What’s New in vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1

vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1, you can move a vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller from one vSphere domain to another vSphere domain. Services such as tagging and licensing are retained and migrated to the new domain. For more information, see the vCenter Server Installation and Setup Guide.

• vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 adds screening for issues in your vSphere environment that proactively provides links to relevant VMware knowledge base articles. For more information, see Check vSphere Health in vSphere Client.

• vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 adds support for virtual machine (.vmtx) templates in the Content Library Service.

• vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 adds a CLI tool to convert instances of vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller instances into vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller connected in Embedded Linked Mode.

• Burst Filter: vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 adds a Burst Filter to manage event bursts and prevent the database of vCenter Server from flooding with identical events over a short period of time.

• vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 supports VMware vSphere vMotion between on-prem systems and VMware Cloud on AWS. You can use either the vSphere Client or vShere Web Client, or the API. To enable the feature, you must upgrade the source on-prem vCenter Server system to vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 and ESXi 6.7 Update 1.

• With vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1, you can import Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) files in a Content Library. The OVA files are unzipped during the import, providing manifest and certificate validations, and create an OVF library item that enables deployment of virtual machines from a Content Library.

• With vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1, you can restore external Platform Services Controller instances which are replicating data with other external Platform Services Controller instances. This includes restore of external Platform Services Controller instances in all topologies supported in replication mode. The external Platform Services Controller being restored syncs with active peers or if no replication partner is available, it is restored to a backed-up state.

• Create and Extend Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI): The Create/Extend HCI cluster feature provides a guided user experience for configuration of vSphere and vSAN clusters. The feature also delivers a centralized wizard experience, embeds best practice, and automates repetitive operations.

• With vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1, you can use the Appliance Management User Interface to configure and edit the firewall settings of the vCenter Server Appliance.

• With vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1, users with vCenter Single Sign-On administrator privileges, who are part of the SystemConfiguration.BashShellAdministrator group, can access and manage the vCenter Server Appliance by using the Bash shell.

• vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 supports Windows 2016 Active Directory.

• vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 adds support for configuration and monitoring of vCenter High Availability by using the vSphere Client.

• With vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1, you can change color schemes in the vSphere Client to display the interface in a dark theme.

• AppDefense vCenter Server Plugin: vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 introduces VMware Appdefense as an integrated component of vCenter Server. The AppDefense vCenter Server Plugin provides aggregated security metrics, visibility, and health statistics for applications and workloads running on vSphere.

• AppDefense lifecycle management: vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 supports one-click, integrated installation and upgrade workflows for AppDefense directly within vCenter Server. For more information, see the AppDefense Installation Guide with vCenter Server Plugin.

• AppDefense virtual machine monitoring: vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1 supports AppDefense behavior monitoring for visibility, security assessment, and troubleshooting directly within vCenter Server. For more information, see the AppDefense User Guide.

        See the full release notes here: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/rn/vsphere-vcenter-server-671-release-notes.html

I hope this has been informative and thank you for reading!

What’s New VMware vSphere 6.7 Update 1

vSphere 6.7 Update 1 is now generally available. This release includes a single HTML5 vSphere Client. The vSphere SSO domain also is receiving more flexibility with support for embedded repointing. Now a single embedded deployment can move to another vSphere SSO domain. Another feature with enhancements in vSphere 6.7 Update 1 is Content Library. It now supports native vCenter Server templates (.vmtx) and Open Virtual Appliance (OVA). Of course, there are more new features and enhancements in this release. Without further ado, here is what’s new in vCenter Server 6.7 Update 1.

vSphere Client

We have a fully featured vSphere client in vSphere 6.7 Update 1. The vSphere team also wanted to optimize the vSphere Client’s performance and workflows. Ensuring the best customer experience possible. This release includes smart porting over and completing the remaining features which included:

• vCenter High Availability (VCHA)
• Auto Deploy
• Host Profiles
• vSphere Update Manager
• Network Topology Diagrams
• Performance Charts
• Improved Searching
• Dark Theme

Content Library

This feature has been around since vSphere 6.0 and is one of my favorites. As a customer, I had to manage several images, scripts, OVAs, and templates for several remote sites. Having to maintain and update the same content in several locations can be a nightmare. Content Library is a native vCenter Server service which solves this problem. It uses the subscriber/publisher model to distribute content. There are two deployment models when using Content Library:

Single vCenter Server managing several sites

• Centralized managed content
• Uses WAN to sync content, requires publishing vCenter Server to be available
• Content stored on a datastore at the remote sites
• When provisioning content at the remote sites, traffic is kept local

Multi vCenter Server

• Centralized managed content
• Uses WAN to sync content
• Can sustain publishing vCenter Server failure, remote locations continue to operate
• Content stored on a datastore at the remote sites
• When provisioning content at the remote sites, traffic is kept local

vSphere Health

This is a new feature with huge potential. When deploying your vCenter Server there is an option to enable CEIP. It stands for Customer experience improvement program. When enabled data gets sent to VMware’s analytics cloud, customer workload data is not part of the data collected. This is all anonymous, data is secure and housed in VMware’s data centers. VMware uses this telemetry data to help improve features and customer experience. Now when enabled this functionality provides even more value to the customers.

Remaining new update i will cover my next post shortly. I hope this has been informative and thank you for reading!