Caution: Articles written for technical not grammatical accuracy, If poor grammar offends you proceed with caution ;-)

This is super exciting news. There are two features in particular that I am very excited to see in vSphere 6.5.

vSphere Integrated Containers – Run docker containers natively (well almost) on top of vSphere. VIC as it has been coined allows you to use the Docker API to spin up Docker containers inside a vSphere VM container. The vSphere VM container runs a super small version of PhotonOS that allows the container to run inside the VM container. This now allows you to run Docker containers with all the benefits of vSphere VM’s with the exception of NSX at the moment. However your containersa can take advantage of another new much anticipated feature.

vSphere Predictive DRS – Predictive DRS is a game-changing new technology that leverages self-learning and predictive analytics provided by vRealize Operations. It learns your environment and based on usage patterns, preemptively rebalances your workloads in advance of upcoming demands and spikes. This ensures your applications remain performant and your workloads get all the resources they need.

These aren’t the only exciting new features, but they are certainly two of my favorites. Among the other new features are:

Scale Enhancements – New configuration maximums to support even the largest app environments

– New configuration maximums to support even the largest app environments VMware vCenter Server® Appliance – The single control center and core building block for vSphere

– The single control center and core building block for vSphere vCenter Server® High Availability – Native vCenter Server high availability solution

– Native vCenter Server high availability solution vCenter Server Backup and Restore – Native vCenter Server Backup and Restore

– Native vCenter Server Backup and Restore vCenter Server Appliance Tool – Single step migration and upgrade of existing vCenter Server to vCenter Server Appliance

– Single step migration and upgrade of existing vCenter Server to vCenter Server Appliance REST APIs – Simple, modern developer-friendly APIs

– Simple, modern developer-friendly APIs vSphere Client – HTML5-based GUI that ensures fast performance and cross-platform compatibility

– HTML5-based GUI that ensures fast performance and cross-platform compatibility Security-at-Scale – Policy-driven security that makes securing infrastructure operationally simple

– Policy-driven security that makes securing infrastructure operationally simple Encryption – VM-level encryption protects unauthorized data access both at-rest and in-motion

– VM-level encryption protects unauthorized data access both at-rest and in-motion Audit-quality logging – Enhanced logging that provides forensic information about user actions

– Enhanced logging that provides forensic information about user actions Secure Boot – Protection for both the hypervisor and guest operating system by ensuring images have not been tampered with and preventing loading of unauthorized components

– Protection for both the hypervisor and guest operating system by ensuring images have not been tampered with and preventing loading of unauthorized components Cross-Cloud vMotion® –Live migrate workloads between VMware based clouds ( Handy feature for the new Amazon and VMware partnership)

–Live migrate workloads between VMware based clouds ( Handy feature for the new Amazon and VMware partnership) Virtual Volumes™ Replication – Native array virtual volumes replication

Release Notes:

http://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/vsphere/65/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-65-release-notes.html

Download Page:

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/info?slug=datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsphere/6_5

Product Documentation:

https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-6-pubs.html

Product Page and Blog:

http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere.html

https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2016/10/introducing-vsphere-6-5.html

https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2016/11/vmware-announces-general-availability-vsphere-6-5.html

Things are certainly getting exciting