In one of the previous post we discussed about VCF and it's different components.
In February 2021, VMware announced the release of VCF 4.2 with some new features and enhancements as compared to it's previous releases. These new features will help customers deliver developer-ready infrastructure, scale their infrastructure without compromise and boost security.
In this post, let's discuss about some of the major enhancements and features which VCF 4.2 offers.
1. vSAN Data Persistence platform
VCF 4.2 supports new partner integrations on the vSAN Data Persistence platform. With this new integration with VMware Cloud Foundation, customers can manage new S3-compatible object storage for unstructured data with the industry-leading HCI platform, via support for partner offerings from Cloudian and MinIO.
2. vSAN HCI Mesh Support
VCF supports HCI Mesh on VSAN clusters. This capability allows you to utilize storage from remote vSAN clusters in a local vSAN cluster.
3. NSX-T Federation Support
Delivered as part of NSX-T 3.1 and now supported with VCF 4.2, you can leverage NSX-T Federation capabilities to federate and manage multiple NSX-T workload domains with a single pane of glass view using Global Manager. With Global Manager, you can configure consistent security policies across multiple locations and stretched networking objects (tier-0 and tier-1 gateways).
4. vRealize Automation support for VMware Cloud Foundation
SDDC Manager and VCF workload domains with VMware Cloud Assembly as VMware Cloud Foundation cloud accounts. A VMware Cloud Foundation cloud account can help you facilitate a comprehensive hybrid cloud management solution.
5. Static IP Pool for NSX-T TEPs
VCF 4.2 introduces additional flexibility to leverage static IP pools for NSX-T Host Overlay (TEP) networks as an alternative to DHCP. This applies to the management domain and VI workload domains with uniform L2 clusters.
6. Support for lockdown mode on ESXi hosts
You can enable lockdown mode on ESXi hosts assigned to workload domains through vCenter Server.
7. Improvements to upgrade resiliency
VCF 4.2 includes prechecks for password validation, API performance optimization, and improvements to ESXi error reporting.
8. Enhanced skip upgrade experience
You can filter available upgrade bundles by the target release you want to skip to using SDDC Manager UI or public APIs.
9. Release Versions UI
SDDC Manager UI includes a Release Versions page with information on the Bill Of Materials, new features, and end of general support dates for each available VMware Cloud Foundation release.
10. Advanced Security Add-on for VMware Cloud Foundation
The Advanced Security Add-on for VCF now includes advanced threat protection, workload and endpoint security providing the following capabilities -
Carbon Black Workload Advanced - Next Generation Anti Virus, Workload Audit/Remediation, Workload EDR.
Advanced Threat Prevention Add-on for NSX Data Center Advanced and Enterprise Plus editions which includes NSX Firewall, NSX Distributed IDS/IPS, NSX Intelligence, and Advanced Threat Prevention
NSX Advanced Load Balancer with Web Application Firewall
For more information on new features offered by VCF 4.2, please refer to the release notes.
Thank you for reading!
*** Explore | Share | Grow ***
Comments