Daniel Micanek virtual Blog – Like normal Dan, but virtual.
After deploying the new VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Installer appliance, the first thing you must setup is the software depot which is where the VCF Installer will go to download the software binaries for deploying either VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) or VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). Users […]
The vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS) are a critical part of maintaining cluster features like vSphere DRS and HA in your VMware environment. But there might be scenarios where you need to disable vCLS on a cluster — for example, for troubleshooting or special configurations. This is where Retreat Mode comes in.
In this post, you’ll learn:
vCLS deploys lightweight agent VMs in every vSphere cluster to maintain cluster services. Without these VMs, some services like vSphere DRS and HA cannot function properly in vSphere versions prior to 9.0.
Retreat Mode is a way to tell vCenter: “Stop running vCLS VMs on this cluster.” This disables vCLS for that cluster — but at a cost.
👉 Good news:
Starting with vSphere 9.0, you can disable vCLS without losing DRS or HA functionality!
👉 Important for older versions:
In versions before vSphere 9.0, disabling vCLS means DRS will stop working and HA placement will be suboptimal. Also, vSAN cluster health might show as degraded.
If you enter Retreat Mode on a cluster:
Use Retreat Mode only when absolutely necessary.
VMware has made this easy in recent updates:
Done! The vCLS VMs will be cleaned up automatically.
This takes a few extra steps:
1️⃣ Log in to vSphere Client.
2️⃣ Go to your cluster and copy its domain ID from the URL. Example:
domain-c1006
⚠️ Only use the domain-c<number>! Using the wrong ID can break vCenter.
3️⃣ In the vCenter Server, go to Configure → Advanced Settings → Edit Settings.
4️⃣ Add a new setting:
Name: config.vcls.clusters.domain-c<number>.enabled
Value: False
5️⃣ Click Save.
👉 vCLS VMs will be cleaned up automatically.
6️⃣ To re-enable, set the value back to True.
You can also bulk manage Retreat Mode using the provided Python script:
python retreatModeConfiguration.py -r disable
or
python retreatModeConfiguration.py -r enable
vCLS VMs are named:
vCLS (1), vCLS (2), ...
They are found under a special vCLS folder in VMs and Templates view.
You can also confirm using vSphere Managed Object Browser (MOB):
https://<vCenter_IP>/mob/?moid=vm-1004&doPath=config.managedBy
Use Retreat Mode responsibly and always monitor your cluster health after making changes.
👉 For full details, check out the official KB: Disable vCLS on a Cluster via Retreat Mode (KB 316514)
One of the features that transformed how virtualization is used is vSphere vMotion. During a vMotion task, one or more VMs are migrated to a different host while still powered on and available to users. The application running in the VM is unaware of this process. The VM goes through a very […]
If you’re planning an upgrade to VMware vSphere 9.0 or just exploring which edition is the right fit for your organization, here’s a clear overview straight from the official vSphere 9.0 Product Line Comparison PDF.
In version 9.0, VMware shifts its focus:
This means new features and innovations, especially around Kubernetes integration, AI services, advanced storage architectures, and modern cloud operations, require the Foundation or Cloud Foundation bundles.
Below is a condensed and formatted table showing a selection of key features across the three product lines:
| Feature | vSphere Standard | vSphere Enterprise Plus | vSphere Foundation 9.0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| vCenter Edition | Standard | Standard | Standard |
| vCenter Lifecycle Management Service | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Kubernetes Runtime & Supervisor Services | – | – | ✔ |
| VM Service, Storage Service, Network Service | – | – | ✔ |
| vSphere Lifecycle Manager | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Live Patching for ESX | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| vCenter Server Profiles & Update Planner | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Host Profiles & Auto Deploy | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Green Metrics | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Identity Federation | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Hardware TPM 2.0 Support | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Virtual TPM 2.0 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| TLS 1.2 / 1.3 | ✔ / ✔ | ✔ / ✔ | ✔ / ✔ |
| Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Instant Clone & Per-VM EVC | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| NVIDIA GRID vGPU | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Dynamic DirectPath IO | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| vMotion & Cross-vCenter vMotion | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| High Availability (HA) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Fault Tolerance | ✔ (2 vCPU only) | ✔ | ✔ |
| vSphere Replication & Storage vMotion | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) | – | – | ✔ |
| vSAN Original Storage Architecture (OSA) | – | – | ✔ |
| Advanced Data Services (Compression, Encryption) | – | – | ✔ |
| External Storage (VMFS, vVols, NFS) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| vSphere Distributed Switch | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Container Networking with Antrea | – | – | ✔ |
| VCF Operations: Monitoring, Logs, Compliance | – | – | ✔ |
| AI Services & Data Services | – | – | ✔ |
| Policy-based Governance & Workload Lifecycle Management | – | ✔ | ✔ |
(✔ means feature included; – means not included)
Modern IT teams are increasingly challenged to manage both traditional virtual machines (VMs) and modern Kubernetes workloads side-by-side. VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 rises to this challenge by tightly integrating vSphere Supervisor, transforming your vSphere clusters into a robust hybrid platform for VMs and Kubernetes.
In this Hands-On Lab (HOL-2633-01-VCF-L), you’ll get guided, practical experience on how to unify VM and Kubernetes management using vSphere Supervisor, from foundational concepts to deploying real workloads.
| Module | Title | Duration | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is the vSphere Supervisor? | 15 min | Beginner |
| 2 | How does the vSphere Supervisor work? | 30 min | Beginner |
Let’s break down each module.
vSphere Supervisor introduces a declarative Kubernetes control plane natively into your vSphere cluster. This means your cluster can now run:
This hybrid model enables a consistent cloud-like experience for both traditional and modern workloads.
vSphere Supervisor comes with base services like:
Additional services (like Grafana, Harbor, DNS, and vDPP) can be installed modularly to enhance the Supervisor’s capabilities.
This module is all about getting your hands dirty — you’ll step through setting up vSphere Supervisor, deploying Namespaces, provisioning VMs and Kubernetes clusters, and expanding functionality with services.
(Note: The lab walks through these steps but does not deploy a live Supervisor due to time constraints.)
✔️ Unified Operations: Manage VMs and Kubernetes side-by-side in the same cluster with consistent policies.
✔️ Self-Service for DevOps: Namespaces, storage, and VM classes empower developers with agility.
✔️ Resilience and Scalability: Zones and Supervisor Services ensure HA and modularity.
If you’re ready to unlock the full power of VMware’s latest vSphere release, the HOL-2630-01-VCF-L hands-on lab is your perfect starting point. This lab provides a practical deep dive into the newest features, enhancements, and operational improvements in vSphere 9.0, all seamlessly integrated into VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0.
In this walkthrough, I’ll break down what you’ll learn, module by module, to help you get the most out of your lab experience.
Kick things off with a comprehensive overview of what’s new in vSphere 9:
✅ Memory Tiering — Officially introduced, this feature allows NVMe devices to be used as tiered memory, expanding your host’s memory footprint while optimizing costs.
✅ Virtual Hardware Version 22 — Unlocks support for up to 960 logical processors, enhanced device support, and performance improvements for demanding workloads.
✅ VPC in vCenter — Create flexible Virtual Private Clouds and manage public/private networking seamlessly.
✅ Unified Licensing — Say goodbye to license keys — a new secure license file model simplifies lifecycle management.
✅ vSphere Configuration Profiles — The next-gen replacement for Host Profiles, offering cluster-wide desired state config at scale.
You’ll also experience the updated ESX Host Client UI, now with dark mode and deep customization options.
Discover how vLCM is more powerful than ever:
🔹 Staged Updates — Push update payloads to hosts before remediation to minimize maintenance downtime.
🔹 Parallel Remediation — Remediate multiple hosts simultaneously for faster patch cycles — perfect for large clusters.
🔹 Standalone Host Support — Manage isolated hosts via API or the new config profiles.
Efficiency meets performance:
✨ Enhanced DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) — Smarter load balancing with new automation levels and predictive DRS for proactive resource allocation.
✨ vMMR (vSphere Memory Monitoring & Remediation) — Gain granular insights into memory usage and performance impact.
✨ Simplified Virtual NUMA — New CPU topology tools simplify configuring vNUMA for VMs, improving latency for sensitive workloads.
Modern workloads, fully supported:
🔑 Virtual TPM (vTPM) Policies — Clone Windows 11 VMs securely by auto-replacing TPM devices.
📈 Virtual Hardware Upgrades — Upgrade clusters to the latest hardware version in bulk.
🔒 Device Virtualization Extensions — Expanded framework for vendors to build hardware-backed virtual devices with better live migration support.
In vSphere 9, clusters can mix hosts from multiple hardware vendors while still managing updates with cluster-based images. This makes infrastructure more flexible and vendor-agnostic.
Zero downtime patching is here:
⏱️ Live Patch — Apply updates to ESXi hosts without reboots or maintenance mode. Improve security posture while keeping workloads running.
Dive deeper into Memory Tiering:
📚 Learn how to set up NVMe drives as cost-effective memory extensions, boosting capacity and lowering DRAM costs.
📊 See how this impacts workload density and CPU utilization.
Simplify your day-to-day management:
🗝️ Unified License Management — Use the VCF Business Services Console to license your entire Software Defined Data Center with a single license file.
📋 One Pane of Glass — Link vCenter instances for holistic operations and monitoring.
Ready to elevate your VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) operations game?
In the latest Hands-On Lab HOL-2610-03-VCF-L, you’ll get practical experience with all the new operational capabilities in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0, learning how to monitor, secure, troubleshoot, and manage your private cloud infrastructure efficiently.
Below is a deep dive into each module so you know exactly what to expect.
Kick off by mastering the new Diagnostic Findings and VCF Health tools.
🔑 Takeaway: Get proactive issue detection and a health dashboard for streamlined troubleshooting.
The new Network Operations Dashboard integrates NSX and vSphere network monitoring right into VCF Operations—no more jumping between consoles!
🔑 Takeaway: Gain deep insights into your network’s health, traffic, and relationships—all in one place.
Next, manage your storage like a pro:
You’ll learn to filter by storage type, run diagnostics, and use dashboards to ensure healthy storage across the environment.
🔑 Takeaway: Proactively monitor and troubleshoot storage issues before they impact workloads.
Security is a top priority in VCF 9.0—and the new Security Operations Dashboard puts control at your fingertips:
🔑 Takeaway: Unified, real-time visibility into user actions and infrastructure security helps you strengthen compliance and reduce vulnerabilities.
Finally, master cost transparency and control:
🔑 Takeaway: Simplify financial operations and ensure tenants have clear insights into their cloud usage and costs.
VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Operations introduces robust, integrated monitoring and management tools designed to:
Ready to unleash true self-service private cloud automation? VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 is packed with robust automation features, and the HOL-2610-02-VCF-L lab is your guided hands-on tour to master them.
Whether you’re a cloud admin, service provider, or an automation enthusiast, this lab takes you from zero to hero, showing you exactly how VCF 9.0 streamlines infrastructure operations, enforces governance, and accelerates modern application deployment. Here’s an inside look at what you’ll experience.
⏱️ Length: 15 min | Level: Beginner
You’ll kick things off with the new Quick Start Wizard, a major usability boost in VCF 9.0. It offers both manual and automated workflows to configure your environment in minutes.
💡 Lab highlight: Experience an interactive simulation that mimics a real deployment—perfect if you want to see the process without spinning up actual infrastructure.
⏱️ Length: 15 min | Level: Beginner
The Provider Portal is your mission control. In this module, you’ll:
✅ Explore the Infrastructure Overview—see organizations, regions, supervisors, and content libraries at a glance.
✅ Configure Access Control—add users, assign or create custom roles, and manage permissions.
✅ Connect Identity Providers—integrate OIDC, LDAP, or SAML for centralized authentication. Bring your enterprise-grade security posture directly into VCF Automation.
⏱️ Length: 30 min | Level: Advanced
Here’s where things get powerful:
✨ Content Libraries: Learn to create tenant-specific libraries to manage VM images and deployment blueprints. Unlike provider libraries, these are isolated per organization, supporting granular control.
🔑 IaaS Policies: Enforce compliance automatically. Create policies to govern how resources are provisioned and what users can do post-deployment. For example, the lab guides you through setting an IaaS Resource Policy to block unauthorized VM deployments—then tests it live to see policy enforcement in action.
🧭 Governance Tools: Leverage centralized billing, resource sharing, and collaboration while keeping strict security boundaries between tenants.
⏱️ Length: 30 min | Level: Advanced
This final module shows how VCF 9.0 transforms modern app delivery:
🐳 Supervisor Clusters: Understand how vSphere Supervisor and Namespaces abstract infrastructure complexity, letting users consume IaaS resources through Kubernetes APIs.
⚙️ Blueprint Design: Hands-on time! You’ll deploy:
🔍 Day 2 Operations: Explore post-deployment operations—view resources, manage them through intuitive interfaces, and understand the cloud-native approach to scaling and managing workloads.
By the end of HOL-2610-02-VCF-L, you’ll have practical experience with:
If you’re ready to level up your understanding of modern cloud infrastructure, the HOL-2610-01-VCF-L Hands-on Lab is your best launchpad into VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0. In this detailed guide, I’ll walk you through the lab’s structure, key learning points, and the new features it reveals — straight from VMware’s latest release.
This lab is perfect for beginners and experienced admins alike. In about 75 minutes, it covers:
✅ Module 1: VCF Constructs, Components, Operations, and Identity
✅ Module 2: How to Deploy VCF — from scratch or by converging existing infrastructure
✅ Module 3: How to boost productivity with Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs)
By the end, you’ll know how to build, manage, and scale a robust private cloud platform with the very latest VMware tools.
At the core of VCF 9.0 are a few new concepts:
VCF 9.0 refines its component structure:
| VCF 5.x | VCF 9.0 |
|---|---|
| VMware Cloud Builder | VCF Installer |
| SDDC Manager | SDDC Manager (via VCF Operations) |
| VMware Aria Ops | VCF Operations |
| VMware vIDM | VCF Identity Broker |
The new VCF Operations console unifies:
Bonus: The new VCF Identity Broker (IdB) replaces vIDM for Single Sign-On — making authentication cleaner and more integrated.
You have two main options:
Already have vCenter and ESX running? Good news:
Tip: The lab’s Interactive Simulations show exactly how this works, step-by-step.
A major highlight of VCF 9.0 is its native VPC and Transit Gateway support:
Beyond setup, the lab also covers:
The HOL-2610-01-VCF-L lab is more than an overview — it’s a practical sandbox to test VMware’s latest unified operations, automation, and networking innovations for private cloud. Whether you’re modernizing existing clusters or starting fresh, VCF 9.0’s new tools streamline every step.
✅ Duration: ~75 mins
✅ Free & self-paced
✅ Includes guided interactive simulations
👉 Start now: VMware Hands-on Labs — or search for HOL-2610-01-VCF-L
Ready to dive into the exciting world of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0? The latest release brings powerful new capabilities for modern, unified private cloud environments — and the best way to get hands-on is with the updated VMware HOLs.
Below, I’ve rounded up the top new labs covering Platform, Automation, Operations, vSphere updates, and Kubernetes integration — so you can quickly see what’s new and where to start.
Lab: HOL-2610-01-VCF-L
Level: Beginner
Modules:
✅ Why take this lab? It’s your foundational guide to the new VCF Operations interface and the deployment workflow — great for newcomers or those upgrading from older VCF versions.
Lab: HOL-2610-02-VCF-L
Level: Beginner–Advanced
Modules:
✅ Why take this lab? Automate self-service private clouds, enforce governance, and speed up application delivery — key skills for cloud admins and SREs.
Lab: HOL-2610-03-VCF-L
Level: Beginner
Modules:
✅ Why take this lab? Master health monitoring, flow analysis, vSAN management, security operations, and cost transparency with chargeback — all with the new unified Operations interface.
Lab: HOL-2630-01-VCF-L
Level: Beginner–Advanced
Modules:
✅ Why take this lab? Learn how vSphere 9.0 simplifies license management with Unified Licensing, enhances performance with Memory Tiering, enables Live Patching with zero downtime, and makes cluster lifecycle operations smoother — even across mixed hardware vendors.
Lab: HOL-2633-01-VCF-L
Level: Beginner
Modules:
✅ Why take this lab? See how vSphere Supervisor bridges VMs and Kubernetes, get hands-on with configuration, and deploy Kubernetes clusters alongside traditional VMs — all from vCenter.
All these labs are free, self-paced, and available right now in the VMware Hands-on Labs catalog. Whether you’re planning a fresh deployment, modernizing operations, or integrating Kubernetes, these labs ensure you’re ready to make the most of VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.
👉 Check out the labs and start exploring: VMware Hands-on Labs
