So post VMworld, I wrote a long article about what’s new for vSphere 6.5 which I was hoping would be published on SearchVMware.com…. unfortunately I’m still waiting on it to be published, last I heard the article was too long and they were splitting it up into two articles! ¬_¬”

Anyways, whilst I wait for the article to be published, I’ll give a quick summary of things I’ve learnt about the new vSphere/vCenter 6.5 that was released 2 days ago.

• New HTML5 vSphere Client
• Fully Integrated vSphere Update Manager and AutoDeploy with vCenter Server Appliance
• Native High Availability for the vCSA
• Native backup/restore for vCSA
• Built-in monitoring web interface for the vCSA
• Over 2x increase in scale and 3x in performance
• Easy to migrate from Windows vCenter to vCSA
• Client Integration Plugin for the vSphere Web Client is no longer required
• The vCSA deployment installer can be run on Windows, Mac and Linux
• The installer now supports install, upgrade, migrate and restore
• vSphere API Explorer
• VM Encryption / Encrypted vMotion
• Secure Boot (for ESXi host and VM)
• VMware Tools 10.1 and 10.0.12 (for older guest OSes that are out of support)
• Multi-factor authentication with Smartcard or SecurID
• VMFS-6 (4k drive support in 512e mode – emulating 512 sectors)
• Automatic Space Reclamation – VAAI UNMAP now automatic and integrated it UI
• VVOLs 2.0 plus VASA 3.0
• vSphere HA is now known as vSphere Availability, enhancements to Admission Control
• HA Orchestrated Restarts (adding in dependencies when HA restarts a VM)
• Proactive HA (when host components are failing they are put into a quarantine mode)
• Enhancements to DRS (VM distribution, CPU Over-commit, Network aware)
• Predictive-DRS if vRealize Operations 6.4 is deployed (forecasted trends will kick off DRS)
• vSphere Replication enhancements (now 5min RPOs like vSAN)

To find out more information, head along to the following:

• What’s New in vSphere 6.5
• vSphere & vCenter Server 6.5 Documentation
• vSphere & vCenter Server 6.5 Release Notes
• vSphere Update Manager 6.5 Release Notes
• Config Maximums for vSphere 6.5

In addition to the GA of vSphere/vCenter 6.5 there were a load of other releases on the same day:

• vSAN 6.5
• vSphere Replication 6.5
• vSphere Data Protection 6.1.3
• Site Recovery Manager 6.5
• vRealize Log Insight 4
• vRealize Operations 6.4
• vRealize Business for Cloud 7.2.0

I’m still waiting on the launch of vRealize Automation 7.2 and NSX 6.3….. those should be imminent as well!

As always, all downloads are available via the My VMware Portal.