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What's inside VMware vSphere 6.5 Update 1

VMware has just released vSphere 6.5 Update 1 including the following producs:

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vCenter Server 6.5 U1 - What's new

  • Ubuntu 17.04 OS Guest OS customization: vCenter Server 6.5 Update 1 supports Guest OS customization for Ubuntu 17.04 OS.
  • VADP support for Windows Server 2016 and RHEL 7.3: VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection (VADP) now also support Windows Server 2016 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux RHEL 7.3 as operating systems to perform proxy backup. This is in addition to the backup proxy operating systems already supported with VADP and VDDK 6.5.
  • Upgrade from vCenter 6.0 U3: vCenter Server 6.5 Update 1 supports upgrades and migrations from vCenter Server 6.0 Update 3 and above to vCenter Server 6.5 Update 1.
  • HTML5 Client with 90% feature support: The HTML5-based vSphere Client now can support up to 90% of general workflows.
  • 4 ESXi Host support in vCenter Server Foundation: With vSphere 6.5 Update 1 VMware has increased the number of hosts that vCenter Server Foundation will support from 3 host to 4.
  • General Support until November 2021: VMware has extended the general support for vSphere 6.5 for a full 5 years. This means that support for vSphere 6.5 will now end November 15, 2021.

Increased Configuration Maximums

  • Maximum vCenter Servers per vSphere Domain: 15 (increased from 10)
  • Maximum ESXi Hosts per vSphere Domain: 5000 (increased from 4000)
  • Maximum Powered On VMs per vSphere Domain: 50,000 (increased from 30,000)
  • Maximum Registered VMs per vSphere Domain: 70,000 (increased from 50,000)

vSAN 6.6.1 - What's new

  • vSphere Update Manager (VUM) Integration: The manual process of checking the VMware Compatibility Guide to ensure the upgraded version was supported with the specific hardware has been automated with a completely new Update Manager workflow.
  • Performance Diagnostics: The vSAN Cloud Analytics capabilities have been improved with a proactive Performance Diagnostics feature that analyzes the performance of a given vSAN cluster against previously executed benchmarks.
  • vSAN Licensing for ROBO and VDI: VDI and ROBO licensing editions are expanded with an Enterprise model that allows encryption and stretched clusters.

The latest ESXi 6.5 Build number is now: 5969303
Updated: ESXi Release and Build Number History
Updated: VMware Product Latest Version
Updated: ESXi Image Profiles

9 thoughts on “What's inside VMware vSphere 6.5 Update 1”

  1. The provided download link for the 6.5 U1 Hypervisor does not allow registered free users to actually download. Upon login you are met with the error: You either are not entitled or do not have permissions to download this product.

    The separate "free" link on VMware's site at https://my.vmware.com/en/group/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6 still only provides version 6.5.0a.

    Where can one actually download the 6.5 U1 installer ISO with a free license?

    1. You can always install 6.5 *whatever-older-version* and update to the latest version, or use PowerCLI Image Builder to create a "custom ISO".
      I know, that's not a 100% answer, and a downloadable ISO is nicer, but it definitely works allows you to use the latest ESXi version.

    2. Here you go with PowerCLI for the latest version ISO:

      PowerCLI C:\esx> Add-EsxSoftwareDepot https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
      PowerCLI C:\esx> Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-standard" -ExportToISO -filepath ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-standard.iso

      Or upgrade your box:

      esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-20170702001-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

  2. Do we need to update the vCenter first to 6.5U1 before updating the host to 6.5U1 from 6.5. Is there a co-relation between their build version even though both running on 6.5?

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