VSphere 5 generally available: VMworld 2011 news in brief

Source: SearchServerVirtualization.com

Author: Beth Pariseau

VSphere 5 released
Coinciding with the kickoff of VMworld 2011, users can now download the latest major vSphere release, VMware announced late last week. VSphere 5 will support virtual machines (VMs) with up to 1 TB of RAM and 32 virtual CPUs. VMware has extended its Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) feature to storage with a feature called Storage DRS. Other new storage features include host-based replication for VMware Site Recovery Manager and a new version of the VMware Cluster File System. VSphere 5 also offers improved networking and security features. Even before its release, vSphere 5 saw its share of controversy, based on the company's new vRAM licensing policy.

F5 supports Metro vMotion
Another new feature that will become available with vSphere 5 is Metro vMotion, with support for the live migration of VMs over networks with up to 10 milliseconds latency. F5 Networks is jumping on this news with the announcement that its Global Traffic Manager, Local Traffic Manager and WAN Optimization Manager will support this feature by redirecting existing network connections from one site to another without breaking user sessions and without requiring the stretching of the Layer 2 network domain over distance. The products are not yet certified by VMware.

VMware has limited the distance of vMotion to 10 millisecond links, according to Phil de la Motte, senior business development manager for F5, but F5 has successfully tested live migrations over 150 milliseconds successfully. In F5's view, VMware is taking a conservative approach to this technology in terms of supported distances, he said.

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