VMware have recently announced an update to 3.5 & ESXi. Normally VMware slip a few cool features into interim releases, but nothing as major as the inclusions in Update 2. Here’s an overview of some of the major functionality additions.

• VSS quiescing support – Windows 2003 VMs now have application & file system level VSS support via VMware tools.
• Hot Virtual Extend Support – This will allow virtual disks that are running out of disk space to be increased on the fly while the VM is running
• iSCSI & NFS over 10GB Ethernet
• Live Cloning of Virtual Machines – This means that instead of having to power off a machine to clone it, this can now be done while the machine is turned on. Possibly a fore-runner to continuous availability?

All of these features have a massive impact on the way VMs are used and administered and take another leap away from Microsoft in terms of functionality.

I can’t wait to see what will be included in ESX4.

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