It has been over a year since I last discussed latest features/updates released on the newer SDDC versions, so I felt this was a great time to pick back up where I left off and go over some of the most noticeable announcements that we have missed since version 1.16.
All of the information below has been copy/pasted/summarized (for the most part) from the original VMware official site since they are doing a great job documenting/announcing what is being introduced, changed, etc…
- October 28, 2021
- 2-Host Stretched Clusters (1-1): Single host in each AZ and a managed witness in the third, the cluster can survive the loss of an entire AZ.
- November 9, 2021
- Tanzu Mission Control Essentials for VMware Cloud on AWS customers: Every new VMware Cloud on AWS customer will be given access to VMware Cloud with Tanzu services once they deploy a VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC or purchase a subscription
- November 19, 2021
- SDDC Version 1.17 released
- VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts: Availability of the VMware and AWS jointly engineered on-premises as-a-service solution which runs on next-generation, dedicated Amazon Nitro-based EC2 bare-metal instances provisioned in AWS Outposts.
- December 15, 2021
- VMware Cloud Disaster RecoveryTM: I will probably need a dedicated article to cover this feature, but this is basically Disaster Recovery as a Service for current VMC on AWS customers, with all the bells and whistles.
- February 3, 2022
- 3-Host scale-down: With this service update, Customers can scale down 3-host non-stretched single-AZ clusters to 2-host clusters.
- Telco Cloud Platform – Public Cloud 1.0: Telco Cloud Platform Public Cloud is a new Public Cloud platform that caters directly to Telecommunications Service Providers. This platform builds on top of existing Telco-class platforms VMware Cloud on AWS, Telco Cloud Platform and Telco Cloud Infrastructure, catering to Telco Requirements.
- April 5, 2022
- SDDC Version 1.18 released
- VMware Cloud on AWS Multi CGW: This feature enables customers to create additional CGWs (Compute Gateways or Tier-1 Gateways) and manage the life cycle for those CGWs. Benefits? Multi-tenancy within an SDDC, Overlapping IPv4 address space across CGWs, Gateway Firewall/ NAT scoped to individual CGWs, etc…
- VMware Cloud on AWS support for AD/LDAP: This feature will provide the ability to use Active Directory or OpenLDAP as an external authentication method in VMC on AWS.
- Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG) Services: Customers can now enable Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG) Services on existing SDDCs. There is no longer a need to create new SDDCs or new Clusters, allowing customers to leverage their existing environments.
- April 13, 2022
- 2/3 Node Starter Kit Launch: The 2/3 Node Starter Kit has launched on 3/15/22. With the Starter Kit offer, any net new customer becomes eligible for upto 20% discounted pricing on the purchase of their first 1 year or 3 year subscription of 2/3 hosts.
- VMware Cloud Disaster RecoveryTM: More and more features added to this DRaaS product
- May 26, 2022
- Cloud Flex Storage **PREVIEW** (NFS Datastores): NFS Datastores allows independent scaling of compute and storage within the SDDC. NFS datastores augment vSAN and can store Virtual Machines, Virtual Disks, Content Libraries, ISO, etc. Datastores are managed from the SDDC services console and associated with and attached to vSphere Clusters.
- VMware Cloud on AWS Certified NFS Storage: The following have been certified for use as NFS datastore within VMware Cloud on AWS: FSx for NetApp ONTAP
- June 29, 2022
- SDDC Version 1.19 released
- Introduction of NSX 4.0.0 & vSphere 8.0: This release of VMware Cloud on AWS introduces NSX-T 4.0.0 & interoperability with the next major release of vSphere 8.0.
- Live Traffic Analysis: LTA provides helpful insight about tracing live traffic and bi-directional packet tracing. Traffic analysis monitors live traffic at a source or between source and destination along with the packet capture.
- Add a vTPM device to a virtual machine (Preview): Customers can add a vTPM device to virtual machines running Windows Server 2008 and later, Windows desktop 7 and later, or Linux. This feature is available as PREVIEW and will be enabled on a request basis.
- Windows 11 Desktop Operating System Support – vTPM (Preview): Microsoft introduced new minimum virtual hardware requirements with the Windows 11 operating system. Microsoft requires a vTPM device to be present during Windows 11 virtual machine installation and upgrades.
- August 19, 2022
- Maintenance Requests: You can now provide preferred date and time to upgrade the SDDC. This will help to minimize the customer impact and manage the upgrade without impacting business and organizational priorities.
- August 24, 2022
- Launchpad 2.0 released which includes tons of enhancements
- September 21, 2022
- VMware Cloud on AWS Certified NFS Storage: NFS Datastore support within VMware Cloud on AWS allows independent scaling of compute and storage within the SDDC. NFS datastores augment vSAN and can store Virtual Machines, Virtual Disks, Content Libraries, ISO, etc… (Cloud Flex Storage and FSx for Netapp ONTAP)
- Automated Firmware Updates: From time to time, AWS develops firmware updates to address known issues within the EC2 fleet. These updates are stagged on the instance and installed the next time the host reboots.The automated firmware update service has been enabled to expedite firmware updates within existing SDDC deployments.
- October 27, 2022
- I4i.metal instance type is now available for select regions: I4i.metal instances are now available for existing SDDC(s) and existing cluster deployments on VMware Cloud on AWS. SDDCs need to be upgraded to the latest version of 1.18 to get i4i capabilities. New i4i clusters can be deployed on existing VMC on AWS SDDCs after upgrade is completed successfully.
- November 18, 2022
- VMware Aria Operations for Networks (formerly vRNI) Integrated-Service one-click activation: Customers are now able to activate VMware Aria Operations for Networks for VMware Cloud on AWS SDDCs through the VMware Cloud Console! Use this solution for visualizing application discovery for cloud migration, network traffic analysis, and more. This trial can be activated from any VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC by navigating to the SDDC’s Integrated Services tab.
- November 22, 2022
- I4i instances available with SDDC version 1.20v2: With SDDC version 1.20v2, customers can now deploy new SDDC(s) on the latest instance: i4i.metal. Support for adding new i4i clusters to existing SDDC(s) is already available with SDDC version 1.18v8.
- January 23, 2023
- External Storage update: Customers can now use Single-AZ FSx for NetApp ONTAP as External Storage. Single-AZ FSx for ONTAP should be deployed in a dedicated VPC within the same AZ as the SDDC and connect to the SDDC using VMware Transit Connect.
- March 8, 2023
- Add a vTPM device to a virtual machine including Windows 11: VMware Cloud on AWS enables customers to add a new Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) device to virtual machines running Windows Server 2008 and later, Windows desktop 7 and later, or Linux. SDDCs created using version 1.19 and later automatically include the provisioning of vSphere Native Key Provider in vCenter to support new vTPM devices. This feature was in Preview earlier (See SDDC Version 1.19 Release Notes) and is now Generally Available in this release.
- March 24, 2023
- LiveAgent for Chat Support: LiveAgent for Chat Support (Request technical or non-technical chat support, Added chat notifications and badges indicating new activity, Consolidated chat initiation to the in-product support panel)
- May 2, 2023
- SDDC Version 1.22 released
- Increased throughput for NFS Datastore: the vSphere NFS client will open multiple network connections to each datastore mount leveraging round-robin and allowing increased throughput. per datastore.
- Simplified Networking & Security Dashboard View: The Networking and Security Dashboard is a simplified and improved update of the Networking & Security tab in your VMC-AWS SDDCs. It provides a single-page view of SDDC networking and security status with links to NSX Manager network management functions.
- Cluster Renaming Support: Cluster renaming support will enable customers to rename the cluster as per their organizational naming strategy using SDDC UI and API, including any resource pools associated with it.
Beginning with the SDDC version 1.11 release, odd-numbered releases of the SDDC software are optional and available for new SDDC deployments only. By default, all new SDDC deployments and upgrades will use the most recent even-numbered release. If you want to deploy an SDDC with an odd-numbered release version, contact your VMware TAM, sales, or customer success representative to make the request.
Essential Release: VMware Cloud on AWS (SDDC Version 1.22) | 2 May 2023
Optional Release: VMware Cloud on AWS (SDDC Version 1.19) | 29 June 2022
Official VMware documentation can be found here
