In the ever-evolving landscape of virtualization and software-defined storage, VMware vSAN has been a cornerstone solution, consistently enhancing the capabilities of modern data centers. Join us on a journey as we explore the evolution of vSAN through its various released versions, highlighting key features and improvements along the way.
vSAN 1.0 : Release on March 2014 : A Pioneering Start
vSAN 6.0 : Release on March 2015
All-Flash configurations
64 host cluster scalability
2x performance increase for hybrid configurations
New snapshot mechanism
Enhanced cloning mechanism
Fault domain/rack awareness
vSAN 6.1: Release on September 2015
Stretched clustering across a max of 5 ms RTT ( milliseconds)
2-node vSAN for remote office , branch office (ROBO) soultions
vRealize Operations management pack
vSphere replications-5 minutes RPO
Health monitoring
vSAN 6.2 : Release on March 2016 (Striving for Operational Simplicity)
RAID 5 and 6 over the network ( erasure coding )
Space efficiency (deduplication and compression )
QoS - IOPS limits
Software checksums
IPv6 Support
Performance monitoring
vSAN 6.5 : Release on November 2016
vSAN iSCSI Service
vSAN 2-node Direct Connect
512e device support
Cloud-Native Application support
vSAN 6.6 : Release on April 2017 (Unleashing Performance and Scalability)
Local Protection for Stretched Clusters
Removal of Multicast
ESXI Host Client (HTML5) management and monitoring functionality
Enhanced rebalancing , repairs , and resyncs
Resync throttling
Maintenance Mode Pre-check
Stretched Cluster Witness Replacement UI
vSAN Support Insight
vSAN Easy Install
vSAN Config Assist / Firmware Update
Enhanced Performance and Health Monitoring
vSAN 6.6.1 : Release on November 2017
Update Manager Integration
Performance Diagnostics added to Cloud Analytics
Storage Device Serviceability
New Licensing for ROBO and VDI
vSAN 6.7 : Release on April 2018 (Bridging the Gap to Hybrid Cloud)
HTML-5 User Interface support
Native vRealize Operations dashboards in the HTML5 Client
Support for Microsoft WSFC using vSAN iSCSI
Fast Network Failovers
Optimization Adaptive Resync
Optimization witness Traffic Separation for Stretched Clusters
Optimization Preferred Site Override for Stretched Clusters
Optimization Efficient Resync for Stretched Cluster
Optimization Enhanced Diagnostic Partition
Optimization Efficient Decommissioning
Optimization Efficient and consistent storage policies
4k Native Device Support
FIPS 140-2 Level 1 Support
vSAN 6.7 U1 : Release on October 2018
Trim/unmap
Cluster Quickstart Wizard
Mixed MTU Support
Historical Capacity Reporting
Additional vR Ops Dashboards
Enhanced support experience
Secondary FTT for Racks
vSAN 6.7 U3 : Release on August 2019
Cloud-Native Storage
Native SCSI-3 PGR for windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) support
Improved Capacity Usage views (including block container volumes )
Improved Resync insights - ability to see queued but not yet active resyncs
Maintenance Mode/Data Migration pre-checks
Online iSCSI LUN Resize
Improved destage performance with LSOM enhancements
Parallel resync opertaions
vsantop command line tool for performance monitoring
vSAN 7.0 : Release on April 2020 (A Quantum Leap in Innovation)
Integrated Naive File Services ( NFS-File shares)
Read-write-Many presistent voluems via CSI-CNS and vSAN 7
vSAN memory performance metric now displayed
Shared disks with multi-wirter flag no longer need to be Easy Zero thick on vsan 7.
Support for larger 1PB logical capcity when deduplication and compression enabled
Objects immediately repaired when witness Appliance replaced
NVMe hot-plug support
vSAN 7.0U1 : Released on October 2020 (Continuous Improvement and Features)
vSAN File Services now supports the SMB protocol
vSAN File Services now supports kerberos and active directory
vSAN File Services Scale Increase from 8 to 32
HCI Mesh introduced for mounting remote vSAN datastore
A new compression only Data service
vSAN Shared Witness Appliance
vSAN Data Persistence Platfrom for cloud native applications in vSphere with Tanzu
Increased usable capacity with new capacity management features
vSAN 7.0 U2 : Released on March 2021 (Advancements for Modern Applications)
HCI Mesh now allows remote mounting of vSAN datastore from non-vsan clusters
HCI Mesh vSAN Clusters now support up to 128 remote host mounts
vSAN Stretched Cluster now supports 20+20+1 configurations
vSAN Stretched Cluster has deeper intergrations with DRS for object sync and fail-back
vSAN File Services now supported on vSAN stretched cluster and 2 node vsan
vSAN File Serivces Scale increase from 32 to 100 shares
vSAN now supports vSphere Proactive HA
vSAN supports the new vSphere Native Key Provider
vSAN over RDMA
Skyline Health Check History
vSAN 7.0 U3 : Release on October 2021
Stretched Cluster site/witness failure resiliency
Nested Fault domain for two node deployments
vSAN File Services Access Based Enumeration
vSAN cluster shutdown and restart
Enhanced network monitoring and anomaly detection
vSAN Health check correlation
VM I/O trip analyzer
Stretched Cluster support for vanilla Kubernetes
vSAN Data Persistence Platfrom now supports asynchronous installations and upgrades
CNS platfrom has improved performance ,scales , and resiliency
vSAN 8.0 : Release on November 2022 ( A New Architecture ESA)
Launched of the vSAN Express Storage Architecture , and introducing Original Storage
Architecture naming convention for traditional vSAN
vSAN ESA introduces a new log structured filed system (LFS) and new log structured
Object Manager (LSOM) fast data ingestion and efficient metadata storage
vSAN ESA Adaptive RAID-5 mechanism
vSAN ESA leverages a single tier of NVME-based TLC (Triple level cell) flash devices, removing the construct of disk groups and introducing the construct of storage pools.
vSAN OSA support a much larger write buffer of 1.6TB.
vSAN 8.0 U1 : Release on April 2023
vSAN ESA introduces support for HCI Mesh
vSAN OSA introduces support for HCI Mesh with a stretched Cluster.
vSAN ESA introduces support for Delta components for improved durability and resilience
A new dynamic default storage policy is introduced for the ESA
vSAN ESA introduces enhancements for streaming writes
PowerCLI support for vSAN ESA
Enhancements to the overall vSAN management experience including higher resolution monitoring, network diagnostic enhancements and skyline health remedation
VM I/O trip analyzer tasks may now be scheduled
vSAN 8.0 U2 : Release on September 2023
Enhanced topologies for disaggregation with vSAN Express Storage Architecture bring feature parity for vSAN OSA and vSAN ESA.
vSAN ESA support for stretched clusters in disaggregated topology
Support of disaggregation across clusters using multiple vCenter Servers
vSAN ESA Adaptive Write path for disaggregated storage
Integrated File Services for Cloud Native and traditional workloads
Adaptive Write Path optimizations in vSAN ESA
Increased number of VM's per host in vSAN ESA clusters (up to 500/host)
New ReadyNode profile and support for read-intensive devices for vSAN ESA
vSAN ESA support for encryption deep rekey
vSAN ESA prescriptive disk claim
Capacity reporting enhancements.
Auto-Policy management improvements in vSAN ESA
Skyline Health remediation enhancements.
Key expiration for clusters with data-at-rest encryption.
I/O top contributors enhancements
I/O Trip Analyzer supported on two node clusters and stretched clusters
Easier configuration for two node clusters and stretched clusters
CSI snapshot support for TKG service
Data mobility of Cloud Native persistent volumes across datastores
VMware vSAN has come a long way since its inception, evolving with each release to meet the dynamic demands of modern data centers. From pioneering features like all-flash architecture to continuous improvements in performance, scalability, and hybrid cloud integration, vSAN remains at the forefront of software-defined storage solutions. As we anticipate future releases, the journey of vSAN continues to shape the landscape of virtualization, providing organizations with robust and innovative storage solutions.
Note: For the latest updates and features, always refer to VMware's official documentation and release notes.
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