VMware Explore 2025 delivered hundreds of technical sessions, but which ones truly resonated with attendees? We let the data do the talking.
Based on real feedback from IT practitioners, architects, and administrators who attended the conference, we’ve compiled five of the highest-rated sessions from this year’s event.
These aren’t our picks or marketing favorites. These are the sessions that attendees found most valuable, practical, and worth their time. Whether you’re planning your vSphere 9 migration, architecting your next Cloud Foundation deployment, or exploring cutting-edge features like memory tiering, these top-rated sessions offer the deep technical insights our community values most.
Ready to discover what captured the attention of your peers? Here are the sessions that earned the highest marks from real VMware Explore attendees.
What Is New in VMware vSphere 9 [CLOB1257LV]
In this session, Bob Plankers and Dave Morera showcase the top new technologies, changes, and differences for practitioners to note in VMware vSphere 9, the compute engine for VMware Cloud Foundation. This session is a can’t-miss for anyone invested in the future of VMware Cloud Foundation.
▶️ Watch now on YouTube, and explore more in the full video library.
Design and Architect: Best Practices for Upgrading VMware vSphere and VCF to VCF 9.0 [CLOT1428LV]
In this session, you will learn about the new VMware Cloud Foundation® (VCF) 9 architecture and the different components (compute, storage, networking, operations and automation) that now make up the new VCF private cloud platform. To aid practitioners and architects in transitioning from an existing VMware vSphere®-based environment and/or upgrading from an existing VMware Cloud Foundation® 5.x environment to VCF 9.0, we will take you through the best practices, key considerations, and deployment options on how you can easily transition to the new VCF 9.0 platform. Finally, to help our practitioners quickly get the benefit of the new VCF private cloud platform, we will demonstrate how the new VCF 9.0 Unified Installer can start with your existing vSphere-based deployment and easily help you transition to VCF 9.0.
▶️ Watch on YouTube, and explore more in the full video library.
Deploying Minimal VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Lab [CLOB1201LV]
Would you like to get hands on with VMware Cloud Foundation® (VCF) 9.0 and explore all the exciting new features and capabilities of the VCF platform, but you do not have production-grade hardware and the associated compute, storage, and networking resources? If so, this session is for you. In this session, practitioners will learn about the various techniques that can be used to deploy a complete private cloud solution using VCF 9.0, but in a resource-optimized method that will allow anyone to experience the power of the VCF 9.0 platform using minimal hardware resources. We will also discuss different hardware considerations and recommendations for those looking to build a new, or expand an existing, lab environment so you are ready for VCF 9.0.
▶️ Watch on YouTube, and explore more in the full video library.
Hardening and Securing VMware Cloud Foundation [CLOT1035LV]
As organizations adapt to new and improved security threats, organizations need to change how they build and deploy VMware vSphere® itself. In this session, we’ll start at the bottom of the stack and work our way up, talking about current system hardening strategies for each component (hardware, storage, VMware® ESX, VMware vCenter®, operations, and workloads) in the context of real attacks that are seen, so that these infrastructure components help deter, detect, and contain attacks before they become a ransomware event or worse.
▶️ Watch on YouTube, and explore more in the full video library.
A Deep Dive into Memory Tiering with NVMe [CLOB1122LV]
In this session, we will dive deep into the newest feature in VMware vSphere® and VMware Cloud Foundation®: Memory tiering with NVMe. Learn what Memory tiering is, how it works, configuration details, and advanced configuration settings for maximum TCO.
▶️ Watch on YouTube, and explore more in the full video library.
These five sessions represent the best of what VMware Explore 2025 had to offer, as chosen by the people who matter most: our community of IT professionals. Each session tackles real-world challenges with practical solutions you can implement in your own environment.
Missed the conference or want to revisit these highly-rated sessions? All VMware Explore content is available on-demand in the video library.
