Rejoice! VMware ESX 3.5 Update 4 Released
Finally! ESX 3.5 Update 4 has been released. I knew it was coming when vCenter Server had released 2.5 Update 4 at
VMworld Europe in Cannes. Many administrators, including me, have been waiting very anxiously for this release due to the recent wounds of Update 2 (time bomb) and Update 3 (High Availability (HA) reboots and storage driver issues) in their base releases. There were re-issues or ESX updates posted to address these issues, however.
This incremental update is available for ESX full install as well as ESXi installable and embedded editions. The release notes include the new features for this release. The most visible new feature is support for the Intel Xeon 5500 (Nehalem) processor series, which was released this week as well.
Other new features include updated Qlogic and Emulex fibre channel storage drivers, and 17 new network drivers, mostly focusing on 10 GB Ethernet.
There also is support for additional operating systems from SUSE, Ubuntu and Windows PE 2.0. All previous ESX updates are rolled into this release, including the HA and storage driver topics from Update 3.
I really hope this version has it right. With vSphere coming soon, there needs to be a really solid release for VI3 environments before upgrades are considered. VMware, understandably, has a priority on the new versions of their datacenter products given the current competitive landscape.
Do you feel the same way about this release? I've had some candid discussions with fellow virtualization experts along these lines, but am curious to your take on this release. Send me a note or drop a comment below.
Posted by Rick Vanover on 04/02/2009 at 12:47 PM