Even though I’m not there, I’m still doing everything I can to keep up with the announcements. For me, the announcements that stand out are:

  • NO MORE VRAM licensing!!!
  • vCPU scalability up to 64 vCPU (via vHardware version 9)
  • The 1TB of memory limitation per VM still applies
  • Updates to the vSphere Distributed Switch that could be handy, such as a network health check and link aggregation control protocol (LACP) additions
  • vMotion that does both storage and host migrations at the same time.
  • No reboot VMware Tools upgrades. This is a nice touch, and one that has always hindered admin ability to keep these up to date in a zero-downtime environment.

Things I have not heard anything new about (but am always hoping for improvements):

  • VMware SMP Fault Tolerance
  • Adjustments to the 2TB VMDK size limit
  • Cluster to cluster VM migrations

I can’t wait until it’s released to the public so I can get a copy and upgrade my home lab so I can start playing with the new toys!