We are excited to announce that Usage Meter 4.5 is now available. There are a bunch of useful feature updates and new products that you will be able to meter with this version. If you are wondering why you should move to UM 4.5, then read this blog to understand what the new updates are and how they can help you.
First, let’s see the new products and features that you will be able to meter with UM 4.5:
Collector Changes:
- Horizon: Integration of Horizon usage reporting through Usage Insight allows VCPP partners to automatically report usage through Usage Meter 4.5. Horizon collector monitors and keeps track of the highest number of connections established in Horizon every month.
- We are now able to meter Horizon 7.13 and later starting with Usage Meter 4.5
- Please note that 4.5 does not support mixed environments and it does not yet support NSX and VSAN for Desktop
- Following new NSX Features are also metered now:
- Integration with Distributed Firewall
- IPv6 with Dynamic Routing, Dynamic IPv6 Allocation and Services
- NSX Distributed IDS
- NSX Federation
- Following new VSAN Features are also metered now:
- Standard Edition:
- Shared Witness
- HCI Mesh
- Enterprise Edition:
- Data in Transit Encryption
- Cloud Native Storage
- Standard Edition:
- vRealize Operations Manager Enhancements:
- Remove Auto-Discovery to allow for using Virtual IP’s from highly available deployments
- Support License Groups to meter vROps objects based on edition applied in the vROps inventory
Feature Updates:
We have also added new features that are available with UM 4.5
- Hashing Control
- You now have the ability to opt-out of hashing in all or specific fields for data anonymization. This can help make the virtual machine history report more readable if you’d like
- You also have the ability to opt-in to redacted mode to make the reports even MORE unreadable
- Reverse Proxy
- Metering products behind a reverse proxy could have same IP addresses or same hostnames depending on the specific configuration. For that purposes, UM 4.5 is allowing registration of such products as metering is redirected to different endpoints located behind the proxy
Appliance Changes:
In Usage Meter 4.5, the proxy configuration is done via the new VAMI. Initial proxy configuration (the one from the initialization wizard) is still available during the initial setup
- Virtual Appliance Management Interface (Backend GUI)
- The VAMI is available on port 5480 on the Usage Meter appliance. The log in is done via root credentials
- Manage Network Config
- Manage Photon OS Firewall Rules
- View Resource Utilization
Important Next Steps:
With UM 3.X, UM 4.1, and UM 4.2 going End of General Support, now is the best time to move to UM 4.5! Below are the recommendations for you based on what UM version you are currently running:
- If you are running UM 3.6.X
- UM 3.6 to UM 4.X requires a new appliance deployment
- Deploy a new UM 4.5 appliance now
- Set as a test for the month deployed, then change to production after reporting that month’s MBO
- If you are running UM 4.1 or 4.2
- Perform an in-place upgrade to UM 4.5 immediately
- UM 4.X to UM 4.X does not require a full appliance deployment any longer
- If you are on VUI on CSP
- We will auto migrate you to CPN soon
- If you are not using VUI yet
- Request your CPN invite immediately. Do not wait.
Documentation and Links:
- Download Usage Meter Here
- Release Notes
- Product Documentation
- Product Detection Guide (Requires Partner Connect Login)
- Data Privacy Guide (Requires Partner Connect Login)
