NSX-V – End of Life reminder – NSX-V is End of Life and will be out of support on January 16, 2022.  If you are running NSX-V you need to migrate to NSX-T.  The licenses you have today do work with NSX-T.  There are 2 methods to migrate.  There is also a whitepaper on migrating from NSX-V to NSX-T.

Some new information upgrading to vSphere 7.0 Update 2 if your hosts have SD-cards/USB Sticks.   VMware has released KB 82515 which provides guidance on  booting ESXi from low endurance media.    While you should read the KB, there are 2 key points:

• SD-Cards are not depreciated in vSphere 7.x.  You do need to read and understand the info noted below.  There is action you need to take when upgrading.  If you do not, you run the risk of your SD-Cards failing while the host is running.
• VMware does strongly recommend transitioning away from USB/SD-Card boot devices

If your hosts use USB Boot Media (SD-Cards, USB Sticks, etc) there is some important information you need to read before you upgrade.    Refer to the information in the Notes from the Field section below for full details.

Upcoming Events

VMworld 2021
October 5-7, 2021

Registration is now live.  You can register for free on VMworld.com.

• VMworld 2021 is on-line and free.

In addition to the General pass (which is free), a Tech+ Pass is available for $299/individual.    A comparison of the options is available here.

Product Support Watch

The following products are nearing the End of General Support.  You can find the full list on the VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix.

Horizon View / Workspace ONE

• Dynamic Environment Manager 9.10 – 12/12/21
• Horizon 7.10 ESB – 9/17/21
• Identity Manager 3.3.2- 10/17/2021
• App Volumes 4 – 1/14/22
• Workspace ONE UEM Console 2004 (SaaS Only) – 10/3/21
• Workspace ONE UEM Console 2005 (SaaS Only) – 12/10/21
• Workspace ONE UEM Console 2006 (SaaS Only) – 12/17/21

NSX

• NSX-T Data Center 2.5 – 9/19/21
• HCX 3.5.3 – 10/30/21
• NSX for vSphere (NSX-V) – 1/16/22 – must transition to NSX-T

vRealize Suite

• Lifecycle Manger 2.1- 10/31/21
• Lifecycle Manger 8.3 – 2/4/22
• Log Insight 4.8 – 10/31/21
• Log Insight 8.0, 8.1 – 10/17/21
• vRealize Operations Manager  7.5 – 10/31/21
• vRealize Operations Manager  8.0.1, 8.1 – 10/17/21
• vRealize Network Insight 5.0-5.3 – 10/31/21
• vRealize Orchestrator 8.0-8.2 – 10/17/21
• vRealize Orchestrator 8.3 – 2/4/22
• vRealize Automation 8.0-8.2 – 10/17/21
• vRealize Automation 8.3 – 2/4/22
• vRealize Network Insight 5.0-5.3 – 10/31/21
• vRealize Operations Manager 7.5, 8.0, 8.0.1, 8.1 – 10/31/21

General

• Fusion 12 – 12/14/21
• Workstation 16 – 12/14/21
• Site Recovery Manager 6.5, 8.1, 8.2 – 11/15/21
• vSphere Replication 6.5, 8.1, 8.2 – 11/15/21

Notes from the Field

Skyline is really a set of tools
Did you know there are actually 3 different tools in the VMware Skyline family?  While all of the tools are designed to help solve problems faster and deliver a better support experience, each one has a slightly different focus. All of these tools are available to use right now – for free.  I made a few videos to help explain what they are about:

• Skyline Overview
• Skyline Health for vSphere Demo
• Skyline Advisor Demo
• Skyline Health Diagnostics Demo

CPUs scheduled for Support Discontinuation in future major releases of vSphere
VMware has updated the list of CPUs for Support Discontinuation in future major releases of vSphere.   While these CPUs will still be supported for vSphere 7.0x, they may have support discontinued in the future.  Most of these are either already at End-of-Life / End-of-Support or will be soon.

Native Key Provider in 7.0 U2
One of the new features in vSphere 7.0 U2 is a Native Key Provider.  If encrypting VMs has been on your to-do list, you no longer need to acquire a separate KMS.  Learn more in this vSphere Quick Bytes video.

vSphere 7.0 Update 2 and USB-based Boot Media (SD Cards/USB Sticks) – If your ESX hosts boot from these devices – you need to read this important information before you upgrade as the boot devices you are using may have issues.

vSphere 7 Update 2 introduces changes to core storage used by the Hypervisor and increases the I/O requirements past the endurance thresholds of some SD cards.  This change is described in the vSphere 7.0 Update 2 VMware ESXi Installation and Setup Guide.  On  page 12 of the guide, it specifies that the ESX-OSData partition “must be created on high-endurance storage devices”.

Currently,  information about the internal SD cards can’t be checked on the VMware Compatibility Guide, as hardware manufacturers do not provide that information to VMware. Please be aware that the hardware vendors are responsible for managing and updating their information listed in the compatibility guide.   If you have questions about the endurance specifications of your SD Cards – please check with your hardware manufacturer.

KB 83376 – discusses the issues that can arise when the SD card boot device has exhausted its write capability.  This KB also describes a work around VMware has developed to allow low endurance SD Cards to work with vSphere 7 Update 2.  It involves a manual one-time config change which moves certain highly accessed files to a RAM Disk. This should become automatic in a future release of vSphere 7.x.

While this should help with vSphere 7.x, I am not sure what the future holds for SD Cards as ESX boot devices.    If I had to guess, I would imagine that the I/O requirements will increase over time as ESX continues to evolve.

It is advisable to consider adding higher performance/endurance boot devices into a future budget or into your next hardware refresh plan.