Archive
From 2009 to 2016 I wrote at dailyhypervisor.com about cloud automation, virtualization, and the long arc of the VMware-era enterprise stack. Those 240 posts now live here on Echoes of the Machine, dated as they were originally written. The technology has aged; the patterns of thinking about it haven't.
Browse the archive by topic below — or read the full set.
VMware & vSphere
The core hypervisor stack — ESX, ESXi, vSphere, vCenter — across multiple major-version cycles. The bones of every enterprise virtualization conversation from that decade.
vRealize & vRA
The vRealize Automation lineage — vCAC, vRA, vRealize, every renaming and major rewrite. Where most of the work happened day-to-day.
- vRealize — 137 posts
- vRA (vCAC) — 113 posts
- vCAC Tutorials — 78 posts
- vRA — 14 posts
- vRA7 — 9 posts
Cloud Automation
The era when "cloud automation" meant building it yourself with stitched-together tools — DynamicOps, VRM, the original Cloud Automation Center.
- Automated Deployment — 100 posts
- Automation — 98 posts
- Cloud — 94 posts
- Cloud Computing — 92 posts
- Cloud Automation Center — 91 posts
- DynamicOps — 65 posts
- VRM — 48 posts
- DCAC — 26 posts
NSX & Networking
Software-defined networking from the early NSX rollout — distributed routers, logical switches, edge gateways, the whole new mental model.
- NSX — 28 posts
- networking — 24 posts
- NSX 6.1 — 16 posts
PowerShell & Scripting
PowerCLI, kickstart, and the broader scripting toolbox that made the manual parts go away.
- Script — 42 posts
- scripting — 40 posts
- PowerShell — 12 posts
- kickstart — 12 posts
Orchestration (vRO, vCO)
The orchestration layer — workflows, plugins, the JavaScript engine that ran a decade of automation.
- vCO — 20 posts
- vRO — 10 posts
- vCenter Orchestrator — 9 posts
- vRealize Orchestrator — 7 posts
Virtualization Foundations
The broader virtualization category — hypervisors, virtual centers, the platform layer.
- virtualization — 62 posts
- Virtual Center — 34 posts
- ESX 3.5 — 25 posts
Browse everything
If you'd rather just scroll, the full Looking Back feed shows the entire archive in reverse chronological order.