VMware vSphere 6.0 U1 and vSphere Replication 6.1 and more have been released.

By | September 12, 2015

Today, 10th September, VMware released new version of the following products:

  • VMware ESXi 6.0 Update 1
  • VMware vCenter Server 6.0 Update 1
  • VMware Update Manager 6.0 Update 1
  • VMware vSphere Replication 6.1
  • VMware vRealize Operations Manager 6.1
  • VMware VSAN 6.1
  • VMware Data Protection (VDP) 6.1
  • VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) 6.1

Let's check what's new in above products 😉

VMware ESXi 6.0 Update 1

VMware ESXi 6.0 U1 offers the following new features:

  • I/O Filter: vSphere APIs for I/O Filtering (VAIO) provide a framework that allows third parties to create software components called I/O filters.
  • Exclusive affinity to additional system contexts associated with a low-latency VM: This release introduces a new VMX option sched.cpu.latencySensitivity.sysContexts to address issues on vSphere 6.0 where most system contexts are still worldlets.
  • ESXi Authentication for Active Directory:ESXi is modified to only support AES256-CTS/AES128-CTS/RC4-HMAC encryption for Kerberos communication between ESXi and Active Directory.
  • Support for SSLv3 - disabled by default.
  • Stretched Clusters: Virtual SAN 6.0 Update 1 supports stretched clusters that span geographic locations to protect data from site failures or loss of network connection.

For more information (known or resolved issue) please follow VMware ESXi 6.0 Update 1 Release Notes.

Important: Before upgrading to vSphere 6.0 U1, you should read VMware KB to solve problem with loosing network connectivity.

VMware vCenter Server 6.0 Update 1

VMware vCenter Server 6.0 U1 offers the following new features:

  • vCSA Authentication for Active Directory.
  • Installation and Upgrade using HTML 5 installer.
  • Feature Enhancement: Suite UI is now enabled by default for the vSphere Web Client.
  • URL-based patching: Possibility via GUI has come back! Now, as VCSA 5.5, you can update vCenter Appliance since 6.0 U1 via GUI!
  • Support for SSLv3 - disabled by default.

If you want to upgrade your vCenter Appliance 6.0, please follow post here. For more information (known or resolved issue) please follow VMware vCenter Server 6.0 U1 Release Notes.

VMware Update Manager 6.0 Update 1

  • Update Manager is available on Web Client.
  • Additional database support.
  • Support for SSLv3 but disabled by default.

For more information please follow VMware Update Manager 6.0 U1 Release Notes.

VMware vSphere Replication 6.1

VMware vSphere Replication 6.1 offers the following features:

  • 5 min. Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for replication between Virtual SAN data stores.
  • Support for NFS v 4.1.
  • UI Enhancements - the RPO settings in the Configure Replication wizard are simplified and provide more granular options of predefined RPO settings.

For more information please follow Release Notes.

VMware vRealize Operations Manager 6.1

  • At last Hyperic is integrated into vRealize Operations Manager 🙂 we do not have to deploy a separate vApp.
  • Support for Windows Server 2012 R2.
  • Automated workload placement and rebalancing.
  • Single Sign On integration - vRealize Single Sign On (SSO) is provided as a solution for vRealize Operations Manager with vCenter 6.0.

For more information please follow vRealize Operations Manager 6.1 Release Notes.

VMware VSAN 6.1

During VMworld US 2015, VSAN 6.1 was announced. Today it was released! I wrote some days ago what's new in VSAN 6.1 and today VSAN 6.1 Release Notes were published as well. One of the most important feature is that VSAN supports stretched clusters that span two geographic locations to protect data from site failures or loss of network connection.

VMware Data Protection (VDP) 6.1

I have not found any new features but just resolved issued. For more information please follow VMware Data Protection (VDP) 6.1 Release Notes. I hope that you remember that VMware Data Protection Advanced is included in Essential + or higher license 🙂 It means that VDP 6.0 or 6.1 offer features of the previous VDP Advanced.

VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) 6.1

I wrote some days ago what's new in SRM 6.1 and today SRM 6.1 Release Notes were published as well. In my opinion the most important feature is support for stretched storage when using storage policy protection groups in enhanced linked mode.

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Author: Mariusz

Architect (~ 15 years experience based on passion...) with strong background as a System Administrator and Engineer. Focused on Data Center Solutions: Virtualization/Cloud Computing and Storage/Backup Systems. Currently living in Poland.