IT certifications are upgrading. We’ve noticed:

• SAP is upgrading its certification exams to a practical format in January 2026.
• Citrix released the new 1Y0-342 Citrix CCP-AppDS-NetScaler Advance Features (Security and Management) exam, which focuses primarily on hands-on skills.

And today, we found the 2V0-18.25 VMware Certified Professional – VMware vSphere Foundation Support has the same situation. At first glance, 2V0-18.25 looks like a typical VMware professional exam. In reality, it represents a fundamental shift in how IT certifications are designed and evaluated.

What Does 2V0-18.25 Actually Test?

The VMware 2V0-18.25 exam barely tests architecture, deployment steps, or feature memorization. Instead, it concentrates almost exclusively on Troubleshooting and Support. This is not an accident. It is part of a much larger industry trend.

Officially, 2V0-18.25 is the VMware vSphere Foundation Support exam for VCF 9.0. Unofficially, it is a production-incident simulation exam.

2V0-18.25 Exam Objectives

• Section 1 – IT Architectures, Technologies, Standards
• Section 2 – VMware by Broadcom Solution
• Section 3 – Plan and Design the VMware by Broadcom Solution
• Section 4 – Install, Configure, and Administrate the VMware by Broadcom Solution
• Section 5 – Troubleshoot and Optimize the VMware by Broadcom Solution

Although the blueprint lists five sections, only Section 5 contains testable objectives. Everything else is excluded from scoring.

That alone sends a strong message: VMware is no longer asking whether you know vSphere Foundation. It is asking whether you can recover it when something breaks.

Section 5: Testing How You Think, Not What You Memorize

Section 5 – Troubleshoot and Optimize the VMware by Broadcom Solution covers areas such as:

• Failed VCF / VVF deployments
• vSphere to VVF 9.0 upgrade failures
• Cluster, host, and workload expansion issues
• Licensing problems that silently block operations
• vSAN and stretched cluster failures
• Network misconfigurations (VDS / VSS)
• Log analysis with VCF Operations
• Automation failures in VCF Operations Orchestrator

However, the real purpose is not to test procedures. The exam evaluates whether you understand:

• Which component is most likely the root cause
• Where to check logs first
• How platform dependencies affect system behavior
• What is the next diagnostic step should be

In other words, this is not a “how-to” exam. It is a support-engineer mindset exam.

Why Hands-On, Troubleshooting-Focused Exams Are Becoming the Norm

Reason 1: Platform Complexity Has Exploded

VCF, SAP S/4HANA, and Citrix ADC are no longer isolated systems.

Failures are rarely caused by a single misconfiguration — they are chain reactions.

Only engineers with real troubleshooting experience can resolve them efficiently.

Reason 2: Employers Want Proof of Operational Value

Modern hiring managers are less interested in whether you passed an exam.

They want to know:

• Can you identify the real root cause under pressure?
• Do you know where logs live and how to interpret them?
• Can you restore services without guesswork?

Section 5 of the 2V0-18.25 exam aligns directly with these expectations.

Reason 3: Certification Vendors Need Real Differentiation

If an exam can be passed by memorizing dumps or reading PDFs, its market value collapses. Scenario-driven, troubleshooting-heavy exams are much harder to fake — and much more meaningful.

Who Should Take the 2V0-18.25 Exam?

Best fit:

• VMware / VCF administrators and support engineers
• Engineers responsible for upgrades, clusters, and vSAN
• Professionals targeting senior infrastructure or support roles

Not ideal for:

• Candidates with only lab or theoretical experience
• Architecture-only or presales roles
• Beginners to VMware Cloud Foundation

So, are you preparing for your VMware Certified Professional – VMware vSphere Foundation Support (2V0-18.25) exam? During your 2V0-18.25 exam preparation, understanding Section 5: Troubleshoot and Optimize the VMware by Broadcom Solution means understanding where IT certifications are heading — and what skills truly matter in production environments.