VMware Cloud Foundation is a software end-to-end VMware infrastructure solution that includes vSphere, vSAN, NSX, vRealize Network Insight, VMware vRealize Suite, Tanzu components running on an enterprise physical, cloud or hybrid infrastructure managed by SDDC Manager.

As part of the new edition, the list of software has been updated. One of the key updates is the latest vSphere and vSAN 8.0 Update 1, which includes many new features and enhancements that Cloud Foundation 5.0 can use to enhance the private cloud foundation.

vSphere 8.0 Update 1 includes several enhancements that provide improved performance for workload domains, better performance for AI/ML workloads, and greater security across the entire environment.

vSphere adds support for up to 32 devices in Passthrough mode for unprecedented levels of performance. It is now possible to support higher complexity models by increasing the available graphics processing unit (GPU) resources. In addition, vSphere 8 Update 1 significantly improves the performance of AI/ML applications with support for NVIDIA NVSwitch (up to 900 GB/s bidirectional with NVLink on Hopper), which connects up to 8 GPUs per host and up to 8 to the same virtual machine.

For those customers who don't need pure performance but want scalability, vSphere 8 now supports 8 virtual GPUs per VM. vSphere Distributed Resources Scheduler (DRS) considers workload memory usage when making placement decisions. DRS can now optimally place workloads based on their memory needs, as well as the bandwidth and latency requirements of DRAM and PMEM.

Skyline Health Diagnostics, a self-service diagnostic platform, is integrated with vCenter Server in the new version. Skyline Health Diagnostics helps administrators diagnose problems, troubleshoot, schedule and automatically run health checks. Administrators can use this troubleshooting tool before contacting support.

vSAN contains improvements that simplify the day-to-day work of administrators and enable help desks to resolve customer issues faster. Although the vSAN Express storage architecture is not currently supported in VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0, many other vSAN enhancements are available.

vSAN 8 Update 1 Performance Service now includes high-resolution monitoring of performance metrics. The default data collection intervals for performance metrics that used to be shown every minute are now collected every 30 seconds. This enables real-time performance analysis, simplifying monitoring and speeding up troubleshooting.

vSAN 8 Update 1 also improved the VM I/O trip analyzer with a new scheduling feature that allows customers to schedule a VM analysis by specifying the time of day, duration, and frequency. Running diagnostics programmatically provides improved data collection and can be critical in identifying temporary performance issues. It also reduces the amount of manual diagnostic data collection performed by support teams.

vSAN Skyline Health provides customers with a comprehensive view of the overall health of their environments, offering health checks and troubleshooting recommendations. In vSAN 8 Update 1, the vSAN Skyline module UI has been redesigned to include a new health dashboard that provides a simplified view of each cluster's health status and a quick scorecard. The dashboard will inform you of any health issues, areas of impact, and clear steps to resolve, and provide quick access to additional resources such as related knowledge base articles.

In addition to these key components, VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 received several smaller but equally important updates. For example, SDDC Manager has been improved. The new Isolated SSO Workload Domains feature allows administrators to configure new workload domains using a separate Single Sign On (SSO) instance. This scenario is helpful for large enterprises that require workload isolation and service providers that can allocate workload domains to different customers with their own SSO domains. Each isolated SSO domain is configured with its own NSX instance. An additional benefit is that configuring workload areas as isolated workload areas also provides the ability to configure a separate identity provider (Active Directory or LDAP).

For Workload domain scaling, the number of isolated workload domains is increased from 15 to 25 within a single VMware Cloud Foundation instance. Note that workload domains configured to use a shared SSO management domain are still limited to a maximum of 15 domains. The additional scaling is made possible by parallelizing tasks to reduce the time it takes to add workload areas to a VMware Cloud Foundation instance.

The SDDC manager's pre-checks have also been improved to be context-aware. Once the SDDC manager has been installed or upgraded to version 5.0, administrators can choose to upgrade their VMware Cloud Foundation domains to the new target version of VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x, which gives administrators the option to pre-check for a specific release or to check for general upgrade readiness. The SDDC Manager also allows administrators to view any configuration changes that are installed as part of an upgrade to provide additional visibility and help them better understand new features and functionality and the impact they may have on current deployments.

The new Aria Suite (vRealize Suite) capabilities are also worth noting. They provide additional scalability, security and several key enhancements that focus on compliance for IaaS infrastructures, simplify the deployment of cloud services on your premises and provide additional protection against cyberattacks.

The scale of the data generated for the infrastructure of various applications is enormous, and vRealize Operations for Log Insights (vRLI) provides the ability to understand this data. In the new release, vRLI offers a complete 360-degree troubleshooting that combines metrics, logs, and numerous integrations. The Webhooks page has been improved to provide a consistent workflow, such as alert definitions and reports. Log management capabilities for SaaS let you set up alerts that help you manage your SaaS spending with better visibility. Other SaaS updates include federated log management, content bundles, and new APIs. Updated usage reports help you understand how much data apps send to logs to help manage storage costs.

Operations for Network Insights (vRNI) has a new automatic network discovery feature. Using proven mechanisms, it can automatically discover devices such as switches, routers, and firewalls across your entire network. With this feature, the administrator can quickly determine how many devices are on the network, how to speed up the addition of devices and identify incomplete network paths.

Aria Automation (vRA) empowers IT teams to eliminate process inefficiencies with end-to-end automation. vRA now supports custom and out-of-the-box actions that run on the same resource or deployment, improving efficiency and reducing time. The new plugin architecture unlocks the full range of possibilities cloud providers offer inside vRA.

Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager (vRSLCM) now provides integration between vRealize Suite products. With vRLI, you can configure log forwarding from other vRealize Suite products. Similarly, using vROps Manager, you can now configure management packs for other vRealize products in vRealize Operations Manager. Users can turn status checks on or off for vRealize Suite products in vRSLCM. If the vRA update fails, an automatic fallback feature is introduced to return the application to its previous working state. Before auto-reverting from vRealize Automation, a support bundle is automatically built and stored in vRSLCM for troubleshooting.

For more information about the new version of VMware Cloud Foundation, as well as other VMware products, please contact vmware@muk.group.