VxRail - Year in Review - What was new in 2022

Read time: 3 minutes and 29 seconds

2022 was a busy year for the VxRail team, there were numerous hardware, software, firmware, and configuration support updates released. It all started with the VxRail version 7.0.320 released on February 1st, 2022 and culminated with VxRail version 7.0.410.

The details below are pulled directly from the "What's new in VxRail 7.0.xxx" section of the Release Notes on the Dell Support site. Keep in mind, the items listed are high-level topics. For example, it may note there are changes in the REST API concerning certificate administration, but we would need to consult the Dell Technologies Developer portal "What's new" section to see the specific API endpoint changes.

*** This article only covers the  "What's new in VxRail 7.0.xxx" section of the Release Notes and not "Fixed Issues" and "Known Issues" which are also covered in the VxRail Release Notes. What to know more about Release Notes? See my needlessly detailed post on the topic!

Enough already, on with the details! New in 2022:

7.0.410
● Includes VMware ESXi 7.0 Update 3i and VMware vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3i. See VMware ESXi 7.0 Update 3i Release Notes and VMware vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3i Release Notes for more information.
● Serviceability enhancements
● Life Cycle Management (LCM)
○ Increased insights to customer during maintenance mode entry.
○ Enhanced LCM pre-check.
● Miscellaneous
○ You can expand existing 2-socket VxRail P670F clusters with 1 socket VxRail P670F nodes and vice-versa.
○ Local support for VxRail-managed VMware vCenter Server Appliance on 2-node cluster configurations.
○ VMware vSAN RDMA support introduced for Mellanox CX-6 100 GbE DX Dual Port NIC cards for 4.21.71.101 (async driver) and 22.32.20.04 (FW).

7.0.405
VxRail version 7.0.405 is a manufacturing-only release that includes VMware ESXi 7.0 U3g and VMware vCenter Server 7.0 U3g and support for new Lot9 compliant Titanium Power Supply Unit (TPSU) components.

7.0.400
● Includes VMware ESXi 7.0 U3g and VMware vCenter Server 7.0 U3g. See VMware ESXi 7.0 Update 3g Release Notes and VMware vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3g Release Notes for detailed information.
● Life Cycle Management (LCM):
○ Allows the cluster update to continue to next nodes if any individual node upgrade fails to enter maintenance mode.
○ Updated Advisor enhancements and improved reboot control.
○ Improved maintenance mode exit reliability during upgrades.
● API Certificates:
○ Include RecoverPoint for VMs compatibility check with the target VxRail version in the update advisory report, LCM
precheck, and cluster update operation. This includes separate APIs that generate the Certificate Signing Request (CSR), validate and replace the certificate.
○ Provides an automated update the VxRail Manager trust store with the latest VMware vCenter Server certificate.
● Serviceability:
○ You can reimage the host using the REST API from VxRail software instead of installing additional software on a separate client to manage node re-imaging.
○ Create service requests directly from VxRail Manager.
○ Service Requests are opened using event codes that are related to service request severity:
￭ VXR244000 for high
￭ VXR248000 for medium
￭ VXR24C000 for low
● Security
○ A VxRail administrator is now automatically notified when the VxRail Manager certificate is about to expire, and can
regenerate the expiring certificate with a single click.
○ When issuing a VxRail Manager certificate, a VxRail administrator can use an automated procedure which replaces the manual process.
○ To guarantee the integrity and authenticity of LCM bundles, the digital signatures that are provided in the software
package are automatically validated when running prechecks and cluster update operations.
● Network Improvements
○ Support the Link Aggregation Group (LAG) for 2 - 8 NICs.
○ Check for VMware vSphere HA Isolation address during Day 1 deployment.
○ Provides support for converting VxRail-managed VMware VDS to a customer-managed VMware VDS.
● Edge
○ Support for customer-managed VMware VDS on the VxRail satellite node.
○ Support for the VxRail satellite node as a single node in a Tanzu solution with VMware VCF on VxRail.
○ Availability of API option to control network throttling.
● External Storage
○ Support for the Dell Technologies NVMe-oF/TCP solution with VxRail dynamic nodes and PowerStore.
○ Added support for dynamic node clusters with a VxRail-managed VMware vCenter Server. Previously only a customermanaged VMware vCenter Server was supported.
○ Support for dynamic nodes with vVols as primary storage instead of just for secondary storage.

7.0.380
VxRail software version 7.0.380 includes support for the new VxRail single socket P670F model.

7.0.372
VxRail software version 7.0.372 includes VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0 U3e, security fixes and other critical fixes.

7.0.371
VxRail software version 7.0.371 includes VMware vSphere 7.0 Update 3d, security fixes and other critical fixes.

7.0.370
VxRail software version 7.0.370 includes VMware vSphere 7.0 Update 3d, security fixes, and other critical fixes.

7.0.360
VxRail software 7.0.360 includes support for the new VxRail P670N models.

7.0.350
● Next-gen Connectivity: VxRail supports the next-gen connectivity solution of Dell Technologies. The next-gen connectivity solution:
○ Replaces SupportAssist Enterprise and Secure Remote Services gateways to provide the customers of Dell Technologies the best connectivity experience for all Dell products.
○ Can be configured using the secure connect gateway or direct connections, eliminating the process of deployment and maintenance of the gateway VM for the internal option. VxRail systems shipping with version 7.0.350 or greater have unique connectivity keys installed on each appliance during manufacturing. These unique connectivity keys make it easier to enable connectivity as they are the only credential needed.
● Remote Site Enhancements: As customers extend their compute and storage footprint outside the data center, Dell
Technologies is continuing to simplify management to enable seamless operational agility. New features to help manage remote locations and the edge, including improvements to security, serviceability, and life cycle management.
● External Storage: VxRail with PowerStore, PowerMax, and Unity provides a powerful solution that Dell Technologies is
improving by expanding the protocol support with NFS and iSCSI with dynamic nodes. Dell Technologies also provides
Physical View UI Support for Fibre Channel HBAs in the VxRail Manager.
● Improvements to upgrade process:
○ The LCM process is improved by verifying that all hosts can go into maintenance mode before initiating the upgrade
process.
○ Ability to manually upload an Nvidia ESXi system software component (VIB) through VxRail LCM UI and leverage VMware. vLCM to update the Nvidia system software component

7.0.320
● Support for VxRail S670 and VxRail E660N models.
● Support for 15G dynamic nodes.
● Added support for internal BOSS with VxRail E660/F, VxRail P670F and VxRail V670F models

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