Bits, Bytes, & Radio Waves

A quiet journey through discovery and understanding.

  • VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF): SFTP

    Overview If you are reading this, I bet you are trying to get your SDDC Manager configured to do backups via SFTP…and it’s just not working. You keep seeing a similar message in SDDC Manager, even though you are using all the correct configuration information. Invalid parameter: Validation failed for directory path <configured backup directory>…

  • VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Troubleshooting

    Overview Most of the time, when I am troubleshooting a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) bring-up, networking comes into play. Whether it be NTP, DNS, or other various ports, networking is probably the most important thing to get right for a successful bring-up. Subnets, network borders, Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU), VLANs, trunks, tags, i.e.

  • VMware Cloud Director: Deployment and Initial Configuration

    Overview I stood up a nested VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) lab and decided to delve into the world of VMware Cloud Director. I ran into a couple issues and wanted to make sure that I documented them here so that I do not run into them again in the future. I have a good feeling…

Notes from practice

I use this site to document systems, configurations, and lessons learned as I work through real problems—both professionally and through personal experimentation. The goal is clarity: understand how something works, explain why it behaves the way it does, and make it reliable and repeatable.

These notes are written primarily for myself, but shared openly in case they help someone else avoid a dead end or reduce frustration. If you’d like to learn more, visit the About page.

If you have questions or comments, you’re always welcome to contact me.

Aaron Rombaut

Technologist & Writer