VMware releases 5.0 U1 and more!

VMware releases 5.0 U1 and more!

VMware announced quite some updates today.

A summary of updates released and a link to their release notes:

As you can see these updates fix quite some problems :-). Furthermore there are quite some new features added.

Newly added to ESXi 5.0:

  • Support for new processors
  • Support for additional guest operating systems
  • Some new or upgraded device drivers

Newly added to vCenter 5.0 Update 1:

  • Guest Operating System Customization Improvements: vCenter Server adds support for customization of the following guest operating systems:
    • Windows 8
    • Ubuntu 11.10
    • Ubuntu 11.04
    • Ubuntu 10.10
    • Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2

I don’t know why they added Ubuntu customization again but this is something I like very much since I am a big Ubuntu fan. Sadly there is no Debian support and I would love it if they added it, basicly there isn’t much difference between Ubuntu and Debian…

Newly added to vCloud Director 1.5.1:

  • New platform support: vCloud now supports the new Update 1
  • Firewall rules can be configured with CIDR blocks, IP ranges, and port ranges
  • Added system notification for lost connection to AMQP host
  • Enhanced cell management tool and log collection script
  • Support for AES-256 encryption for VPN tunnels
  • Increased the retention maximum for vCenter Chargeback history

Newly added to Site Recovery Manager 5.0.1:

  • Forced failover, to allow you to recover virtual machines in cases where storage arrays fail at the protected site and, as a result, protected virtual machines are unmanageable and cannot be shut down, powered off, or unregistered.
  • Added support for IP Customization of Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10, 11.04, and 11.10.

Newly added to vShield 5.0.1:

  • Enhanced reporting and export options
  • New REST API calls
  • Improved audit logs
  • Simplified troubleshooting
  • Improved vShield App policy management
  • vShield App High Availability enhancements
  • Enablement of Autodeploy (Stateless ESXi)

Newly added to vCenter Configuration Manager:
Since this is a long list I suggest you read the release notes page.

Newly added to vCenter Chargeback Manager 2.0.1:

  • Upgraded the Apache Tomcat server to version 6.0.35
  • Enhancements to the vCloud Director Data Collector
  • Enhancements to the VM Instance Cost job

Newly added to vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.4 Update 1:

  • Support for vCenter Server 5.0 Update 1
  • The ability to install vCenter Support Tools

A long list of new releases and new options. The “Resolved Issues” list is even longer ;-). It seems VMware had their hands full with the GA release on vSphere 5 and others a few months ago. Now we finally see the result and I must say: a job well done!

PS: always test updates first in a test environment before going live. There seems to be a problem with AutoStartManager as can be found in this discussion at the VMTN Communities.

Niels Engelen on GithubNiels Engelen on Twitter
Niels Engelen
Working as a Principal Analyst in Product Management for Veeam Software with an interest in anything virtual and cloud with a strong focus on AWS, Azure and Microsoft 365. He is also a VMware Certified Professional, a Veeam Certified Architect and gained the VMware vExpert award (2012-2022).
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