You know that feeling when you open a software update and everything looks completely different? That's kind of what VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 feels like. Except this time, the changes actually make sense.
Let me walk you through what Broadcom has packed into this release, and more importantly, what it means for your day-to-day work managing virtualized infrastructure.
Understanding the Core Components of VCF 9.0
So what exactly ships with VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0? Here's the thing: it's not just a minor version bump. This release bundles together several critical components that form the backbone of your private cloud infrastructure.
First up, you've got vSphere and vSAN. No surprises there. These two have always been the foundation, and they continue to be in version 9.0. What's interesting is how they're now more tightly integrated with the management layer.
Then there's NSX for networking, HCX for migrations, and the newly rebranded VCF Operations and VCF Automation. If you're wondering what happened to Aria Operations and Aria Automation, well, they're still here. Just wearing different name tags now.
The integration between these components feels tighter than before. Everything connects through VCF Operations, which acts as your central control point. Think of it as mission control for your entire private cloud.
The New Management Experience
Here's where things get really interesting. VCF 9.0 introduces a completely revamped installer that replaces the old Cloud Builder approach. Instead of wrestling with spreadsheets (yes, I'm talking about that infamous Cloud Builder spreadsheet), you get a guided, step-by-step process through the VCF Operations UI.
Does this mean your deployment gets easier? In my experience, absolutely. The JSON configuration template support is a nice touch too. You can standardize your deployments across multiple environments without reinventing the wheel each time.
Advanced Services You Can Layer On Top
VMware Cloud Foundation has always been about modularity. The core platform gives you everything you need to run a private cloud, but sometimes you need specialized capabilities.
That's where advanced services come in. These are separate purchases that extend VCF's functionality in specific directions. You're not forced to buy everything upfront, which makes sense from both a cost and complexity standpoint.
VMware Private AI
If you're exploring AI workloads, VMware Private AI is designed specifically for that use case. It includes NVIDIA GPU support and optimizations for running machine learning models on-premises.
Disaster Recovery and Ransomware Protection
Nobody wants to think about disasters until they happen. The disaster recovery add-on gives you capabilities like VMware Live Recovery, including VMware Live Site Recovery and VMware Cloud Director Availability for DR scenarios.
These tools aren't just about backing up data. They're about maintaining business continuity when things go sideways. And let's be honest, things always go sideways eventually.
Security Enhancements
The Advanced Security add-on includes vDefend Firewall and Advanced Threat Prevention. With ransomware attacks becoming more sophisticated, these security layers provide micro-segmentation and threat detection capabilities that go beyond basic firewall rules.
Load Balancing and Application Services
AVI Load Balancer is available as an add-on service. If you're running modern applications that need intelligent traffic distribution, this becomes pretty crucial. It integrates directly with NSX networking, giving you both north-south and east-west load balancing.
Data Services
Data Services Manager (DSM) deserves its own mention. As of May 2025, it's officially an advanced service rather than part of the core offering. DSM provides database-as-a-service capabilities, letting you provision and manage databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MongoDB through a self-service portal.
What Makes This Release Different
Every software company says their new release is revolutionary. Usually, it's not. But VCF 9.0 does bring some genuinely significant changes, particularly around licensing and fleet management.
The Licensing Overhaul
This is probably the biggest change you'll notice. VCF 9.0 moves away from traditional 25-character license keys. Instead, you manage everything through subscription-based license files and the VCF Business Services console.
Why does this matter? Because VCF Operations becomes mandatory for licensing. You upload license files to VCF Operations, which then assigns them to your vCenters. It's more centralized, but it also means you can't run VCF 9.0 without VCF Operations in place.
The license usage reporting is automated now. Your system generates a License Usage File that tracks utilization across your environment. You can submit this either through a connected method (automatic) or disconnected (manual upload) depending on your network topology.
Fleet Management Concept
VCF 9.0 introduces the concept of a "fleet." Think of it as your entire collection of VCF instances across all locations. A fleet includes one or more VCF instances plus VCF Operations, VCF Automation, and VCF Identity Broker.
This fleet-wide approach gives you a single pane of glass for managing infrastructure that might be spread across multiple data centers or regions. Certificate management, for example, is now centralized under VCF Operations rather than scattered across individual components.
Memory Tiering and Compute Improvements
Let's talk about performance for a second. VCF 9.0 includes support for memory tiering with NVMe devices. This happens transparently at the ESX host level, which means both traditional VMs and Kubernetes-based VMs benefit from it automatically.
What's memory tiering? Essentially, it uses NVMe as an extension of system RAM. Hot memory pages stay in DRAM while cooler pages get offloaded to NVMe. Your VMs don't know the difference, but you get effectively more memory capacity at a lower cost.
Storage Options and Flexibility
One question I hear constantly: "Do I have to use vSAN?" The answer is no. While vSAN is recommended for the management domain, VCF 9.0 supports several storage options.
Supported Storage Types
For both management and workload domains, you can choose:
- vSAN (aggregated HCI or disaggregated storage clusters)
- NFS file-based storage
- Fibre Channel block storage
- iSCSI
This flexibility matters because not everyone wants to rip out their existing storage infrastructure. If you've invested in a high-end storage array, you can still use it with VCF 9.0.
What About vVols?
Here's something important: vVols capabilities are being deprecated starting with VCF 9.0. They'll be fully removed in a future release. If you're currently using vVols, you'll get critical bug fix support on VCF 5.x until those versions reach end of support.
vSAN Replication and Data Protection
vSAN Data Protection comes included with VCF and handles local data protection. If you need vSAN-to-vSAN replication between clusters, that's part of the VMware Live Recovery add-on.
Networking Requirements and NSX Integration
Here's a common misconception: people think NSX is optional in VCF 9.0. Technically, NSX is required and gets installed automatically. But here's the nuance: you're not required to use NSX's virtual networking features.
How NSX Fits In
NSX installs automatically to ensure workload domains are VPC-ready. However, if you prefer traditional VLAN-backed port groups, you can continue using those. NSX sits there, ready when you need it, but doesn't force you to change your existing network topology.
NSX Federation Support
NSX Federation is supported in VCF 9.0, allowing you to manage multiple NSX environments through a federated architecture. There's one caveat: pre-existing federated NSX environments can't be imported at this time.
VCF Import: Converting Existing Infrastructure
This is where VCF 9.0 gets really practical. The VCF Import capability lets you bring existing vSphere infrastructure into Cloud Foundation without downtime or data migration.
Two Import Paths
You've got two options depending on your starting point:
VCF Installer for Management Domains: You can convert an existing vSphere 9.0 environment (with NSX 9.0) into a VCF management domain using the VCF Installer. This creates a new VCF fleet.
VCF Operations for VI Domains: For adding additional infrastructure to an existing VCF instance, use VCF Operations to import vSphere 8.0 U1 (or above) environments as VI domains. Note that VI domains must be running NSX 4.1.0.2 or higher.
What Gets Imported
Infrastructure is imported at the vCenter level. You can't cherry-pick individual clusters. The entire vCenter inventory comes over when you convert or import the environment.
Storage Compatibility for Import
Both vSAN and non-vSAN storage types are supported for import. Whether you're running NFS, VMFS on FC, or vSAN, you can bring that infrastructure into VCF 9.0.
VCF Edge: Optimized for Remote Sites
VMware Cloud Foundation Edge is specifically designed for edge use cases where you need VCF capabilities at remote locations.
What Makes Edge Different
VCF Edge includes all the core VCF components, plus it adds vSphere with vSAN Witness Appliance support. This witness appliance can be deployed locally, which is useful when you don't want to rely on fleet management connectivity for every edge site.
You get flexibility in how you deploy edge instances. Want centrally managed sites? No problem. Need locally managed or even isolated edge sites? That works too. Configurations can start with as few as one host.
Licensing Requirements
Here's the catch: VCF Edge requires a minimum of 10 sites to be licensed within a year of initial deployment. Each site needs at least 8 cores per CPU, with a maximum of 256 cores per site.
Final Thoughts on VCF 9.0
Look, every major release brings changes. Some are welcome, some take getting used to. With VCF 9.0, the licensing changes will probably cause the most discussion in IT departments. But the import capabilities and improved management interface? Those are genuinely helpful.
The platform is more cohesive now. Everything connects through VCF Operations, which gives you that single control point you've always wanted. Whether you're managing ten hosts or ten thousand, having centralized visibility and control makes a real difference.
If you're running VCF 5.x today, you've got time to plan your transition. But start thinking about it now, especially if you're using perpetual licenses or technologies like vVols that are being phased out.
For new deployments, VCF 9.0 represents the current state of the art in private cloud infrastructure. It's not perfect, and the learning curve is real. But it's a solid foundation for running modern workloads alongside traditional applications.
And isn't that what we're all trying to do? Keep the lights on with existing systems while gradually modernizing our infrastructure. VCF 9.0 gives you a path to do both.