VMware Released vRealize Automation 7.3 and Other

VMwware has released vRealize Automation 7.3, vRealize Orchestrator 7.3, vRealize Code Stream 2.3 and VMware User Environment Manager 9.2.

vRealize Automation 7.3

What's new:

• Parameterized Blueprints to Enhance Reusability and Reduce Sprawl​
  
• Policy-Based Optimization of Virtual Machine Placement
  
• Enhanced Control of NSX-Provisioned Load Balancers
  
• Enhanced NAT Port Forwarding Rules
  
• NSX Security Group and Tag Management
  
• High Availability Automated for NSX Edge Services
  
• NSX Edge Size Selection
  
• Configuration Automation Framework – Puppet Integration
  
• Improvements to Installation, Upgrade, Migration
  
• REST API Improvements
  
• Improvements to High Availability
  
• Enhanced vRealize Business for Cloud Integration – Cloud Management Platform
  
• Audit Logging
  
• Health Service
  
• Destroy Virtual Machine Enhancement – Force Destroy
  
• Syntax Highlighting for Software Lifecycle Scripts
  
• New Business Group User Role
  
• Enhancements to Custom Properties
  
• Extended External IPAM Vendor Framework
  
• Endpoint Configuration Service – Streamlined Endpoint Management
  
• Azure Public Cloud Service Design Enhancements
  
• vRealize Orchestrator Control Center RBAC
  
• IT Process Automation with Updated SDDC Support
  
• vRealize Automation and ServiceNow Enhancements
  
• VMware Admiral Integration
  
• Enhanced Event Log Functionality
  
• Audit Logging Enabled by Default for the Following Items
  

See full release notes here: http://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/vra/73/vrealize-automation-73-release-notes.html

Update: There is a new distribution of the software from May 25th 2017, that fixes a problem with missing endpoint after upgrade, see this blog: https://www.vmguru.com/2017/05/missing-endpoints-after-upgrading-to-vrealize-automation-7-3/

vRealize Orchestrator 7.3

What's new: 

vRealize Orchestrator 7.3 introduces a number of improvements, bug fixes, and extends the automated configuration with new options:

• Integration with Single Sign-On (SSO) through vRealize Automation or vSphere authentication.
  
• Improved configuration of Control Center, including an initial configuration wizard.
  
• Role-based access to Control Center as opposed to the unrestricted root access in earlier versions.
  

The redesigned vRealize Orchestrator vCenter Server plug-in is now included in the vRealize Orchestrator platform. The new vCenter Server plug-in has the following features:

• Simplified maintenance and faster troubleshooting, compared to the earlier versions of the plug-in.
  
• Improved performance thanks to an optimized communication with the vSphere Server instances and changes in the caching schema.
  
• Maximum compatibility of the scripting API and content compatibility with the vSphere products with version 5.5 and later.
  
• Support for Storage Policy Based Management (SPBM) and Storage Monitoring Service (SMS) endpoints.
  

For more information on the changes in the vCenter Server plug-in for vRealize Orchestrator 7.3, see What's New in the New vCenter Server Plug-In.

The vRealize Orchestrator Dynamic Types plug-in 1.3.0 includes two new features.

• Added support for custom DynamicType properties that are persistent in the configuration.
  
• Introduced an improved caching mechanism that supports configuring timeout settings per object.
  

See full release notes here: http://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/orchestrator/vrealize-orchestrator-73-release-notes.html

vRealize Code Stream 2.3

What's new:

This release of vRealize Code Stream simplifies licensing to enable DevOps for IT use cases, and entitles vRealize Suite Enterprise and vRealize Automation users to use the vRealize Code Stream Management Pack for IT DevOps without separate vRealize Code Stream licenses. This release also supports developer use cases involving Git and Gerrit through utilities that can trigger pipeline executions. Additionally, this release includes new plug-ins which integrate with external systems over REST APIs, and includes other minor enhancements to the user interface.

New Features

• Licensing 

  vRealize Automation customers are now entitled to use vRealize Code Stream at no charge for use with the vRCS Management Pack for IT DevOps. This entitlement applies to all vRealize Automation licenses, whether purchased standalone or as part of a suite. For more information, see the vRealize Code Stream Information Center.

• Pipeline Triggering Utilities for Git and Gerrit 

  Pipeline executions can be triggered based on Git and Gerrit events by using the easy-to-setup command line utilities. For more information, see the vRealize Code Stream Information Center.

• Plug-ins 

  • Generic REST plugin: Pipeline tasks can be modeled to interact with any external system with REST APIs. It supports all standard HTTP methods such as GET and POST. The plug-in also supports parsing JSON responses to bind specific parts of the JSON response in subsequent tasks.

  • Poll Plugin: Pipeline tasks can be modeled to wait on an external system’s REST API for status change. Apart from supporting success and failure criteria, you can configure timeout and periodicity.

• Pipeline Import and Export 

• With the pipeline import and export selections, you can import and export pipeline templates directly from the user interface. You can use the import and export selections to easily create backups of pipeline templates on the local system, and to restore them.

See full release notes here: https://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/vrcs/vrealize-code-stream-23-release-notes.html?src=vmw_so_vex_akjaer_1025

User Environment Manager 9.2

User Environment Manager 9.2 provides the following new features and enhancements:

• Privilege Elevation

  Allows designation of pre-configured apps to run with elevated privileges on local desktop, as if the user is a member of the Administrators group.

• Refresh triggered tasks configuration

  Allows a refresh of triggered tasks configuration during user session.

• SyncTool can work in NoAD mode

  Allows SyncTool to be configured through NoAD.xml instead of through a Group Policy.

• Publisher-based application blocking

  Extends existing application blocking feature to work based on the application publisher in addition to location and hash.

• Added the Time Range, Day of the Week and Active Directory site name conditions

• Expanded Application Templates and Windows Common Settings

  Added support for Remote Desktop Connection, Internet Explorer WebCache, mapped network drives, Microsoft Edge, ODBC User DSNs, and recently opened items.

See full release notes here: https://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/uem/9.2/uem-92-release-notes.html?src=vmw_so_vex_akjaer_1025