VMware vSphere 6.5 Update 2 released

VMware has Released vSphere 6.5 update 2.

Since vSphere  6.5 update 2 came out after 6.7, there’s not an upgrade path (yet), will be possible in future 6.7 release.

vCenter 6.5 Update 2

What's new:

• With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, you can deploy by using the GUI or CLI installer up to 10 vCenter Server Appliance instances in Embedded Linked Mode, and manage these instances with the vSphere Web Client or vSphere Client from any of the instances. 
  
• vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2 provides backup restore support to Embedded Linked Mode with replication deployment topology and reconciliation API for both file-based and snapshot-based restore.
  
• With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, vMotion and cold migration of virtual machines is supported between vCenter Server 6.0 Update 3 and later, vCenter Server 6.5, vCenter Server 6.5 Update 1 and VMware Cloud on AWS. Cloning of virtual machines between vCenter Server 6.0 and vCenter Server 6.5 is not supported. For more information, see KB 2106952.
  
• With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, you can migrate vCenter Server installed on Windows with custom HTTP and HTTPS ports to vCenter Server Appliance.
  
• With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, during the GUI or CLI deployment process of the vCenter Server Appliance, you can customize the default network ports for the HTTP Reverse Proxy service. The default ports are 80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS.
  
• With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, you can use the TLS Configuration utility to configure SSL tunnels on port 8089. Upgrade to vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2 does not change previous configurations.
  
• With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, you can use the TLS Configuration utility to configure TLS protocols on hosts of both ESXi 6.0 and ESXi 6.5 versions. Configuration of TLS protocols on clusters with mixed ESXi 6.0 and ESXi 6.5 hosts is not supported.
  
• With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2, you can configure SSL settings for the lightweight CIM daemon, SFCB, with the TLS Configuration utility.
  
• Updates to time zones in the Linux guest operating system customization: vCenter Server Linux guest operating system customization supports latest time zones. For more information on time zone changes and daylight saving time (DST) changes in Linux guest operating systems, see the Time Zone Database by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
  
• Updates to time zones in the Windows guest operating system customization: vCenter Server Windows guest operating systems customization supports the latest time zones. For more information on time zone changes and daylight saving time (DST) changes in Windows guest operating systems, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 3182203, Microsoft Knowledge Base article 4015193 and Microsoft Knowledge Base article 4012864.
  
• vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2 adds IPv6 support for the Key Management Server (KMS) of VMware vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption (VM Encryption) and alarms for expiration of KMS certificates, missing hosts and missing virtual machine keys.
  
• For Photon OS updates, see VMware vCenter Server Appliance Photon OS Security Patches.
  

See the full release notes: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/rn/vsphere-vcenter-server-65u2-release-notes.html

ESXi 6.5 Update 2

What's new:

• ESXi 6.5 Update 2 enables Microsemi Smart PQI (smartpqi) driver support for the HPE ProLiant Gen10 Smart Array Controller.
  
• Updates to the nhpsa driver: The disk serviceability plug-in of the ESXi native driver for HPE Smart Array controllers, nhpsa, now works with an extended list of expander devices to enable compatibility with HPE Gen9 configurations.
  
• Updates to the nvme driver: ESXi 6.5 Update 2 adds management of multiple namespaces compatible with the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) 1.2 specification and enhanced diagnostic log.
  
• With ESXi 6.5 Update 2, you can add tags to the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) hardware version 1.2 on ESXi by using ESXCLI commands. A new API provides read and write access in the form of get, set, and clear commands to the non-volatile memory on TPMs of version 1.2.
  
• ESXi 6.5 Update 2 enables a new native driver to support the Broadcom SAS 3.5 IT/IR controllers with devices including combination of NVMe, SAS, and SATA drives. The HBA device IDs are: SAS3516(00AA), SAS3516_1(00AB), SAS3416(00AC), SAS3508(00AD), SAS3508_1(00AE), SAS3408(00AF), SAS3716(00D0), SAS3616(00D1), SAS3708(00D2).
  
• In ESXi 6.5 Update 2, LightPulse and OneConnect adapters are supported by separate default drivers. The brcmfcoe driver supports OneConnect adapters and the lpfc driver supports only LightPulse adapters. Previously, the lpfc driver supported both OneConnect and LightPulse adapters.
  

See the full release: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/rn/vsphere-esxi-65u2-release-notes.html

vSphere Replication 6.5.1.3

See the release notes: https://docs.vmware.com/en/vSphere-Replication/6.5/rn/vsphere-replication-651-release-notes.html#6.5.1.3