Is VCP-Cloud still valid?
No. VMware Certified Professional - Cloud (VCP-Cloud) retired on June 24, 2016, and the VCPC510 exam that awarded it retired earlier, on March 30, 2015. Broadcom’s documentation names VCP6-CMA as the replacement. That path did not survive either: after Broadcom acquired VMware in 2023, the certification program was rebuilt around vSphere Foundation and Cloud Foundation product lines, with credentials split by job function. No conversion path connects VCP-Cloud to a current certification.
VCPC510 Was the Longer of Two Routes
VMware offered two exams leading to the same VCP-Cloud certification, and VCPC510 was the more demanding one.
The split existed because of prerequisites. VCPVCD510 was available to candidates who already held VCP5-DCV; since vSphere competence was already proven, that exam covered vCloud Director alone. VCPC510 required no VCP-DV certification, asking instead for completion of a vCloud Director course, and therefore had to test the vSphere layer as well.
Contemporaneous accounts describe VCPC510 as covering fifteen sections against the shorter exam’s eight, with the additional seven addressing infrastructure topics such as planning, installing, configuring and upgrading vCenter Server and ESXi, and planning and configuring vSphere networking. One contemporaneous source characterized it as VMware having “put a mini VCP-DV exam into the VCP-Cloud exam” for candidates without a VCP-DV background. Reported figures are 240 questions and 225 minutes, against 85 questions and 90 minutes for the short route.
Those question counts and durations come from 2013 community sources rather than surviving vendor documentation. Broadcom’s records confirm the retirement dates but not the original exam formats.
Who Actually Took This Exam
The prerequisite structure means VCPC510 holders have a recognizable profile, and it differs from the short-route candidates.
You took VCPC510 if you came to cloud without a vSphere certification first. In practice that often meant people entering from a service provider or hosting background, where vCloud Director was the product being sold, rather than from a traditional enterprise virtualization team that had accumulated VCP-DV credentials along the way.
It is a broader credential in scope. A VCPC510 pass covered both the vSphere platform and the vCloud abstraction layer in a single sitting, which is a legitimately larger body of material than either the vSphere or the vCloud exam alone.
If you are describing this credential today, that breadth is the honest thing to emphasize. It certified the full stack from hypervisor to multi-tenant cloud, not just the cloud layer.
What the Exam Covered
The blueprint spanned two layers.
The vSphere layer, which the short route omitted: planning, installing, configuring and upgrading vCenter Server and ESXi, vSphere networking configuration, clusters, storage profiles, and resource pools.
The vCloud layer: vCloud Director constructs including organizations, organization virtual data centers, provider virtual data centers, vApps, and service catalogs; how vSphere clusters and resource pools map onto those vCloud constructs; how a tenant consumes resources; and cloud-enabled networking and storage. Related products in scope included vCenter Chargeback and vCloud Networking and Security.
The blueprint was based on vCloud Director 5.1, and the exam was released in February 2013.
What This Is Worth Today
The full-stack framing still reads well. The specific products are dated, but “understood both the virtualization platform and the multi-tenant cloud layer built on it” describes an architectural perspective that remains valuable. That is a fair characterization of what VCPC510 tested.
Multi-tenancy concepts transferred. Provider and organization virtual data centers, catalogs, quotas, and delegated tenant administration address a problem every cloud platform still solves. The vocabulary changed; the model did not.
vCloud Director itself continues as VMware Cloud Director, used principally by cloud service providers for multi-tenant infrastructure delivery. If you stayed in the service provider space, the product lineage from your 2013 credential is direct.
The vSphere half aged like any 2013 vSphere knowledge. The platform moved through several major versions, then through the Broadcom restructuring. Core hypervisor and cluster concepts hold; storage architecture shifted toward vSAN, networking toward NSX, and an entire operations tooling layer appeared that has no 2013 equivalent.
Chargeback and vCloud Networking and Security are gone as products. Time spent learning those specifics does not carry forward, though the underlying ideas of cost allocation and network security policy obviously do.
Where to Go From Here
The named successor, VCP6-CMA, is not a current credential, so treat the official replacement chain as historical context rather than a route.
For enterprise private cloud work, the current professional-tier credential is VMware Certified Professional - VMware Cloud Foundation Administrator, exam 2V0-17.25. Broadcom’s exam guide, last updated April 23, 2026, describes a 60-item exam with a passing score of 300 using a scaled method and a 135-minute appointment, proctored through Pearson VUE. The minimally qualified candidate installs, configures, manages and performs basic troubleshooting of a VCF solution, with knowledge spanning vCenter, ESX, vSphere Supervisor, vSAN, NSX, VCF Identity Broker, VCF Automation, VCF Operations, VCF Operations for Logs, VCF Fleet Management, VCF Operations for Networks, and VCF Operations HCX, plus a minimum of one year of IT experience and foundational Kubernetes knowledge.
A VCPC510 background is a genuinely reasonable starting point for that exam, better than a pure vCloud Director background, because you were tested on the vSphere layer too. The gaps are vSAN, NSX, the VCF Operations family, and Kubernetes.
For service provider work, verify Broadcom’s current Cloud Director offerings directly. Provider-track certifications and licensing changed substantially after the acquisition, and secondhand lists date quickly.
If you left the VMware ecosystem, a current credential from the cloud provider you actually work with will serve you better than recertifying on a platform you do not touch. The architectural understanding from VCPC510 supports cloud infrastructure work without needing a VMware credential to evidence it.
How to List It
Use the certification name rather than the exam code. “VCP-Cloud (VMware Certified Professional, Cloud), 2013, retired” is clear. “VCPC510” alone means nothing to most readers.
If you want the breadth to register, say what it covered: a single credential spanning vSphere infrastructure and vCloud Director multi-tenancy. That is accurate and more informative than the acronym.
Do not present it as current. It retired in 2016, and anyone hiring in this space knows the VMware retirement cadence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the difference between VCPC510 and VCPVCD510? Both awarded VCP-Cloud. VCPC510 required no prior VCP-DV certification and therefore covered vSphere material in addition to vCloud Director. VCPVCD510 required an existing VCP5-DCV and covered vCloud Director only.
When did VCPC510 and VCP-Cloud retire? The exam retired March 30, 2015. The VCP-Cloud certification retired June 24, 2016, with VCP6-CMA as the stated replacement.
Was VCPC510 harder than the other route? It was longer and broader in scope, covering roughly fifteen sections against eight, because it could not assume vSphere knowledge. Whether that made it harder depended on the candidate’s background.
Is there an upgrade path to a current credential? No. VCP6-CMA was the stated successor and is not current. Broadcom restructured the program after 2023, and no conversion connects VCP-Cloud to a currently attainable certification.
Does my VCP-Cloud help with the VCF Administrator exam? Not formally, and no credit applies. In practice the vSphere plus multi-tenancy background is relevant preparation, with vSAN, NSX, the VCF Operations components, and Kubernetes as the main gaps.
References
Broadcom. Retired Exams and Certifications. Last updated July 2025. https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/vmware-retired-exams-certifications-and-badges (Primary source for VCPC510 and VCPVCD510 retiring March 30, 2015, VCPC610 November 30, 2015, VCPC550 June 24, 2016, and VCP-Cloud retiring June 24, 2016 with VCP6-CMA as replacement)
Broadcom. VMware Cloud Foundation Administrator Exam Guide (2V0-17.25). Last updated April 23, 2026. https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/vmware-cloud-foundation-administrator-exam-guide (Primary source for the current credential’s format, scoring, and minimally qualified candidate definition)
Virtual-Ice. VCP-IaaS vs. VCP-Cloud: Cloud Exam Faceoff. February 15, 2013. https://vmice.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/vcp-iaas-vs-vcp-cloud-cloud-exam-faceoff/ (Contemporaneous source for section counts, prerequisites, and the “mini VCP-DV” characterization)
Pearson IT Certification. Exam Profile: VMware Certified Professional - Cloud, VCPC510. https://www.pearsonitcertification.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2065723 (Contemporaneous exam profile covering blueprint scope and products in scope)
vLore. VCP-Cloud (VCPC510) or IaaS (VCPVCD510) Exam Preparation. https://vloreblog.com/vcp-cloud-vcpc510-or-iaas-vcpvcd510-or-exam-preparation/ (Independent corroboration of the two-route structure and the vSphere coverage difference)