VMware certification in 2026: VCP-VCF, VCP-VVF and VCAP paths, exam codes and the rules behind them

VMware certification in 2026: the current VCP and VCAP paths

Broadcom’s VMware certifications for version 9 follow the two platforms, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF), and the role a person has on them. As of 6 October 2026, Broadcom’s exam guides describe five professional-level exams: VCP-VCF Administrator (2V0-17.25), VCP-VCF Architect (2V0-13.25), VCP-VCF Support (2V0-15.25), VCP-VVF Administrator (2V0-16.25) and VCP-VVF Support (2V0-18.25). Each VCP takes one exam, proctored through Pearson VUE, and Broadcom’s certification update of 29 July 2025 says that to earn or renew a certification “you only need to pass the relevant exam”. Above the VCP level, Broadcom lists five domain VCAP-VCF certifications and three role-based ones announced on 31 August 2026, and the VCDX builds on both.

The same update changed the lifecycle. VCF certifications now have “an expiration date and a 36-month renewal window”, their titles no longer carry a year, and exams passed under the previous structure do not count towards them. An engineer with an older VMware certification therefore sits a new exam to reach a VCP-VCF or VCP-VVF.

VCP exams for VCF and VVF 9: codes, format and candidate profile

The five guides on docs.broadcom.com describe the same format: 60 items, a passing score of 300 “using a scaled method” and an appointment time of 135 minutes, which includes time for candidates whose first language is not English. Each says “This is a proctored exam delivered through Pearson VUE.” The VCF Administrator guide was last updated on 23 April 2026, the other four on 15 August 2025. Three guides state that their content is based on VCF 9.0, and the two VVF guides name 9.0 in the exam title or the candidate profile. Each guide also profiles the candidate it is written for.

Broadcom exam guides on docs.broadcom.com, read on 6 October 2026: VCF Administrator (updated 23 April 2026); VCF 9.0 Architect, VCF 9.0 Support, VVF 9.0 Administrator and the 2V0-18.25 guide (each updated 15 August 2025).

When you book, note that the VVF Support guide calls its exam “VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Support (2V0-18.25)”, while the certification it leads to and its candidate profile are VVF; choose it by the exam code rather than the exam name.

Which VCP certification fits which role

Start with the platform, because the two Administrator exams cover different components. The VCF Administrator guide expects knowledge of NSX, VCF Identity Broker, VCF Automation, VCF Operations for Networks, VCF Operations HCX and VCF Fleet Management in addition to vCenter, ESX, vSphere Supervisor, vSAN, VCF Operations and VCF Operations for Logs. The VVF Administrator guide lists vSphere (vCenter Standard, ESX, vSphere Supervisor), vSAN, VCF Operations and VCF Operations for logs. An administrator of a VVF estate who takes the VCF exam has to study components the team does not run; our comparison of VVF and VCF sets out the differences component by component.

Within a platform, the role decides the exam. The Administrator exam suits the people who build and run the platform day to day. Whoever designs new clusters, a second site or the move to version 9 is the candidate for the Architect exam, which among the guides we read exists for VCF only. For those who handle escalations there is a Support exam, in which every testable objective is a troubleshooting task. In a small team, one workable split gives each platform administrator the Administrator exam, the lead the Architect exam and the person who owns incidents the Support exam. For a team still on vSphere 8, these exams describe the platform it will move to rather than the one it runs today; the dates and the upgrade path are in our guide to the vSphere 8 end of general support.

Our certification preparation covers VCP, VCAP and other vendor exams with exam-focused review, mock exams and a study plan. Tell us who on your team would sit which exam and what each person runs today.

Is an authorised VMware course required

The Broadcom documents we read do not require one. Broadcom’s update of 29 July 2025 says that to earn or renew a certification “you only need to pass the relevant exam”, and each guide lists courses under “Recommended Courses”: two VCF courses for each Administrator exam, a design course for the Architect exam and a troubleshooting course for both Support exams. The guides refer to Broadcom’s certification website for “a complete list of requirements and recommendations for attainment”, so read the page of the exact certification before you book.

A course on its own does not lead to a certification either. The same update states that “Earning a certification badge requires successfully passing the relevant exam; completing training alone is not sufficient”, and adds that “There are no current established upgrade paths via training.” Which official course Broadcom recommends before which exam is covered in our guide to VMware training courses for VCF 9.

Certification expiry and the 36-month renewal window

Broadcom’s update of July 2025 gave VCF certifications “an expiration date and a 36-month renewal window”, and renewal, like earning, means passing the relevant exam. The same post lists the VCP-VVF Administrator among “our VCF certifications”, and we found no Broadcom document that sets a different rule for VVF. Broadcom says information on renewal “will be provided before your existing credentials expire”, and that the 36-month policy is “exclusive to VMware Cloud Foundation certifications”, while Broadcom Software certifications have a distinct renewal policy, set out in their policy documents. Titles no longer include the year; instead, a certification is linked to the exam passed and the certification date.

Keep the exam code and the certification date next to each name in the team’s skills register, because a title such as VCP-VCF Administrator no longer shows the exam behind it. The update does not say how the window is counted, so plan renewals from the information Broadcom provides before expiry.

Booking the exam: CertMetrics, Pearson VUE and OnVUE

Registration starts in Broadcom’s certification manager, CertMetrics, and the exam runs at Pearson VUE, whose page for Broadcom exams sets out these steps, as read on 6 October 2026:

1. Click Login to create or complete your profile in CertMetrics, with your name exactly as on the identification you will present.
2. Click Schedule your exam, which takes you to the Pearson VUE site.
3. Click View Exams, select the exam by its code and register, at a test centre or for OnVUE online proctoring.
4. Accept Broadcom’s confidentiality agreement, which you must do before the exam begins.

For OnVUE, Pearson VUE’s OnVUE page for Broadcom exams asks for a working webcam, microphone and speaker with “no headphones or headsets”, one display screen and a desk cleared of everything except the computer and approved items. The identification must be a valid, government-issued ID with a photo that “exactly matches the name on your exam booking”; check-in begins 30 minutes before the appointment, and the session is recorded. Your engineer registers from their own account, and the result goes directly to them.

VCAP-VCF and VCDX: the advanced path

Broadcom’s VCF blog of 14 January 2026 said that VMware Certifications “has just released our newest certification”, the VCAP for VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 vSphere Kubernetes Service (VCAP VKS), and on 29 July 2026 it listed five domain VCAP-VCF certifications: VKS, Automation, Operations, Storage and Networking. On 31 August 2026 the blog announced that Broadcom is “releasing new role-based VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) credentials”, VCAP-VCF Administrator, Architect and Support. The post points readers to the Broadcom Certification Manager to register and to Pearson VUE test centres or online proctoring. Broadcom presents the VCAPs as the step for practitioners “who have completed the VMware Certified Professional (VCP) level”, but we found no Broadcom document that makes a VCP a formal prerequisite for a single VCAP exam, so check the certification page first.

Broadcom’s VCDX overview of September 2026 builds on both levels and requires a VCP-VCF for Architect, Administrator or Support, three domain VCAP-VCF exams, one of them VKS and two chosen from Storage, Networking, Operations and Automation, and the role-based VCAP that matches the VCP. The candidate is then eligible for the VCDX exam: for architects, a design submission and a panel evaluation; for administrators, a challenge lab and evaluation. At the time of publication, the overview adds, “VCDX expert evaluations are available exclusively for the VCDX Architect track.” Current VCDX holders must pass the same three domain VCAPs and the role-based VCAP, and for them “No panel evaluation or challenge lab is required at this time.”

Broadcom exam guides on docs.broadcom.com; VMware Cloud Foundation blog, 14 January, 29 July and 31 August 2026; VCDX overview on vmware.com (September 2026).

How to prepare: exam objectives, experience and a lab

Each exam guide lists four or five sections, some of them marked as having no testable objectives. In both Administrator exams, the testable objectives sit in Section 2, the fundamentals of the platform and of compute, storage and networking, and in Section 4, from deploy and configure to manage, operate, consume and automate. In the Architect exam they sit in Sections 1 to 3, from business and technical requirements, constraints and risks to conceptual, logical and physical designs. In both Support exams only Section 5 is testable, and its objectives are troubleshooting tasks, from deployment and upgrade to licence management, storage and networking. The three VCF guides also tell candidates to “Review all 9.0 release notes and material for features and functions.”

The candidate profiles ask for six months to two years of hands-on work, and production is the wrong place to practise a deployment or a failed upgrade, so plan a lab for that. Holodeck, the toolkit on VMware’s GitHub pages for nested environments on an ESX host or a vSphere cluster, deploys VCF 5.2, 9.0 and 9.1, and VVF from 9.0, in its version 9.1 of May 2026. Because the VCP guides are written for 9.0, build the exam lab on 9.0 even if production already runs 9.1. For a single-site VCF 9.0 lab with VCF Automation and vSAN ESA, the Holodeck documentation recommends 32 CPU cores, 325 GB memory and 1.1 TB disk. For VVF 9.0 it gives 12 cores, 256 GB and 1 TB. The ESX and VCF Installer binaries come from the Broadcom Support Portal and need an entitlement to download, and License Later mode enables all functions for 90 days from installation on VCF 9.x. The documentation also states that “Holodeck 9.x is not a VMware supported product”.

Our engineering partner Vixen.UNO runs lab environments in its training centre’s own data centre, reachable remotely, where each participant deploys, breaks and restores a live environment. Write to us with the exam and the version your team is preparing for.

What we do

Eurokommerz holds the contract, and our engineering partner Vixen.UNO delivers the training from its training centre. Our certification training runs authorised VMware courses on official vSphere, vSAN and NSX programmes, taught by an authorised trainer on current product versions, and every participant receives an official course completion certificate. For VCP, VCAP and other vendor exams we add exam-focused review, mock exams, a study plan and labs in the Vixen.UNO training centre’s own data centre; we do not arrange exams or certificates, and where a team lacks a basic administration level we first suggest a preparatory track. Training runs online, on your site or blended, and after a VMware implementation under VMware optimisation we train the team on the new infrastructure. The first call is free of charge, and the price of the training is fixed before the start.

FAQ