Hi all!

Just the other day I received an RSS update that vCenter Server 6.5.0b had been released. I suspected that it was to cover a few issues I had heard about with UNMAP support and some bugfixes at the SLES OS level. And, while that’s true, there’s also a subtle line in the release notes that reads, “This release delivers additional functionality to the HTML5-based vSphere Client.”

If you’re like me then you were excited to start using the HTML5 vSphere Client with the release of vSphere 6.5. You might have jumped into the new client and only to find that while it is quick and clean, it lacks many configuration options that prevent you from using it in a production environment still. Kind of a drag, but we all know that the VMware team is working on getting the HTML5 client reliable and fully-functional.

When you click the link in the release notes regarding the improvements, you are presented with a chart showing unsupported features as well as features added after vCenter 6.5.

Of particular interest to me is the iSCSI/storage/LUN configuration that is now available in the HTML5 client:

Host Storage iSCSI P01 3/14/2017 Edit general settings

View iSCSI hardware network settings

Add software iSCSI adapter

Disable software iSCSI adapter

Add and remove network port binding

View static and dynamic discovery target details

Add static and dynamic discovery targets

Edit adaptor authentication

Edit target authentication

Remove target

Read-only advanced options Host Storage Management P01 3/14/2017 Edit multipathing policies

Attach and detach device

Rescan storage

Refresh storage system

Update SCSI LUN display name

Datastore list integration

Add and remove software FCoE adapter

Read-only host cache configuration

Nice! I promptly updated my VCSA 6.5 installation by utilizing the VAMI interface at https://[VCSA_FQDN]:5480/#/appliance/update?locale=en and in about 5 – 10 minutes I was presented with a successful update:

Once the installation is complete, log back into the VAMI interface and you’ll see the following prompt:

After a reboot, I logged into the HTML5-based vSphere Client and checked out the particular area I was interested in. I have a VCSA running 6.5 and now 6.5.0b so I was able to compare what the Storage Adapters section of the host configuration tab shows:

Pictured above is a very minimalist view of the storage adapter section available in vCenter 6.5.0. There’s no real ability to rescan, add an adapter, or do any sort of configuration.

Now in vCenter 6.5.0b, shown above, you can perform expected configuration!

Further, you can even alter multi-path policies, etc.

All in all, a welcome upgrade!

Mind you, I’ve only highlighted changes in the HTML5 client but of course the update to vCenter 6.5.0b includes various patches and fixes relating to the Photon OS, Java, etc. all on the appliance. Please refer to the release notes for a more comprehensive list of fixes and known bugs.

Thanks for reading!

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