VMware EMPOWER is coming
Well, VMware Empower in Atlanta is this week.
I’m sure I’ll get a peek into some NDA futures, as well as information that I can share when I update this in two weeks…..
VMware software updates!
vCenter gets to 6.7 U2
ESXi gets to 6.7 u2
vROPs gets to 7.5
vRLI gets to 4.8
vRA gets to 7.6
vRO gets to 7.6
vRB gets to 7.6
vRLCM gets to 2.1
Updates to the vSphere ROBO edition
Details below
VMware VCP-NV 2019 (Network Virtualization)
The new cert is out, and for those of you who hold an existing VCP-NV, most of you will be able to update your cert to the current rev by attending an on-demand training videos (or you can take the test).
Follow the link, and check your upgrade path.
New Intel Chips / DIMMs / 100-GbE NICs
I don’t focus on hardware much, but I saw this and it sparked some interest.
This article caught my eye.
New Intel CPUs with 56 cores each (112 if you count HT).
Optane Persistent DIMMs up to 512-GB each.
…and a 100-GbE NIC….with a heatsink? (not seen that on a NIC before).
VMware ESXi 6.7 u2
Haven’t really seen anything special in this release of ESXi.
I assume it must just be current patches and fixes….
Maybe there is some un-noted vSAN enhancements…maybe?
Release Notes are here.
VMware vCenter 6.7 u2
Well,
Lots of security enhancements.
The GUI has a PSC Replication Topology map!
The PSC Converge Tool is now part of the GUI (Under Administration, Deployment, System Configuration).
You can also decommission PSCs in the GUI.
External PSCs are deprecated moving forward.
VCSA file level backups (via the VAMI) now support NFS and SMB as destinations for file based backups (in addition to the FTP/HTTP destinations that have been available), and have alarms defined in vCenter object.
Content Library can now sync VMTX (or template VMs).
Code Capture & API Explorer are now included in the HTML5 interface.
Update Manager baselines and remediation screens have been updated.
VMware Tools Update!….this is a big one….
Windows 2016 VMware Tools is now updated via Windows Update (yup!)
VMware Tools for Linux is officially dead (after this 10.3.0 version of VMware Tools), with OpenVM Tools now being your choice.
Release Notes are here.
VMware vSphere ROBO update
New in the vSphere ROBO Enterprise Edition….
DRS for Maintenance Mode vai Affinity rules (no configuration required)
VM encryption is now possible (same requirements as per VM encryption in vCenter)
VMware vRealize Log Insight 4.8
Another update to vRLI.
Funny though….the product update page doesn’t yet have 4.8 docs….
The main vRLI document page is here (maybe by the time you are reading this, the docs will have been updated.
VMware vRealize Operations Manager 7.5
vROPs updates tend to end up being a big deal.
Changes in the Workload optimization, Allocation & Demand based capacity management options, What if scenarios now include AWS, GCP, & Azure (say goodbye to vRealize Business as a separate product), and tag based VM placement with auto created DRS affinity rules.
Service Now integrations improvements (in both directions).
Wavefront’s Telegraf agent will now “discover” applications in your environment, and prompt if you’d like to install said agents.
A topology diagram (that looks to replace some existing management packs) looks like it has made some huge strides forward.
Integration with VMware Skyline, to map alerts in vROPs with Skyline findings….you can add vRO to the mix to simplify remediation.
Release Notes are here.
VMware vRealize Automation 7.6
This release looks like it focuses on 2 specific things….
NSX (both T & V) integration, and on-demand private networking (lots of my customers are looking for this one).
vRealize Orchestrator UI improvements for the user, and multi-tenancy support in the same vRO server with appropriate isolation.
Release notes are here.
VMware vRealize Lifecycle Manager 2.1
Given that vRLCM has one job, to keep your vRealize products deployed in a consistent and automated manner, nice to see these improvements.
VVD deployed via vRLCM, vIDM (Identity Manager), and a “better user experience” (we’ll have to see about that).
Documentation and release notes are here.
VMware vCloud Foundation
I completely missed this!
VCF’s latest revision allows for NFS Storage, FC storage, and iSCSI storage to be used for Workload domains! There are caveats around this, such as no automation depending on what you are using for your storage, but the inclusion of these traditional storage solutions into VCF for general support is good to see.
VMware Flings
App Volumes Entitlement Sync
This fling lets you sync between multiple App Volumes instances.
HCIbench
Can test vSAN, or traditional storage.
Veeam Backup & Replication – Community Edition
That’s right, a “free” community edition of the B&R software.
You can go to the Veeam page directly here.
Soooo…..what’s limited in the community edition? Quoted right from the site, “…protect up to 10 VMs— or a combination of VMs, cloud instances, physical servers or workstations. You can protect your production environment, use it in your home lab or use it for migrations at no cost.”
Upcoming Conferences
VMware Empower (for Partners only) – Atlanta, GA 4/15-4/19
VMware Empower (for Partners only) – Singapore, 4/24-4/26
Dell World – Las Vegas, NV 4/29-5/2
Nutanix .NEXT – Anaheim, CA 5/7-5/9
Red Hat Summit – Boston, MA 5/7-5/9
Veeam On – Miami, FL 5/20-5/22
VMware Empower (for Partners only) – Lisbon 5/20-5/23
CiscoLive! – Sand Diego, CA 6/9-6/13
HPE Discover – Las Vegas, NV 6/18-6/20
AWS re:Inforce – Boston, MA – 6/25-28
VMworld 2019 US – San Francisco, CA 8/26-8/29
Microsoft Ignite – Orlando, FL 10/4-10/8
VMworld 2019 EMEA – Barcelona, Spain 11/4-11/7
AWS re:Invent – Las Vegas, NV 11/25-11/28