vCloud Director version 9.1 has been released. It has been just 6 months since the previous release (9.0) so VMware is delivering on its promise of multiple yearly releases in 6 months cadence.
In this whitepaper you can find high level overview of some of the new features. Let me summarize them and also provide additional ones here below.
H5 UI Enhancements
In iterative process the HTML 5 UI is slowly replacing legacy Flex UI. The tenant portion now includes vApp, Catalog and Networking management functionality, OVF/ISO download/uploads without the need for Client Integration Plugin (hooray!) and support for standalone VMware Remote Console.
Associated organizations from multiple or single (new in 9.1) vCloud Director instances now have aggregated view of all Org VDCs with seamless UI redirections between instances.
SDK for UI Extensibility has been released which means the service provider can extend the UI with additional sections to provide access to new services. The SDK includes very simple example of a static page extension (e.g. terms of service, links to other services or price lists) and upcoming vCAT-SP whitepaper will show how to do more complex ones.
The H5 UI is now also used in provider context but only for new features related to vRealize Orchestrator extensibility configuration.
Both legacy UIs (provider and tenants) are still available until the full feature parity is achieved.
vRealize Orchestrator Integration
Updated vRealize Orchestrator plugin has been released. This means both providers and tenants can automate and orchestrate repeating tasks in vCloud Director.
What is completely new is the ability to integrate any vRealize Orchestrator workflows into vCloud Director UI and essential provide XaaS (anything as a service). Similar to vRealize Automation XaaS.
External Tools
Not specifically tied with vCloud Director 9.1 but fully supported now are:
- vcd-cli Linux command line tool to easily trigger or script common vCloud Director tasks (both for provider and tenant).
- Container Service Extension Ability to extend vCloud Director to be target for deployment of Kubernetes clusters for tenants and simple management through CLI.
- Object Extensibility SDK
- Security Hardening Guide (long overdue update): PDF HTML
Other Features and Changes
- Org VDC network disconnection and connection from Org VDC Edge Gateway. This allows movements of network between Edges without impact on the connected VMs.
- NFV features (SR-IOV, Large Page VMs, and guaranteed sensitivity support).
- FIPS mode can be enabled on Org VDC Edge Gateways
- vCloud Director 9.1 maximums now include support for 150 ms RTT latency between management components (vCloud cells, vSphere, NSX) and 2000 Edges in single vCloud Director instance
- VM monitoring metrics now via API provide also roll up metrics for vApp, Org VDC and Org objects.
- Multisite enhancements: associations of orgs within the same vCloud Director instance, multisited API queries and rollup calls
- Removed support for old vCloud API versions (1.5, 5.1): make sure you update your scripts or applications to use at least version 5.5 APIs (e.g. Usage Meter).
- vCloud Director no longer registers itself as an extension to resource vCenter Servers (upgraded instances will not delete the extension registration).
