Nexus 1000v Switch - Release 5.2(1)SV3(2.8) released on 13th Dec 2016

[Wernher Eksteen]

Hi All,

So Cisco released the Nexus 1000v Switch version "5.2(1)SV3(2.8)" yesterday (13th of Dec 2016) without any release notes along with it...

Does anyone know if if this release are now officially supporting  VMware vSphere 6.5 for both ESXi 6.5 and VCSA 6.5. Cisco is very subtle with this, constantly just talking about supporting 6.0 from the previous two or so releases not being very specific.

Also, by when will Cisco release an updated VSUM, still being on 2.0 for quite some time now.

Thanks,

Wernher Eksteen

[Nadav · Accepted solution]

Voila:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus1000/sw/5_2_1_Sv_3_2_8/release/notes/b_Cisco_N1KV_VMware_521SV328_ReleaseNotes.html

:)

[Wernher Eksteen]

Thanks Nadav :)

Do you think it's worth installing and configuring the Nexus 1000V Essentials edition on vSphere 6.5? Considering that it doesn't work with or recognize the various VMware ESXi vmkernel TCP/IP Stacks,. have other limitations as seen in that ReleaseNotes and is quite a pain to setup, maintain and upgrade.. and then also leave other Admins behind to manage the 1000v switch should I move on elsewhere..

The main things I would like from the 1000v Switch is to make use of VSUM for ease of deployment and management, make use of VM-FEX from Cisco-UCS for Directpath IO to Storage based VM's, and perhaps for other vmKernel Ports such as vMotion. Perhaps make use of some PVLANS and look into testing and making use of NXLAN since we're not going to be buying the likes of VMware NSX anytime soon...

--

Wernher

[Nadav]

I'm no expert on 1000v, but keep in mind that it's not supported yet on vSphere 6.5.

And if you're not going down the route of NSX, but would like to have a DC fabric such as ACI, you'll be deploying a new vswitch from the ACI and leaving your old one behind.

Otherwise you can't provision VMs and manage them as part of the fabric. You can't just transform an existing vswitch into something ACI plays well with.

If a vsphere upgrade is important to you, then don't let the vSwitch be what's holding you back. For most use cases, VDS should have feature parity with the 1000v. Check your requirements.

But if you already have a 1000v and want to maintain it then you better get in touch with your AM and check the roadmap. It's a great vSwitch if you're not interested in NSX.