VMware released a new update of the vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA). This new release (bringing the version to 5.1.1) contains mostly bug fixes but adds a few new (interesting) things.

VMware vSphere Storage Appliance 5.1.1 provides a distributed shared storage solution that abstracts the computing and internal hard disk resources of two or three ESXi hosts to form a VSA cluster. The VSA cluster enables vSphere High Availability and vSphere vMotion.

What’s new

• Support for multiple VSA clusters managed by a single vCenter Server instance.
• Ability to run vCenter Server on a subnet different from a VSA cluster.
• Support for vCenter Server run locally on one of the ESXi hosts in the VSA cluster.
• Ability to install VSA on existing ESXi hosts that have virtual machines running on their local datastores.
• Ability to run the VSA cluster service independently from a vCenter Server instance in the same subnet as the VSA cluster, installed on either Linux or Windows. The VSA cluster service is required for a cluster with two members. For information about how to install the service, see the Install and Configure the VSA Cluster Environment section in the VMware vSphere Storage Appliance Installation and Administration documentation.
• Improved supportability for VSA clusters in an offline state. VSA has improved its ability to identify issues that cause a cluster to be offline, and also provides an option to return a cluster to an online state.
• Ability to specify and increase the storage capacity of a VSA cluster.
• Security enhancements to properly secure communication channels among VSA components.
• Support of memory over-commitment for a VSA cluster that includes ESXi hosts 5.1. The VSA cluster that includes ESXi hosts with earlier ESXi 5.0 version does not support memory over-commitment.
• A new licensing model. In addition to being an add-on for vCenter Server, VSA can now have its own standalone license. Use the add-on license if you manage a single cluster. To manage multiple clusters, you need to obtain the standalone VSA licen

For more information you can read the release notes.