vSphere 6.7 for Service Providers – Part 1: Enhanced vCenter Server Appliance and Single Reboot
As a service provider, keeping up with the latest technology is essential to remain competitive in the market. VMware’s vSphere 6.7 is one such technology that can help service providers improve their infrastructure and offer better services to their clients. In this blog post, we will explore some of the key features and enhancements in vSphere 6.7 that are relevant to service providers.
Enhanced vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA)
The VCSA has been significantly enhanced in vSphere 6.7, offering twice the performance in vCenter operations per second with a three-times reduction in memory usage. This is great news for service providers who deal with large numbers of VMs and require quick and seamless operations. The VCSA is now more resilient and stable compared to previous versions, making it a reliable foundation for service provider platforms.
Single Reboot and Quick Reboot
Upgrading ESXi hosts can be time-consuming, especially when doing so at scale. vSphere 6.7 addresses this issue by eliminating one of the two reboots required for major version upgrades, known as Single Reboot. Additionally, there is a Quick Reboot feature that restarts the ESXi hypervisor without rebooting the physical host, skipping time-consuming server hardware initialization and post-boot operation wait times. These features significantly reduce maintenance times and make it easier for service providers to keep their platforms up-to-date.
New vSphere Client and vROps Plugin
The new vSphere client offers a complete and workable HTML5-based interface, making it easier for service providers to manage their platforms. The vSphere 6.7 vSphere Client has support for vSAN as well as having Update Manager fully built in. Additionally, there is a new vROps plugin available out-of-the-box once vROps has been linked with vCenter, offering dashboards directly in the vSphere client that can view, cluster view, and alerts for both vCenter and vSAN views.
vCloud Director and NSX Supportability
For service providers running a hybrid cloud, it is essential to ensure compatibility between vSphere 6.7 and other VMware products. Currently, there is no support for either vCloud Director or NSX-v in vSphere 6.7. While vCloud Director SP is supported in version 9.1, it is only compatible with vSphere 6.7 when running NSX-v. Therefore, service providers should be cautious when upgrading to vSphere 6.7 and ensure that all products are at the same version to avoid compatibility issues.
Conclusion
In conclusion, vSphere 6.7 offers several enhancements and new features relevant to service providers. The enhanced VCSA, Single Reboot, and Quick Reboot features can significantly improve the performance and maintenance of service provider platforms. Additionally, the new vSphere client and vROps plugin offer easier management and monitoring of vSphere environments. As always, it is essential for service providers to ensure compatibility between products when upgrading to a new version.