VMware vSphere 6.7 Update 1 RELEASED!
So many of us have been looking forward to this release.
The full release notes are here.
A fully functional HTML5 client.
Simplified vCenter HA (not the VMware cluster HA)
Easier ways to add multiple hosts to clusters
Easier ways to configure vSAN (not that it was hard before)
Here are a few of my favorite highlights…
vCenter / ESXi Monitor Tab –> Health
This works with the VMware CEIP program.
I mentioned in my last post that CEIP recommendations will be changed to Recommended, but it is up to you. I think that this new Health section will be absolutely worth it!
GUI Certificate Management for 6.7 Update 1
This has been here since version 6.7 was released, I just happened to find it now.
Anyone like using the CLI Cert Tool? Didn’t think so.
This appears to be a full replacement for that, in the VAMI GUI.
VCSA Converge Tool.
Want to point move your vCenter from one SSO domain to another?
Finally able to do that!
Have an external PSC that is no longer needed?
Since 6.7, embedded PSC allows for linked mode.
In 6.0 & 6.5, if you wanted linked mode, your PSC needed to be external.
You’ll find this on the 6.7 U1 vCenter ISO, here:
/VCSA-Converge-CLI/
…and my favorite: A Dark Theme!
here is a list of documentation around the 6.7 Update 1 release
vCenter Release Notes
ESXi Release Notes
vSAN Release Notes
VTUG Winter Warmer 2019
I am sure people are looking forward to this event!
Thursday, January 24 2019
Gillette Stadium, 1 Patriot Place, Foxboro, MA
Register Here!
VMware vSphere 6.7 U1 – Hold off on the upgrade though….
With my lab, I don’t mind installing the latest updates.
If I suffer problems it only effects my lab environment, and I would rather see problems from an upgrade before my customers do.
That being said, many of my customers use Veeam in production, so I use Veeam in the lab….and after the update to vSphere 6.7 U1, backups failed.
Now this is well known, and Veeam has a workaround (not a fix) for the time being, posted here. Short version is that VMware made an API change in 6.7 U1, and that is why Veeam is having issues upon its initial release. I am sure other backup software will have similar issues if they are calling out and using the API.
Update Manager, while fully functional in the HTML5 client, is not exactly playing nice with me right now. Still seems to work in the Flash based client, but no one wants to use that client if it can be avoided.
vRealize Operations Manager 7.0
Lots of great new features in this that I have already mentioned in past weeks, such as shareable links for dashboards, simplified workload optimization, inclusion of cost analysis, and of course, I love the dark theme available in this release.
Lots of customers seem to forget that there are additional Management Packs that extend the functionality of vROPs. Some are free to use, while others require purchase (not easy to tell which are which though in most cases).
So where do you find all these Management Packs?
VMware Solution Exchange
Some great packs that people should consider implementing (depending on your hardware of course):
Management Pack for Storage Devices (Brocade/Cisco FC Switches)
Management Pack for AWS
Cisco UCS Manager Management Pack
Dell EMC Enterprise Storage Analytics
HPE Storage Management Pack (3Par StorServ or StoreVirtual)
Pure Storage Management Pack
vRealize Operations Management Pack for Container Monitoring
vRealize Operations Service Discovery Management Pack
vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack (think many vROPs reporting to a centralized vROPs Manager of Mangers)
Management Pack for HCX (Hybrid Cloud Extension)
….and for our hospital friends with HIPAA / Epic….
Management Pack for Epic
vROPs Compliance Pack for HIPAA
VMware on AWS Sizer
With more and more interest in VMware on AWS, I was happy to come across this sizer utility.
It works like most other sizing utilities, and requires some input, and the end result is the size of the VMware on AWS cluster required to run your workload.
This will come in handy for those that choose to use AWS EBS for the vSAN caching and capacity tier, instead of disks in the ESXi hosts (when this becomes available).
VMware vSphere 6.7 PSC Planning & Upgrade
Nice little tool to help with planning your vCenter & PSC upgrade path.
Most of the WEI team knows these steps intimately, but it is nice to have a simple tool to validate the process (and it only takes 1 minute to walk through this tool).
NSX on an ACI Underlay – Reference Guide
NSX and ACI.
Often seen as a solution where you pick one or the other.
WEI has helped design some solutions where BOTH the NSX and the ACI software have been used.
An updated reference guide from VMware is available for download.
If you want the short version of the solution, a blog post here should be all you need.
IBM buys Red Hat
….for $34,000,000,000
Wasn’t really expecting THAT.
I’m sure there are a million news sources, but here is a post from Silicone Angle.
Does this mean RHEL will overtake AIX in the near future?