William Lam
@lamw.bsky.social
Distinguished Platform Engineering Architect, Broadcom • 📢 Customer Advocate • 🧑💻 Technologist • 🖊️ Blogger • 👨👧👦 Father • 🧗♂️ Spartan Races
👌Very nice blog series from Matt Mancini on deploying a complete VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Fleet using just VMware Workstation, which is still a super useful tool even in 2026 AND it best of all, its still free!
vmexplorer.com/blog-series/
#VCF9
vmexplorer.com/blog-series/
#VCF9
BEST of VMX
Welcome to the Best of VMeXplorer page. This page is full of my best and most current blog and video postings. Home Lab Information: VMware Workstation Generation 9: Nested VCF Home Lab Build (202…
vmexplorer.com
January 15, 2026 at 10:44 PM
👌Very nice blog series from Matt Mancini on deploying a complete VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Fleet using just VMware Workstation, which is still a super useful tool even in 2026 AND it best of all, its still free!
vmexplorer.com/blog-series/
#VCF9
vmexplorer.com/blog-series/
#VCF9
Oh joy ... I guess the CPU vendors didn't want to get left out in price increases 😂 I think I also saw another article PSU prices might go up ... so pretty much EVERYTHING is a server is going to be more expensive 😞
wccftech.com/amd-intel-ar...
wccftech.com/amd-intel-ar...
AMD & Intel Are Reportedly Considering to Raise Server CPU Prices by Up to 15% as Hyperscaler Buildout Has Drained Out Inventory
AMD and Intel are exploring a price increase of up to 15% for server CPUs, as both companies have sold out their existing inventories.
wccftech.com
January 15, 2026 at 10:02 PM
Oh joy ... I guess the CPU vendors didn't want to get left out in price increases 😂 I think I also saw another article PSU prices might go up ... so pretty much EVERYTHING is a server is going to be more expensive 😞
wccftech.com/amd-intel-ar...
wccftech.com/amd-intel-ar...
[🆕] - Disable HTTP Range Requests on Synology WebStation, Apache or Nginx williamlam.com/2026/01/disa...
January 14, 2026 at 4:59 PM
[🆕] - Disable HTTP Range Requests on Synology WebStation, Apache or Nginx williamlam.com/2026/01/disa...
[Sharing] - Nice to see some prices actually go down!
Few MS-A2 Barebones Kit on Amazon
🔸7945HX for $575 amzn.to/4pChSjh or for $599 ($200 checkout code) amzn.to/49jctbZ
🔹9955HX for $839 amzn.to/4sEo5Oe
Ref: I paid $789 for 7945HX, grab while you can!
Few MS-A2 Barebones Kit on Amazon
🔸7945HX for $575 amzn.to/4pChSjh or for $599 ($200 checkout code) amzn.to/49jctbZ
🔹9955HX for $839 amzn.to/4sEo5Oe
Ref: I paid $789 for 7945HX, grab while you can!
MINISFORUM Mini PC MS-A2 Barebone with AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX (16 C/32T, 64 MB L3, up to 5.2GHz), PCIe × 16, HDMI/2XUSB-C (8K@60 Hz), 2 x SFP+ 10 G,2xLAN 2.5 G,3xSSD M.2 (2280/22110/U.2),No RAM/SSD/OS
CPU:AMD Ryzen 7 7945HX (Zen 4)
GPU:AMD Radeon 610M
Memory Types:DDR5 (SO-DIMM х 2)
Max Memory Size:96GB Ryzen 9000 Series: DDR5-5600Ryzen 7000 Series: DDR5-5200
Max # of DIMMs:2
Max # of Memory Channe...
amzn.to
January 13, 2026 at 2:44 AM
[Sharing] - Nice to see some prices actually go down!
Few MS-A2 Barebones Kit on Amazon
🔸7945HX for $575 amzn.to/4pChSjh or for $599 ($200 checkout code) amzn.to/49jctbZ
🔹9955HX for $839 amzn.to/4sEo5Oe
Ref: I paid $789 for 7945HX, grab while you can!
Few MS-A2 Barebones Kit on Amazon
🔸7945HX for $575 amzn.to/4pChSjh or for $599 ($200 checkout code) amzn.to/49jctbZ
🔹9955HX for $839 amzn.to/4sEo5Oe
Ref: I paid $789 for 7945HX, grab while you can!
Interesting piece from Micron VP - Why Consumers Have Gotten the Memory Shortage Narrative All Wrong wccftech.com/micron-exclu...
Regardless of the narrative ... no meaningful changes to high prices of memory until 2028 (at least from Micron) 😩
Regardless of the narrative ... no meaningful changes to high prices of memory until 2028 (at least from Micron) 😩
Micron Exclusive: Why Consumers Have Gotten the Memory Shortage Narrative All Wrong
We managed to sit down with Micron's VP to know about the shortages, and his discussions disclosed specifics that consumers are unaware of.
wccftech.com
January 11, 2026 at 5:14 PM
Interesting piece from Micron VP - Why Consumers Have Gotten the Memory Shortage Narrative All Wrong wccftech.com/micron-exclu...
Regardless of the narrative ... no meaningful changes to high prices of memory until 2028 (at least from Micron) 😩
Regardless of the narrative ... no meaningful changes to high prices of memory until 2028 (at least from Micron) 😩
[🆕] - Quick Tip - Correlating VCF Component to Bundle ID/Name williamlam.com/2026/01/quic...
#VCF9 #VCF5
#VCF9 #VCF5
January 8, 2026 at 5:20 PM
[🆕] - Quick Tip - Correlating VCF Component to Bundle ID/Name williamlam.com/2026/01/quic...
#VCF9 #VCF5
#VCF9 #VCF5
👌Very nice PowerCLI script from my colleague that temporarily allows a vSphere Cluster w/heterogeneous hardware to leverage vSphere Update Manager (VUM) to upgrade to vSphere 9.0 and then perform vLCM Transition!
#VCF9
knowledge.broadcom.com/external/art...
#VCF9
knowledge.broadcom.com/external/art...
Temporarily allow vCenter VMware Update Manager (VUM) to enable the transition of heterogeneous hardware to vLCM image management
knowledge.broadcom.com
January 7, 2026 at 5:32 PM
👌Very nice PowerCLI script from my colleague that temporarily allows a vSphere Cluster w/heterogeneous hardware to leverage vSphere Update Manager (VUM) to upgrade to vSphere 9.0 and then perform vLCM Transition!
#VCF9
knowledge.broadcom.com/external/art...
#VCF9
knowledge.broadcom.com/external/art...
[🆕] - TLS Chain of Trust when using SSL Inspection with VCF Download Tool (VCFDT) williamlam.com/2026/01/tls-...
#VCF9
#VCF9
January 7, 2026 at 3:13 PM
[🆕] - TLS Chain of Trust when using SSL Inspection with VCF Download Tool (VCFDT) williamlam.com/2026/01/tls-...
#VCF9
#VCF9
[🆕] - Quick Tip - Reset vCenter Server from previously managed VCF Operations for VCF Single Sign-On (SSO) williamlam.com/2026/01/quic...
#VCF9
#VCF9
January 6, 2026 at 5:06 PM
[🆕] - Quick Tip - Reset vCenter Server from previously managed VCF Operations for VCF Single Sign-On (SSO) williamlam.com/2026/01/quic...
#VCF9
#VCF9
January 5, 2026 at 4:40 PM
[UPDATED] - Increasing VCF Installer & SDDC Manager Timeout for NSX Deployment williamlam.com/2025/12/incr...
☝️Now includes both NSX Manager & NSX Edge Deployment timeout ⏳
☝️Now includes both NSX Manager & NSX Edge Deployment timeout ⏳
Increasing VCF Installer & SDDC Manager Timeout for NSX Deployment
For resource constrained environments, deploying VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) can take longer, especially when deploying on top of a Nested ESXi configuration. However, the VCF Installer does prov…
williamlam.com
January 2, 2026 at 4:48 PM
[UPDATED] - Increasing VCF Installer & SDDC Manager Timeout for NSX Deployment williamlam.com/2025/12/incr...
☝️Now includes both NSX Manager & NSX Edge Deployment timeout ⏳
☝️Now includes both NSX Manager & NSX Edge Deployment timeout ⏳
With Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (24cores), this definitely would be a compact & unique #VCF9 setup with an awesome Retro NES vibe 🕹️
www.tomshardware.com/desktops/min...
www.tomshardware.com/desktops/min...
NES-a-like mini PC brings modern chips to the classic Nintendo case design — Ryzen AI 9 CPU, Radeon 890M iGPU should make it a decent all-round system
Acemagic's Nintendo-inspired design takes a leaf out of Ayaneo’s retro console cloning book.
www.tomshardware.com
January 2, 2026 at 4:38 PM
With Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (24cores), this definitely would be a compact & unique #VCF9 setup with an awesome Retro NES vibe 🕹️
www.tomshardware.com/desktops/min...
www.tomshardware.com/desktops/min...
For Lab environments, AMD has really taken over in the last few years & demand continues w/impressive CPU offers!
While it is still few years away, it looks like Intel Serpent Lake 🐍 could really change things up embedding an integrated NVIDIA iGPU ...
hardwaretimes.com/intel-cpu-ro...
While it is still few years away, it looks like Intel Serpent Lake 🐍 could really change things up embedding an integrated NVIDIA iGPU ...
hardwaretimes.com/intel-cpu-ro...
Intel CPU Roadmap 2027-29: Razer Lake, Titan Lake & Serpent Lake with NVIDIA RTX iGPU | Hardware Times
Intel is slated to launch its Panther and Nova Lake processors in 2026. The former will be mobility-only, while the latter will be available across all segments. Beyond that, we’ve got Razer Lake, Tit...
hardwaretimes.com
January 1, 2026 at 11:14 PM
For Lab environments, AMD has really taken over in the last few years & demand continues w/impressive CPU offers!
While it is still few years away, it looks like Intel Serpent Lake 🐍 could really change things up embedding an integrated NVIDIA iGPU ...
hardwaretimes.com/intel-cpu-ro...
While it is still few years away, it looks like Intel Serpent Lake 🐍 could really change things up embedding an integrated NVIDIA iGPU ...
hardwaretimes.com/intel-cpu-ro...
Happy New Year! 🎉 Kicking off 2026 with my 1st blog post of the year 😁
[🆕] - Programmatically interact with the Broadcom Product Lifecycle Portal williamlam.com/2026/01/prog...
[🆕] - Programmatically interact with the Broadcom Product Lifecycle Portal williamlam.com/2026/01/prog...
January 1, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Happy New Year! 🎉 Kicking off 2026 with my 1st blog post of the year 😁
[🆕] - Programmatically interact with the Broadcom Product Lifecycle Portal williamlam.com/2026/01/prog...
[🆕] - Programmatically interact with the Broadcom Product Lifecycle Portal williamlam.com/2026/01/prog...
December 22, 2025 at 5:43 PM
JFYI - If VC was configured w/VCF SSO AND you lose VCF Ops instance, when you re-deploy & setup VCF SSO again, need to clear out VCF Ops ID from VC because it thinks its managed by "old" Ops. See knowledge.broadcom.com/external/art... for steps
How do I know this ... yea that was my weekend 😅
How do I know this ... yea that was my weekend 😅
Acquiring VCF SSO Operations Managed Status ownership
knowledge.broadcom.com
December 22, 2025 at 3:25 PM
JFYI - If VC was configured w/VCF SSO AND you lose VCF Ops instance, when you re-deploy & setup VCF SSO again, need to clear out VCF Ops ID from VC because it thinks its managed by "old" Ops. See knowledge.broadcom.com/external/art... for steps
How do I know this ... yea that was my weekend 😅
How do I know this ... yea that was my weekend 😅
AI Daily Brief is podcast I've been listening for some time, great way to get 5min pulse of ever changing AI landscape.
They ran an ROI Benchmark Survey (1200+ folks across 536 companies, 5K+ use cases), results available aidbintel.com/research
Some interesting findings ...
They ran an ROI Benchmark Survey (1200+ folks across 536 companies, 5K+ use cases), results available aidbintel.com/research
Some interesting findings ...
AIDB Intelligence
Intelligence For Better AI Decisions — Research, information and living benchmarks for business AI.
aidbintel.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:37 PM
AI Daily Brief is podcast I've been listening for some time, great way to get 5min pulse of ever changing AI landscape.
They ran an ROI Benchmark Survey (1200+ folks across 536 companies, 5K+ use cases), results available aidbintel.com/research
Some interesting findings ...
They ran an ROI Benchmark Survey (1200+ folks across 536 companies, 5K+ use cases), results available aidbintel.com/research
Some interesting findings ...
[🆕] - Automating License Entitlement Workflows between VCF Operations & VCF Business Service Console (BSC) williamlam.com/2025/12/auto...
☝️Just in time for the holidays! 😅🎄🎁
#VCF9
☝️Just in time for the holidays! 😅🎄🎁
#VCF9
December 18, 2025 at 5:20 PM
[🆕] - Automating License Entitlement Workflows between VCF Operations & VCF Business Service Console (BSC) williamlam.com/2025/12/auto...
☝️Just in time for the holidays! 😅🎄🎁
#VCF9
☝️Just in time for the holidays! 😅🎄🎁
#VCF9
[🆕] - Dynamically Rebalance or Evacuate VKS Control Plane / Worker Nodes across vSphere Zones in VCF 9.0 williamlam.com/2025/12/dyna...
👌Nice enhancements to vSphere Zones in #VCF9
👌Nice enhancements to vSphere Zones in #VCF9
December 16, 2025 at 6:08 PM
[🆕] - Dynamically Rebalance or Evacuate VKS Control Plane / Worker Nodes across vSphere Zones in VCF 9.0 williamlam.com/2025/12/dyna...
👌Nice enhancements to vSphere Zones in #VCF9
👌Nice enhancements to vSphere Zones in #VCF9
📢 vSphere 8.0 Update 3h is now available!
Upgrade from VC 7.0u3w ✅
Upgrade to 9.0.x ❌
📒 Release Notes:
🔸VC techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware...
🔹ESX techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware...
Upgrade from VC 7.0u3w ✅
Upgrade to 9.0.x ❌
📒 Release Notes:
🔸VC techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware...
🔹ESX techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware...
VMware vCenter 8.0 Update 3h Release Notes
techdocs.broadcom.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:51 PM
📢 vSphere 8.0 Update 3h is now available!
Upgrade from VC 7.0u3w ✅
Upgrade to 9.0.x ❌
📒 Release Notes:
🔸VC techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware...
🔹ESX techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware...
Upgrade from VC 7.0u3w ✅
Upgrade to 9.0.x ❌
📒 Release Notes:
🔸VC techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware...
🔹ESX techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware...
[🆕] - Increasing VCF Installer & SDDC Manager Timeout for NSX Deployment williamlam.com/2025/12/incr...
👆Few useful parameters to update for resource constrained environments
#VCF9
👆Few useful parameters to update for resource constrained environments
#VCF9
Increasing VCF Installer & SDDC Manager Timeout for NSX Deployment
For resource constrained environments, deploying VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) can take longer, especially when deploying on top of a Nested ESXi configuration. However, the VCF Installer does prov…
williamlam.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:41 PM
[🆕] - Increasing VCF Installer & SDDC Manager Timeout for NSX Deployment williamlam.com/2025/12/incr...
👆Few useful parameters to update for resource constrained environments
#VCF9
👆Few useful parameters to update for resource constrained environments
#VCF9
Micron exits consumer Memory/Storage business … and now Samsung is stopping their SATA SSD production!
Who’s left that provide consumer grade components for labs!?! 😤
www.notebookcheck.net/Samsung-to-h...
Who’s left that provide consumer grade components for labs!?! 😤
www.notebookcheck.net/Samsung-to-h...
Samsung to halt SATA SSD production, leaker warns of up to 18 months of SSD price pressure, worse than Micron ending consumer RAM - NotebookCheck.net News
Samsung is reportedly preparing to wind down its SATA SSD business, and a notable hardware leaker warns the move could have broader implications for consumer storage pricing than Micron’s decision to end its Crucial RAM lineup. The report suggests reduced supply and short-term price pressure may follow as the market adjusts.
www.notebookcheck.net
December 15, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Micron exits consumer Memory/Storage business … and now Samsung is stopping their SATA SSD production!
Who’s left that provide consumer grade components for labs!?! 😤
www.notebookcheck.net/Samsung-to-h...
Who’s left that provide consumer grade components for labs!?! 😤
www.notebookcheck.net/Samsung-to-h...
December 11, 2025 at 8:12 PM