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VMware vSphere 6.5 U2 Released

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Few weeks after the announcement and release of vSphere 6.7, VMware has also released vSphere 6.5 U2 however you cannot upgrade from to vSphere 6.7 from 6.5U2. It's not supported. Part of the release is vCenter Server 6.5 U2 which now supports Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM) when deployed with Embedded Platform Service Controller (PSC).

Upgrading to vSphere 6.5 Update 2 from vSphere 5.5 requires a minimum version of vSphere 5.5 Update 3b prior to performing the upgrade. Note that the 5.5 will be the end of support the 19th of September 2018.

What's New in vSphere 6.5 Update 2?

  • IPv6 support for the Key Management Server (KMS) of VMware vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption (VM Encryption).
  • Additional alarms for the expiration of KMS certificates, missing hosts, and virtual machine keys.
  • Customization of default network ports for the HTTP Reverse Proxy service via the GUI or CLI during the deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance.
  • Management of multiple namespaces compatible with the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) 1.2 specification and enhanced diagnostic log.
  • Adding tags to the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) hardware version 1.2 on ESXi using ESXCLI commands.
  • New native driver to support the Broadcom SAS 3.5 IT/IR controllers with devices including the combination of NVMe, SAS, and SATA drives.

vCenter Server 6.5 U2 What's New?

vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2 release includes the following list of new features.

  • With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, you can deploy by using the GUI or CLI installer up to 10 vCenter Server Appliance instances in Embedded Linked Mode, and manage these instances with the vSphere Web Client or vSphere Client from any of the instances.
  • vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2 provides backup restore support to Embedded Linked Mode with replication deployment topology and reconciliation API for both file-based and snapshot-based restore.
  • With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, vMotion and cold migration of virtual machines is supported between vCenter Server 6.0 Update 3 and later, vCenter Server 6.5, vCenter Server 6.5 Update 1 and VMware Cloud on AWS. Cloning of virtual machines between vCenter Server 6.0 and vCenter Server 6.5 is not supported. For more information, see KB 2106952.
  • With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, you can migrate vCenter Server installed on Windows with custom HTTP and HTTPS ports to vCenter Server Appliance.
  • With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, during the GUI or CLI deployment process of the vCenter Server Appliance, you can customize the default network ports for the HTTP Reverse Proxy service. The default ports are 80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS.
  • With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, you can use the TLS Configuration utility to configure SSL tunnels on port 8089. Upgrade to vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2 does not change previous configurations.
  • With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, you can use the TLS Configuration utility to configure TLS protocols on hosts of both ESXi 6.0 and ESXi 6.5 versions. Configuration of TLS protocols on clusters with mixed ESXi 6.0 and ESXi 6.5 hosts is not supported.
  • With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, you can configure SSL settings for the lightweight CIM daemon, SFCB, with the TLS Configuration utility.
  • Updates to time zones in the Linux guest operating system customization: vCenter Server Linux guest operating system customization supports latest time zones. For more information on time zone changes and daylight saving time (DST) changes in Linux guest operating systems, see the Time Zone Database by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
  • Updates to time zones in the Windows guest operating system customization: vCenter Server Windows guest operating systems customization supports the latest time zones. For more information on time zone changes and daylight saving time (DST) changes in Windows guest operating systems, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 3182203, Microsoft Knowledge Base article 4015193 and Microsoft Knowledge Base article 4012864.
  • vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2 adds IPv6 support for the Key Management Server (KMS) of VMware vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption (VM Encryption) and alarms for expiration of KMS certificates, missing hosts and missing virtual machine keys.

What's New in ESXi 6.5 U2?

ESXi 6.5 Update 2 release includes the following list of new features.

  • ESXi 6.5 Update 2 enables Microsemi Smart PQI (smartpqi) driver support for the HPE ProLiant Gen10 Smart Array Controller.
  • Updates to the nhpsa driver: The disk serviceability plug-in of the ESXi native driver for HPE Smart Array controllers, nhpsa, now works with an extended list of expander devices to enable compatibility with HPE Gen9 configurations.
  • Updates to the nvme driver: ESXi 6.5 Update 2 adds management of multiple namespaces compatible with the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) 1.2 specification and enhanced diagnostic log.
  • With ESXi 6.5 Update 2, you can add tags to the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) hardware version 1.2 on ESXi by using ESXCLI commands. A new API provides read and write access in the form of get, set, and clear commands to the non-volatile memory on TPMs of version 1.2.
  • ESXi 6.5 Update 2 enables a new native driver to support the Broadcom SAS 3.5 IT/IR controllers with devices including combination of NVMe, SAS, and SATA drives. The HBA device IDs are: SAS3516(00AA), SAS3516_1(00AB), SAS3416(00AC), SAS3508(00AD), SAS3508_1(00AE), SAS3408(00AF), SAS3716(00D0), SAS3616(00D1), SAS3708(00D2).
  • In ESXi 6.5 Update 2, LightPulse and OneConnect adapters are supported by separate default drivers. The brcmfcoe driver supports OneConnect adapters and the lpfc driver supports only LightPulse adapters. Previously, the lpfc driver supported both OneConnect and LightPulse adapters.

Part of the vSphere 6.5 U2 package are also other VMware product, such as SRM, VDP, vSphere Replication etc. Here are the links below.

VMware Site Recovery Manager 6.5.1.1 [Download]
VMware vCenter Server 6.5 U2 [Download]
VMware vSphere Data Protection 6.1.8 [Download]
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 6.5 U2 [Download]
VMware vSphere Replication 6.5.1.3 [Download]

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Comments

  1. Andrei Dumitriu says

    Hi Vladan,

    Thanks for putting the essential onto this post. I was concerned about VMware’s statement saying no upgrade can take place from ESXi 6.5U2 to 6.7. Since I have my own lab, I went ahead and tried this. Just to see what will happen.

    So I’ve quickly installed one ESXi with 6.5U1 version. Note that is running as a VM and NOT on a physical server. I have to add here that no major configurations have been applied except configuring the management network. Next, the 6.5U2 upgrade was implemented. All good. Fingers were crossed for the 6.7 upgrade. Next next next, and it went through! No warnings, no errors. The host is alive.

    Am I missing something here or is this true only for physical boxes? Just wanted to share this with everyone.

    Andrei

    • Vladan SEGET says

      While your test lab upgrade on virtual ESXi works, it’s currently not supported by VMware. That’s all. They’re probably planning to release another patch and then only make the upgrade to be supported.

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