System Center 1807 is available

It has recently been announced that a new semi-annual channel release for System Center is available. As you can see in the following picture, the new System Center 1807 is the last release before GA of SC 2019. So, my recommendation is to implement this release and test it before going further . In short, you have a plenty of  time to evaluate the newest SC and prepare your staff for SC 2019 deployment in production.

system center roadmap

TIP: SC 1807 is an update release for SC 1801. To apply System Center, version 1807 you will first need to download SC 1801

System Center 1807 provides updates to the following products:

:: Operations Manager

:: Data Protection Manager

:: Service Manager 

:: Orchestrator + SMA

:: Virtual Machine Manager

In this post, we will cover the major changes for VMM.

Storage Space Direct Management

With Virtual Machine Manager 1807, you will now be able to patch and update the nodes of a Storage Spaces Direct cluster with the orchestration of the update process performed by VMM.  You can update individual S2D hosts or clusters against the baselines configured in windows server update services (WSUS)

VHD Placement

When you add a new VHD to the existing VM, you can now define CSV path (a new volume) for that disk to eliminate problems with storage space. Prior to VMM 1807, a new VHD of an existing virtual machine would be placed in the same CSV as the other VHDs, aggravating the problem if the CSV was already running high on utilized storage.

vhd placement csv vmm 1807

Convert SET switch to logical switch

VMM 1807 allows you to convert a switch embedded teaming (SET) switch to logical switch by using the VMM console. In earlier versions, this feature was supported only through PowerShell script.

Display of LLDP information for networking devices

VMM 1807 supports Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP). You can now view network device properties and capabilities information of the hosts from VMM. Host operating system must be Windows 2016 or higher. DataCenterBridging and DataCenterBridging-LLDP-Tools features have been enabled on hosts to fetch LLDP properties

lldp vmm 1807

VMware host management

VMM 1807 supports VMware ESXi v6.5 servers in VMM fabric. This support facilitates the administrators with additional flexibility in managing multiple hypervisors in use.

To evaluate SC 1807, you can download SC 1801 from here , and then update to 1807 (SAC) + it also will be available @MSDN.

In addition, VMM 1807 has received SQL Server 2017 support.

TIP: VMM 1807 update package for VMM 1801 can be obtained here

Update Rollup 10 For System Center 2012 R2

New rollup for System Center 2012 R2 is available. It brings improvements and fixes for VMM, DPM , SPF and Azure Pack. You can install them by Windows Update or download manually using the links below (see each component article to obtain specific installation instructions)

Name LINK
Data Protection Manager https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3143871
Orchestrator
Operations Manager
Service Manager
Service Provider Foundation https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3147172
Virtual Machine Manager https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3147167
WAP https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3158609
WAP Web Sites

The following issues are fixed in Windows Azure Pack:

  • Windows Server 2016 only: Support for Encryption Supported VMs. Windows Server 2016, Virtual Machine Manager and Service Provider Foundation provide support for Encrypted Supported VMs, now WAP provides support for the three type of VMs in Windows Server 2016: regular VMs, Shielded VMs, and Encryption Supported VMs.
  • Windows Server 2016 only: Fix to incorrect Format of volume Signature in PDK File downloaded through WAP.
  • When a tenant updates a VM Size, the Hardware Profile ID is passed along to the SPF/VMM Virtual Machine Update event, allowing custom runbooks to change other properties as necessary.
  • Fix to Virtual Network property labels in the Quota page. The quotas for “Site-to-Site VPN” and “External IP addresses” labels in the Admin Portal VM Resource Provider are misleading because they read “per network.” They actually are “per subscription.”
  • Fix: When you update the VM Cloud Resource Provider, a duplicate Port setting is added leading ManagementOData to fail and return an error message that reads, “An item with the same key has already been added.”
  • Ability for the tenant user to add a network adapter to a VM while the VM is running. In UR 9.1 and previous versions, new NICs could be added only after the VM was stopped.
  • Ability for the WAP Admin to include a SQL Server into multiple availability groups for HA configurations.
  • Ability for the WAP Admin to include a server that’s running Microsoft SQL Server into multiple availability groups for HA configurations.
  • Ability for the WAP user to enable the “Always On” feature of WAP websites.

For VMM please see the “Known issues from previous update rollups” and do workarounds if some mentioned issues take place

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