VSC support for vSphere 6.7U2

[VirtualJoe]

Which version of VSC will support vSphere 6.7 U2?

[SpindleNinja]

The IMT is your friend with stuff like this.   https://mysupport.netapp.com/matrix/#welcome

But doesn't look like u2 is in there yet though.   u1 is compatiable with 7.2.1 of the VSC though.  Probably along that path then. 

[konnerth · Accepted solution]

Hi,

We are doing full testing with 6.7U2 and targeting support with our next Unified Virtual Appliance release this summer (current plan is to call this release 9.6, in line with ONTAP).  This release also has a completely new HTML5 interface.

---Karl

[MesopotamianFella]

Any update on this? the only thing blocking us from updateding to 6.7U2 is the lack of NetApp support.

[konnerth]

Hi,

We still plan to qualify our next release of the virtual appliance (9.6) with vCenter 6.7U2.  This release is for the vSphere Client (HTML5) only, and is targeted for release at the end of July.  I have a build running in my lab and it looks good and performs better than the Flash/Flex client.

We have done some testing of VSC 7.2.1 with 6.7U2 and it seems to work OK.  However, there were some VASA/VVol changes with this vCenter release that we had to make corresponding changes for.  So it works for traditional datastores, but due to this VVol issue we can't qualify it and list it in the NetApp IMT.

---Karl

[fbassovem]

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@konnerth wrote:

Hi,

We still plan to qualify our next release of the virtual appliance (9.6) with vCenter 6.7U2.  This release is for the vSphere Client (HTML5) only, and is targeted for release at the end of July.  I have a build running in my lab and it looks good and performs better than the Flash/Flex client.

We have done some testing of VSC 7.2.1 with 6.7U2 and it seems to work OK.  However, there were some VASA/VVol changes with this vCenter release that we had to make corresponding changes for.  So it works for traditional datastores, but due to this VVol issue we can't qualify it and list it in the NetApp IMT.

---Karl

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Hello Karl,

what about interoperability of VSC/VASA/SRA 7.2.1 with SRM 8.1.2 and 8.2 ?

Thanks,

Fabio

[konnerth]

Hi,

I recently confirmed with Engineering that support for a release like 8.1 also implies that update releases like 8.1.1 and 8.1.2 are supported.  We have been adding these update releases to the Interoperability Matrix Tool recently to clarify this.  I will check on adding 8.1.2 as  well.

SRM 8.2 support (Windows, not Photon appliance) had been targeted to the end of the year but we are looking at options to qualify it sooner with the upcoming 9.6 appliance release.  We are also looking at options for VMware certification.  Is there any need to support the older Flex/Flash client or SRM 8.1 if we have support for HTML5 with SRM 8.2?

---Karl

[fbassovem]

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@konnerth wrote:

Hi,

I recently confirmed with Engineering that support for a release like 8.1 also implies that update releases like 8.1.1 and 8.1.2 are supported.  We have been adding these update releases to the Interoperability Matrix Tool recently to clarify this.  I will check on adding 8.1.2 as  well.

SRM 8.2 support (Windows, not Photon appliance) had been targeted to the end of the year but we are looking at options to qualify it sooner with the upcoming 9.6 appliance release.  We are also looking at options for VMware certification.  Is there any need to support the older Flex/Flash client or SRM 8.1 if we have support for HTML5 with SRM 8.2?

---Karl

---

Many thanks! I asked because on IMT tool in "NetApp FAS V-Series Storage Replication Adapter" selecting "Storage Replication Adapter 7.2.1 for ONTAP" only SRM 6.5.1 and 8.1.1 are declared compatible.

About your question "Is there any need to support the older Flex/Flash client" I don't think we need it, in my opinion HTMTL5 is sufficient (and Flash is in EOL next year https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/)

[konnerth]

Yes, I will be happy to see the vSphere Flash client go away.  I've been using our new HTMl5 plugin in the lab for several weeks now and I am very happy with it! 

We added SRM 8.1.2 to the SRA 7.2.1 listing in IMT last night.

---Karl

[DUnger]

Any updates to the expected release date for VSC v9.6?

It looks like the original "end of July" target was missed.

[konnerth]

It's not far off!  We extended our regression testing by a few weeks.  We're currently targeting mid-August to complete all the testing and post the release.

But if you are running vCenter 6.5U2 or later, the upgrade is worth it!  The new HTML5 interface looks good and performs much better than the Flex/Flash client, and has a number of scale improvements to address the largest environments.

Sorry for the delay.

---Karl 

[EwyWins]

Hi there,

First, thanks for all your hard work.

Now, can you be a little bit more specific. For us floridians Summer is on from Jan to Dec, see what i mean 🙂

[konnerth]

Right, we have a long "summer" in California, too. 

As I posted last week, we are on track for a mid-August release.  It looks like that will cover 6.5U3 as well based on current testing.

---Karl

[fbassovem]

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@konnerth wrote:

Right, we have a long "summer" in California, too. 

As I posted last week, we are on track for a mid-August release.  It looks like that will cover 6.5U3 as well based on current testing.

---Karl

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Hello Karl,

I found in download page "Virtual Storage Console 9.6", as per IMT is compatible with vSphere 6.5 U2, vSphere from 6.7 to 6.7U2, Ontap from 9.1 to 9.6.

The "Storage Replication Adapter" instead as per IMT is compatibile with SRM 8.1.2, SRM 8.2 is not mentioned.

Any news about that?

Thanks

[jkoch]

Looks like vSphere 6.7U3 is out now...

[fbassovem]

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@jkoch wrote:

Looks like vSphere 6.7U3 is out now...

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Yes, yesterday!

[tsm]

Maybe VSC 9.6 supports vSphere 6.7U3 out of the box?

[konnerth]

No, we need to complete QA testing on 6.7U3 before we list it as qualified.  VMware has a long history of making changes that impact VSC, VASA Provider, etc.

Right now our QA priority is finishing VMware certification with recent SRM releases.  Assuming no problems, this should wrap up in the next few weeks.

---Karl

[Oli71]

I do run a 9.6 against  6.7U3 and VSIM 9.6P2 in the lab. So far so good, but better wait for the green light of the support to push that to a production environment. 

Quick question Konnerth, can we expect in the near future the dependency on the oncommand apiserver and get straight the information out the ONTAP 9.6 through the Rest API? 

Oli

[konnerth]

Yes, we are working to adopt ONTAP REST APIs for the VVol file/LUN metrics as soon as they are available, replacing our current API-S usage.  Are you using VVols today?

---Karl

[Oli71]

@konnerth 

Not in production, just in lab mode but I hope to move to test on 2 different customers next month.  We are trying several scenarios to see how resilient it is in case of a failure or unavailability the appliance/vCenter.  I would love to see those points covered in the white paper because I have a lot of questions 🙂

In the meantime, I noticed a few quirks in VSC 9.6. Disclaimer, I am running everything in VMs

- VSC is asking always for the administrator password when you start the appliance on VMware Workstation. (Workaround was to install it in ESXi embedded then export the OVA again).

- VSC uses always the export 'default', it would be nice to be able to choose the export when using NFS PE.

I have witnessed other quirks but, I think it is because of my NetApp is running in a VSIM. I tell you more when I move to a real test environment.

Extra question, VASA in an appliance vs on the controllers? The only reference I found is a mention about the advantages and disadvantages of the approach but not really any deep dive.

Oli