One of the biggest hurdles in managing private cloud infrastructure is coordinating with application owners to schedule maintenance windows that align with business needs. Fortunately, VMware vSphere with vMotion live migration offers a solution to this challenge, delivering trusted and proven zero downtime infrastructure updates. However, even with the benefits of vMotion, business policies may still dictate the timing and execution of certain operations, highlighting the need to minimize maintenance operations wherever possible. By reducing the number of maintenance operations required, IT teams can minimize disruptions, lower costs, and improve overall infrastructure efficiency.
Upgrade and Patch in a Single Workflow
A major enhancement in VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 is the new capability called the ‘flexible Bill of Materials (BOM)’, which enables selecting specific versions of certain components during a workload domain upgrade. This streamlines the upgrade process, reducing the number of maintenance operations required and minimizing downtime. In previous VCF releases, the process would require two maintenance operations: one to upgrade and a second to apply an async patch. In contrast, the flexible BOM in VCF 5.2 simplifies the process, reducing the administrative burden and potential for issues.
Now, during the upgrade workflow, VCF administrators are given the option to select a different target version of a component. When present, they can choose from optional versions, known as async patches – updates released separately from the BOM – that can be applied allowing for more flexibility in the upgrade process. The applicability of these async patches is determined automatically, based on metadata that is retrieved from the online depot. This ensures that only compatible and relevant patches are presented to the administrator.
Demo of VCF 5.2 Upgrade and Patch
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VCF 5.2 Delivers Big Lifecycle Management Enhancements
In addition to the flexible BOM option, VCF 5.2 introduces several other enhancements to streamline the upgrade and deployment process. For example, VCF administrators can now apply async patches directly from the SDDC Manager UI, making it easier to keep their environment up to date. The workload domain deployment process has also been streamlined, with async patches automatically incorporated to ensure that new deployments are more secure and up to date.
VCF 5.2 also introduces a new scalable approach for mirroring the online depot to a local server, enabling easy access to the latest patches and updates even in disconnected or air-gapped environments. This feature is particularly useful for organizations with strict security requirements or limited internet connectivity, as it ensures that the latest patches and updates are always available for deployment.
Takeaways
By leveraging the new features and enhancements in VCF 5.2, you can streamline your private cloud management and ensure that your infrastructure is always on the current releases of vSphere, vSAN, and NSX. This gives you confidence in the security and reliability of your infrastructure, knowing that the latest enhancements, fixes, and security patches are applied. With VCF, you can focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences and supporting your business’s growth and success, knowing that your infrastructure is up to date and secure.
