I recently posted a quick yes/no poll on Reddit asking for thoughts on VCF Orchestrator, and the community really showed up. People shared their experiences, concerns, and even some unexpected enthusiasm.
If you’re here, chances are you’re either trying to sharpen your skills with the platform or considering implementing VCF in your organization. You might be wondering if your team can handle it—especially since Orchestrator plays such a central role. Let me be honest: you will encounter frustrating moments. Those “Why isn’t this working?!” breakdowns are part of the journey. But if you stick with it and take it step by step, things start to click. And when they do, it’s a great feeling to finally understand how the system “thinks.”
When I first started using an early version of 7.x, it was rough. The logic didn’t make sense to me at first, and the GUI—with all its input/output bindings—was confusing. But I had a hunch the tool had real potential. So I kept at it. Fast-forward a few years, and now I’m a big fan. I’ve tested several other orchestrator-style platforms—some were okay, others not so much—but I always came back to vRO. (Yes, technically it’s VCF Orchestrator now, but let’s be real: it’ll always be vRO in my book.)
The shift from monolithic Windows servers to a microservices-based architecture was a smart one. Setting up clustered environments with vRO 6 and 7 had its challenges, but the payoff was worth it—especially at scale. I’ll admit, the old standalone vRO client was better than the early browser-based versions, but the improvements since then have been huge. It’s not flawless, but it now covers about 80–90% of common use cases. And for the rest? That’s where vRBT (VMware’s Build Tools) comes in handy.
Yes, the learning curve is real—but version 8.x is a much more polished product, packed with standout features (Custom Forms, anyone?) that are hard to find elsewhere.
That said, it’s not a set-it-and-forget-it tool. It likely never will be. Adopting it requires a solid skill set, and ideally, more than one engineer who knows their way around it. But if you’ve got the right team, your chances of success are high. End users will love the self-service portals, and management will appreciate the infrastructure-as-code approach. Everyone wins.
Curious to hear what others think? Check out the Reddit discussion or leave a comment here—I’d love to chat. You can also reach out to me directly.
💡 Enjoyed the post? Consider sharing it with a friend—it really helps grow the community. I’d also love your feedback! Drop a comment with:
– Topics you’d like to see covered in future posts
– What you found most helpful or interesting in this one
I read and respond to every comment—looking forward to hearing from you!
