VMware vSphere 6.5 What's New
In most announcement in VMworld, often there will be a release every other time for vSphere. This time round, there isn't any announcement or a given date. However, there are session on vSphere 6.5 and also on VM encryption feature which will be introduced in the next version. This year it was announced at VMworld Barcelona 2016.
Proactive DRS
Working tightly with vRealize Operations, DRS will be triggered to make sure resource is available before a VM become demanding. A scenario will be e.g. A VM typically become busy during month end closing, DRS will move certain VM out knowing it will need more resources and making sure there won't encounter a resource contention when this happens. In the past, DRS alone will only be perform when such contention happens.
Proactive HA
With hardware vendor working to reflect meaningful sensor notification that a possible of a hardware failure e.g. DIMM Slot, vSphere HA can leverage DRS to vMotion out VM from a hardware box before a kernel panic.
vSphere HA Orchestrated Restart
Just like what you can do with Site Recovery Manager (SRM), vSphere HA Orchestrated Restart now allows you to choose the dependency of VMs especially for multi-tier applications with VM-to-VM rules during a host failure that trigger vSphere HA.
Multi-Nic FT
FT network now support multi-nic setup just like how multi-nic vMotion will work. This allows additional bandwidth to be possible.
There ain't major features but some great enhancement and requests that customer has been asking for. So here is a breakdown of some of the important features enhancements or addition to this release:
vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA)
VMware has already introduce this back in version 5.0. And at 6.0, it has already been in par with the Windows version. In this release, there will be no update to vSphere Client and Update Manager is now part of vCSA. API is also provided for automation.
vCenter Migration, a new feature to help existing Windows vCenter Server customers to move to the vCSA. This tool will also migrate the database to the embedded PostgreSQL database in vCSA. The main problem for customer here is that the tool only migrate it to the embedded database and not allowed them to choose an external or remain as external DB.
Auto Deploy improvement with API and workflows to improve lifecycle management.
Host Profile improvement with search functionality and simplification for troubleshooting if needed.
Open VMware Tools, the aim to provide bootless Linux upgrade and more streamline in-guest lifecycle management.
vCenter High Availability. A ask for the replacement on vCenter Heartbeat and finally VMware has come out with a solution. No more requirement of WFCS or RDM. vCenter HA will be able to handle an outage of within 10 mins.
PSC HA. A native PSC HA which does not require a Load Balance will be introduced. This will only be available in the vCSA.
vSphere Web Client. Further enhancements been done to the vSphere Web Client where all will be in HTML5.
UEFI Secure Boot. This has been a delayed feature as most OS would have this function and glad vSphere is now supporting it. Just simple way if a rootkit for e.g. is compromise, ESXi will not boot due to boot chain been compromise.
VM Encryption. Lots of ask in the public sector space and financial industry. Currently solution is to work with 3rd party solutions to have agent in OS to have encryption been done. If this feature, you can now encrypt a VM using 3rd party KMS. Also VM secure boot and secure vMotion.
Proactive DRS
Working tightly with vRealize Operations, DRS will be triggered to make sure resource is available before a VM become demanding. A scenario will be e.g. A VM typically become busy during month end closing, DRS will move certain VM out knowing it will need more resources and making sure there won't encounter a resource contention when this happens. In the past, DRS alone will only be perform when such contention happens.
Proactive HA
With hardware vendor working to reflect meaningful sensor notification that a possible of a hardware failure e.g. DIMM Slot, vSphere HA can leverage DRS to vMotion out VM from a hardware box before a kernel panic.
vSphere HA Orchestrated Restart
Just like what you can do with Site Recovery Manager (SRM), vSphere HA Orchestrated Restart now allows you to choose the dependency of VMs especially for multi-tier applications with VM-to-VM rules during a host failure that trigger vSphere HA.
Multi-Nic FT
FT network now support multi-nic setup just like how multi-nic vMotion will work. This allows additional bandwidth to be possible.
Will further update this with more details.
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