Tag: 9.0

https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/06/17/now-available-vmware-vsphere-foundation-9-0/

Deep Dive: What’s New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 – Platform (HOL-2610-01-VCF-L)

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.

📌 Lab Overview

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.

🔑 Module 1 — VMware Cloud Foundation Overview

👉 Key Constructs

At the core of VCF 9.0 are a few new concepts:

  • VCF Private Cloud: The top-level logical unit, representing your entire managed cloud.
  • VCF Fleet: A set of resources managed together — including VCF Operations & Automation.
  • VCF Instance: The building block of a Fleet — includes a Management Domain (for control) and optional Workload Domains (where user apps run).
  • Availability Zones & Regions: Logical segments for fault tolerance and geo-distribution.

👉 Updated Components

VCF 9.0 refines its component structure:

VCF 5.xVCF 9.0
VMware Cloud BuilderVCF Installer
SDDC ManagerSDDC Manager (via VCF Operations)
VMware Aria OpsVCF Operations
VMware vIDMVCF Identity Broker

The new VCF Operations console unifies:

  • Monitoring & Health: Diagnostics, resource health.
  • Lifecycle Management: Patching and upgrades.
  • Fleet Management: SSO, certificates, tags, config drift.

Bonus: The new VCF Identity Broker (IdB) replaces vIDM for Single Sign-On — making authentication cleaner and more integrated.

🛠️ Module 2 — Deploying VMware Cloud Foundation

You have two main options:

✅ Deploy New

  • Plan: Use the Planning Workbook to gather FQDNs, IPs, VLANs, and credentials.
  • Prepare: Ready your ESX hosts.
  • Deploy: Use the VCF Installer Appliance, which now supports Python, Java, PowerCLI, and OpenAPI 3.0 — so automation is a breeze.

🔁 Converge Existing Infrastructure

Already have vCenter and ESX running? Good news:

  • You can upgrade and converge your environment to VCF 9.0 using the Installer.
  • Supported topologies include everything from simple clusters to more advanced setups with Aria Ops and Automation.

Tip: The lab’s Interactive Simulations show exactly how this works, step-by-step.

🌐 Module 3 — Increase Productivity with Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs)

A major highlight of VCF 9.0 is its native VPC and Transit Gateway support:

  • VPCs provide a consistent, multi-tenant network model, visible directly in vCenter.
  • Admins and end-users can deploy, manage, and monitor VPCs alongside compute and storage.
  • It simplifies cloud-like networking inside your private cloud — no need to hop between tools.

🔒 Day 2 Capabilities

Beyond setup, the lab also covers:

  • Lifecycle Depots: Online/Offline binaries for flexible upgrades.
  • Password & Certificate Management: Update, remediate, or auto-renew easily from the console.
  • Config Drift & Tags: Monitor deviations from desired configs and keep objects organized.
  • Security & Compliance: Visualize your fleet’s security posture, audit events, and remediate risks — all in one dashboard.

📚 Key Takeaway

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.

🎓 Try It Yourself

✅ Duration: ~75 mins
✅ Free & self-paced
✅ Includes guided interactive simulations

👉 Start now: VMware Hands-on Labs — or search for HOL-2610-01-VCF-L

What’s New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0: Your Guided Tour with VMware Hands-on Labs

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.

☁️ 1️⃣ What’s New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 – Platform

Lab: HOL-2610-01-VCF-L
Level: Beginner
Modules:

  • VMware Cloud Foundation Overview (30 min) – Get familiar with core concepts like Private Clouds, Fleets, and Instances.
  • Deploying VMware Cloud Foundation (30 min) – Walk through planning, deployment, and convergence of existing infrastructure with the VCF Installer.
  • Increase Productivity with Virtual Private Clouds (15 min) – Explore how VPCs and Transit Gateways enable flexible, multi-tenant networking, tightly integrated with vCenter.

✅ 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.

⚙️ 2️⃣ What’s New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 – Automation

Lab: HOL-2610-02-VCF-L
Level: Beginner–Advanced
Modules:

  • Getting Started with Automation (15 min) – Learn to set up tenant orgs using the quick start wizard.
  • Provider Portal (15 min) – Get to know infrastructure overview, access control, and identity providers.
  • Organization Management and Governance (30 min) – Dive deep into content libraries, IaaS policies, and governance.
  • Deploying Modern Applications (30 min) – Practice deploying VMs and Kubernetes clusters for modern apps.

✅ Why take this lab? Automate self-service private clouds, enforce governance, and speed up application delivery — key skills for cloud admins and SREs.

🛡️ 3️⃣ What’s New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 – Operations

Lab: HOL-2610-03-VCF-L
Level: Beginner
Modules:

  • Monitoring Private Cloud Infrastructure (30 min)
  • Monitoring Network Operations (15 min)
  • Monitoring Storage Operations (30 min)
  • Monitoring Security Operations (15 min)
  • Chargeback (15 min)

✅ 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.

⚡ 4️⃣ What’s New with vSphere in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0

Lab: HOL-2630-01-VCF-L
Level: Beginner–Advanced
Modules:

  • vSphere 9 Overview (30 min)
  • Lifecycle Manager (15 min)
  • Resource Management (30 min)
  • Guest OS and Workloads (15 min)
  • Mixed Vendor Clusters (15 min)
  • Live Patch (15 min)
  • Memory Tiering (15 min)
  • Licensing and Operations (15 min)

✅ 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.

☸️ 5️⃣ Unifying VM and Kubernetes Management with vSphere Supervisor

Lab: HOL-2633-01-VCF-L
Level: Beginner
Modules:

  • What is the vSphere Supervisor? (15 min)
  • How does the vSphere Supervisor work? (30 min)

✅ 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.

🎓 Ready to Learn?

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

The MOB is disabled – How to Enable the Managed Object Browser in vSphere 9

When you try to access the Managed Object Browser (MOB) on your vCenter Server, you might be greeted with a screen like this:

“The MOB is disabled — The Managed Object Browser on this server is currently disabled. Please, contact your Virtual Infrastructure Administrator to enable it.”

Starting with vSphere 9, the MOB is disabled by default for security reasons. If you need to enable it (for example, for debugging or advanced troubleshooting), you can do so by editing the vpxd.cfg configuration file.

Below are the steps to enable the MOB safely:

✅ How to Enable MOB in vSphere 9

1️⃣ Take a backup of the configuration file

cp /etc/vmware-vpx/vpxd.cfg /var/core/vpxd.cfg

2️⃣ Open the config file in a text editor

vi /etc/vmware-vpx/vpxd.cfg

3️⃣ Add or update the entry
Inside the <vpxd> block, add:

<enableDebugBrowse>true</enableDebugBrowse>

For example:

<vpxd>
  ...
  ...
  <enableDebugBrowse>true</enableDebugBrowse>
  ...
  ...
</vpxd>

4️⃣ Restart the vpxd service

service-control --restart vmware-vpxd

📚 Reference

For more information, see the official KB: How to disable access to the Managed Object Browser

✅ Tip: Remember to disable the MOB again after use to follow security best practices.