VMware vSphere 6.5 Update 3 Released With New Features

As we know VMware latest vSphere version is 6.7 update2 which is released 2019 April and many customers done upgraded to this version who has supporting hardware. VMware continues to improve their previous version vSphere 6.5 also for their existing customers who are still running the version and unable to upgrade to latest due to hardware dependency.

The great news is vSphere 6.5 update 3 is released by VMware with new features on vCenter Server and the ESXi. Let’s look at what’s new with VMware vSphere 6.5 update 3.

What’s New With vCenter Server 6.5

vCenter Server is the main component which provides many great features of VMware vSphere. With this new release, there are enhancements, especially in security and auditing.

• With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3, events related to adding, removing, or modifying user roles display the user that initiates the changes.
• vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3 improves VMware vCenter Single Sign-On auditing by adding events for the following operations: user management, login, group creation, identity source, and policy updates. The new feature is available only for vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller and not for vCenter Server for Windows or vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller. Supported identity sources are vsphere.local, Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA), and Active Directory over LDAP.
• Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2014 SP3 is now included with VMware vSphere vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3
• Photon OS security and other updates

Refer Release Notes of vCenter 6.5 update 3 for more details

What’s New with ESXi 6.5 Update 3

With ESXi 6.5 Update 3 most of the updates are driver related and added compatibility. And the license usage and improvements with the new Developer Center as well as updated VMware Tools version is the enhancement of this release.

• The ixgben driver adds queue pairing to optimize CPU efficiency.
• With ESXi 6.5 Update 3 you can track license usage, refresh switch topology and see improvements in the search and Developer Center in the vSphere Client.
• ESXi 6.5 Update 3 provides legacy support for AMD Zen 2 servers.
• Multiple driver updates: ESXi 6.5 Update 3 provides updates to the lsi-msgpt2, lsi-msgpt35, lsi-mr3, lpfc/brcmfcoe, qlnativefc, smartpqi, nvme, nenic, ixgben, i40en and bnxtnet drivers.
• ESXi 6.5 Update 3 provides support for Windows Server Failover Clustering and Windows Server 2019.
• ESXi 6.5 Update 3 adds the com.vmware.etherswitch.ipfixbehavior property to distributed virtual switches to enable you to choose how to track your inbound and outbound traffic, and utilization. With a value of 1, the com.vmware.etherswitch.ipfixbehavior property enables sampling in both ingress and egress directions. With a value of 0, you enable sampling in egress direction only, which is also the default setting.
• VMware Tools 10.3.10 are bundled with vSphere 6.5 Update 3

Refer  official Release notes for VMware vSphere 6.5 Update 3 for more details

vCenter and ESXi Upgrade

Before updating to vSphere 6.5 U3, make sure to read the Release Notes. Upgrades and migrations from vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3 to vCenter Server 6.7, including Update 1, Update 2, and their related Patches, are not supported of now and this will be probably be supported with vSphere 6.7 new release

Download vSphere 6.5 update 3

Conclusion

As I mentioned above there are new features and enhancements to vSphere 6.5 with the Update 3 release. VMware understands the value of their customers and they continue improving and releasing their products with new features and enhancements. Regards to the Upgrade path, you may hold it in case you are planning to upgrade to vSphere 6.7 Update 2 since there is no upgrade path currently available.