Virtual Updates 2021-09-20

ESXi boot volumes – SD/USB is being deprecated.
With ESXi 7 reworking the boot partition and usage of that capacity, there have been some SD card failures (for those of us booting from SD).
The issue is highlighted in VMware KB 83376.
Followed up by VMware KB 85685, states explicitly that this support will be dropped in the next version of vSphere.
If you plan to have your hardware run the next version of vSphere (whenever that gets released), you will need to be off those boot devices….
Duncan Epping weighing in here.

ESXi boot volumes – migrate from SD to m2
So people are already doing this and validating the process.
VMware has posted the process online, though I couldn’t find it.
Derek Seaman has gone through this, and captured the process in his post.
Given the effort it would take, I’m a bigger fan of remove SD card, install appropriate new boot media, install ESXi, use Update (Lifecycle) Manager and vDS and Host Profiles to configure.

VMUG Boston Event!
Get registered here, at the VMUG site (be sure to login).

VMware PowerCLI 12.4 released
Want to use APIs via PowerCLI?…Now you can!
Manage certificates with PowerCLI now.
….and a new logo for PowerCLI.
Remember… update-module -Name VMware.PowerCLI
VMware Blog post is here.

My First Windows 2022 on VMware vSphere 7.0.2
I was amazed, as I no longer need to add a 2nd CD-ROM to connect the VMware Tools ISO when installing Windows 2022
….its driver is now on the Win2022 ISO!!!!!
AND so is the VMXnet3!!!!
Still installed VMware Tools, as it is the normal workflow….
Thinking that might not be required in Windows soon though….
…just like Linux Distros have Open-VM-Tools.
We shall see….

TKG (Tanzu Kuberenetes Grid) 1.4 released
Lots of enhancements.
Looks like NSX Advanced Load balancer (Avi Networks) got a lot of attention.
Release Notes are here.

VMware Flings of Note
vSphere Alert Center – what it sounds like, from multiple vCenters

VMworld recommendations
From folks I follow…
Getting Started with vSphere with Tanzu [MCL1648]
The Fast Path to Kubernetes with VMware Tanzu [APP1630]
Deep Dive on vSphere with Tanzu Updates [APP2063]
The Future of VM Provisioning – Enabling VM Lifecycle through Kubernetes [APP1564]
Johan van Amersfoot
Graham Barker
Duncan Epping
Tony Foster
Cormac Hogan
Phoebe Kim
Sam McGeown

Continuing Education – a list of resources that come with references (of people who have used those sites and are happy with the results).
Nutanix .NEXT – September 20-23 (Virtual Event)
VMworld 2021 – October 5-7 (Virtual Event)
VMworld 2022 – August 28 – Sept 1 (San Francisco, CA)
HashiCorp Learn
Kode Kloud
KubeAcademy
Nutanix University
PluralSight / A Cloud Guru (PluralSight purchased A Cloud Guru)
Udemy
vBrownBag
VeeamOn 2021 – recordings
VMware Customer Connect Learning (old VMware Learning Zone)
VMware Hands On Labs