NSX Networking: What's New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1? (Part 5)

 

As VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) continues to evolve, version 9.1 introduces several enhancements that simplify NSX networking deployment, improve operational flexibility, and reduce infrastructure overhead. These updates focus on streamlining networking workflows, enhancing integration with vCenter and VCF operations, and making it easier for organizations to scale their cloud infrastructure.

In this fifth installment of our VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 series, we'll take a closer look at the latest NSX networking improvements and what they mean for administrators managing modern private cloud environments.

Making Domains VPC-Ready with Greater Flexibility

One of the most significant enhancements in VCF 9.1 is the ability to configure the vNetworking service after a domain has already been created or imported.

Previously, if the NSX overlay networking components, specifically the Tunnel EndPoints (TEPs), were not configured during the initial deployment, administrators often faced additional complexity when enabling advanced networking services later. With VCF 9.1, that limitation has been removed.

Administrators can now:

• Configure Tunnel EndPoints (TEPs) after domain creation or import.
• Enable overlay networking without requiring a complete redesign of the domain.
• Configure the default Transit Gateway as part of the default project.

This streamlined workflow makes it significantly easier to prepare domains for Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) networking capabilities while providing more flexibility during deployment planning. Organizations can now adopt networking features at their own pace rather than being forced to make all architectural decisions during initial implementation.

Simplified Overlay Network Configuration from vCenter

Another welcome enhancement is the integration of Overlay Service configuration directly within vCenter.

Tunnel EndPoints (TEPs) are a fundamental component of NSX overlay networking, enabling encapsulated traffic transport between hosts. Historically, configuring and managing TEPs often required administrators to move between multiple management interfaces.

With VCF 9.1, TEP configuration can now be performed directly from vCenter alongside other VMkernel networking services.

Key Benefits

• Centralized management experience.
• Reduced operational complexity.
• Consistent networking workflows across ESXi hosts.
• Faster deployment and troubleshooting.

By bringing TEP management into vCenter, VMware continues to reinforce its vision of a unified management experience, giving infrastructure teams a single pane of glass for host networking configuration.

Native LACP Support in VCF Deployment Workflows

Network resilience and bandwidth aggregation remain essential for modern data centers. To help address these requirements, VCF 9.1 introduces UI-based configuration support for Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs) using Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP).

Rather than relying on post-deployment manual configuration, administrators can now configure LACP directly through:

• VMware Cloud Foundation Installer
• VCF Operations workflows

Why This Matters

LACP provides several advantages, including:

• Increased bandwidth through aggregated links.
• Improved network resilience and redundancy.
• Automatic link failure detection.
• Simplified switch-to-host connectivity management.

The addition of UI-driven configuration reduces deployment complexity and helps ensure network connectivity standards are implemented consistently from day one.

For organizations operating large-scale VCF environments, this enhancement can significantly reduce deployment times while minimizing the risk of configuration errors.

NSX Manager Sharing Across Domains

Perhaps one of the most impactful operational improvements in VCF 9.1 is the ability for workload domains to share NSX Managers deployed in the Management Domain.

Traditionally, organizations often deployed dedicated NSX Manager clusters for individual workload domains. While this model provided separation, it also increased resource consumption and operational overhead.

VCF 9.1 introduces a more efficient approach by allowing:

• Management Domain NSX Managers to be shared with workload domains.
• Reduced infrastructure resource requirements.
• Lower management complexity.
• Simplified NSX lifecycle operations.

Operational Advantages

By consolidating NSX management components, organizations can:

• Reduce the number of virtual appliances required.
• Lower CPU, memory, and storage consumption.
• Simplify patching and upgrades.
• Streamline day-to-day operations.

For environments supporting multiple workload domains, this enhancement can result in meaningful infrastructure savings while maintaining the networking capabilities organizations expect from NSX.

Final Thoughts

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 continues to focus on simplifying cloud infrastructure operations while increasing deployment flexibility. The NSX networking enhancements introduced in this release address several long-standing operational challenges and provide administrators with a more streamlined experience.

The highlights include:

✅ Post-deployment TEP configuration for existing domains

✅ Simplified overlay networking management directly from vCenter

✅ Built-in UI support for LACP and LAG configuration

✅ NSX Manager sharing between Management and Workload Domains

Together, these improvements reduce deployment friction, improve operational efficiency, and help organizations make better use of infrastructure resources while preparing for modern VPC-based networking architectures.

As VMware Cloud Foundation evolves, these enhancements demonstrate VMware's commitment to delivering a more integrated, scalable, and administrator-friendly private cloud platform.

NSX Networking: What's New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 (Part 4)

 

As organizations continue to strengthen their security posture and simplify operational management, platform security has become a critical pillar of modern cloud infrastructure. VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 introduces several important security-focused enhancements within NSX that improve certificate management, strengthen authentication controls, reduce attack surfaces, and modernize the underlying platform architecture.

In this fourth installment of our VCF 9.1 networking series, we'll explore the latest platform security improvements that help organizations build more resilient, secure, and manageable environments.

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Non-Disruptive Certificate Renewal for NSX-Integrated VCF Components

Managing certificates across complex infrastructure platforms has traditionally been an operational challenge. Certificate renewals can potentially introduce service interruptions if dependent systems fail to immediately trust newly issued certificates.

To address this, VCF 9.1 introduces support for a standardized Non-Disruptive Certificate architecture across VCF components that consume NSX services.

Why This Matters

Many VMware Cloud Foundation services rely on secure communication with NSX. Previously, certificate changes could require additional validation activities to ensure platform components continued to trust NSX services.

With the new architecture, VCF components can maintain trust relationships with NSX even when NSX server certificates are renewed or replaced.

Key Benefits

• Reduced operational risk during certificate renewals
• Improved service continuity
• Simplified certificate lifecycle management
• Better alignment with enterprise security practices
• Reduced maintenance windows

For organizations operating large-scale environments, this enhancement significantly reduces the administrative burden associated with certificate management while improving overall platform stability.

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Enhanced Backup Security with RSA and SSH-ED Algorithm Support

Backup and recovery systems are only as secure as the mechanisms used to protect them. Recognizing this, VCF 9.1 expands security capabilities for NSX Backup and Restore operations.

NSX Backup and Restore now supports:

• RSA host key algorithms
• SSH-ED host key algorithms

This enhancement provides greater flexibility when integrating NSX with enterprise backup repositories and aligns NSX backup functionality with modern security standards.

Benefits of Expanded Host Key Support

Organizations can now:

• Standardize backup security configurations
• Improve cryptographic consistency across infrastructure
• Meet internal compliance requirements
• Leverage stronger authentication mechanisms

Important Note

If you plan to use the ssh-ed25519 host key algorithm, backup configuration must be performed through the NSX Manager UI or API.

This requirement helps ensure proper implementation and compatibility when utilizing the more modern SSH-ED authentication method.

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Stronger Password Controls for Local Accounts

Credential security remains one of the most fundamental components of any cybersecurity strategy.

Beginning with VCF 9.1, NSX enforces an additional safeguard during password reset operations for local accounts.

What's Changing?

When performing a password reset, users can no longer reuse their existing password.

The new password must be different from the old one.

Why This Is Important

While this may seem like a small change, it helps strengthen security by preventing ineffective password reset practices where users simply re-enter their current credentials.

Benefits include:

• Improved password hygiene
• Stronger account protection
• Better compliance with security policies
• Reduced risk of credential reuse

This enhancement aligns NSX with security best practices commonly found in enterprise identity and access management programs.

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NSX Internal Operations No Longer Depend on Visible ESXi User Accounts

One of the more significant security architecture changes in VCF 9.1 involves how NSX performs operations on ESXi hosts.

Historically, NSX created several regular user accounts on ESXi hosts to facilitate various platform functions, including:

• mux_user
• da-user
• nsx-user
• lldpVim-user

Starting with VCF 9.1, these accounts are no longer created or used.

A Shift Toward Internal Service Accounts

Instead, NSX now leverages specialized internal accounts that are not exposed to users.

This architectural change delivers multiple advantages:

• Reduced attack surface
• Fewer visible privileged accounts
• Improved security posture
• Simplified user management
• Reduced administrative overhead

Security Benefits

By eliminating the need for these user-visible service accounts, organizations gain tighter control over host access while reducing the opportunities for misuse, misconfiguration, or unauthorized account discovery.

This change also helps security teams maintain a cleaner and more streamlined account landscape across ESXi environments.

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NSX Moves to Ubuntu 24.04 and Chiseled Containers

Perhaps the most impactful platform modernization initiative in VCF 9.1 is the upgrade of all NSX appliances to Ubuntu 24.04.

This upgrade is more than a simple operating system refresh. It represents a broader strategy to improve security, maintainability, and deployment efficiency.

Modern Operating System Foundation

Ubuntu 24.04 provides:

• Long-term enterprise support
• Updated security frameworks
• Modern package libraries
• Ongoing vulnerability remediation

This ensures NSX appliances are built upon a contemporary and well-supported operating system platform.

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Introducing Chiseled Containers

In addition to adopting Ubuntu 24.04, NSX now leverages chiseled containers.

Chiseled containers are designed to include only the components necessary for the application to function, removing unnecessary packages, binaries, and services.

Benefits of Chiseled Containers

Reduced Attack Surface

By eliminating unnecessary software components, there are fewer potential entry points available to attackers.

Improved Deployment Efficiency

Smaller container footprints typically result in:

• Faster deployment times
• Reduced resource consumption
• Simplified updates

Streamlined Patch Management

With fewer components to maintain, security patching becomes more straightforward and predictable.

Greater Operational Consistency

A unified and enterprise-supported software stack improves reliability across the platform and simplifies lifecycle management activities.

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Final Thoughts

The security enhancements introduced in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 demonstrate a continued commitment to platform hardening, operational resilience, and modern infrastructure design.

From non-disruptive certificate management and enhanced backup security to stronger password controls and the removal of legacy service accounts, NSX is becoming both more secure and easier to manage.

The transition to Ubuntu 24.04 and chiseled containers is particularly significant, providing a modern and streamlined foundation that reduces attack surface while improving deployment and patch management efficiency.

Collectively, these improvements help organizations strengthen their security posture without increasing administrative overhead, ensuring that NSX remains a secure and resilient networking platform for today's private cloud and multi-cloud environments.

In the next installment of this series, we'll continue exploring additional innovations and enhancements introduced in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1, helping you understand how the platform is evolving to meet modern networking, security, and operational demands.

NSX Networking: What's New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 (Part 3)

 

As organizations continue to push the boundaries of modern applications, AI workloads, and high-performance computing, networking performance becomes a critical factor in overall infrastructure efficiency. VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 introduces several significant enhancements to the NSX data plane, focusing on accelerating throughput, reducing latency, and improving scalability across both traditional enterprise and next-generation AI workloads.

In this third installment of our VCF 9.1 networking series, we'll explore the latest innovations in Enhanced Data Path (EDP), accelerated networking with NVIDIA SmartNICs, and performance improvements designed to help organizations extract maximum value from their infrastructure investments.

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Driving Network Scalability with FPO Hardware Steering

One of the key enhancements in VCF 9.1 is the introduction of FPO Hardware Steering for NVIDIA accelerated networking adapters.

Modern data centers increasingly rely on hardware-assisted networking to handle growing volumes of east-west traffic. As virtual environments scale, the ability to efficiently program network flows becomes a critical performance consideration.

VCF 9.1 introduces an asynchronous queue-based hardware steering engine that significantly improves:

• Flow programming rates
• Infrastructure scalability
• Network processing efficiency
• Overall data path performance

This capability is available on a range of NVIDIA accelerated networking platforms, including:

• NVIDIA ConnectX-6 DX
• NVIDIA ConnectX-7
• NVIDIA BlueField-2
• NVIDIA BlueField-3

The enhancement benefits both:

• Uniform Passthrough (UPTv2)
• Enhanced DirectPath I/O (EDPIO)

By streamlining how flow entries are programmed into hardware, organizations can support larger-scale deployments while maintaining consistent networking performance across demanding workloads.

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Uniform Passthrough (UPT): Balancing Performance and Flexibility

One of the most exciting additions in VCF 9.1 is the continued advancement of Uniform Passthrough (UPT) for accelerated networking environments.

Traditionally, organizations seeking maximum network performance often had to sacrifice operational flexibility, particularly when leveraging direct hardware access technologies. UPT changes that equation.

UPT delivers near line-rate networking performance using the familiar and widely adopted VMXNET3 interface, while offloading the data path directly to supported NVIDIA hardware such as:

• NVIDIA ConnectX-7
• NVIDIA BlueField-2 (NIC Mode)
• NVIDIA BlueField-3 (NIC Mode)

Why UPT Matters

A major advantage of UPT is that it eliminates the dependence on proprietary guest operating system drivers.

This provides several operational benefits:

• Simplified VM image management
• Easier operating system maintenance
• Consistent VM deployment models
• Reduced administrative complexity

Equally important, UPT maintains support for critical virtualization features, including:

• vMotion
• Workload mobility
• Guest operating system portability

Ideal Use Cases

UPT is particularly well suited for:

• Enterprise application workloads
• Database servers
• Business-critical virtual machines
• Large-scale virtualized environments
• High-performance applications that still require mobility

Key Benefit

Organizations gain high-speed networking performance while preserving the operational advantages that make virtualized infrastructure flexible and easy to manage.

In many environments, UPT offers an attractive "best of both worlds" approach by delivering accelerated networking without compromising day-to-day operational workflows.

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Enhanced DirectPath I/O: Maximum Performance for AI and HPC

For organizations that require absolute networking performance, VCF 9.1 further strengthens support for Enhanced DirectPath I/O (EDPIO).

EDPIO provides virtual machines with direct access to underlying network hardware, allowing workloads to bypass traditional virtualization layers and achieve extremely low latency and high throughput.

Supported hardware includes:

• NVIDIA ConnectX-6 DX
• NVIDIA ConnectX-7
• NVIDIA BlueField-3 (NIC Mode)

Built for the Most Demanding Workloads

EDPIO is designed specifically for compute-intensive environments where every microsecond counts.

Typical use cases include:

• Artificial Intelligence training
• Machine Learning clusters
• High-Performance Computing (HPC)
• Large-scale distributed computing
• High-frequency trading platforms

GPUDirect RDMA Support

A particularly powerful capability enabled through EDPIO is GPUDirect RDMA.

This technology allows GPUs to communicate directly across the network with minimal CPU involvement, enabling:

• Faster data transfers
• Reduced latency
• Improved GPU utilization
• Accelerated distributed AI training

As AI workloads continue to expand across enterprises, technologies such as GPUDirect RDMA become increasingly important for reducing training times and maximizing infrastructure efficiency.

Key Benefit

EDPIO delivers the highest available performance by providing hardware-level access, making it the preferred networking architecture for organizations running mission-critical AI, HPC, and ultra-low-latency applications.

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Enhanced Data Path (EDP) Continues to Evolve

VCF 9.1 introduces numerous improvements to Enhanced Data Path Standard, further improving resiliency and performance across NSX networking deployments.

Improved Deployment Experience

Maintaining uptime during infrastructure maintenance is always a priority.

VCF 9.1 introduces an updated orchestration sequence that helps maintain data path availability in environments utilizing multiple uplinks during planned maintenance activities.

Benefits include:

• Reduced service disruption
• Improved operational continuity
• More resilient maintenance workflows

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Lower Latency and Higher Throughput

Several enhancements contribute directly to improved networking performance.

New optimizations include:

• Posted interrupt support for lower VMXNET3 latency
• Enhanced multicast Fast Path processing
• VMKAPI checksum offloading

Together, these improvements help reduce processing overhead while increasing overall throughput and responsiveness.

Organizations running latency-sensitive workloads will particularly benefit from these enhancements.

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Expanded Feature Support

VCF 9.1 also broadens EDP feature capabilities.

New functionality includes:

• SR-IOV support for EDP Standard
• RDMA feature parity with pkthandle
• Large Receive Offload (LRO) support for Antrea deployments

These additions provide greater deployment flexibility and ensure organizations can leverage advanced networking technologies across a wider range of use cases.

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Platform-Level Optimizations

Networking performance improvements extend beyond the data path itself.

VCF 9.1 introduces platform-specific optimizations for:

vSAN Environments

Enhanced support for:

• Multi-world VMKnics
• Improved storage network efficiency
• Better vSAN networking performance

AMD-Based Platforms

Additional optimizations include:

• Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) enhancements
• Improved memory efficiency
• Better packet-processing performance

These refinements help customers maximize performance from existing hardware investments while improving overall workload efficiency.

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GRE Traffic Scaling for Cloud Service Providers

Cloud Service Providers and large-scale multi-tenant environments often rely heavily on GRE-based overlay networking.

VCF 9.1 introduces GRE vNIC RSS hashing enhancements for NSX Edge Node virtual appliances.

These improvements enable:

• Better traffic distribution
• Improved CPU utilization
• Increased traffic scale
• Enhanced network throughput

By optimizing Receive Side Scaling (RSS) for GRE traffic processing, Edge Node appliances can better handle large volumes of encapsulated traffic commonly found in service provider and large enterprise environments.

For organizations managing significant overlay networking deployments, this enhancement helps improve scalability without requiring additional infrastructure resources.

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Final Thoughts

The networking enhancements introduced in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 demonstrate VMware's continued investment in delivering cloud-scale performance across both traditional enterprise workloads and emerging AI-driven environments.

From FPO Hardware Steering and Uniform Passthrough to Enhanced DirectPath I/O and the latest Enhanced Data Path optimizations, VCF 9.1 provides organizations with multiple options to match networking performance to workload requirements.

Whether you're running business-critical applications that require operational flexibility, large-scale cloud environments demanding greater scalability, or AI clusters that need every ounce of available performance, VCF 9.1 introduces the tools and technologies necessary to meet those demands.

As AI, machine learning, and data-intensive applications continue to reshape infrastructure requirements, these networking enhancements position VMware Cloud Foundation as a powerful platform for supporting the next generation of enterprise workloads.

Stay tuned for Part 4 of this series, where we'll explore additional networking innovations and capabilities introduced in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.

NSX Networking: What's New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 (Part 2)

 

In the first part of this series, we explored some of the major networking enhancements introduced in VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1. In this second installment, we'll focus on key improvements to the NSX Edge Platform, designed to simplify deployment, improve operational reliability, and enhance infrastructure validation.

As organizations continue to modernize their private cloud environments, the NSX Edge layer remains a critical component for delivering routing, switching, security, and north-south connectivity services. VCF 9.1 introduces several meaningful enhancements that make Edge deployments easier to manage while improving performance and operational resilience.

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Simplified Edge Node Deployment with a New NSX User Interface

One of the most noticeable improvements in VCF 9.1 is the introduction of a completely redesigned workflow for Edge Node and Edge Cluster creation within NSX Manager.

Traditionally, deploying Edge infrastructure required administrators to navigate multiple configuration screens and validate various networking parameters throughout the deployment process. While functional, these workflows could be complex, particularly for organizations deploying large-scale NSX environments.

The new UI experience significantly streamlines the process by providing:

• A more intuitive deployment workflow
• Simplified Edge Node configuration
• Enhanced Edge Cluster setup and management
• Reduced deployment complexity
• Faster time-to-production for networking services

By consolidating key deployment tasks into a guided workflow, administrators can deploy Edge infrastructure more efficiently while reducing the likelihood of configuration errors. This improvement is particularly valuable for teams that are standardizing deployments across multiple cloud environments or expanding existing VCF estates.

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Expanded Hardware Support for Bare Metal Edge Deployments

VCF 9.1 continues to broaden hardware compatibility for high-performance networking environments.

With this release, VMware adds support for the following NICs as Datapath interfaces for Bare Metal Edge (BME) deployments:

• Broadcom 574X Series
• Broadcom 575X Series
• Mellanox ConnectX-6 LX (CX6 LX)

This expanded support provides customers with greater flexibility when designing and deploying Bare Metal Edge infrastructure.

For organizations leveraging Bare Metal Edges to maximize networking throughput and reduce virtualization overhead, support for these widely adopted network adapters offers several advantages:

• Greater hardware choice
• Improved infrastructure standardization
• Enhanced procurement flexibility
• Support for modern, high-performance network architectures

The addition of these NICs allows organizations to align NSX Edge deployments with existing server and networking standards while maintaining high-performance connectivity requirements.

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Control Plane Prioritization Improves Network Stability

Networking reliability often depends not only on data plane performance but also on the health of the control plane.

To address this, VCF 9.1 introduces Control Plane Prioritization (CPP) on Edge uplinks.

This enhancement ensures that critical control plane traffic receives priority handling for both:

• Receive (RX) traffic
• Transmit (TX) traffic

Control plane communications are essential for maintaining routing adjacencies, synchronization processes, and overall network stability. During periods of network congestion or heavy traffic loads, delayed control plane packets can potentially impact service availability and operational consistency.

By prioritizing these packets, VCF 9.1 delivers:

• Improved routing protocol stability
• More reliable edge operations
• Enhanced resiliency during traffic spikes
• Better overall networking performance

Importantly, CPP is available across both deployment models:

• Bare Metal Edge (BME)
• Edge Virtual Machines (Edge VM)

This ensures consistent behavior regardless of how organizations choose to deploy their NSX Edge infrastructure.

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Built-In VLAN and MTU Validation for Edge VM Deployments

Network misconfigurations remain one of the most common causes of deployment delays and operational issues. Incorrect VLAN assignments or MTU mismatches can lead to connectivity problems that are often difficult and time-consuming to diagnose.

To help address this challenge, VCF 9.1 introduces VLAN and MTU health checks as part of the new Edge deployment and Edge Cluster creation workflows.

Before deployment, NSX now performs validation checks to confirm that:

• The required VLAN configurations exist on physical Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches
• MTU settings are correctly configured
• Edge infrastructure requirements are met prior to deployment

This proactive validation helps administrators identify potential issues before they affect production environments.

Key benefits include:

• Faster deployments
• Reduced troubleshooting effort
• Fewer failed Edge deployments
• Improved deployment confidence
• Better alignment between physical and virtual networking configurations

By shifting these checks earlier into the deployment process, organizations can resolve configuration issues before they become operational problems.

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Final Thoughts

The NSX Edge Platform enhancements in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 focus on three key areas: simplicity, validation, and reliability.

The redesigned Edge deployment experience makes it easier to configure and manage Edge infrastructure, while expanded hardware support provides greater flexibility for Bare Metal Edge implementations. Meanwhile, Control Plane Prioritization strengthens networking resilience, and the new VLAN and MTU health checks help prevent common deployment mistakes before they occur.

Taken together, these improvements demonstrate VMware's continued focus on streamlining NSX operations and delivering a more predictable, enterprise-ready networking experience within VMware Cloud Foundation.

For organizations planning a VCF 9.1 upgrade, these Edge Platform enhancements offer compelling operational benefits that can reduce deployment complexity, improve network stability, and accelerate the delivery of critical networking services.

Stay tuned for the next part of this series, where we'll continue exploring the latest networking innovations introduced in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.

 

NSX Networking: What's New in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 (Part 1)

As VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) continues to evolve into a fully integrated private cloud platform, networking remains one of the most significant areas of innovation. VCF 9.1 introduces major enhancements to NSX networking, with a strong focus on Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs), Transit Gateways, automation, simplified operations, and expanded multi-tenant capabilities.

In this first part of our VCF 9.1 networking series, we'll explore the key NSX networking innovations that help organizations build more scalable, flexible, and cloud-like networking environments.

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Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Takes Center Stage

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) networking continues to be the cornerstone of modern networking within VMware Cloud Foundation. VCF 9.1 significantly expands VPC capabilities, making it easier for administrators and tenants to deploy, manage, and consume networking services while maintaining isolation and operational simplicity.

The enhancements introduced in this release focus on:

• Improved VPC management experience
• Enhanced connectivity options
• Expanded networking services
• Greater automation support
• Simplified integration with existing data center networks

These updates bring the VCF networking experience closer to the public cloud operational model while maintaining the flexibility and control of private infrastructure.

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AVI Load Balancer Integration for VPCs

One of the headline features in VCF 9.1 is the introduction of AVI Load Balancer integration with VPCs and Transit Gateways using Distributed VLAN Connections.

This enhancement enables organizations to deploy enterprise-grade load balancing services directly within VPC environments while maintaining the distributed networking architecture introduced in recent NSX releases.

Key benefits include:

• Seamless integration with NSX VPC networking
• Support for distributed Transit Gateway architectures
• Simplified deployment of application delivery services
• Improved scalability and operational consistency

This integration ensures that application workloads can leverage advanced load balancing services without requiring complex networking configurations.

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Distributed VLAN Connectivity for Supervisor and VCF Automation

VCF 9.1 introduces an important enhancement for Kubernetes and infrastructure automation environments through the integration of the Virtual Network Appliance (VNA).

By introducing the VNA, VMware delivers the necessary networking services to support Distributed Transit Gateways within Supervisor environments. This allows VCF Automation deployments to connect directly to existing data center VLANs using simple VLAN-based connectivity.

Benefits include:

• Reduced networking complexity
• Faster onboarding of automation environments
• Simplified connectivity requirements
• Easier integration with existing network infrastructure

This feature significantly lowers the barrier to deploying cloud automation services in enterprise environments.

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Enhanced NSX User Experience for VPC and IPAM

As VPC adoption grows, VMware has invested heavily in improving the NSX management experience.

Extended VPC Management Views

Administrators can now access dedicated views for specific VPC features, including:

• Subnets
• NAT services
• Connectivity configurations
• VPC-level resource management

This provides a more intuitive operational experience and makes troubleshooting easier.

Improved IP Address Management (IPAM)

VCF 9.1 delivers a complete IP allocation and management workflow, enabling:

• Simplified IP provisioning
• Faster address assignment
• Direct integration with networking services
• Easy allocation of External IPs
• Streamlined NAT configuration

Networking Interface Reorganization

The NSX UI has also been reorganized to clearly distinguish between:

VPC Networking Components

• Transit Gateways
• VPC Services
• Connectivity Policies

Traditional Segment Networking Components

• Tier-1 Gateways
• Segments
• Legacy network constructs

The result is a cleaner and more logical navigation experience.

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Extended VPC Management Directly from vCenter

VCF 9.1 continues the trend of surfacing NSX networking functionality directly within vCenter.

Administrators can now perform many VPC-related networking tasks without switching management interfaces.

New capabilities include:

• Full Transit Gateway visibility and configuration
• VPC subnet extension to VLAN networks
• End-to-end IPAM visibility
• Direct IP allocation workflows
• Enhanced topology visualization
• Traceflow support for VPC-based virtual machines
• DHCP Server management
• DHCP Relay configuration

This integrated experience helps reduce context switching and simplifies day-to-day operations.

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Terraform Support Expands Further

Infrastructure as Code continues to be a critical requirement for modern private cloud deployments.

With VCF 9.1, the Terraform Provider has been expanded to support newly introduced VPC and Transit Gateway capabilities.

New automation coverage includes:

Transit Gateway Enhancements

• Multiple Transit Gateways
• Advanced connectivity configurations
• Enhanced routing constructs

VPC Features

• Improved IPAM support
• VLAN Extension capabilities
• Advanced VPC networking services

These additions make it easier for platform teams to standardize infrastructure deployments using automation pipelines.

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Load Balancer Services Powered by Virtual Network Appliance

VCF 9.1 introduces VPC Load Balancer services running on the newly introduced Virtual Network Appliance (VNA).

The VNA hosts Layer 4 (L4) load balancing services and provides:

• Service isolation
• Improved scalability
• Flexible deployment options
• Distributed VPC support

By separating networking services from traditional centralized architectures, VMware is creating a more cloud-like networking experience that scales alongside workloads.

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IPSec VPN Support for VPCs

Secure connectivity is another major area of improvement in VCF 9.1.

Organizations can now deploy IPSec VPN services for VPCs using centralized Transit Gateway connectivity.

Supported VPN modes include:

Policy-Based VPN

Ideal for simple site-to-site connectivity requirements.

Route-Based VPN

Supports static route configurations and provides greater flexibility in network design.

Benefits include:

• Secure encrypted communication
• Hybrid cloud connectivity
• Branch office integration
• Third-party network interoperability

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1:N SNAT for Distributed Transit Gateways

VCF 9.1 introduces support for 1:N Source Network Address Translation (SNAT) within distributed Transit Gateway deployments.

This allows multiple internal workloads to share a single external IP address using Port Address Translation (PAT).

Advantages include:

• Conservation of public IP addresses
• Simplified outbound connectivity
• Reduced operational overhead
• Better public network resource utilization

This capability is particularly valuable for large-scale cloud-native environments.

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Introducing the Virtual Network Appliance (VNA)

The Virtual Network Appliance is one of the most important architectural additions in VCF 9.1.

The VNA serves as a dedicated platform for hosting network services within distributed VPC environments.

The appliance provides:

• Flexible service deployment
• Scalable networking architecture
• Support for advanced network services
• Foundation for future service expansion

Several new networking capabilities in VCF 9.1 rely on this new architecture, making it a strategic component moving forward.

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VLAN Extensions for VPC Subnets

A common challenge when adopting VPC networking is integrating existing virtual machine workloads.

VCF 9.1 addresses this with VLAN Extension for VPC Subnets.

This capability allows:

• Existing VLAN-connected workloads to join VPC networks
• Gradual migration strategies
• Simplified workload onboarding
• Distributed VLAN extensions through the fabric

Organizations can modernize networking without requiring disruptive infrastructure redesigns.

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Advanced Connectivity for Centralized Transit Gateways

Transit Gateways receive several powerful enhancements in VCF 9.1.

Multiple External Connections

Transit Gateways can now support multiple gateway external connections, improving resiliency and design flexibility.

Multiple Transit Gateways Per Project

Projects can deploy more than one Transit Gateway, enabling segmentation and workload separation.

Independent High Availability Models

Each Transit Gateway can be configured with:

• Independent HA modes
• Custom edge node placements
• Flexible deployment topologies

Proxy ARP Support

Proxy ARP can now be enabled on Tier-0 Gateways serving Transit Gateways and VPC subnets.

These enhancements deliver greater flexibility for complex enterprise networking environments.

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Multiple Distributed Transit Gateways Per Project

VCF 9.1 also introduces support for multiple Distributed Transit Gateways within a single project.

This allows organizations to:

• Separate application domains
• Isolate departments or business units
• Improve network segmentation
• Scale networking independently

The result is a more flexible multi-tenant networking architecture.

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Distributed EVPN-VXLAN Connectivity

One of the most technically significant additions is Distributed EVPN-VXLAN support.

This architecture enables direct integration between NSX workloads and modern EVPN-VXLAN network fabrics using:

• BGP EVPN
• VXLAN
• Distributed forwarding

Unlike traditional centralized approaches, traffic forwarding occurs closer to workloads, improving performance and scalability.

The VCF Route Controller provides BGP EVPN control-plane connectivity by peering directly with fabric Border Gateway devices.

Benefits include:

• Improved scale
• Higher performance
• Reduced traffic tromboning
• Better alignment between physical and virtual networks

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Enhanced Multi-Tenant Networking

VCF Automation Networking 9.1 delivers several new self-service capabilities for tenants, including:

• Distributed VLAN connectivity
• Multiple Transit Gateways
• Multiple external connections
• Self-service NAT
• Self-service VPN
• Network grouping
• Gateway Firewall services
• Distributed Firewall services (with vDefend Firewall licensing)
• Shared subnet creation across namespaces

These enhancements significantly improve tenant autonomy while maintaining centralized governance.

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Native Infoblox Integration

Enterprise IP management is further enhanced through native Infoblox integration.

VCF Networking IPAM can now:

• Discover Infoblox Network Views
• Discover DNS Views
• Discover Network Containers
• Create subnets using Infoblox containers
• Synchronize VM IP and FQDN information

Administrators can also configure mappings between:

• NSX External IP Blocks
• Infoblox Network Containers

This creates a unified IP addressing workflow across networking and automation platforms.

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VPC Span Control

VCF 9.1 introduces the ability to define the span of a VPC directly from either NSX or vCenter.

Administrators can choose whether VPCs:

• Remain local to specific clusters
• Span all vCenter instances within a networking domain

This flexibility allows infrastructure teams to align networking boundaries with operational or compliance requirements.

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New VPC Connectivity Policies

Managing communication between large numbers of VPCs can quickly become complex.

VCF 9.1 addresses this through Connectivity Policies.

Connectivity Policies allow administrators to define communication behavior between VPCs connected to the same Transit Gateway.

Supported models include:

Community VPCs

Groups of VPCs that need to communicate with each other, such as connected application tiers.

Isolated VPCs

Workloads that require strong separation, such as DMZ environments.

Promiscuous VPCs

Shared services environments that must communicate with all connected VPCs.

These policy-driven models simplify network design and improve operational consistency.

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Final Thoughts

VCF 9.1 represents one of the most significant networking releases for VMware Cloud Foundation in recent memory. The continued evolution of VPC networking, the introduction of the Virtual Network Appliance, enhanced Transit Gateway capabilities, EVPN-VXLAN integration, native Infoblox support, and expanded automation capabilities all point toward VMware's vision of delivering a true cloud operating model for the private data center.

For administrators, architects, and platform engineers, these enhancements provide greater scalability, simplified operations, and increased flexibility while preserving the enterprise-grade security and control that organizations expect from VMware Cloud Foundation.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we'll explore additional NSX Networking innovations in VCF 9.1 and examine how they further enhance security, operations, and cloud consumption experiences.

vSAN 9.1 in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1: A Major Leap Forward in Storage, Cyber Resilience, and Scalability VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1

 

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 introduces one of the most significant sets of enhancements to vSAN in recent years. Building on the performance advantages of vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA), this release focuses heavily on cyber resilience, operational simplicity, storage efficiency, and enterprise scalability. Whether you're modernizing traditional virtualized workloads, supporting Kubernetes applications, or strengthening your ransomware recovery strategy, vSAN 9.1 delivers compelling new capabilities.

Let's take a closer look at what's new.

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Enhanced Data Protection with Auto RAID-6

One of the standout improvements in vSAN ESA is the introduction of Auto RAID-6 as the default RAID configuration.

Traditionally, administrators needed to evaluate workload requirements and manually select the appropriate RAID level. With VCF 9.1, vSAN automatically configures RAID-6 by default, delivering stronger fault tolerance and higher levels of data protection without sacrificing performance.

This automated approach simplifies deployments while ensuring organizations start with a resilient storage configuration from day one.

Benefits

• Automatic selection of optimal protection levels
• Increased fault tolerance
• Simplified cluster deployment
• No performance compromise with ESA architecture

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Cyber Recovery Becomes a First-Class Citizen

Cyber resilience is a central theme throughout the vSAN 9.1 release.

Dedicated Cyber Recovery vSAN Storage Clusters

Administrators can now deploy a dedicated Cyber Recovery vSAN ESA Storage Cluster directly through the vCenter Quickstart workflow. These isolated environments are specifically designed to support disaster recovery and ransomware recovery scenarios.

The solution integrates with:

• VCF Protection and Recovery
• Health monitoring and security alerts
• Recovery validation workflows

This makes it easier than ever to establish a secure recovery environment capable of withstanding modern cyber threats.

On-Premises Clean Room Recovery

Organizations can now leverage integrated Clean Room Recovery workflows powered by vSAN snapshots.

Key capabilities include:

• Immutable recovery points
• Integrated Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
• vDefend-powered network isolation
• Automated recovery workflows

The result is faster recovery times and significantly reduced downtime during cybersecurity incidents.

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Intelligent Replication Enhancements

Seeding for vSAN Replication

Data replication can often consume considerable bandwidth and time, particularly when replicating large datasets.

With Replication Seeding, vSAN can leverage pre-existing replica data and transfer only incremental changes instead of performing a full synchronization.

Advantages include:

• Faster initial synchronization
• Reduced WAN bandwidth consumption
• Accelerated disaster recovery setup
• Improved operational efficiency

Replication from Any Source Storage

Another major enhancement is the ability to replicate workloads from virtually any storage platform into a vSAN ESA target cluster.

This broadens the reach of vSAN replication services and allows organizations to benefit from:

• Dynamic protection groups
• Immutable snapshots
• Integrated vCenter management
• Unified disaster recovery operations

for workloads that may not currently reside on vSAN.

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Simplified Protection Group Management

Tag-Based VM Membership

Managing protection groups manually becomes increasingly difficult as environments grow.

VCF 9.1 introduces Tag-Based VM Membership for vSAN Protection Groups. Administrators can automatically include VMs in protection policies based on assigned tags.

For example:

• Production
• Finance
• Tier-1
• SQL
• Mission Critical

As new virtual machines inherit the appropriate tags, protection is automatically applied without requiring administrative action.

This capability reduces management overhead while minimizing the risk of unprotected workloads.

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Flexible Snapshot Retention Policies

Recovery requirements vary widely across organizations.

To address this, vSAN 9.1 now supports Multiple Snapshot Retention Schedules, allowing administrators to create:

• Daily snapshots
• Weekly snapshots
• Monthly snapshots

This flexibility enables organizations to meet both operational recovery objectives and long-term cyber recovery requirements using a single platform.

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Improved Storage Efficiency

Storage efficiency receives a substantial boost in vSAN ESA.

Enhanced Compression

VCF 9.1 introduces further improvements to ESA compression algorithms, delivering better space savings while maintaining the performance characteristics for which ESA is known.

Organizations can expect:

• Reduced storage consumption
• Improved effective capacity
• Better ROI on storage investments

Global Deduplication

One of the most anticipated features in vSAN ESA is finally here: Global Deduplication.

Unlike traditional deduplication technologies, this implementation operates:

• Across the entire cluster
• As a post-process operation
• With encryption support

This allows organizations to maximize capacity efficiency while maintaining both security and performance.

Key Benefits

• Cluster-wide data reduction
• Improved usable capacity
• Data-at-rest encryption support
• Reduced storage costs

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Advancements for Kubernetes and Cloud-Native Workloads

VCF 9.1 significantly enhances VMware's cloud-native storage capabilities.

RWX File Volume Support Expansion

Read-Write-Many (RWX) file volumes are now available for:

• VM Service VMs
• Multiple clusters within a single vSphere Zone

This allows modern applications to share storage more efficiently across Kubernetes and virtual machine-based workloads.

Fast Clone Volume Support

Fast Clone Volume support introduces:

• Rapid volume provisioning
• Snapshot-based cloning
• Shared disk support
• Non-disruptive VM migrations
• Storage policy updates through reprovisioning

These capabilities improve agility while reducing operational complexity.

Massive CNS/CSI Scalability Improvements

Container storage scalability continues to expand dramatically.

VCF 9.1 now supports:

• Up to 50,000 volumes per vCenter
• Shared-disk clustered workloads on Supervisor Clusters
• Unified Persistent Volume Claim monitoring through VCF Operations

This makes vSAN an increasingly attractive platform for large-scale Kubernetes deployments.

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Better File Services Performance

File Services customers will appreciate the performance improvements delivered in this release.

Faster SMB Operations

vSAN File Services now provides up to:

2x faster metadata performance

for SMB-based workloads.

This is particularly beneficial for:

• User profile services
• Departmental file shares
• Home directories
• General enterprise file services

The improvement enhances responsiveness and overall user experience.

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Expanded Support for Clustered Applications

Mission-critical clustered applications often present unique storage challenges.

VCF 9.1 expands support for clustered workloads and allows administrators to:

• Expand clustered disks online
• Avoid application downtime
• Support Oracle RAC multi-writer configurations
• Support Windows Server Failover Clusters (WSFC)
• Support shared VMDK architectures

This simplifies lifecycle management for some of the most demanding enterprise applications.

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Disaggregated Storage and Multi-vCenter Flexibility

vSAN Stretched Storage Across vCenter Instances

Organizations operating multiple vCenter environments can now stretch storage resources across management boundaries.

Use cases include:

• Cross-workload domain storage sharing
• Multi-VCF deployment architectures
• Greater operational flexibility
• Improved infrastructure utilization

This capability represents a significant step toward truly disaggregated infrastructure architectures.

Shared vSAN Storage Cluster Support

VCF 9.1 expands storage sharing capabilities further by allowing:

• vSAN ESA clusters to be mounted remotely
• vSAN OSA clusters to be mounted remotely
• Compute-only clusters to consume shared storage services

This helps organizations separate compute and storage scaling strategies while reducing infrastructure overhead.

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Comprehensive Security with End-to-End Encryption

Security remains a core focus.

VCF 9.1 introduces End-to-End Encryption for Disaggregated vSAN, providing:

• Client-to-storage cluster encryption
• Data-in-transit protection
• Data-at-rest protection
• Complete encryption coverage across storage communications

For organizations implementing disaggregated storage architectures, this delivers enterprise-grade security without additional complexity.

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Simplified Stretched Cluster Maintenance

Managing maintenance windows in stretched-cluster environments has traditionally been challenging.

VCF 9.1 introduces Site Maintenance Mode for vSAN Stretched Clusters.

The feature allows administrators to:

• Place an entire site into maintenance mode
• Automate promotion of surviving sites
• Streamline planned maintenance operations
• Improve operational resilience during site-level events

This reduces complexity and risk when performing infrastructure upgrades or maintenance activities.

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Final Thoughts

vSAN 9.1 in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 is much more than an incremental release. It represents a strategic evolution of the platform, bringing together enhanced cyber recovery capabilities, stronger data protection, improved storage efficiency, expanded cloud-native support, and greater operational flexibility.

The introduction of features such as Auto RAID-6, Global Deduplication, Cyber Recovery Clusters, Replication Seeding, End-to-End Encryption, and enhanced Kubernetes scalability demonstrates VMware's continued investment in making vSAN a comprehensive enterprise storage platform.

For organizations looking to strengthen resilience against cyber threats, improve storage efficiency, and modernize both traditional and cloud-native applications, vSAN 9.1 delivers a compelling set of capabilities that make upgrading well worth consideration.

VCF 9.1 Clustering and Availability Enhancements: Smarter HA, Intelligent DRS, and Faster vMotion at Scale

High availability and workload mobility are fundamental pillars of any VMware environment. With VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1, VMware has focused on making cluster operations more intelligent, predictable, and scalable through significant enhancements to vSphere High Availability (HA), Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), and vMotion.

The result is a platform that not only responds faster to failures and resource contention but also performs maintenance activities and workload migrations with greater efficiency and less disruption. Let's explore the key clustering and availability innovations in VCF 9.1.

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More Reliable vSphere HA Failover Notifications

One of the less visible, but highly impactful, improvements in VCF 9.1 is the redesign of the vSphere HA Failover Alarm system.

In previous releases, administrators could occasionally encounter situations where HA failover alarms would repeatedly switch between active and inactive states. While the cluster itself might be functioning correctly, these fluctuations could create uncertainty about the health and status of the environment.

Enhanced Failover Alarm Logic

VCF 9.1 delivers a completely reworked failover alarm mechanism designed to provide:

• More accurate failover reporting
• Stable and reliable notifications
• Reduced false positives
• Greater confidence in cluster monitoring
• Improved operational visibility

This means administrators can trust that alerts genuinely reflect failover conditions rather than temporary state transitions.

Why This Matters

During an outage or recovery event, every minute counts. Reliable alarms help operations teams quickly identify real issues and avoid unnecessary troubleshooting caused by misleading notifications.

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Smarter DRS for Faster Resource Optimization

The vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) continues to evolve in VCF 9.1 with improvements focused on resolving resource contention more effectively.

Intelligent VM Selection

When clusters experience CPU or memory contention, DRS must determine which virtual machines should be migrated to restore balance.

In earlier versions, some migrations delivered minimal impact because candidate VMs were not always selected based on overall cluster benefit.

VCF 9.1 introduces optimized VM selection logic that:

• Prioritizes high-impact virtual machines
• Identifies the most constrained resources first
• Addresses CPU bottlenecks faster
• Resolves memory pressure more efficiently
• Reduces unnecessary migrations

Instead of making low-value workload movements, DRS now focuses on migrations that deliver meaningful improvements to cluster health.

Benefits for Administrators

This improvement translates into:

• Faster remediation of hotspots
• Improved workload performance
• Better cluster balance
• More efficient resource utilization

For large-scale environments with constantly changing demands, intelligent workload placement can significantly improve operational efficiency.

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Non-Disruptive Maintenance Mode

Placing hosts into maintenance mode is a routine task, but it can become challenging when certain virtual machines cannot be safely evacuated.

VCF 9.1 introduces Non-Disruptive Maintenance Mode, designed to preserve workload performance during host evacuation.

Better Visibility Into Evacuation Constraints

Rather than forcing disruptive migrations, DRS now identifies and explains why a virtual machine cannot be evacuated.

Examples might include:

• Resource constraints
• Affinity rule requirements
• Capacity limitations
• Performance risks

When forceful evacuation could negatively impact workload performance, DRS provides clear guidance instead of automatically proceeding.

Operational Advantages

• Reduced workload disruption
• Better maintenance planning
• Improved application stability
• Greater transparency into DRS decisions
• Lower operational risk

This enhancement allows administrators to make informed decisions while protecting critical applications from unnecessary performance degradation.

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Introducing the Streaming vMotion Orchestrator

Perhaps the most exciting clustering enhancement in VCF 9.1 is the new Streaming vMotion Orchestrator.

As environments continue to grow, moving workloads efficiently across clusters becomes increasingly important. Traditional migration workflows can introduce bottlenecks, particularly when dealing with large migration batches.

The Streaming vMotion Orchestrator addresses these challenges with three major innovations.

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Streaming vMotion Execution

Traditional migration processes commonly operate in batches. Administrators often need to wait for an entire group of migrations to finish before the next batch can begin.

VCF 9.1 eliminates this limitation.

Continuous Migration Pipelines

With Streaming vMotion Execution:

• New migrations begin as resources become available
• The migration pipeline remains fully utilized
• Slow migrations no longer block overall progress
• Throughput remains consistently high

The result is a more efficient migration workflow that maximizes cluster resources and accelerates maintenance operations.

Business Benefits

Organizations can now:

• Shorten maintenance windows
• Complete host evacuations faster
• Reduce upgrade durations
• Improve operational efficiency

For large clusters, these savings can be substantial.

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Adaptive Host-Pair Distribution

Large migration activities can create temporary pressure on specific hosts or network interfaces when workloads are repeatedly moved between the same source and destination systems.

VCF 9.1 introduces Adaptive Host-Pair Distribution, also referred to as Progressive Pair-Sum Scheduling.

Smarter Migration Scheduling

The new scheduler intelligently distributes migration activity across available hosts by:

• Prioritizing unique host pairs
• Balancing network utilization
• Spreading CPU load
• Avoiding concentration on key infrastructure components
• Reducing the likelihood of NIC saturation

Instead of overloading a small number of hosts, migration activity is distributed evenly across the cluster.

Why It Matters

This approach helps:

• Prevent network bottlenecks
• Improve migration performance
• Maintain host responsiveness
• Increase overall cluster efficiency

The enhancement is particularly valuable in environments with hundreds or thousands of virtual machines.

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Dynamic Concurrency Control

Historically, vMotion concurrency has been governed by relatively static limits.

VCF 9.1 introduces Dynamic Concurrency Control, giving administrators greater flexibility to match migration performance to their infrastructure capabilities.

Moving Beyond Fixed Migration Limits

Rather than being constrained by a fixed cluster-wide limit of eight concurrent migrations, administrators can now fine-tune concurrency settings based on:

• Cluster size
• Network bandwidth
• Host resources
• 25GbE networking
• 100GbE networking
• Infrastructure design

This allows modern environments to take full advantage of available hardware resources.

Linear Scalability

The key advantage is improved scalability.

As clusters grow and additional resources become available, migration throughput can increase proportionally rather than being constrained by legacy limits.

Benefits include:

• Faster cluster evacuations
• Accelerated maintenance workflows
• More efficient hardware utilization
• Reduced upgrade times
• Improved operational flexibility

For organizations investing in high-speed networking and large-scale infrastructure, Dynamic Concurrency Control helps unlock the full potential of the platform.

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Why These Enhancements Matter

Taken together, the clustering and availability improvements in VCF 9.1 focus on three important operational goals:

Enhanced Reliability

• More accurate HA failover alarms
• Better visibility into recovery events
• Reduced alert noise

Smarter Resource Management

• Optimized DRS decision-making
• Faster remediation of CPU and memory contention
• Improved workload balancing

Greater Scalability

• Continuous streaming migrations
• Intelligent host-pair distribution
• Dynamic migration concurrency
• Faster maintenance operations

These improvements help organizations maintain service availability while reducing the effort required to manage increasingly complex virtual infrastructure.

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Final Thoughts

VCF 9.1 delivers meaningful advancements in clustering and availability that go beyond traditional performance improvements. VMware has focused on making the platform smarter, more predictable, and better suited for modern large-scale environments.

The redesigned HA failover alarms provide greater confidence in monitoring and recovery operations. Enhanced DRS logic ensures resource contention is addressed faster and more effectively. Meanwhile, the new Streaming vMotion Orchestrator introduces a modern migration architecture capable of maximizing throughput while intelligently balancing infrastructure utilization.

For VMware administrators, architects, and operations teams, these enhancements translate into faster maintenance activities, improved workload protection, and more efficient cluster operations. Whether you're managing a small production environment or a large-scale enterprise private cloud, the clustering and availability capabilities in VCF 9.1 represent a significant step forward in operational resilience and scalability.