Eric L Nielsen

Sr. Director, Communities and Influencers at VMware. ACM Member, Engineer, Administrator, Community Guy at Heart... Oh yea Marketing! Family with 4 kids.

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

We are accepting session proposals across four key tracks: Cloud Infrastructure, Security, Innovation, and Modern Apps and Agents. Submit before the Call for Proposals closes on Dec. 11 at 5:00 PM PST: https://t.co/LBsMLQpOIQ https://t.co/7kEf8TlubA

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

vExpert: a short history and how to apply IT's time to apply for 2027, don't forget to to blog about Advantage, to qualify for the Advantage reward in 2027, and sign up to get a VCP cert! https://t.co/GT64rLXI0P

[AngrySysOps @AngrySysOpsHQ]

VMware vSphere Express: 128 Cores for $9,600 a Year — A Win for SMBs or Too Little, Too Late? #vExpert #VMware https://t.co/iHzgJ33J70

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

#785 - Open MIc Open Mic https://t.co/8cNVkOqoXl

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

From PHP2Shell Alert to Action: Identify and Patch Your Workloads Using VMware Salt https://t.co/IDyPziUGxN

So many security issues these days, tools will need to be your friend as we move forward as IT practitioners
-eric

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

What’s Coming Next: VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC Upgrade to Version 9.1 https://t.co/WYXoN7Wlhy

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

The Call for Proposals for #VMwareExplore 2027 is now open. Start drafting your session proposals to take the stage in Las Vegas next May. Give us your best use cases and technical breakthroughs by December 11. Learn more: https://t.co/LBsMLQpOIQ https://t.co/QUqkJYHX8d

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

🗓️ Mark your calendars: VMware Explore 2027 is set for May 10–13, 2027 in Las Vegas. Catch the updates: https://t.co/NNd3t5qArQ https://t.co/IUAemfoSXs

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

#784 - VMUG Virtual Event Nov 5th Summary w/Bob and Tony https://t.co/alwc5oS5AI

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

It's time, early this year, get your papers defined and submitted ASAP, conference in May this year and call for papers are now open. --eric https://t.co/KRKJOm0VMl

[Dale Hassinger @dalehassinger]

🚀 From a 𝗩𝗠𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗻 2026 project to something 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿…

At the VMware Explore Hackathon in Las Vegas, my team built an RVTools-style, cross-platform vCenter inventory application. The response at Explore was great, so after the event we continued developing it and released the project on GitHub for anyone to download and try.

Now I’ve taken it another step.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿, 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘅, 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄𝘀, 𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗢𝗦.

I’ve also started adding capabilities beyond a traditional RVTools-style inventory, including:
🔹 Scheduled inventory collections built-in
🔹 Automatic retention of the most recent 5–7 inventory runs
🔹 Additional views to surface useful vCenter information
🔹 Cross-platform container deployment

But before I keep adding features, I’d really like some input from the VMware community.

How are you using RVTools today?

Are you using it for:
👉 Health checks?
👉 Environment documentation?
👉 Capacity planning?
👉 Upgrade planning?
👉 Comparing inventory over time?
👉 Customer assessments?
👉 Something completely different?

And the bigger question:

What do you wish RVTools did that it doesn't do today?

Drop your ideas in the comments — even if it's something small. I'm looking for "Real-World" use cases that can help determine where we take this project next.

If there's enough interest, I'll share more about the new containerized version and how to try it.

I’ve included a few screenshots to show what we’ve built so far.

#VMware #VCF #RVTools #vExpert #Automation #HomeLab #Containers

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

@plankers Awww dam ! Always liked him, 86 not a bad run. Dam life goes by fast !

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

@andynash99 On the map too, that's what I wanted to test, to see if you showed up on the new map. =)

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

@andynash99 if you remember your cloudcred email address ,
You can reset your password . https://t.co/fB7FVOgEbO. Curious if you do a task if you show up on the social map. All tasks repeat values were reset :-) test it :-)

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

Great connect ! A

[Mike Ellis @v2Mike]

That's a wrap on #VMUGConnect Orlando. Day 2 closed with the VMUG Board sharing real lessons from VCF 9 deployments, plus a lot of new VCPs. Great to host the community in our backyard, and it's back in Orlando in 2027. #VMUG #vExpert

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

End of another VMUG connect, this one was crowded and fun. Lot of VCP certs and great sessions .

[William Lam @lamw]

Since this was recently asked ... In addition to Intel Haswell/Broadwell processors no longer being supported, you also can NOT use them with #VCF91 NVMe Tiering, you will need at least Skylake or newer processor

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

On e of my cluster nodes dropped its NICs . Too much heat coming from my RTX2000 siting right over the NIC chip. Take off case , turn vertical and let hotel
ac do the work. :>. Here at VMUG connect Orlando . Fun discussions!

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

I’ve added back all the VMUG tasks , and going to make sure old players can retake , resetting number of times a task can be taken ! Get in now and get a spot
On the board. Still looking for team images :-(

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

Still looking around and optimizing DB calls to allow the site to run on a smaller footprint while keeping all the records. Look who I stumbled into on the top team: @andynash99

[Eric L Nielsen @ericnipro]

Here in Orlando and VMUG Connect with VMwaee{code} labs. vCF 9 cluster running LLM and Open WebUI , writing PI sensor code, creating a docker image and deploying from Kubernetes back to PI K3s . Cool Lab