Operations

Those familiar with deploying VMware vRealize Suite know just how vital VMware Identity Manager (vIDM) is to support the entire deployment. For those who haven’t deployed VMware vRealize Suite, VMware Identity Manager is the centralized authentication platform integrated throughout the entire VMware vRealize Suite of products. It provides multiple directory options, including Active Directory Integrated Windows Authentication, Active Directory over LDAPS, traditional LDAP directories, and local directories. Authentication options include traditional username/password, x509 certificate/smart card, Kerberos, RSA Adaptive Authentication, RSA SecurID, and RADIUS.

While I will admit that I’m a little bit behind on this one, I’ve finally put together my vRealize Operations compliance content for the VMware vSphere 6.7 STIG that was released by DISA earlier this year. The VMware vSphere 6.7 STIG release was quite different from the previous releases and includes 12 separate STIGs. Not only are there compliance checks related to Virtual Machines, ESXi hosts, and the vCenter Server application, there are also STIGs for various services that make up the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA).

vRealize Operations has received its latest update on December 7, 2021. vRealize Operations 8.6.1 is a maintenance release which resolves several important security, performance, stability, and functionality issues identified in the product. Issues Resolved The following issues have been resolved as of vRealize Operations 8.6.1: vRealize Operations firstboot doesn’t complete successfully after deployment. Agent stopped automatically post content update for applications having jolokia2 plugin. Moved the running Custom Script feature using Telegraf to ADV license.

During VMworld 2021, VMware announced that the vRealize True Visibility Suite 3rd party compute and storage management packs would be provided free of charge to all existing vRealize Operations customers. The only caveat was that these management packs wouldn’t be available until a future release. On November 11, 2021, VMware followed through on this announcement and released new versions of all of 20 compute and storage management packs. Customers can download these new management packs by accessing the vRealize Operations Management Packs VMware Customer Connect download page.

With the upcoming release of vRealize True Visibility Suite, VMware will be entitling all vRealize Operations customers with access to the compute and storage management packs available within the suite. Previously, access to all of these management packs would require a license to the Advanced (Standard+) edition of vRealize True Visibility Suite. Going forward, no additional license key will be required to install and use these management packs. After this upcoming release becomes generally available, you will be able to access the management packs by visiting the Customer Connect portal and looking for the vRealize Operations Management Packs for Compute and Storage.