VMware vSphere has reached general availability with version 6.0. The RC stage finished and general availability of the virtualization software is now here.
You can learn more about the product and its features from the vSphere Product Page. The vSphere Upgrade Center lists the new functionality with vSphere 6.0 and provides other resources to plan your upgrade.
- Support for New Architectures: Expanded support for the latest x86 chip sets, devices, drivers and guest operating systems.
- Scalability: With increased configuration maximums, virtual machines will now support up to 128 virtual CPUs (vCPUs) and 4TB virtual RAM (vRAM). Hosts will support up to 480 CPU and 12TB of RAM, 1024 virtual machines per host, and 64 nodes per cluster.
- Multi-Processor Fault Tolerance: Expanded support for software-based fault tolerance for workloads with up to 4 virtual CPUs.
- Long-Distance vMotion: Perform non-disruptive live migration of workloads over distances of up to 100ms RTT. The 10x increase in RTT offered in Long-Distance vMotion now makes it possible for data centers physically located in New York and London to migrate live workloads between one another.
- Transform Storage for your Virtual Machines: vSphere Virtual Volumes enables your external storage arrays to become VM-aware. Storage policy-based management (SPBM) allows common management across storage tiers and dynamic storage class of service automation. Together they enable exact combinations of data services (snapshots, clones, remote replication, deduplication, etc.) to be instantiated more efficiently on a per VM basis.
- Content Library: Centralized repository that provides simple and effective management for content including virtual machine templates, ISO images and scripts. With Content Library, it is now possible to store and manage content from a central location and share through a publish/subscribe model.
If you would like to check out vSphere 6.0, the Evaluation Center provides a free trial.
For most areas, the announcement is welcome but will require significant testing before the update reaches production. In addition, there are other dependencies to check for compatibility such as backup systems. Veeam has posted that they have code working in RC but “VMware has a history of implementing significant changes between RC and RTM.” They estimate 2-3 months before they can support the new version.
