VMware Cracks -> VCF 9.1 Update

In May 2026, VMware released VCF 9.1 (VMware Cloud Foundation). The first major update for VCF 9.x. A great starting point for “What’s new in VCF 9.1” is here https://go-vmware.broadcom.com/whats-new-in-vcf . The full VCF 9.1 tech documentation is here https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-1.html

Note: refer to the prior VCF 9.0 Blog https://blog.dudi.ch/2025/06/18/vmware-cracks-vcf-9-0-ga-update/.

While there are many technical enhancements within the platform, the main strategy remains the same: providing a fully automated Private Cloud solution covering all major requirements of a modern application landscape supported by a fully automated solution with self-server capabilities.

On of the major changes under the hood is the introduction of a so called “VCF Management Services” layer. In easy words, this is the way forward to a more container based approach in VCF Management and simplifying the platform as such. Over the next minor VCF 9.x upgdates we can excepts having more and more services transfered from a Appliance based form factor to container based solution.

Having the new architectural approach allows VCF 9.1 to be even more distributed and adjustable to locations and geographies. Having more relaxed network requirements with up to 300ms RTT allows as well building single global instances if needed. https://ports.broadcom.com/network-diagrams/VMware-Cloud-Foundation

Further information sources

• General
  • VMware VCF 9.1Update https://go-vmware.broadcom.com/whats-new-in-vcf
  • VMware Cloud Foundation YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@VMwareCloudFoundation
  • VMware Blogs https://blogs.vmware.com/
  • Virtually Speaking Podcast Series on VCF 9.1 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8_k3uUCO39tAfMY__4iE8bIZg7wfO7SN
• General VCF 9.1 Update podcasts
  • VMware VCF 9.1 Series https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8_k3uUCO39sVX38RfrCw2RIzJVDFGjNM
    • Introducing VCF 9.1: Built for Efficiency and Resilience
    • From Infrastructure to Innovation: VCF 9.1 Core Explained
    • VCF 9.1: Automation, Kubernetes APIs, and Faster Deployments
    • Inside VCF 9.1: Platform, Lifecycle, and What’s Different Now
    • From Rising Costs to Smarter Storage: The VCF 9.1 Reality
    • VCF 9.1: From AI Hype to Production Reality
    • VCF 9.1: Scaling Secure Edge Deployments
    • VCF 9.1 Cyber Resilience: From Attack to Recovery with Confidence
    • Designing VCF 9.1: Architecture, Sizing, and Scale in Practice
    • What’s New with Memory Tiering in VCF 9.1 ->> check for more details https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/vcf-advanced-memory-tiering/
    • What’s New in vSAN for VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1
    • What’s New in vSphere for VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1
    • Networking for VCF 9.1: Simplifying Private Cloud Networking
  • YouTube Series VCF 9.1 New features and demos https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8_k3uUCO39vzJv8poC9u87nIPu8PFlFv
    • Next-Gen Private Cloud AI: Running Production AI at Scale with VCF 9.1
    • VCF 9.1 Technical Demo: Main Features Walkthrough
    • VCF 9.1 Ecosystem: Scaling Infrastructure with Arista & AMD
    • How VCF 9.1 Delivers True Zero-Trust Private Cloud Security
    • Eliminate Maintenance Windows: VCF 9.1 Near Zero Downtime Operations
    • VCF 9.1 Unveiled: 40% Lower Server Costs & Production AI at Scale
    • Precision Workload Placement with VPC Network Span in VCF 9.1
    • Exploring Network Services for VPCs in VCF 9.1
    • VPC Connectivity Control in VCF 9.1
    • Infoblox Integration in VCF 9.1
• VCF Operations 9.1
  • YouTube Series VCF 9.1 Operations https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8_k3uUCO39u7ezRtbPFjliv0oofVD0Vs
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – End to End User Experience
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – VCF Installer
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Identity & Access Management
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Password Management
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Certificate Management
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Capacity & Memory Tiering
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – VPC Assessment & Planning
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Cost & Cost Drivers
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Upfront Pricing (VCF Operations and VCF Automation better together)
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – VCF License & Registration
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – VCF Health & Diagnostics
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Real-Time Metrics
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – VMware Kubernetes Service
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Audit Records
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Audit Trail
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Management Pack Builder
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Log Management
    • VCF Operations 9.1 – Logs, Metrics, Network Flows
• VCF Automation 9.1
  • YouTube Series VCF 9.1 Automation https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8_k3uUCO39vTFMRpuPINd6aBU-IyvHuY
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – Organization Configuration
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – Sharing VLANs to Organizations
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – Provider Content Library
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – Organization Infrastructure Policy
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – Service Management Framework
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – External Identity Providers
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – Organization Setup and IaaS Services
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – Provisioning Virtual Machines
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – Provisioning Containers
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – Provisioning Kubernetes Cluster (VKS Clusters)
    • VCF Automation 9.1 – Namespace Self-Service
• VMware NSX (Networking) https://www.youtube.com/@vmwarevdefend
  • VCF 9.1 Networking: Exploring Network Services for Virtual Private Clouds https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/15/vcf-networking-9-1-exploring-network-services-for-virtual-private-clouds/
  • VCF 9.1 Networking: Simpler VPC Connectivity Control https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/15/vcf-networking-9-1-simpler-vpc-connectivity-control/
  • VCF 9.1 Networking: Precision Workload Placement with VPC Network Span https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/06/09/vcf-9-1-networking-precision-workload-placement-with-vpc-network-span/
  • Transit Gateway Connectivity Options in VCF 9.1 https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/12/transit-gateway-connectivity-options-in-vcf-9-1/
  • VCF 9.1 Networking: Seamless DDI Integration with Infoblox https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/15/vcf-networking-9-1-seamless-ddi-integration-with-infoblox/
  • YouTube Series: VCF Networking (NSX) Deep Dive https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8_k3uUCO39s51SXWEN-9eq9E1by6uhzR
    • Why NSX Part 1: Limitations of how physical switch fabrics work today
    • Why NSX? Lightboard – Part 02: How and Why to Add NSX onto a Physical Switch Fabric
    • Self-service networking with NSX Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
    • NSX Networking! Edges, Routers, Segments and more
    • Enhanced NSX Edge and Networking Services
    • Demo: VMware NSX with vRealize Automation
    • VMware Cloud Foundation – Deploy NSX Edge Cluster
    • Why NSX in VCF?
    • Move from VLANs to Cloud Networking with VMware Cloud Foundation
    • Enhance Developer Productivity with Self-service Networking in Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs)
    • VCF Networking – Multi-Location Demos with NSX Federation
    • Istio on VMware Kubernetes Service (VKS)
    • Exploring Network Services for VPCs in VCF 9.1
    • Precision Workload Placement with VPC Network Span in VCF 9.1
    • VPC Connectivity Control in VCF 9.1
    • Infoblox Integration in VCF 9.1
    • VPC Distributed Network Connectivity Demo
    • VPC Centralized Network Connectivity – With Guided Edge Deployment
    • Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) in vCenter
• VMware vDefend and AVI
  • General
    • AI has changed the threat landscape https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/11/ai-has-changed-the-threat-landscape-is-your-infrastructure-ready/
    • Platform security in VCF 9.1 https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/05/05/platform-security-vcf-9-1/
    • YouTube : What’s new with Security & Compliance in VCF 9.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oQLAOUo1xE
    • VMware VCF Security and Compliance Guidelines https://github.com/vmware/vcf-security-and-compliance-guidelines/tree/main/security-advisories
  • vDefend
    • DFW 1-2-3-4 Blog
    • DFW 1-2-3-4 Demo 
    • Article: AI-Powered Lateral Security
    • Article: AI-Powered Attacks in a Spy vs. Spy World
    • Article: AI Simplifies Zero Trust
    • Forrester TEI for vDefend
    • IDC Business Value for vDefend
    • PCI Guide for vDefend
    • HIPAA Guide for vDefend

• AVI – Advanced Load Balancer
  • IDC Business Value for Avi
  • Web App and Api Security
  • WAF white paper
  • App security and compliance

• VMware Advanced Cyber Compliance (ACC)
  • YouTube Advanced Cyber Compliance (ACC): Automating Compliance, Security, and Cyber Resilience for VCF
  • https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/08/26/new-cyber-compliance-advanced-service/
  • https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/vcf-advanced-services/vmware-advanced-cyber-compliance/
  • https://www.vmware.com/products/cloud-infrastructure/advanced-services/advanced-cyber-compliance

• VMware vSphere & vCenter Server
  • Memory Tiering in vSphere 9.x
    • What’s new in Memory Tiering in VCF 9.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyyIEU4yyKg
    • Memory Tiering Performance in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/07/17/memory-tiering-performance-in-vmware-cloud-foundation-9-0/
    • Drive Cost Savings and Consolidation with Memory Tiering https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/06/19/smarter-infrastructure-starts-here-drive-cost-savings-and-consolidation-with-memory-tiering/
    • Technical blog series on Memory Tiering
      • PART 1: Prerequisites and Hardware Compatibility
      • PART 2: Designing for Security, Redundancy, and Scalability
      • PART 3: Sizing for Success
      • PART 4: vSAN Compatibility and Storage Considerations
      • PART 5: Deployment Scenarios
      • PART 6: End-to-End Configuration
• Network & Security
  • VCF 9 network and bandwidth Diagram https://ports.broadcom.com/network-diagrams/VMware-Cloud-Foundation

Training & Information

• VMware HOL Labs on VCF 9.1 https://labs.hol.vmware.com/HOL/catalog?search=vcf%209.1
  • HOL: Platform and Compute 9.1
    • What’s New in VCF 9.1 – Platform (HOL-2701-01): Explore core concepts, automated deployment with VCF Installer, VPCs, and Transit Gateways in multi-tenancy.
    • Planning and Executing the Transition to VCF 9.1 (HOL-2704-05): This course provides a comprehensive overview of the operational requirements, staffing needs, and execution strategies for deploying, migrating, or upgrading VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 without live hands-on lab execution.
    • What’s New with vSphere in VCF 9.1 (HOL-2706-01): Unified licensing, NVMe Memory Tiering to optimize host memory, Live Patching with zero downtime, and cluster images.
    • VMware vSAN 9.1 ESA – Next-Gen Storage (HOL-2734-01): Express Storage Architecture (ESA), file services, encryption, native immutable snapshots, and NVMe-oF.
    • What’s New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1: Highlights (HOL-2701-01-VCF-L):VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 raises the bar for private cloud, and this lab puts administrators and architects in the driver’s seat for the full tour. Participants who want to stay ahead of the curve, maximize their infrastructure investments, and streamline day-to-day operations will find everything they need here, all in one place.
    • Memory Tiering in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1: Spotlight (HOL-2703-01-VCF-L) :What if we could run more workloads on the same hardware, without buying a single additional DIMM? That’s exactly what this lab demonstrates.
  • HOL: Fleet Operations 9.1
    • What’s New in VCF 9.1 – Operations (HOL-2711-01): Monitor health, analyze networks, manage storage, strengthen security posture, and implement chargeback.
    • Getting Started with VCF Operations (HOL-2711-02): Fastest way to get value from VCF Operations: capacity insight, troubleshooting, security, and efficiency.
    • Monitoring Private Cloud infrastructure with VCF Health and Diagnostics (HOL-2711-03): monitor and maintain your VCF environment’s health to prevent issues and upload logs directly to Broadcom Support Requests.
    • Visualizing Private Cloud: Dashboards (HOL-2711-04): Master dashboards, views, and reports to monitor, analyze, and manage private cloud for optimized efficiency.
    • Analyzing Logs, Metrics & Flows in Ops (HOL-2711-05): Analyze logs, build unified dashboards, run metric queries, and explore network flows using Analyze console.
    • Troubleshooting Private Cloud with VCF Ops (HOL-2711-06): Troubleshooting Workbench, manage alerts from metrics and logs, and automate administrative tasks.
    • Understanding Capacity Monitoring, Optimization and Planning (HOL-2711-08): Optimize capacity, forecast infrastructure needs, and measure sustainability using the Green Score index.
    • Cost Optimization & Chargeback in Ops (HOL-2711-09): Understand cost drivers, configure price cards, generate bills, and improve expense tracking across your fleet.
    • Mastering Log Event Monitoring in VCF Operations (HOL-2711-15): Log management, combining real-time ingestion, querying, workbench troubleshooting, custom dashboarding, and automated alerts with security compliance auditing in a single console.
  • HOL: Automation & Modern Apps
    • What’s New: Automation on VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 (HOL-2711-20): Explore VCF Automation 9.1’s new features for managing and consuming a secure, self-service private cloud across VMs, containers, and Kubernetes.
    • Getting Started with VCF Automation (HOL-2711-21): Learn VCF Automation with All Apps org: deploy infrastructure as providers, request VMs and Pods as consumers.
    • Provider Management & Administration (HOL-2711-22): Configure provider boundaries, allocate resource quotas, and expose vSphere and NSX via self-service portals.
    • Deploying Modern Cloud-Native Applications (HOL-2711-24): Turnkey out-of-the-box services for developers to consume cloud-native resources and build apps in minutes.
  • HOL: Network, Security & Private AI
    • VCF Networking with NSX VPC (HOL-2704-08): Construct isolated VPCs, Transit Gateways, routed subnets, NAT, and distributed load balancing.
    • Secure VCF Infrastructure with VMware vDefend Firewall (HOL-2770-03): Zero-trust microsegmentation, Layer-7 application security, IDPS threat defense, and GeoIP geo-fencing.
    • VMware Live Recovery: Ransomware Recovery Use Case (HOL-2734-04): Ransomware mitigation using a Clean Room Isolated Recovery Environment (IRE), immutable snapshots, and failback.
• VMware Webinars https://go-vmware.broadcom.com/VCFWebinars
• All online training available as part of the VCF package on “Learning@broadcom” https://brocade.csod.com or via https://support.broadcom.com/ portal
• VMware Upgrade Planning Tool
  • The VCF Upgrade Planner (vmware.github.io/vcf-upgrade-planner) is an interactive, browser-based tool from the VMware/Broadcom team (author William Lam) for planning upgrades to VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1. It’s a browser-based tool for planning VMware Cloud Foundation upgrades, providing step-by-step guidance across various upgrade scenarios to help users understand their specific pathway to VCF 9.1. Outputs include networking and resource requirements plus an overall upgrade workflow broken into smaller discrete phases, and everything can be exported to a PDF for offline use.
  • Its goal is to solve a real pain point: historically, admins had to piece together upgrade guidance from scattered product docs, KB articles, and interoperability matrices – the tool consolidates that into one guided planning experience. VMware Blogs
• Holodeck forVMware Cloud Foundation 9.1
  • VMware VCF 9.1 Holodeck is released -> https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2026/07/01/announcing-the-general-availability-of-holodeck-9-1/
  • Starting point here -> https://vmware.github.io/Holodeck/downloads/#holodeck-91
  • Abstract: Holodeck is a toolkit designed to provide a standardized and automated method to deploy nested VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) environments on a VMware ESX host or a vSphere cluster. These environments are ideal for technical capability testing by multiple teams inside a data center to explore hands-on exercises showcasing VCF capabilities to deliver a customer managed VMware Private Cloud. Holodeck is only to be used for a testing and training environment; it is ideal for anyone wanting to gain a better understanding of how VCF functions across many use cases and capabilities. Currently, there are two different versions of the Holodeck supported – Holodeck 5.2x supporting VCF 5.2.x and Holodeck 9 supporting VCF 5.2.x and VCF 9.x.
• VCF 9.1 Core trainings on eLearing@broadcom.com
  • VCFBMS91 Build, Manage and Secure [V9.1] https://brocade.csod.com/ui/lms-learning-details/app/curriculum/cb48a806-e9b0-462f-b5e2-37103681e333
  • VCFSAD91 Solution Architecture & Design [V9.1] https://brocade.csod.com/ui/lms-learning-details/app/event/806d270f-4c3e-4898-8a38-94b8a05f6942
  • VCFCAOP91 Automate and Operate [V9.1] https://brocade.csod.com/ui/lms-learning-details/app/event/9fd5dd7b-4f04-4124-b4fc-632eda21c8ca
  • VCFTS91 Troubleshooting [V9.1] https://brocade.csod.com/ui/lms-learning-details/app/event/b1bfbc09-00d0-4899-96f7-da8e38e3729a
  • VCF 9.1 What’s new in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 https://brocade.csod.com/ui/lms-learning-details/app/curriculum/9598fcba-10b2-496b-9e9c-a1ecb7012ccb
  • VCF 9.1 Role based trainings https://brocade.csod.com/catalog/CustomPage.aspx?id=221000640&tab_page_id=221000640
    • VCF 9.1 Implement Role Playlist
    • VCF 9.1 Architect Role Playlist
    • VCF 9.1 Support Role Playlist

Product Documentation

• VCF 9.1 Documentation https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-1.html

Licensing (remains the same as for VCF 9.0)

• Blog: Licensing in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/06/24/licensing-in-vmware-cloud-foundation-9-0/
• Overview of the VCF Business Services Console https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTPQTfMy–w
• Register your VCF Operations instance with the VCF Business Services Console https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9GRmKS5z1M 
• License Management in the VCF Business Services Console https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRvG9xUp5LE
• License Usage Analytics in the VCF Business Services Console https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUihF3iPci0
• Tenant & Access Management in the VCF Business Services Console https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6fBRiauvOA
• Detailed documentation on VCF Licensing on here https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-1/licensing.html

Cheers

Dudi