VCF 9.0 Server Certification: Preserving Your Hardware Investment and giving the best ROI

Executive Summary VCF Server Certification: An Overview Component-Level Support Server Level Support Carrying Forward vSphere and vSAN 8. x Servers into VCF 9.0 Broadcom Compatibility Guide: The Source of Truth Understanding “VCF Supported. Confirm w/Vendor” Server Listings What if a Server Is Not Listed for VCF 9.0 Hardware Equivalency vSAN Compatibility and Simplified Requirements Certification Lifecycle and Versioning To Summarize: What This Means for Customers Designed to Minimize Hardware Refresh Frequently Asked Questions Discover more from VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Blog Related Articles Automic Automation: Application-Aware Automation for the Private Cloud The 2026 Structural Supply Crisis: Why VMware Cloud Foundation Is The Answer to the 2026 Hardware Crunch VCF 9.0 Server Certification: Preserving Your Hardware Investment and giving the best ROI VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 is designed to enable customers to modernize their cloud infrastructure, and part of that design is doing so without forcing unnecessary hardware refresh cycles. It was therefore exciting news to announce that, following data-driven reviews in pursuit of that design, the majority of servers certified for vSphere and vSAN 8. x were automatically carried forward and are supported in VCF 9.0. This blog clarifies how VCF server hardware certification works (including for VCF 9.0), and how Broadcom’s responsibility for a supported third party hardware remains to the VCF software and not the hardware of that third party, what it means when a server is marked ” VCF Supported. Confirm w/ Vendor” in the Broadcom Compatibility Guide (BCG), and under what limited conditions a server may not be listed. In short, if your infrastructure is running on supported vSphere or vSAN 8. x hardware today, it is highly likely to be eligible for VCF 9.0. VCF server certification is addressed across two complementary dimensions: Component Level Server Model Level This model ensures platform stability, predictable operations, and clear support ownership across the ecosystem. From the VCF perspective, server support is determined by the qualification of the constituent components that form a server platform, including: CPU Series/Family Network and I/O devices (NICs, DPUs, HBAs) GPUs and accelerators Storage controllers and device types Firmware and driver combinations If these components are validated as supported under applicable certifications of a particular version of VCF (e. g.