ESXi 6.7 on new servers?

[HendersonD]

In the last two weeks we took delivery of 7 brand new HPE DL380 Gen10 servers. We will be putting these into production in the next 2-3 weeks. Debating whether to install ESXi 6.5 U1 or the newly released ESXi 6.7. HPE has released a customized version of ESXi 6.7

Any suggestions on which route to take?

[a_p_]

On one side, you'd be able to benefit from the new features, but on the other side you (and your customer) need to be prepared to undergo a certain risk.

Anyway, IMO the most important point is whether any 3rd party (as well as other VMware) applications which are in use (e.g. backup) support vSphere 6.7.

André

[HendersonD]

I was thinking the same thing. Is 6.7 stable enough for production or will it be better to wait for a 6.7 U1 to come out before jumping

[a_p_]

Well, no need to wait for Update 1, but maybe for Patch 1.

I'm basically in the same boat, and have to decide whether to upgrade vSphere for some of my customers - who are currently still very happy with v5.5 - to either v6.5, or v6.7.

For me, I'll keep monitoring VMTN to see what users report over the next couple of days/weeks, and then decide what to do. For now I'll stick with v6.5.

André

[HendersonD]

We use Veeam for backup and replication and it is not compatible with ESXi 6.7 so we will be installing 6.5 on these new servers

[louyo]

Just installed 6.7 in a WS VM. Installed one W7 VM on it and did a restore of another W7 that was backed up from a 5.5 server (hardware). I managed  somehow to trash another W7 VM and am left with collateral damage. The name changed to "7" and it showed as invalid status with everything else showing as unknown or undefined. Context menu was all grayed except autostart. I deleted the folder but the entry is still showing in the still ugly, slow Web client.

Does anyone know what file the list of VM's is kept in, I need to remove "7"?

NovaStore's BE worked OK to do the restore, haven't tested backup yet. Like Veeam, not officially supported yet.

Will not update any "real ESXi's until patch 1 is released.

Lou

[a_p_]

The latest ESXi Embedded Host Client fling allows to delete invalid entries.

André

[louyo]

Good news (to me), I will give it a go.

Thanks.

[daphnissov]

I always recommend not upgrading to the latest vSphere platform release until at least a quarter has elapsed, or Update 1, especially if any of the new features of vCenter or new VM hardware versions are used. Historically, VMware has had a bad time with QA and ensuring these latest releases are stable. For the past few years, this has taken until about Update 1 (sometimes later) for things to level off. Whenever you upgrade to the bleeding edge, you take on a lot of risk, and if you don't absolutely *need* any of those features, that risk is not worth it.

[louyo]

Didn't help. What I "think" is happening: the now deleted VM is being auto started (even though that is disabled) and that is causing the inability to remove it.

So much for 6.7, will update the 5.5 host to 6.5 and wait for the pioneers to help sort it all out.

Thanks for the help.

Lou