The next version of vSphere is currently in public beta state. While the beta is still under NDA, VMware has announced some features at their VMworld 2014 conference:
The new web based Virtual SAN Sizing Tool provides assistance for design considerations for a Virtual SAN infrastructure. Based on given requirement the tool provides full detailed specifications. Input parameters are split into 2 separate sections: Virtual Machine Characteristics and Host Hardware Characteristics.
[Last Update April 19, 2014 - Patches available]
There are a lot of news according to the recently published OpenSSL vulnerability. The bug, also known as "Heartbleed", allows attackers to steal informations that are protected by the SSL/TLS encryption.
Is VMware ESXi and the vCenter affected?
There is currently no official statement from VMware regarding this issue. After some research I found affected versions im VMware products. Here are my findings:
The affected versions are OpenSSL 1.0.1 through 1.0.1f.
Read More »ESXi 5.5 affected by OpenSSL CVE-2014-0160 aka Heartbleed
With the release of VMware Virtual SAN we have several new acronyms and abbreviations. What does they stand for? I've created a shot list about all abbreviations… Read More »VSAN - What does CLOM, OSFS and CMMDS stand for?
VMware Virtual SAN and its pricing model is now available. The pricing model is very simple and, just like the model for the hypervisor, based on CPU sockets. There is no feature, capacity or scale limit. VSAN has to be licensed on top of the hypervisor and the whole cluster has to be licensed. This implies that you have to license each host in the cluster, even when it does not have any local disks and is only part of the cluster as a VSAN Agent. A more detailed description of VSAN licensing is available here.
I've created a VSAN License Calculator. Just enter the number of hosts and sockets per host in your cluster and it will calculate the total price of all required VMware products. It also includes a license cost breakdown which shows the price for each component separately.
Last week, VMware has announced the general availability of VMware Virtual SAN. At a webcast event that was held a few days ago they did not release licensing and pricing information. Today VMware disclosed the secret: Virtual SAN is priced at $2,495 per CPU and at $50 per user for VDI deployments. Let's see how competitors at the Hyper-Converged market like Nutanix, Simplivity, Pivot3 or Scale Computing will react.
VMware Virtual SAN 5.5 is available for download now. There are no additional binaries required to get started. Just download vSphere 5.5 Update 1 (vCenter and ESXi) and get started. Virtual SAN requires a separate license which is also available as 60 days evaluation.
The download of my vSphere Release History in PDF Format is now available. It includes the latest vSphere updates: VMware_vSphere_Release_and_Build_Number_History_2014-03-11.pdf VMware ESXi Release and Build Number… Read More »vSphere Release History PDF Format - 5.5 Update 1
This is the week where VMware Virtual SAN is going to be released. This might change the storage landscape massively as it brings a radically simple hyper-converged storage. Before it goes GA in a few days I want to give a brief overview of the current storage landscape and how it has been transformed from traditional LUN based storage to a hyper-converged infrastructure.
Read More »Storage Landscape - From Traditional Storage to Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
After some major changes to VMware certifications in the last month, VMware has announced a new important change: VCP-level certifications will expire after 2 years. The policy is effective as of March 10, 2014. If you current VCP is older than one year, you have to re-certify until March 10, 2015.
Read More »VCP Certification Expiration - Check your transcript!
