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VMware Publishes NSX Data Center for vSphere 6.4.3 Release Notes

VMware Inc. quietly released NSX Data Center for vSphere 6.4.3 yesterday. Formerly known as NSX for vSphere, NSX Data Center for vSphere 6.4.3 "addresses a number of specific customer bugs," according to the VMware Release Notes, but does not include any new features.

Topics detailed in the Release Notes include Versions, System Requirements and Installation; Deprecated and Discontinued Functionality; Upgrade Notes; FIPS Compliance; Revision History; Resolved Issues; and Known Issues.

Table 1 lists the recommended versions of VMware software, but for the minimum supported version of NSX and other VMware products, which according to the Release Notes are "based on internal testing," be sure to check out the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix.

Product or Component Version
NSX Data Center for vSphere

VMware recommends the latest NSX release for new deployments.

When upgrading existing deployments, please review the NSX Data Center for vSphere Release Notes or contact your VMware technical support representative for more information on specific issues before planning an upgrade.

vSphere
  • For vSphere 6.0:
    Supported: 6.0 Update 2, 6.0 Update 3
    Recommended: 6.0 Update 3. vSphere 6.0 Update 3 resolves the issue of duplicate VTEPs in ESXi hosts after rebooting vCenter server. SeeVMware Knowledge Base article 2144605 for more information.

  • For vSphere 6.5:
    Supported: 6.5a, 6.5 Update 1, 6.5 Update 2.
    Recommended: 6.5 Update 1. vSphere 6.5 Update 1 resolves the issue of EAM failing with OutOfMemory. See VMware Knowledge Base Article 2135378 for more information.
    If you are using multicast routing on vSphere 6.5, vSphere 6.5 Update 2 is recommended.

  • For vSphere 6.7
    Supported: 6.7
    Recommended: 6.7

Note: vSphere 5.5 is not supported with NSX 6.4.

Guest Introspection for Windows

All versions of VMware Tools are supported. Some Guest Introspection-based features require newer VMware Tools versions:

  • Use VMware Tools 10.0.9 and 10.0.12 to enable the optional Thin Agent Network Introspection Driver component packaged with VMware Tools.
  • Upgrade to VMware Tools 10.0.8 and later to resolve slow VMs after upgrading VMware Tools in NSX / vCloud Networking and Security (see VMware knowledge base article 2144236).
  • Use VMware Tools 10.1.0 and later for Windows 10 support.
  • Use VMware Tools 10.1.10 and later for Windows Server 2016 support.
Guest Introspection for Linux
  • This NSX version supports the following Linux versions:
    • RHEL 7 GA (64 bit)
    • SLES 12 GA (64 bit)
    • Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (64 bit)

Table 1. Recommended versions of VMware software. According to the release notes, these recommendations "are general and should not replace or override environment-specific recommendations. Source: VMware Inc.

A complete list of installation prerequisites for NSX can be found in the NSX Installation Guide, under the System Requirements for NSX section, while actual installation instructions should be followed using the NSX Installation Guide or the Cross-vCenter NSX Installation Guide.

The Deprecated and Discontinued Functionality section details end of life and end of support warnings, general behavioral changes, UI removals and changes, installation behavior changes, API removals and behavior changes, as well as CLI removal and behavior changes.

All of the Upgrade Notes include general upgrade instructions, NSX upgrade details, as well as Guest Introspection and FIPS upgrade information.

FIPS Compliance notes that "NSX 6.4 uses FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic modules for all security-related cryptography when correctly configured" and includes information about the Edge IPsec and Controller and Clustering VPNs.

Finally, Resolved Issues detail both general and security services issues that are resolved with the release, while the Known Issuessection lists them in specific groups: general, installation and upgrade, NSX Manager, logical networking and NSX Edge, security services, and monitoring services.

To read the Release Notes in their entirety, go here.

About the Author

Wendy Hernandez is group managing editor for the 1105 Enterprise Computing Group.

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