It is very easy to focus on the speeds and feeds of a new major vSphere release such as vSphere 7 which also includes a TON of new and exciting capabilities. However, often times it is the tiny improvements that has the most significant impact to our end users, especially when it comes to usability and operations. In fact, this was further reinforced by Frank Denneman's post on the Reddit with similiar observations.
I have been using vSphere 7 since it was released back in April and I have been discovering a number of new vSphere UI enhancements that has really delighted my overall user experience. I had been sharing these enhancements on Twitter, but figured it was worth a blog post given most of these features were not well known.
Do you have a favorite new feature in vSphere 7 that might not be well known? If so, share by leaving a comment below.
1. Enhanced VM Summary
I’m really digging the new VM Summary view in the #h5client with #vSphere7, especially with details about any snapshots you might have running! My only pet peeve is the gap of space at the very top /cc @APrabhudev pic.twitter.com/IRofUvMpaQ
— William Lam (@lamw.bsky.social | @*protected email*) (@lamw) April 21, 2020
2. Update and Patch Notifications
First patch release for vSphere with Kubernetes is now available
See Release Notes for more details https://t.co/QxDYa7rmTr
Its also really cool to see the vSphere UI is also aware of the update and has nice notification along w/link to RN 🙂 pic.twitter.com/xKYJPfQRGs
— William Lam (@lamw.bsky.social | @*protected email*) (@lamw) May 19, 2020
3. ESXi Firmware and Driver View
I just noticed the new enhancements made to ESXi “Hardware” view in #h5client for vSphere 7. Really digging the Firmware section which cleanly & clearly lays out the various devices/components along the specific driver claiming each device which is super useful! pic.twitter.com/OsNPUDaPuj
— William Lam (@lamw.bsky.social | @*protected email*) (@lamw) June 15, 2020
4. ESXi Installation Date + Software Package Details
Pleasantly discovered two new #vSphere7 UI features this morning while using the #h5client
Navigate to ESXi Host->Configure->System->Packages
Can now see ESXi Install Date + all VIB/Components nicely listed!
Wrote about Install Date API 4yrs ago https://t.co/QXKQnGNvhj
— William Lam (@lamw.bsky.social | @*protected email*) (@lamw) June 28, 2020
5. Terminate "stuck" VM
In rare case you have pesky VM that is “stuck”, it looks like we’ve now exposed the Kill (Terminate) cmd under the VM Power Operations. No need for SSH/ESXCLI
I initially noticed this with the latest #VMWonAWS release but looks like its made its way into vSphere 7.0b too!
— William Lam (@lamw.bsky.social | @*protected email*) (@lamw) June 28, 2020
Here are two additional non-UI features that I came to learn about in vSphere 7 that you might also be interested in: Support for HTTPS using wget on ESXi and Guest Customization support for Instant Clones.
Keep in mind that if you press the "kill' button, HA will restart vm, cause no clean.shut flag will be set
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/fxh6s5/need_to_get_intel_nuc_10th_generation_ethernet/?sort=new
Hello, I recently updated to version 7 and I am able to use my nuc10 w/usb nice fine. However I have a need to use the internal nic, however despite my best efforts, it does not work well in my lab network. I get high ping times and connectivity is inadequate to even open an ssh session. All the symptoms of a layer one issue but if i use the usb nic, no issues w/ cables, switch port or any layer 1 settings. I have also reinstalled the offline bundle for ne1000 as well. Am i missing anything firmware/software side? My set up is effectively the same as outlined in the reddit post
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=18 ttl=63 time=7439.853 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=19 ttl=63 time=6430.652 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=20 ttl=63 time=5427.611 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=21 ttl=63 time=4425.460 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=22 ttl=63 time=3421.352 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=23 ttl=63 time=2418.510 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=24 ttl=63 time=1415.013 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=25 ttl=63 time=413.761 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=26 ttl=63 time=9666.766 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=27 ttl=63 time=8665.145 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=28 ttl=63 time=7662.150 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=29 ttl=63 time=6661.114 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=30 ttl=63 time=5660.099 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=31 ttl=63 time=4659.378 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=32 ttl=63 time=3654.721 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=33 ttl=63 time=2649.858 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=34 ttl=63 time=1648.720 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=35 ttl=63 time=644.520 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 45
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=36 ttl=63 time=10073.670 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=37 ttl=63 time=9069.598 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=38 ttl=63 time=8068.920 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=39 ttl=63 time=7066.297 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=40 ttl=63 time=6065.336 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=41 ttl=63 time=5064.055 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=42 ttl=63 time=4061.076 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=43 ttl=63 time=3059.613 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=44 ttl=63 time=2058.352 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=45 ttl=63 time=1053.605 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=46 ttl=63 time=9944.911 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=47 ttl=63 time=8940.174 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=48 ttl=63 time=7936.000 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=49 ttl=63 time=6933.768 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=50 ttl=63 time=5932.714 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=51 ttl=63 time=4927.889 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=52 ttl=63 time=3926.225 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=53 ttl=63 time=2920.880 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=54 ttl=63 time=1919.353 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=55 ttl=63 time=918.849 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=56 ttl=63 time=9733.288 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=57 ttl=63 time=8731.379 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=58 ttl=63 time=7726.549 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=59 ttl=63 time=6721.227 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=60 ttl=63 time=5720.998 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=61 ttl=63 time=4719.695 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=62 ttl=63 time=3716.821 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=63 ttl=63 time=2712.927 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=64 ttl=63 time=1708.276 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=65 ttl=63 time=706.778 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=66 ttl=63 time=9803.374 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=67 ttl=63 time=8802.096 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=68 ttl=63 time=7798.399 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=69 ttl=63 time=6798.123 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=70 ttl=63 time=5796.466 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=71 ttl=63 time=4794.650 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=72 ttl=63 time=3791.575 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=73 ttl=63 time=2786.453 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=74 ttl=63 time=1785.242 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.255.143: icmp_seq=75 ttl=63 time=782.836 ms
^C
--- 192.168.255.143 ping statistics ---
86 packets transmitted, 76 packets received, 11.6% packet loss