VMware Cloud Foundation 3.5 is Generally Available

VMware introduced a number of new features with cloud foundation 3.5 release, in this post i will share new features information and short overview of some of the new features.

VMware Cloud Foundation

VMware Cloud Foundation is an integrated software stack that bundles compute virtualization (VMware vSphere), storage virtualization (VMware vSAN), network virtualization (VMware NSX), and cloud management and monitoring (VMware vRealize Suite) into a single platform that can be deployed on premises as a private cloud or run as a service within a public cloud. Cloud Foundation helps to break down the traditional administrative silos in data centers, merging compute, storage, network provisioning, and cloud management to facilitate end-to-end support for application deployment.

VMware Cloud Foundation is a unified SDDC platform that brings together VMware vSphere, vSAN, NSX and optionally, vRealize Suite components, into a natively integrated stack to deliver enterprise-ready cloud infrastructure for the private and public cloud. The Cloud Foundation 3.5 release continues to expand on the SDDC automation, VMware SDDC stack, and the partner ecosystem.

NOTE: VMware Cloud Foundation 3.5 must be installed as a new deployment or upgraded from Cloud Foundation 3.0.1.x

What’s New with VMware Cloud Foundation 3.5

The VMware Cloud Foundation 3.5 release includes the following:

• Support for NSX-T Automation
  Enables deployment of workload domains with NSX-T.
  Note: NSX-T is not supported for consolidated architecture.
• Support for NFS Storage Automation
  Enables users to leverage existing NFS storage investment with NFS-based workload domains.
• Deeper Integration with Composable Infrastructure
  SDDC Manager is now integrated with Redfish Composability APIs, with HPE Synergy as the first certified partner.
• Bulk Host Commissioning and De-Commissioning
  You can now commission and de-commission multiple hosts at the same time.
• Improved Interface for Password Management
  Provides new controls for managing password rotation and manual password updating.
• Updated Certificate Replacement Workflow
  Improvements include clearer error messages and fewer errors.

Cloud Foundation Bill of Materials (BOM)

The Cloud Foundation software product is comprised of the following software Bill-of-Materials (BOM). Every release of VMware Cloud Foundation contains Bill of Materials (BOM) which has all updated software details. With this  new release Vmware integrated some of the latest releases of VMware products into Cloud Foundation which includes :  vSphere 6.7 Update 1, NSX-V 6.4.4/NSX-T 2.3, and the vRealize Lifecycle Manager v2.0, which can be leveraged to deploy vRealize Automation 7.5 and vRealize Operations 7.0 .

The components in the BOM are interoperable and compatible

New addition to the VCF 3.5 Software BOM with NSX-T v2.3, the latest Network Virtualization technology from VMware allowing customers to realize multi-cloud architectures and native support for containers.  During the creation of a new Workload Domain in SDDC Manager, Cloud Administrators are now able to select the deployment of either NSX-V or NSX-T to support their workloads.

During the launch of VCF 3.0, we “opened the floodgates”, in terms of supported  hardware, by announcing support for all VSAN ReadyNodes in the VSAN Hardware Compatibility Guide.  With VCF 3.5, we continue to expand on hardware support by introducing deeper integration with Composable Infrastructure. VCF now includes a partner agnostic architecture  to support Composable Infrastructure.  This capability is accomplished through an integration of SDDC Manager with industry standard Redfish Composability APIs.  VMware is proud to announce HPE Synergy as the first supported composability platform with this new capability.

VCF now supports creation of a Workload Domain on NFS 3.0 Storage.  Although VSAN is the preferred storage platform for VMware and Cloud Foundation, we recognize that many customers have existing investments in NFS 3.0 storage that they would like to continue to leverage.  With NFS support customers can continue utilizing their investments in NFS as they begin their Cloud Foundation journey.

VCF 3.5 also comes with some nice usability improvements.  One area in particular is with making it easier to add physical capacity to your Cloud Foundation based private cloud.  In previous releases of Cloud Foundation, the “Commissioning” of new hosts was accomplished one host at a time, with an administrator providing the input data for each host manually.  The SDDC Manager now has an improved workflow that allows for Bulk Host Commissioning and Decommissioning of hosts.  This feature will enable a Cloud Administrator to commission new servers at scale saving valuable time, and reducing the opportunity for human error.

The SDDC Manager user interface now includes a Security category for Password Management and Certificate Replacements.   The Improvements to Password Rotation include the ability to automate the rotation of all component passwords, or to update any individual component passwords via the SDDC Manager web interface.  Using the Certificate Replacement feature in SDDC Manager, Administrators can now automate certificate creation and replacement of all externally-facing Cloud Foundation components, such as Platform Service Controllers, vCenter, NSX Manager, SDDC Manager, and vRealize Automation/LogInsight/Operations components.

Check the new demos to the Cloud Foundation YouTube channel where you can see many of these features.

Reference
Release Notes
VMware Cloud Foundation Planning and Preparation Guide
VMware Cloud Foundation Architecture and Deployment Guide
Site Protection and Recovery for VMware Cloud Foundation
Announcing VMware Cloud Foundation 3.5 General Availability

Download 
VMware Cloud Foundation