VMware announces new versions of vSphere and vSAN

Both vSphere 6.7 and vSAN 6.7 will enhance user experience, improve security, provide better application support and increase the range of hybrid cloud management features.

In terms of vSphere 6.7 the key changes include:

• Simple and efficient management, at scale - the enhanced vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) will deliver an improved user experience made possible through more efficient management capabilities and significant performance improvements, delivering considerable time and cost savings
  
  
• Comprehensive built-in security - vSphere customers can deploy VMware AppDefense to further secure applications running in the data centre or cloud. AppDefense understands what applications are intended to do, monitors against that intended state and automates responses if anyone or anything attempts to manipulate them
  
  
• Increased support for more workloads - vSphere 6.7 will continue to offer customers a universal application platform that supports new workloads, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, business-critical, cloud-native, in-memory and 3D graphics
  
  
• Seamless hybrid cloud experience – the new vCenter Hybrid Linked Mode will enable unified visibility and management across different versions of vSphere running on-premises and in public clouds (such as VMware Cloud on AWS and IBM Cloud). This will allow customers to maintain their current version of vSphere on-premises while enjoying the benefits of new capabilities in vSphere-based public clouds

Some of the other new features in vSphere 6.7 are:

• ESXi Single Reboot and vSphere Quick Boot – aimed at significantly reducing patch and upgrade times by halving the number of reboots required to one, while also skipping hardware initialisation steps to gain further re-start efficiencies
  
  
• ·vSphere Persistent Memory – this supports the next generation of storage devices that use persistent DRAM memory, known as non-volatile dual in-line memory module (NVDIMM) devices
  
  
• Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 Support and Virtual TPM 2.0 – this combination will significantly enhance protection and integrity for both the hypervisor and the guest operating system

Upgrading to vSphere 6.7 will obviously be a key consideration in an organisation’s vSphere lifecycle plan. This will be particularly relevant for vSphere 5.5 users, where the end of general support is scheduled for the 19^th of September 2018. However, it’s important to note that vSphere 5.5 does not have a direct upgrade path to vSphere 6.7. If you are currently running vSphere 5.5, you must first upgrade to either vSphere 6.0 or vSphere 6.5 before subsequently upgrading to vSphere 6.7.

Meanwhile the new vSAN 6.7 release reduces time-to-expertise through the use of a new intuitive interface, whilst accelerating decision-making via advanced monitoring and analytics.  

The announcement also includes vSAN ReadyCare which is intended to improve the support experience for HCI environments. VMware will help customers maintain performance by avoiding or quickly resolving issues and minimising downtime through a combination of proactive telemetry capabilities from vSAN Support Insight advanced analytics, and increased investment in suitably trained support staff.

In terms of timescales, vSphere 6.7 and vSAN 6.7 are both expected to be available by the 4^th of May 2018 and training is expected to be released on following dates: 

• vSphere: What's New v5.5 to v6.7 - 8th June 2018
• vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage v6.7 - 29th June 2018
• vSphere: Optimize and Scale v6.7 - 6th July 2018
• vSphere: Troubleshooting Workshop v6.7 - 13th July 2018