VMware released the latest version of its cloud platform, while announcing end of support for various management packs affiliated with hyperscalers and other third-party vendors.

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 allows Kubernetes infrastructure management across distributed environments, with native Kubernetes multicluster management capabilities in VCF available through its automation platform.

Those capabilities support built-in VMware private cloud offerings like virtual machines (VM), the vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS) runtime, Network, Volume, and VM Image. VMware said using infrastructure as code (IaC) with these services enables engineers to create a curated, self-service developers’ catalog of version-controlled infrastructure templates, with use cases such as provisioning and then deploying applications on VKS clusters.

The automation provision allows a unified grid view of VKS cluster fleets running across multiple projects and geographic locations, aiding in preparation for upgrades.

On the policy management side, it supports VMware's Security, Image Registry, Quota, Custom, and Mutation policy types, alongside VCF delivering policy insights through a centralized view of policy adherence. This includes highlighting violations of existing policy configurations within the VKS cluster set. Policies can be applied at various levels of the automation provision, including at the project and organization levels, which disseminate downstream to the operating clusters.

Finally, a data protection capability offers automated backup of entire clusters, with support for CSI snapshots and Restic-based File System Backups, and with VKS cluster-backup prior to Kubernetes upgrades, supporting rollbacks as needed.

To aid support cluster or application recovery, these backups can be scheduled or activated ad-hoc.

Future updates will see add-on management via the VCF Automation portal, natively enabling platform engineers to manage VKS standard packages.

End of support for VCF management packs

VMware also announced end of general support (EOGS) for various VCF Operations Management Packs effective September 30. These include packs for Cisco UCS, Dell EMC PowerEdge, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) ProLiant, and hyperscaler services including Azure VMware Solution, Google Cloud VMware Engine, and Oracle Cloud VMware Solution, which can no longer be downloaded on the VCF Solutions Catalog or on the Broadcom Support Portal.

Users were recommended to transition via VMware Aria Operations Management Pack Builder or Aria Operations Integration SDK.

Transition paths for VMware’s Identity Manager, Workspace ONE Access, and Cloud Director are unavailable as they’re no longer supported.

The announcement comes as Gartner warned VMware will lose 35% of workloads by 2028, with hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) proving an attractive proposition for current clientele.

AWS currently hosts VMware Cloud, but is no longer able to distribute the service at Broadcom’s insistence, with systems integrators (SIs) such as Caylent announcing new migration paths for VMware and hyperscaler customers to the cloud platform.

More harmony can be found between Broadcom and Microsoft, allowing users of VCF to use their licenses on the Azure VMware Solution platform.

Broadcom also tapped Google Cloud last year as its first hyperscale cloud partner for VCF licensing.

The management packs phaseout comes after a planned migration from VMware Cloud Services Portal to a new Cloud Services Console on Broadcom recently went awry. Other issues have affected the folding in of VMware into its new parent, with some perpetual VMware license holders unable to download software patches via their portal pages, with some not capable of doing so for months while awaiting action from Broadcom.

Such examples of migration issues, coupled with reported price hikes, have seen the number of alternatives rise in recent months, with vendors and system integrators such as OVHcloud and Platform9 joining the likes of Nutanix in offering exit options for VMware clientele.