Author: Danilo Chiacchio

Patching the VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) updates its software and can address product defects and security issues. This guide explains how to apply a full patch ISO from the Appliance Shell by staging its packages, reviewing the staged release, installing the update, and rebooting the appliance. The patch process interrupts vCenter Server services and requires a maintenance window. Before starting, verify the current version and target release, confirm that a valid backup is available, and ensure you have a way to access the ESXi host directly if vCenter becomes unavailable during the update. vCenter Server 7.x lifecycle notice: Broadcom…

Patching an ESXi host from the command line is useful when you need a controlled maintenance procedure for a standalone host or a host managed outside a cluster lifecycle workflow. The recommended profile-based method uses an offline bundle ZIP and esxcli software profile update. It is not the same as installing an ESXi ISO. Before changing a production host, confirm the target release is compatible with the server hardware and installed components, back up the host configuration, and plan for a maintenance window. If the host belongs to a cluster managed by vSphere Lifecycle Manager, use the cluster’s image or…

A monitoring alert saying that a Linux server has less than 10% available memory deserves investigation, but it does not automatically mean the server is in trouble. Linux uses RAM for applications, page cache, and kernel data instead of trying to keep memory permanently free. The real question is not simply how much memory is unused, but whether the server is experiencing real memory pressure. This is the troubleshooting sequence I use when a low-memory alert appears. 1. Confirm What Zabbix Is Actually Measuring Before troubleshooting the operating system, check the item behind the Zabbix trigger. These two metrics do…

Resizing a filesystem on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 is usually straightforward, but the correct procedure depends on two important factors: the filesystem type and the storage layer underneath it. An ext4 filesystem, for example, can be expanded while mounted and can also be reduced when unmounted. XFS behaves differently: it can be expanded online, but it cannot be shrunk. There is another distinction that is just as important. The disk, partition or logical volume underneath a filesystem is not the same thing as the filesystem itself. Increasing or decreasing one layer does not necessarily resize the other. In this…

Installing PowerCLI is usually straightforward when the management workstation has Internet access. In isolated environments, however, Install-Module may not be an option. This is common with administrative jump servers, secure management networks, air-gapped labs, and other environments where direct Internet access is intentionally restricted. In this guide, I will show how to install VMware PowerCLI offline using the downloadable package, verify that PowerShell can find the modules, troubleshoot blocked files, and test the installation by connecting to a vCenter Server. There is also an important naming change to understand before starting: VMware PowerCLI has been renamed to VCF PowerCLI. The…

A vCenter Server backup only becomes valuable when it is created regularly, stored outside the appliance, and can actually be used during a recovery. In this guide, I will configure a file-based backup of vCenter Server using the vCenter Server Management Interface (VAMI). In my lab, a TrueNAS server provides an NFS repository where the scheduled backups are stored. We will configure the NFS destination, create a backup schedule, run a manual backup to validate the configuration, inspect the files on the backup server, and review the backup history from the VAMI. The environment shown in this article was originally…