Navigating vVols (vSphere Virtual Volumes) End of Life with Pure Storage
Broadcom announced with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 that they will be deprecating and ending support for vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols). This came as a surprise to Pure Storage as both VMware and Pure had been design partners with several new features for vVols over the past 7 years and had been actively working on new design partnerships. Leaving customers and partners feeling shocked and disappointed is not an exaggeration. What was announced by Broadcom? Here is the messaging that Broadcom has announced: VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols) capabilities will be deprecated beginning with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) version 9.0 and VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) version 9.0 and will be fully removed in VCF/VVF 9.1. As a result, all vVol certifications for VCF/VVF 9.0 will be discontinued effective immediately. Support for vVols (critical bug fixes only) will continue for versions vSphere 8.x, VCF/VVF 5.x, and other older supported versions until end-of-support of those releases. Limited-time support may be considered on a case-by-case basis for customers desiring vVols support in VCF/VVF 9.0. Such customers should contact their Broadcom representative or Broadcom support for further guidance. vVols will be in a deprecated state for VCF 9.0 and then is planned to be completely removed in VCF 9.1, which is likely to be released sometime in 2026. For customers planning to upgrade to VCF 9.0, extra consideration will need to be taken before upgrading. What does this really mean for you? Current vVols users are going to be left with few choices moving forward, but before looking through these options, what does this announcement really mean? VCF 9.0 will not allow the use of vVols (FC or iSCSI) as principal storage or supplemental storage with workload domains or management domains. Broadcom has no commitment or intention of providing fixes or patches for vVols bugs or vVols security issues in VCF 9.0. While vVols will “work” on VCF 9.0, Broadcom will only provide limited technical support to customers on a case by case basis. Broadcom will tell the customer that it’s deprecated and they’ll need to contact their storage vendor when opening a support case. When VCF 9.1 is released, vVols will be removed, any vasa provider support will be removed (vVols, VMFS or NFS storage providers). Broadcom will provide critical bug fix and security fixes for vVols on vSphere 8.0 and VCF 5.x while it is supported by Broadcom. Broadcom will provide essential technical support for vVols issues with vSphere 8.0, however, it’s expected that they will still refer customers to contact their storage vendor. Broadcom expects current customers that are using vVols to storage vMotion their vVols workloads to either VMFS or NFS before upgrading to VCF 9.0; this will be required before upgrading to VCF 9.1 in the future. How will Pure Storage help you move forward after vVols? Pure Storage has supported vVols since the release of Purity//FA 5.0.0 in December 2017 and vVols has been part of a greater story and focus from Pure Storage to provide application granular storage and to make virtual machines first class in Purity. Since then, Pure has continued to extend support for vVols features and build integrations that took advantage of the vSphere APIs for vVols. The list could go on for all of the benefits and differentiation that vVols has allowed Pure Storage to deliver to customers. The biggest take away is that there was great value in how Pure Storage approached vVols and implemented support within Purity and integrations. Now the strategy moving forward is for Pure to extend as much of the value that vVols had to both NFS Datastores and VMFS Datastores running on FlashArray. There are a lot of projects that have now been accelerated due to this change and some engineering resources have already been committed to achieve this acceleration; other engineering resources are being committed for this work. What are your options moving forward? There are going to be several options that customers using vVols will have moving forward. Pure Storage is committed to being a trusted partner and advisor throughout this process. While there will be a lot more information coming in the future, here is a quick overview of some of the options that are available. Continue using vVols on vSphere 8 and VCF 9.0 Do not feel pressured or rushed to migrate or move data immediately! Evaluate if upgrading to VCF 9.0 immediately is required. vVols will be supported by Pure Storage Evaluate, test and validate options before migrating off of vVols. Storage vMotion to VMFS, convert vVols to RDMs VMFS and RDMs are not going away. Work is being prioritized to help bring most of the vVols features that Pure Storage’s vSphere plugin had to VMs running on VMFS that are managed by the vSphere plugin. Pure Storage is working with VMware to close feature gaps with VMFS backed by NVMe-oF. Converting from vVols to RDMs…never saw that coming. Storage vMotion to NFS Datastores on FlashArray File services on FlashArray have the potential to deliver a similar vVols type of experience. There are several projects underway to improve and enhance the NFS Datastore experience. The vSphere Plugin in particular has had many recent updates and has more coming in the future. Stay tuned for updated solution briefs, reference architecture and new features coming for NFS Datastores on our community page and our documentation portal. Leverage vVols to assist in migrating virtualization platforms Pure is committed to providing options and being a trusted partner which includes the option of moving platforms. This can include migrating to Azure or AWS, migrating to Hyper-V, OpenShift or Openstack. Pure Storage is actively working on guides and automation to help simplify this experience. This can include converting applications to containers rather than running on virtual machines and leveraging Portworx with FlashArray or FlashBlade. Stay tuned for more blogs, KBs and guides for what options are available. Overall, there are a lot of options that will be available and Pure Storage is making sure that the right documentation is being worked on and delivered, and the right solutions are being worked through as well. While this announcement is disruptive for both our customers and Pure Storage, there is also an opportunity to evaluate what options are available and what the strategy should be moving forward with regards to virtualization. Further Conversations Pure Storage would love to hear from customers about what options are the most interesting, what Pure can do to make those options more successful, what integrations Pure should be investing in or providing. You can reach out to your account team as well to set up conversations and deep dives with our field solutions architects and product management team too!
PUG Cincinnati - Pure//Virtual: Strategies for a More Open and Flexible Future
Topic: Feeling overwhelmed by the challenges of managing your virtualization platforms? Join our Virtualization Anonymous meeting, a supportive and open forum where we’ll recover together, share experiences, and explore solutions to streamline your virtualization journey. You’re not alone in finding the right fit—we’ll navigate this step-by-step as a group. This customer-driven discussion will focus on your experiences and challenges as we work toward building a future-ready virtualization strategy. Pure Storage experts will offer insights and guidance to help you take that first step. Anonymous Group Feedback: Share your thoughts and experiences in regards to your virtualization journey. What worked? What didn’t? No judgment here. Understanding Your Needs: What does your organization need in a new platform? Scalability? Cost efficiency? Security? We’ll help you pinpoint what truly matters. Breakthrough Stories: Listen to success stories from those that took the journey Exploration Circle: Hear from Pure’s subject matter experts on what they are seeing in regards to the latest virtualization platforms and where the industry is going. Support & Resources: Find out where you can get additional help, training, and resources to ensure a smooth transition. Date: Wednesday, July 23rd, 2-4pm ET Location: Fretboard Brewing Company, 5800 Creek Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45242 Speaker: A customer will share their Pure Storage journey. They will share how they discovered Pure Storage, how they use Pure Storage today to support their business, and other Pure Storage real world stories. Our speaker is both a FlashArray and FlashBlade Certified Professional, and will be attending Accelerate next week in Las Vegas. As a added-bonus to our virtualization focused topic; our speaker will share their Pure//Accelerate experience with the group. Your Pure Storage team will also be in attendance in partnership with our speaker to share all the exciting announcements we will be sharing in Las Vegas. RSVP: https://info.purestorage.com/2025-Q2AMS-COMREDTFSPUGCincinattiLP_01---Registration-Page.html
Inaugural Boston, Pure User Group (PUG) at Trillium - Fort Point!
Simplify IT, Empower Data - Over a Pint at Trillium - Fort Point Join us July 15, 2025, and connect, learn, and engage with your fellow IT pros for an afternoon filled with exciting announcements from the recent Pure//Accelerate event and our vision for the Enterprise Data Cloud, as well as an engaging discussion on modern virtualization and a demo of Fusion. Fusion is a fully integrated platform that federates multiple arrays—such as FlashArray and FlashBlade—into a unified fleet, enabling centralized, cloud-like management, streamlined resource provisioning, and enhanced visibility across multi-array environments. Rob Quast, Principal Technologist and David Stevens, Field Solutions Architect both from Pure Storage will be presenting on the above topics with additional input from other Pure technologists. The complete agenda is below. Please register if you plan on attending at the following link: https://info.purestorage.com/2025-Q2AMS-COMRECHCOMA-PUG-LP_01---Registration-Page.html Agenda 2:00 PM - Welcome & Cheers 2:15 PM - Accelerate Highlights: What You Missed (or Want More Of) 2:45 PM - Enterprise Data Cloud: The Vision and The Why 3:15 PM - Fusion in Action: Simplifying Storage with Intelligence 3:45 PM - Break & Bites 4:15 PM - Rethinking Virtualization in 2025 4:45 PM - Ask Me Anything (AMA) Panel 5:15 PM - Cheers & Networking We look forward to seeing you!
