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.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:
- 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
