What’s New With VMware vSphere 6.5 update 3 Features
Well, VMware continues to improve the vSphere 6.5 release of code for customers who haven’t migrated up to vSphere 6.7 as of yet. The great thing with vSphere 6.5, VMware continues to bring many of the features found in vSphere 6.7 down to the vSphere 6.5 release. Recently, vSphere 6.5 Update 3 was released with several new features to note from both a vSphere vCenter Server perspective and from the ESXi front. Let’s take a look at what’s new with VMware vSphere 6.5 update 3 features to talk about a few of the highlights of this latest vSphere 6.5 release from VMware.
VMware vSphere vCenter Server 6.5 New Features
As you now, VMware vCenter Server is core of VMware vSphere, unlocking all the great enterprise features of VMware vSphere. There are certainly some notable improvements with VMware vSphere vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3, especially in the area of security and auditing. They include the following:
- Improved auditing capabilities – With vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3, you can now see the user associated with events such as adding, removing, or modifying user roles.
- Additional Auditing capabilities – Events from the following operations are now logged such as user management, login, group creation, identity source, and policy updates. To get these new features you must be running the VCSA appliance with the embedded PSC and not the Windows vCenter Server or VCSA appliance with external PSC.
- Support for SQL Server 2014, SP3 is now included with VMware vSphere vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3
- Various Photon OS security and other updates
Check out the official VMware vSphere vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3 release notes here: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/rn/vsphere-vcenter-server-65u3-release-notes.html
vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3 Security Patch Information
| Download Filename | VMware-VIMPatch-T-6.5.0-14020092.iso |
| Build | 14020092 |
| Download Size | 40.9 MB |
| md5sum | 7daaa2df025373d6eb54456b27cb9fcd |
| sha1checksum | cc934b7a35e171713285758a50f5e86d6a092d3b |
vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3 Full Patch Information
| Download Filename | VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.5.0.30000-14020092-patch-FP.iso |
| Build | 14020092 |
| Download Size | 1710.6 MB |
| md5sum | cab35495c606846d5b959499bc18a2a9 |
| sha1checksum | ee6660fffca04065412414f4aab9be1d68510bad |
vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3 Upgrade Path
Interestingly, as of yet, there is no upgrade path showing for vCenter Server 6.5 Update 3. The below screenshot is taken from the VMware Interoperability Matrix. Keep a check on this if you are interested in the upgrade path as it will likely be updated eventually.
However, it is still early on since the release is hot off the press. I am guessing too there may be issues with upgrading from vSphere 6.5 Update 3 until there is a newer release of vSphere 6.7 that can handle the upgrade path. If you are planning or wanting to upgrade to vSphere 6.7 any time soon, it may be a course of wisdom to hold off with the upgrade to vSphere 6.5 Update 3.
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5 Update 3
There are quite things to note in the vSphere 6.5 Update 3 ESXi What’s New perspective. Most of the updates with this release appear to be driver releated and added compatibility. There are also enhancements with the license usage and improvements with the new Developer Center as well as updated VMware Tools version bundled with the release. These include:
- The ixgben driver has the added ability for queue pairing to optimize CPU efficiency. Additional driver updates include: lsi-msgpt2, lsi-msgpt35, lsi-mr3, lpfc/brcmfcoe, qlnativefc, smartpqi, nvme, nenic, ixgben, i40en and bnxtnet drivers.
- Track license usage in vSphere 6.5 Update 3
- Refresh switch topology
- Improvements in the search and Developer Center in the vSphere Client
- Support for Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server Failover Clustering
- VMware Tools 10.3.10 are bundled with vSphere 6.5 Update 3
Check out the official release notes for VMware vSphere 6.5 Update 3 here: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/rn/vsphere-esxi-65u3-release-notes.html
ESXi 6.5 Update 3 Update Patch Build and Image Profiles
The Download Filename details are contained below:
| Download Filename: | update-from-esxi6.5-6.5_update03 |
| Build: | 13932383 13873656 (Security-only) |
| Download Size: | 462.2 MB |
| md5sum: | 81124de9717295f8b8afc94084ef6eff |
| sha1checksum: | 63f753328642f25db77dcab2df67b1558b92a45b |
| Host Reboot Required: | Yes |
| Virtual Machine Migration or Shutdown Required: | Yes |
The ESXi 6.5 Update 3 image profile details are below:
| Image Profile Name |
| ESXi-6.5.0-20190702001-standard |
| ESXi-6.5.0-20190702001-no-tools |
| ESXi-6.5.0-20190701001s-standard |
| ESXi-6.5.0-20190701001s-no-tools |
ESXi 6.5 Update Upgrade Path
The upgrade path on the VMware Interoperability Matrix Upgrade path information is nonexistent as of this point. The table so far looks identical to the vCenter Server upgrade path information for now.
If you are planning on upgrading to vSphere 6.7 soon, you probably need to hold off on vSphere 6.5 Update 3 as there may not be an upgrade path here as of yet.
Wrapping Up What’s New with VMware vSphere 6.5 Update 3 Features
There are certainly many new enhancements to vSphere 6.5 with the Update 3 release. VMware is continuing to provide value in the older release of vSphere by continuing to add features and components that are found in the vSphere 6.7 release. For now, it will be worth holding off upgrading to Update 3 if you are planning on upgrading to vSphere 6.7 Update 2 soon as there appears to be no upgrade path currently. I suspect we will see a new release of vSphere 6.7 soon to add the upgrade path from vSphere 6.5 Update 3.
