The VMware Cloud Foundation ecosystem continues to evolve as organizations seek to balance the control of private infrastructure with the agility of cloud-native practices. The upcoming release of the VMware Cloud Foundation: Automate and Operate [V9.1] course signals a strategic shift toward integrating automation and operational visibility into a single learning path. This approach reflects broader industry trends where enterprises are moving beyond basic virtualization to embrace software-defined data centers that can be programmed, monitored, and optimized through policy-driven workflows. For professionals tasked with delivering reliable private cloud services, understanding how automation and operations intertwine is no longer optional—it is a core competency that directly impacts service quality, cost efficiency, and time-to-market for internal applications.
Private cloud environments have matured significantly over the past few years, yet many organizations still struggle with siloed teams where provisioning, configuration, and monitoring operate independently. VCF 9.1 addresses this challenge by tightening the coupling between its automation framework and operations console, enabling a seamless flow from service request to performance insight. The new course mirrors this architectural evolution by first laying the groundwork in VCF Automation—showing how infrastructure is abstracted into consumable offerings—and then transitioning to VCF Operations, where administrators learn to observe, analyze, and act on the health and utilization of those services. This end-to-end perspective equips learners to design private clouds that are not only easy to consume but also transparent and resilient under varying workloads.
The curriculum is deliberately split into two complementary halves, each consisting of nine modules that build progressively on prior knowledge. Modules 2 through 10 focus on the automation side, beginning with an overview of VCF Automation’s architecture and proceeding through provider infrastructure, identity management, the creation of Regions and Organizations, networking fundamentals, and content management. Learners then explore how application teams leverage self-service portals to request resources via blueprints and catalogs, all orchestrated by the embedded workflow engine. This segment emphasizes practical skills such as defining project scopes, applying policies, and deploying multi-tier applications that reflect real-world enterprise scenarios.
In the automation portion, particular attention is given to the enhanced network architecture introduced in VCF 9.1, which provides greater flexibility in connecting provider resources to tenant workloads while maintaining security and compliance boundaries. Another highlight is the Multi-Supervisor Region Quota (MSRQ) feature, which allows administrators to allocate compute and storage capacity across multiple Kubernetes supervisors within a Region, ensuring fair sharing and preventing resource contention. These capabilities are essential for organizations running mixed workloads—traditional virtual machines alongside modern containerized applications—on a unified platform, and the course offers hands-on exercises to configure and validate these settings.
Transitioning to operations, modules 11 through 18 dive into the observability and control plane of VCF Operations. Students learn to navigate the metrics hierarchy, construct meaningful views, and generate reports and dashboards that translate raw data into actionable intelligence. The course covers how to create custom symptom definitions and alert policies that proactively flag anomalies before they impact users, as well as how to manage log retention and storage efficiently. A significant portion is dedicated to the Health, Findings, and Troubleshooting Workbench, a unified interface that correlates events, configuration changes, and performance data to accelerate root-cause analysis and reduce mean time to resolution.
One of the most notable additions in the VCF 9.1 edition is the inclusion of automated monitoring for vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS) clusters directly within the operations console. As Kubernetes becomes a foundational layer for modern application deployment, the ability to monitor cluster health, node status, and pod performance alongside traditional VM metrics provides a holistic view of the environment. The course demonstrates how to set up VKS-specific dashboards, leverage real-time metrics streams, and integrate container logs into the broader observability framework—skills that are increasingly critical for private cloud operators supporting DevOps teams.
What truly distinguishes this training is its extensive lab kit, comprising 33 hands-on exercises that closely follow the lecture sequence. Learners begin by logging into the VCF Automation portals, creating their first Region, and configuring provider networking before progressing to projects, policies, content libraries, and blueprint-driven deployments. On the operations side, they build custom views, configure dashboards, define alert thresholds, and simulate troubleshooting scenarios using the Workbench. Advanced topics such as MSRQ configurations, real-time metric components, and VKS cluster monitoring are delivered as guided simulations, allowing participants to experiment with complex setups without risking production environments.
The target audience includes cloud administrators, system operators, and infrastructure architects who are responsible for delivering and maintaining a private cloud based on VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1. While the course is accessible to those with foundational VCF knowledge, the recommended starting point is completion of the VCF: Build, Manage, Secure training or equivalent experience. For individuals who have already taken the v9.0 version of this course, the 9.1 edition serves as a natural progression, highlighting the incremental enhancements and architectural refinements introduced in the latest release. Combining it with the VCF: What’s New [v9.1] on-demand module offers a comprehensive update path that ensures no critical feature is overlooked.
From a certification standpoint, the course aligns tightly with the upcoming VCP-VCF 9.1 Administrator exam, providing a practical preparation route that goes beyond theoretical knowledge. Earning this validation not only signals proficiency with the latest VCF features but also demonstrates a commitment to mastering the operational discipline required to run a modern private cloud at scale. In a job market where cloud expertise is often associated with public platforms, holding a VCP-VCF distinction can differentiate professionals seeking roles in enterprises that prioritize data sovereignty, regulatory compliance, or performance-sensitive workloads.
Looking at the broader market, the renewed focus on private cloud automation reflects a recognition that not all workloads are suited for public cloud migration. Industries such as finance, healthcare, and government continue to invest heavily in on-premises or hosted private clouds to meet latency, security, and data governance requirements. Simultaneously, the pressure to deliver cloud-like self-service experiences internally has intensified, driving demand for professionals who can bridge traditional infrastructure management with automation and DevOps practices. VMware’s investment in updating its curriculum underscores the ongoing relevance of VCF as a platform for hybrid cloud strategies.
To make the most of this upcoming training, interested learners should begin by reviewing the VCF: What’s New [v9.1] on-demand course to familiarize themselves with the key architectural changes in the 9.1 release. Ensuring access to a lab environment—either through a personal evaluation stack or a corporate sandbox—will allow for immediate application of concepts as they are taught. After the course launches, registering for either the instructor-led or on-demand format via Learning@Broadcom is advised, and keeping an eye on the official blog for scheduling details will help secure a preferred session. Finally, consider pairing the course with hands-on practice in areas like policy-based automation and VKS monitoring to translate learning into tangible operational improvements.