VMware vSphere Integrated Containers 1.4 Release Notes

VMware vSphere® Integrated Containers 1.4 | 15 MAY 2018

VMware vSphere Integrated Containers Appliance 1.4	Build 4944
VMware vSphere Integrated Containers Engine 1.4	Build 18893
VMware vSphere Integrated Containers Registry 1.5	Build d59c257
VMware vSphere Integrated Containers Management Portal 1.4	Build 5b01440
VMware vSphere Integrated Containers Plug-In for vSphere Client 1.4	Build 1149

Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's in the Release Notes

These release notes cover the following topics:

About vSphere Integrated Containers
What's New
Localization
Product Documentation
Installation
Compatibility
Upgrading vSphere Integrated Containers
Open Source Components
Resolved Issues
Known Issues

About vSphere Integrated Containers

vSphere Integrated Containers is delivered as an appliance, that comprises the following major components:

VMware vSphere Integrated Containers Engine, a container runtime for vSphere that allows developers who are familiar with Docker to develop in containers and deploy them alongside traditional VM-based workloads on vSphere clusters. vSphere adminitrators can manage these workloads by using vSphere in a way that is familiar.
vSphere Integrated Containers Plug-In for vSphere Client, that provides information about your vSphere Integrated Containers setup and allows you to deploy virtual container hosts directly from the vSphere Client.
VMware vSphere Integrated Containers Registry, an enterprise-class container registry server that stores and distributes container images. vSphere Integrated Containers Registry extends the Docker Distribution open source project by adding the functionalities that an enterprise requires, such as security, identity and management.
VMware vSphere Integrated Containers Management Portal, a container management portal that provides a UI for DevOps teams to provision and manage containers, including retrieving stats and info about container instances. Cloud administrators can manage container hosts and apply governance to their usage, including capacity quotas and approval workflows. When integrated with vRealize Automation, more advanced capabilities become available, such as deployment blueprints and enterprise-grade Containers-as-a-Service.

With these capabilities, vSphere Integrated Containers enables VMware customers to deliver a production-ready container solution to their developers and DevOps teams. By leveraging their existing SDDC, customers can run container-based applications alongside existing virtual machine based workloads in production without having to build out a separate, specialized container infrastructure stack. As an added benefit for customers and partners, vSphere Integrated Containers is modular. So, for example, if your organization already has a container registry in production, you can use that registry with vSphere Integrated Containers Engine and vSphere Integrated Containers Management Portal.

What's New

vSphere Integrated Containers includes the following new features in this release:

Added the ability to add VCHs to DRS VM affinity groups. Read more.
Softened the requirement for DRS to be enabled on clusters on which you deploy VCHs. Read more.
Added a namespace concept so that administrators can only allow certain namespaces of a given registry when adding new registries to the management portal. Read more.
Added project level registries in vSphere Integrated Containers Management Portal managed by DevOps admins. Read more.
Enforced allow list registry mode that allows search and provision only within registries added as global or project registries in vSphere Integrated Containers Management Portal. Read more.
Added optional card view on the Internal Repositories page that allows for streamlined deployment of images stored in the vSphere Integrated Containers Registry.
Support for vSphere 6.7. Read more.
Support for VMware vSphere Remote Office Branch Office (ROBO) Advanced deployments. Read more.
Simplified the procedure to upgrade the vSphere Integrated Containers Appliance. Read more.
General UI and usability improvements in vSphere Integrated Containers Management Portal.
Bug fixes listed in Resolved Issues below.

Localization

vSphere Integrated Containers 1.4 is only available in English.

Product Documentation

The vSphere Integrated Containers 1.4 documentation includes the following publications:

Installation

For information about installing vSphere Integrated Containers 1.4, see Installing vSphere Integrated Containers.

Compatibility

For information about compatibility, see Interoperability of vSphere Integrated Containers with Other VMware Software in Install, Deploy, and Maintain the vSphere Integrated Containers Infrastructure and the VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes.

Upgrading vSphere Integrated Containers

For information about upgrading to vSphere Integrated Containers 1.4, see Upgrading vSphere Integrated Containers.

Open Source Components

The vSphere Integrated Containers components are licensed under Apache 2 with additional licenses denoted within the vSphere Integrated Containers appliance, Engine, Registry, Management Portal, and vSphere Client plug-in open source repositories.

Resolved Issues

For the lists of issues that have been resolved in vSphere Integrated Containers 1.4, see the Github open-source project pages for each component.

Known Issues

For the lists of known issues in vSphere Integrated Containers 1.4, see the Github open-source project pages for each component.