS.
  • Click on Configure > Network.
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ESX Regenerate Self-Signed Certificate

ESX Regenerate Self-Signed Certificate

During the installation of VMware ESX, you’re never prompted to set a hostname or domain name. As a result, ESX defaults to the hostname localhost and the domain localdomain. Due to this when ESXi generates a self-signed certificate, it is for localhost.localdomain.

In this post, I will show you step by step how to regenerate the self-signed certificate for ESX.

Prerequisites

  • The ESXi hostname has been changed.

For more information about changing the ESXi hostname, my blog post, ESXi changing the host name goes into detail.

The Process

  • Connect to your ESXi host.
  • Right-click on the ESXi host and select Services > Enable Secure Shell (SSH).
  • SSH into the ESXi host.
  • To view the current certificate installed on your ESXi host, run the following command openssl x509 -noout -subject -in /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt

If you want to view all the details about your ESXi certificate, run the following command  openssl x509 -noout -in /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt -text

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