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Release Notes: Pure Storage Plugin for the vSphere Client

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If you are using vSphere versions 6.7 U3 or higher, please upgrade to the remote 5.x plugin or use alternative tools to manage the VMware infrastructure.

If you are using vSphere versions lower than 6.7 U3, please upgrade to the 4.5.2 plugin version or use alternative tools to manage the VMware infrastructure.

vSphere HTML Client Plugin v5 (Remote Plugin)

Release Release Date Supported vCenter Versions (all minor versions supported unless otherwise noted) Supported Purity
Versions
End of Life
5.3.8 March 2024 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1x and later** TBA
5.3.7 March 2024 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.3.6 February 2024 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.3.5 November 2023 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.3.4 September 2023 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.3.3 August 2023 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.3.2 July 2023 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.3.1 June 2023 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.3.0 May 2023 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.2.1 November 2022 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.2.0 October 2022 7.0*, 8.0 and later 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.1.1 October 2022 7.0 and later* 6.1.x and later** TBA
5.1.0 June 2022 7.0 and later* 5.3.x and later** TBA
5.0.0 July 2021 7.0 and later* 5.3.x and later** TBA

*The remote plugin is supported with vSphere 6.7 U3 and later by Pure Storage, but is only certified by VMware for 7.0 and later. VMware does not certify remote plugins on releases prior to 7.0.

**While supported in Purity versions earlier than 6.2, there are specific features and workflows in the plugin that are only supported in Purity 6.2 and later.

vSphere HTML Client Plugin v4 (Local Plugin)

Release Release Date Supported vCenter Versions (all minor versions supported unless otherwise noted)

Shipped with
Purity Version

Supported Purity
Versions
End of Life
4.5.2 February 2022 6.5 (u2 and later)***, 6.7***, 7.0 6.3.1 4.10.x through 6.3.x April 2nd, 2025
4.5.1 April 2021 6.5 (u2 and later)***, 6.7***, 7.0 N/A 4.10.x through 6.3.x April 1st, 2023
4.5.0 January 2021 6.5 (u2 and later)***, 6.7***, 7.0 6.0.5, 6.1.3 4.10.x through 6.3.x January 1st, 2023
4.4.0 September 2020 6.5 (u2 and later)***, 6.7***, 7.0 6.1.0 4.10.x through 6.3.x January 1st, 2022
4.3.1 May 2020 6.5 (u2 and later)***, 6.7***, 7.0 5.3.10, 6.0.2 4.10.x through 6.3.x January 1st, 2022
4.3.0 April 2020 6.5 (u2 and later)***, 6.7***, 7.0 N/A 4.10.x through 6.3.x January 1st, 2022
4.2.1 January 2020 6.5 (u2 and later)***, 6.7*** N/A 4.10.x through 6.3.x January 1st, 2022
4.2.0 November 2019 6.7*** only N/A 4.10.x through 6.3.x January 1st, 2022
4.1.0 July 2019 6.5 (u2 and later)***, 6.7*** N/A 4.10.x through 6.3.x January 1st, 2022
4.0.0 July 2019 6.5 (u2 and later)***, 6.7*** N/A 4.10.x through 6.3.x January 1st, 2022

***vCenter 6.5 and 6.7 are no longer within general support by VMware, so best effort support is all Pure can provide with those releases.

5.3.8 Release Notes

Release: March 2024

General

Version 5.3.8 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3* and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified with VMware.

* The remote plugin is supported with vSphere 6.7 U3 and later by Pure Storage, but is only certified by VMware for 7.0 and later. VMware does not certify remote plugins on releases prior to 7.0.

Important notices regarding the vSphere Client Plugin.

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.

  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture

    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.

    • More information on why Pure Storage is using this can be found here.

  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here. The installation guide for the remote vSphere plugin can be found here.

  • [TMAN-20396] - Additional queries to ESXi hosts authentication configuration were added in vSphere Plugin 5.3.6 in order to support NFS 4.1 with the vSphere Plugin.  Expected values from the query were not found to ever be null/empty, but either return not configured or configured with the relevant information.  However, in some instances an issue with ESXi will end up returning a null value.  The plugin did not handle the null value correctly and would cause failures with the result and the plugin would not operate properly.  This issue is fixed in 5.3.8.

  • [TMAN-19146] - If an array's management ports were accessible upon adding the array to the vSphere plugin and later became inaccessible, loading certain windows in the vSphere plugin might take greater than 10 minutes. To workaround this issue there are currently two options:

  1. Wait until the array list populates in the vSphere plugin screen and remove the inaccessible array

  2. If the vSphere environment has only had Pure's remote plugin installed, un-registering the plugin and registering it again should clear out the array connections that existed and the existing accessible arrays can be added back.


5.3.7 Release Notes 

Release: March 2024

General

Version 5.3.7 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3* and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified with VMware.

 * The remote plugin is supported with vSphere 6.7 U3 and later by Pure Storage, but is only certified by VMware for 7.0 and later. VMware does not certify remote plugins on releases prior to 7.0.

Important notices regarding the vSphere Client Plugin.

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.

  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture:

    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.

    • More information on why Pure Storage is using this can be found here.

  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here. The installation guide for the remote vSphere plugin can be found here.

Fixed issues

  • [TMAN-20361] - NVMe-vVols support was added with vSphere Plugin release 5.3.6.  To support this feature some additional queries were added to check the status of the unique NQN used for NVMe-vVols.  An issue was discovered in the instances where ESXi hosts were configured for NVMe-oF for VMFS but did not have ESXi hosts configured for NVMe-vVols.  The issue would cause failures in plugin requests with an error that NVMe-vVols NQNs were not configured.  This issue is fixed in this release.
  • [TMAN-20301] - There is a feature in the vSphere plugin that allows users to rename volume groups for either vVols based VMs or for general volume groups. An issue was discovered that caused this feature not to work when volume groups were in Pods.  This issue is fixed in this release. 

Known issues

  • [TMAN-19146] - If an array's management ports were accessible upon adding the array to the vSphere plugin and later became inaccessible, loading certain windows in the vSphere plugin might take greater than 10 minutes. To workaround this issue there are currently two options:

  1. Wait until the array list populates in the vSphere plugin screen and remove the inaccessible array.

    1. If the vSphere environment has only had Pure's remote plugin installed, un-registering the plugin and registering it again should clear out the array connections that existed and the existing accessible arrays can be added back.


5.3.6 Release Notes

Release: November 2023

General  

Version 5.3.6 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3* and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified with VMware.

* The remote plugin is supported with vSphere 6.7 U3 and later by Pure Storage, but is only certified by VMware for 7.0 and later. VMware does not certify remote plugins on releases prior to 7.0.

Important notices regarding the vSphere Client Plugin.

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.
  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
    • More information on why Pure Storage is using this can be found here.
  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here. The installation guide for the remote vSphere plugin can be found here.

What’s New  

  • [TMAN-19516] - Adds support for specifying the connection count (nconnect) when creating an NFS Datastore.  The ESXi host must be running vSphere 8.0 U1 or later to support this feature.
  • [TMAN-19734] - Adds Kerberos support to NFS v4.1 Datastore creation workflow.
  • [TMAN-19515] - Adds support to use round robin selection of FlashArray File Virtual Interface IPs when creating a NFS Datastore.  Prior to this release the plugin would use the first virtual interface to mount the NFS Datastore with.  If the FlashArray has multiple virtual interface IP addresses configured the plugin will now select the target in a round robin fashion instead of using only the first one.
  • [TMAN-18218] - Adds support to configuring the hosts iSCSI NoOP Timeout when configuring the host for iSCSI with the plugin.  
  • [TMAN-18873] - Adds support for tagging FlashArray volumes that back VMFS Datastores.
  • [TMAN-19714] - Adds support for creating a vVol Datastore with NVMe protocol.

Fixed issues

  • [TMAN-19368] - Optimizations for the NFS VM Recovery Workflows
  • [TMAN-19976] - Added additional context and an error message when NFS Datastores do not have AutoDir enabled.
  • [TMAN-20165] - Information polling failed when a vVols based VM also had RDMs attached to it.  

Known issues  

  • [TMAN-19146] - If an array's management ports were accessible upon adding the array to the vSphere plugin and later became inaccessible, loading certain windows in the vSphere plugin might take greater than 10 minutes. To workaround this issue there are currently two options:
    1. Wait until the array list populates in the vSphere plugin screen and remove the inaccessible array
    2. If the vSphere environment has only had Pure's remote plugin installed, un-registering the plugin and registering it again should clear out the array connections that existed and the existing accessible arrays can be added back. 

5.3.5 Release Notes

Release: November 2023

General  

Version 5.3.5 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New  

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.
  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
    • More information on why Pure Storage is using this can be found here.
  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here. The installation guide for the remote vSphere plugin can be found here.
    • When the OVA's operating system needs to be updated, the OVA will need to be upgraded first in order to see the remote vSphere plugin upgrade options. When running puresw list if your target version vSphere plugin version is not visible but the OVA says it can be upgraded, upgrade the OVA first.

Fixed issues

  • TMAN-19853: A change in Purity//FA 6.5.1+ and 6.6.0+ to how the FlashArray VASA Provider responded to a query for point in time replicas (queryPointInTimeReplica) to be more descriptive exposed an issue with the Pure Storage Plugin for the vSphere Client.  The discovered issue is that when running a test failover or failover with the replication manager there were not Point in Time replicas listed even when if replicas existed.  The issue is fixed in 5.3.5.  

Known issues  

  • If an array's management ports were accessible upon adding the array to the vSphere plugin and later became inaccessible, loading certain windows in the vSphere plugin might take greater than 10 minutes. To workaround this issue there are currently two options:
    1. Wait until the array list populates in the vSphere plugin screen and remove the inaccessible array
    2. If the vSphere environment has only had Pure's remote plugin installed, un-registering the plugin and registering it again should clear out the array connections that existed and the existing accessible arrays can be added back
    • Pure is currently evaluating options to improve this situation in TMAN-19146

5.3.4 Release Notes

Release: September 2023

General  

Version 5.3.4 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New  

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.
  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
    • More information on why Pure Storage is using this can be found here.
  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here.
    • When the OVA's operating system needs to be updated, the OVA will need to be upgraded first in order to see the remote vSphere plugin upgrade options. When running puresw list if your target version vSphere plugin version is not visible but the OVA says it can be upgraded, upgrade the OVA first.
  • NFS datastore edit and delete support
    • This feature allows reconfiguration of existing NFS datastores.
  • NFS 4.1 support
    • The plugin now allows the provisioning of datastores with NFS 4.1 protocol. This requires Purity 6.4.10 or later on the hosting FlashArray.
  • NFS VM undelete
    • Allows the restoring of a virtual machine from pre-created snapshots for VMs that no longer exist in VMware.
  • NFS VM PiT recovery
    • Enables greatly simplified recovery of NFS-backed VMs using FlashArray snapshots

Fixed issues

  • TMAN-19381: There were extra networks being created by the vSphere plugin on Pure Storage's VMware appliance and the vSphere plugin wouldn't always use the user defined IP ranges. This has been fixed.

Known issues  

  • If an array's management ports were accessible upon adding the array to the vSphere plugin and later became inaccessible, loading certain windows in the vSphere plugin might take greater than 10 minutes. To workaround this issue there are currently two options:
    1. Wait until the array list populates in the vSphere plugin screen and remove the inaccessible array
    2. If the vSphere environment has only had Pure's remote plugin installed, un-registering the plugin and registering it again should clear out the array connections that existed and the existing accessible arrays can be added back
    • Pure is currently evaluating options to improve this situation in TMAN-19146

5.3.3 Release Notes

Release: August 2023

General  

Version 5.3.3 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New  

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.
  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
    • More information on why Pure Storage is using this can be found here.
  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here.
    • When the OVA's operating system needs to be updated, the OVA will need to be upgraded first in order to see the remote vSphere plugin upgrade options. When running puresw list if your target version vSphere plugin version is not visible but the OVA says it can be upgraded, upgrade the OVA first.

Fixed issues

  • TMAN-19491: Edit datastore dialog won't completely load and the "loading vmfs datastore information" status is displayed. This has been fixed.
  • TMAN-19482: Security fixes and hardening
    • CVE-2023-20860
    • CVE 2023-20883
    • CVE-2022-25857
    • CVE-2022-38749

Known issues  

  • If an array's management ports were accessible upon adding the array to the vSphere plugin and later became inaccessible, loading certain windows in the vSphere plugin might take greater than 10 minutes. To workaround this issue there are currently two options:
    1. Wait until the array list populates in the vSphere plugin screen and remove the inaccessible array
    2. If the vSphere environment has only had Pure's remote plugin installed, un-registering the plugin and registering it again should clear out the array connections that existed and the existing accessible arrays can be added back
    • Pure is currently evaluating options to improve this situation in TMAN-19146

5.3.2 Release Notes

Release: July 2023

General  

Version 5.3.2 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New  

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.
  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
    • More information on why Pure Storage is using this can be found here.
  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here.

Fixed issues  

  • TMAN-19302: Recover from snapshot shows blank screen for NFS-backed VMs. Clarifying text has been added in this release. The functionality will be added in a future release of the vSphere plugin.
  • TMAN-18080: Hardening VMFS VM restore when using inconsistent datastore mappings.
  • TMAN-18446: VMFS PiT and environmental recovery would fail when CBT (changed block tracking) was enabled on the VM. This is a known VMware issue. In order to workaround this issue, the VMFS PiT recovery workflow will now present options for recovery when recovering a CBT enabled VM.
  • TMAN-19213: Pod pgroup-auto protection group is always connected to the FlashArray volume when creating a datastore. To resolve this, the default protection group protection is not applied by default.
  • TMAN-19214: Unable to move volume from a vgroup in a pod to a volume in the same pod outside of the vgroup. This has been fixed for arrays without SafeMode enabled but we are still evaluating how to best handle this on arrays with SafeMode enabled.
  • TMAN-19215: When attempting to recover a VMFS-backed VM on an ESXi host that is not a member of a vSphere cluster, the error "A specified parameter was not correct: pool" was thrown and the workflow would not complete successfully. This has been fixed.
  • TMAN-19216: vVol VM undelete with multiple storage containers was displaying incorrect information about the ability to recover a VM. This has been fixed.
  • TMAN-19258: When attempting to use the vVol VM undelete workflows with VMs across multiple different storage containers, one of the vVol datastores will show all of the destroyed VMs as being able to recover from but the other vVol datastores will show none. This has been fixed.
  • TMAN-19396: Resize and rename VMFS datastore fields are greyed out when no vgroups are present on a FlashArray. This has been fixed.

Known issues 

  • If an array's management ports were accessible upon adding the array to the vSphere plugin and later became inaccessible, loading certain windows in the vSphere plugin might take greater than 10 minutes. To workaround this issue there are currently two options:
    1. Wait until the array list populates in the vSphere plugin screen and remove the inaccessible array
    2. If the vSphere environment has only had Pure's remote plugin installed, un-registering the plugin and registering it again should clear out the array connections that existed and the existing accessible arrays can be added back
    • Pure is currently evaluating options to improve this situation in TMAN-19146

5.3.1 Release Notes

Release: June 2023

General  

Version 5.3.1 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New  

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.
  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
    • More information on why Pure Storage is using this can be found here.
  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here.
  • NVMe-oF functionality
    • Add and update host group workflow added
    • Create VMFS datastore workflow has protocol selection capabilities
    • Host connection view shows NVMe-oF connections
  • Feedback form added to the home screen of the remote plugin
  • Automatic directory management (autodir) option when creating an NFS datastore

Fixed issues  

  • TMAN-18811: Updated language from file systems to directory exports when creating a datastore

Known issues 

  • If an array's management ports were accessible upon adding the array to the vSphere plugin and later became inaccessible, loading certain windows in the vSphere plugin might take greater than 10 minutes. To workaround this issue there are currently two options:
    1. Wait until the array list populates in the vSphere plugin screen and remove the inaccessible array
    2. If the vSphere environment has only had Pure's remote plugin installed, un-registering the plugin and registering it again should clear out the array connections that existed and the existing accessible arrays can be added back
    • Pure is currently evaluating options to improve this situation in TMAN-19146
  • When trying to recover an NFS-backed VM or NFS datastore from a FlashArray snapshot using the vSphere plugin, the vSphere plugin screen will show an empty wizard. This will be resolved in a future release when this functionality is added for NFS datastores in the vSphere plugin.

5.3.0 Release Notes

Release: May 2023

General  

Version 5.3.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New  

Fixed issues 

  • TMAN-18814: Protocol filter was not functioning in the host connections view
  • TMAN-14239: Allow import of vVol volumes from linked vCenters

Known issues 

  • If an array's management ports were accessible upon adding the array to the vSphere plugin and later became inaccessible, loading certain windows in the vSphere plugin might take greater than 10 minutes. To workaround this issue there are currently two options:
    1. Wait until the array list populates in the vSphere plugin screen and remove the inaccessible array
    2. If the vSphere environment has only had Pure's remote plugin installed, un-registering the plugin and registering it again should clear out the array connections that existed and the existing accessible arrays can be added back
    • Pure is currently evaluating options to improve this situation in TMAN-19146

5.2.1 Release Notes

Release: November 2022

General  

Version 5.2.1 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New   

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.
  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here.

Fixed issues 

  • TMAN-17700: Import Disk does not list sources correctly when a vVol DS is shared across datacenters

Known issues 

  • If an array's management ports were accessible upon adding the array to the vSphere plugin and later became inaccessible, loading certain windows in the vSphere plugin might take greater than 10 minutes. To workaround this issue there are currently two options:
    1. Wait until the array list populates in the vSphere plugin screen and remove the inaccessible array
    2. If the vSphere environment has only had Pure's remote plugin installed, un-registering the plugin and registering it again should clear out the array connections that existed and the existing accessible arrays can be added back
    • Pure is currently evaluating options to improve this situation

5.2.0 Release Notes

Release: October 2022

General  

Version 5.2.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New   

  • Storage policy revamp

  • vVols VM insights

  • vVols volume group rename

  • vVols volume rename

  • VMFS Virtual Machine recover from FlashArray snapshot

    • The process to recover a VM from a VMFS datastore has been simplified in this release of the plugin.

  • vVols Replication Manager

  • Plugin version and build number displayed in GUI and OVA CLI

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.
  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here.

Fixed issues 

  • TMAN-16375: Metrics for write bandwidth and write IOPS are swapped for volume groups.
  • TMAN-16511: Read IO size didn't include a unit in the FlashArray performance graphs.
  • TMAN-15942: Progress bar UI not showing if the backend call takes too long.
  • TMAN-16667: Datastore snapshot buttons being in a single group makes the page scroll horizontally.
  • TMAN-16833: Some vVol specific workflows were visible for VMFS datastores.
  • TMAN-16856: vVol PiT revert failures had unhelpful failure messages.
  • TMAN-16883: vVol PiT revert snapshot failures were preventing the user from being able to re-attempt the workflow after correcting the issue.
  • TMAN-16900: In vSphere 6.7, the errors returned when running create snapshots on VMFS were not user friendly.
  • TMAN-12031: Putting in credentials for all arrays that are being imported from Pure1 requires you to populate the first array's credentials.
  • TMAN-12032: Selection of offline arrays from Pure1 removed because you won't be able to add them successfully.
  • TMAN-12033: Timezone in charts is in UTC, not a localized time.
  • TMAN-12137: When there are no vVol disks available for import, no message was displayed.
  • TMAN-16766: Telemetry errors were firing when Pure1 credentials are not present.
  • TMAN-12142: Submit button should be disabled for invalid inputs in create virtual disk.
  • TMAN-13118: Y axis not aligned properly in IOPS chart if chrome window is set full screen and a single metric (read or write) is selected.
  • TMAN-16759: Cluster/Host summary views keep spinning if one of the FA management certificates is expired.
  • TMAN-13057: When a VM is stored on 2 vVol datastores across 2 different Purity versions, the Virtual Volumes page create snapshot option doesn't show up.
  • TMAN-13061: Error message for vVol datastore summary after removing a single IQN is unhelpful.
  • TMAN-15553: vVol PiT revert works with VMs on multiple vVol datastores; this should not work because the plugin won't necessarily have a consistent snapshot to work from.
  • TMAN-16813: Error message when adding array and using a short URL (https://vcenter instead of https://vcenter.domain.com) is unhelpful.
  • TMAN-16832: Pure Storage performance and capacity tabs are hidden for a VM with disks in VMFS and vVol datastores.
  • TMAN-16876: VM Undelete doesn't work in Purity 5.3.7.
  • TMAN-16192: Unable to create hostgroup mappings in environments with NVMe/FC.
  • TMAN-15384: Ability to view exact plugin version with build number missing from Plugin GUI and OVA CLI.

5.1.1 Release Notes

Release: October 2022

General  

Version 5.1.1 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 6.1.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New   

  • Starting in vSphere 8.0, VMware no longer supports local plugins to be installed in vCenter (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 4.5.2 and below). Please use the remote versions of Pure Storage's vSphere plugin (Pure Storage vSphere Plugin versions 5.0.0 and above). For more information please refer to this VMware KB.
  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here.
  • CVE-2018-25032 has been patched as of March 30th 2022. Please update the OVA. If you are upgrading from an older version, you will need to follow the instructions here. This update is not tied to a OVA version specifically, but the OVA will show any number system packages need updating when running puresw list:
    33 system packages have updates available

Fixed issues 

  • TMAN-17517: Incremented vSphere plugin version to allow for tracking of GPG key issue.

Known issues 

  • When trying to create new host group connections in an environment where NVMe/FC adapters are present, a duplicate WWN error is thrown when trying to add or update host groups in the last step, preventing the changes from being made.


5.1.0 Release Notes

Release: June 2022

General  

Version 5.1.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 5.3.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New   

  • vVol VM Point-In-Time recovery
    • Point-In-Time revert - the volume is pending eradication on the FlashArray. This feature is supported on Purity//FA 6.2.6 and greater.
    • Point-In-Time undelete - the volume has been eradicated from the FlashArray. This feature is supported on Purity//FA 6.2.6 and greater.
  • This version of the plugin uses the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
  • Release notes for Pure Storage's VMware Appliance (OVA) can be found at this page. Pure Storage's remote vSphere plugin can be updated independently of the appliance. The VMware appliance can be downloaded here.
  • CVE-2018-25032 has been patched as of March 30th 2022. Please update the OVA. This update is not tied to a OVA version specifically, but the OVA will show any number system packages need updating when running puresw list:
    33 system packages have updates available

Fixed issues 

  • TMAN-15323: Restore Deleted Disk (vVols) not functional in Purity 6.2.0+
  • TMAN-14367: Plugin does not filter names correctly during a vVols disk import into a VM
  • TMAN-13590: Hosts shown as not connected incorrectly when more than one host was being connected via host group
  • TMAN-15104: Uppercase IQNs prevent datastores from being created through the plugin
  • TMAN-14224: Adding a new RBAC permission for a user account overwrote existing permissions for that account
  • TMAN-15314: VM undelete fails when a significant amount of snapshots are present
  • TMAN-15232: vSphere plugin logs not included in OVA support bundles

Known issues 

  • When trying to create new host group connections in an environment where NVMe/FC adapters are present, a duplicate WWN error is thrown when trying to add or update host groups in the last step, preventing the changes from being made.

4.5.2 Release Notes

Release: February 2022

General  

Version 4.5.2 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.5 and later and Purity version 4.10.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 4.x or higher. This version is certified by VMware.

Fixed issues

  • TMAN-13722: Import Protection Group - Array Match not working
  • TMAN-14171: Host Summary Widget data loading prevents navigating to other vSphere Objects
  • TMAN-13590: Hosts shown as not connected incorrectly when more than one host was being connected via host group
  • TMAN-14276: Unable to create hostgroup mappings in envrionments with NVMe/FC
  • TMAN-14079: Create VMFS datastore does not work when one host is not present on the FA

Known issues

  • General
    • Plugin does not offer custom per-feature permissions. Details here
    • When creating a new datastore a backtick (`) character is allowed and errors out and cannot be removed via backspace. Clear the entire entry via select all and re-enter.
  • Host Management
    • When a cluster has multiple host groups (one for each protocol) the plugin will provision a new datastore to the Fibre Channel group. Protocol selection will come in a future release. For now it is recommended to have a single protocol in use for a given cluster on each connected FlashArray.
    • Removal of a host from a host group does not de-configure iSCSI target information. Until this is resolved, manual removal is required unless the host will be reconnected to that FlashArray.

5.0.0 Release Notes

Release: July 2021

General  

Version 5.0.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7U3 and later and Purity version 5.3.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin via deploying the Pure Storage VMware Appliance. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New   

  • This version of the plugin is the first from Pure Storage to use the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture
    • More information on the VMware Remote Plugin Architecture can be found here.
  • Added support for RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)
  • The Remote Plugin is at feature parity with the Local HTML Plugin
  • CVE-2018-25032 has been patched as of March 30th 2022. Please update the OVA. This update is not tied to a OVA version specifically, but the OVA will show any number system packages need updating when running puresw list:
    33 system packages have updates available

Fixed issues 

  • TMAN-13722: Import Protection Group - Array Match not working
  • TMAN-14170: Host Summary Widget data loading prevents navigating to other vSphere Objects
  • TMAN-13590: Hosts shown as not connected incorrectly when more than one host was being connected via host group

Known issues 

  • Deploying multiple instances in the same network will cause all appliances to receive the same DHCP address. This is due to a misconfiguration in the default DHCP configuration. This will be fixed in an upcoming release. The workaround is to deploy in different networks or use static IP addresses in the case of deploying more than one.
  • When trying to create new host group connections in an environment where NVMe/FC adapters are present, a duplicate WWN error is thrown when trying to add or update host groups in the last step, preventing the changes from being made.

4.5.1 Release Notes

Release: April 2021

General  

Version 4.5.1 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.5 and later and Purity version 4.10.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 4.x or higher. This version is certified by VMware.

Fixed issues 

  • TMAN-13590: When creating a new datastore through the plugin on a stretched non-uniform pod, after the datastore has been created, the plugin incorrectly shows that it was unable to connect the datastore to one or more hosts. This workflow now reflects the correct connection state at that time.

Known issues 

  • General
    • Plugin does not offer custom per-feature permissions. Details here
    • When creating a new datastore a backtick (`) character is allowed and errors out and cannot be removed via backspace. Clear the entire entry via select all and re-enter.
  • Host Management
    • When a cluster has multiple host groups (one for each protocol) the plugin will provision a new datastore to the Fibre Channel group. Protocol selection will come in a future release. For now it is recommended to have a single protocol in use for a given cluster on each connected FlashArray.
    • Removal of a host from a host group does not de-configure iSCSI target information. Until this is resolved, manual removal is required unless the host will be reconnected to that FlashArray.
    • When adding a FC host, if your FC HBA supports NVMe/FC, you will not be able to add the host because the vCenter plugin sees duplicate WWNs. Before this is resolved you will not be able to add hosts with NVMe/FC hosts and they will needed to be added manually.

4.5.0 Release Notes   

Release: January 2021

General  

Version 4.5.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.5 and later and Purity version 4.10.x and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 4.x or higher. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New   

  • vVols
    • vVol datastores now have a summary widget that lists: active VASA provider, protocol endpoints, # of volumes and volume groups in use
    • Improved wizard-driven workflow to import protection group configuration and convert it to a new SPBM policy
  • VMFS
    • Performance summary charts are now natively written and do not require a certificate to be accepted or additional credentials
    • Performance summary charts now show new metrics. SAN latency, queue time, QoS rate limit time and can be split by reads and writes.
    • New panel found at Configure tab > Pure Storage > Host Connections. Allows for mounting and unmounting of the selected datatore to host or clusters and further insight into existing connection information
  • Cluster Management
    • New host management screen under Cluster > Configure Tab > Pure Storage > Host Connections
    • Can create host groups, add hosts, remove hosts, and rename hosts
    • Host Connections table informs if host is configured, if it is online, and the configured protocol

Fixed issues 

  • vVols
    • TMAN-12434: Protection Group import tool would fail if one or more of the linked vCenters did not have a Pure Storage VASA provider registered to it. The desired vCenters are now selectable.
    • TMAN-12165: For import vVol snapshot workflow, VMs in folders do not appear when searching by name.
    • TMAN-12102: VMFS-based VMs shows an error on vVol panel if it does not have any vVol VMs. It now just shows an empty list.
    • TMAN-12099: Protocol endpoint shows as verified when it is not actually created.
  • VMFS
    • TMAN-10376: Long datastore names become distorted in datastore management wizards. 
    • Performance charts failed to load with either a login screen or an invalid certificate. 
    • TMAN-13050: When attempting to destroy a VMFS with VMs on it would fail with a vague error. The plugin now indicates it cannot destroy because of present VMs.
    • TMAN-13038: QoS configuration does not allow less than 1000 IOPS as a limit.
    • TMAN-12075: UNMAP schedule not accepted when recurrence is set to weeks.
    • TMAN-12096: Datastore fails to be destroyed if it is in a stretched pod and one of the arrays is not registered in the plugin. This is now allowed.
    • TMAN-12106: Create Volume Group button may not display in Firefox browser.

Known issues 

  • General
    • The plugin currently does not show up as signed/certified in the vSphere Client. The plugin has indeed been certified and Pure is looking into this with VMware (this has been resolved, new installs of 4.5.0 will now appear as certified).
    • Plugin does not offer custom per-feature permissions. Details here
    • When creating a new datastore a backtick (`) character is allowed and errors out and cannot be removed via backspace. Clear the entire entry via select all and re-enter.
  • Host Management
    • When a cluster has multiple host groups (one for each protocol) the plugin will provision a new datastore to the Fibre Channel group. Protocol selection will come in a future release. For now it is recommended to have a single protocol in use for a given cluster on each connected FlashArray.
    • Removal of a host from a host group does not de-configure iSCSI target information. Until this is resolved, manual removal is required unless the host will be reconnected to that FlashArray.

4.4.0 Release Notes 

Release: September 2020

General 

Version 4.4.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.5 and later and Purity version 4.10 and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 4.x or higher. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New 

  • Support for ActiveDR 
    • Provisioning datastores or copies
    • Backend insights of datastore (show lag time, direction etc)
    • Tolerance of volumes being in an ActiveDR pair
  • Create snapshot of a single vVol VMDK
  • Set the ESXi host personality when creating new hosts in a new host group.

Fixed issues 

  • Wrong status on verifying protocol-endpoint in creating vVol datastore. PE should show as not found when it has not been created yet.
  • Unable to Filter by VM Name in vSphere plugin. Filtering did not work when the VM was in a sub-folder.
  • Problems retrieving pods from other flasharrays in create datastore wizard if one array is offline or has api-token issue. If one array connection had an issue, the plugin would not find any pods on any healthy array.
  • Error loading array list. Seemingly arbitrary error when trying to perform plugin operations in linked mode. The underlying issue was that different vCenters would not coordinate responses and sometimes queries went to the wrong vCenter. The plugin now checks for the correct vCenter connection.
  • Create vVol snapshot button was missing. This was remove somewhat on purpose due to an old issue, that issue has been fully resolved and this feature has been returned.
  • Datastore type not disabled when user selects copy from VMFS snapshot. This allows the choice of vVols for a VMFS copy which is invalid, it no longer shows this option.
  • Error when resizing a datastore: Invalid Size, Size Must be a multiple of 512. This was a regression and has been fixed.
  • Snapshot info missing when creating VMFS datastore from snapshot. Old plugin showed the snapshot information during the wizard, this has been added back.
  • Deletion of datastore requires manual rescan when host in maintenance mode. Maintenance mode hosts were skipped when removing datastores, they are now cleaned up.
  • Unable to create datastore in maintenance mode. If the chosen host was in maintenance mode, the creation would fail. This is now supported.

Known issues 

  • Plugin does not offer custom per-feature permissions. Details here

4.3.1 Release Notes 

Release: May 2020

General 

Version 4.3.1 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.5 and later and Purity version 4.10 and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 4.x or higher. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New 

  • For the volume group manager, you can now filter by datastore name, not just volume or volume group name.
  • First release also certified with vSphere 6.5.

Fixed issues 

  • Errors in datastore provisioning wizard around loading FlashArray list, matching host groups, or creating the datastore, such as "String index out of range:" This was due to introduced code for NVMe-oF based datastores that caused lookups to fail if the type was unknown. This is fixed. Any customer experiencing generic "could not lookup object errors" should upgrade to this release. Multiple pathologies relate to this issue.
  • The LUN ID was shown in the NVMe-oF datastore view, not the NVMe namespace ID. The namespace ID is now correctly shown.

Known issues 

  • Plugin does not offer custom per-feature permissions. Details here

4.3.0 Release Notes

Release: April 2020

General

Version 4.3.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.5 and later and Purity version 4.10 and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 4.x or higher. This version is certified by VMware.

What’s New

  • Support vSphere 7.0
  • Support for NVMe-oF datastore identification
  • Full ActiveCluster/Pod Datastore Provisioning
  • Support for non-uniform ActiveCluster host clusters
  • Volume Group management
  • IOPS/Throughput limit assignment on datastores and/or volume groups

Fixed issues

  • Changed passwords could appear in debug logs of vSphere.
  • Leading or trailing white space automatically removed when pasting a JWT into the Pure1 authentication
  • Invalid Pure1 key will show true error message from Pure1
  • Improved vVol datastore mounting workflow 
  • Datastore size allowed non-numeric numbers
  • Fixed bad error messages with vVol datastore mounting

Known issues

  • Plugin does not offer custom per-feature permissions. Details here
  • Certified only for vSphere 6.7 and 7.0 (Pure-supported for 6.5)

4.2.1 Release Notes

Release: January 2020

General

Version 4.2.1 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.5 and later and Purity version 4.10 and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 4.x or higher.

What’s New

  • Reintroduced support for vSphere 6.5 (plugin version 4.2.0 introduced an issue that blocked 6.5 support)
  • URLs in array list are clickable and will launch the FlashArray GUI in a new tab
  • Improved error handling for Pure1 connection failures. Specific errors will be properly surfaced up to the user if authentication fails.
  • Accidental preceding or proceeding white space in Pure1 JWT will be automatically removed if included when copy/pasting into the authentication panel.

Known issues

  • No RBAC support
  • Not certified for any vSphere release. Patch releases (ex. 4.2.x) are not certified, but still fully supported by Pure Storage. Customers looking for certified releases only should wait for the next minor release (ex. 4.x.0) .
  • New lines or line breaks that are accidentally included when copy/pasting a JWT into Pure1 authentication are not automatically removed. Remove line breaks manually (if they exist) through a text editor like Notepad. This situation will be automatically handled in a future release.

4.2.0 Release Notes

Release: November 2019

General

Version 4.2.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.7 only and Purity version 4.10 and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 4.x or higher.

What’s New

  • vVol VM Undelete
  • Pure1 Authentication
  • Busy Meter Display
  • Intelligent VMFS Provisioning
  • Wizard-based Datastore Creation tool
  • Pure1-driven FlashArray Fleet Registration
  • Pure1 Array Tag Display

Known issues

  • No RBAC support
  • Cannot register arrays with vSphere 6.5. The workaround is to upgrade to 4.2.1 or later or upgrade vSphere to 6.7+
  • New lines or line breaks that are accidentally included when copy/pasting a JWT into Pure1 authentication are not automatically removed. Remove line breaks manually (if they exist) through a text editor like Notepad. This situation will be automatically handled in a future release.

4.1.0 Release Notes

Release: July 2019

General

Version 4.1.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.5 and later and Purity version 4.8 and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 4.x or higher.

What’s New

  • VVols support

Known issues

  • No RBAC support

 

4.0.0 Release Notes

Release: July 2019

General

Version 4.0.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere HTML Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 6.5 and later and Purity version 4.8 and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 2.1 or higher.

What’s New

  • HTML-5 support
  • Improved VMFS capacity insights
  • Datastore summary view panel
  • First officially certified plugin

Known issues

  • No VVols features in this release
  • No RBAC support
  • No support for vCenter 6.0

 

3.1.3 Release Notes

Release: August 2019

General

Version 3.1.3 of the Pure Storage vSphere Web Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 5.5 and later and Purity version 4.8 and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 2.1 or higher.

What’s New

  • Improved Support for RBAC in Environments with More than 2500 Users
    All VMware users can now be found and added to RBAC in environments with more than 2500 users

3.1.2 Release Notes

Release: June 2019

General

Version 3.1.2 of the Pure Storage vSphere Web Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 5.5 and later and Purity version 4.8 and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 2.1 or higher.

What’s New

  • Fixed Import Virtual Volume Workflow in Environments with vApps
    The Import Virtual Volume and Overwrite Virtual Volume workflows now function correctly in environments that contain vApps.
  • Improved Error Reporting when Creating a VVols Datastore on a Cluster
    When attempting to create a VVols Datastore on a Cluster whose members are only partially configured on the FlashArray, an error message is displayed indicating which hosts need to be configured for the operation to complete.

3.1.1 Release Notes

Release: August 2018

General

Version 3.1.1 of the Pure Storage vSphere Web Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 5.5 and later and Purity version 4.6 and later.
Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 2.1 or higher.

What’s New

  • vSphere Storage Provider Registration
    This release of the plugin includes support for optionally configuring the VVols storage provider on each vCenter server in an enhanced linked-mode configuration.  Previous releases of the plugin would attempt to configure the VVols storage provider on all vCenter instances in an enhanced linked-mode configuration.
  • Create datastore volumes in volume groups
    This release of the plugin includes support for creating datastores with the backing volume in a volume group.  The user can now provide the volume name including the volume group when creating the datastore and the datastore backing volume will be automatically added to the volume group in Purity.

What’s Fixed

  • Delete datastore failures
    Version 3.1.0 of the plugin will occasionally fail to complete datastore deletion.  The message displayed to the user is: ‘None of the relevant hosts are available’.  This version of the plugin fixes this issue.
  • Snapshot revert to datastore of a different size
    Past versions of the plugin would not check or warn when a user attempted to revert a datastore to a snapshot of a different size than the current datastore.  This version of the plugin checks and prevents these operations    .
  • Failures configuring iSCSI
    Configuration of iSCSI would fail if the ESX host had certain 3rd party HBA controllers installed in their ESX host.  This version of the plugin will correctly configure iSCSI in the presence of all 3rd party HBA controllers.

Known Issues

  • RBAC with group permissions does not work
    If a group is granted RBAC permissions, users within the user group may not be able to perform the actions to which the group has privileges granted.  As a workaround, users should be given direct permissions when using RBAC rather than through a group. 
  • Plugin may grey out controls even through the user has RBAC permission
    Removing a user’s permission to control RBAC permissions will cause the flash array add/remove controls in the plugin to be greyed out.  As a result, users who do not have the enable/disable RBAC permission will not be able to add/remove flash arrays through the plugin. 
  • Concurrent plugin operations may fail on linked-mode vCenter servers
    All past and present versions of the plugin may exhibit failures when used simultaneously by 2 or more vSphere web client users on vSphere servers configured in linked-mode.  Failures may report unrelated error messages and may require a retry.  We reiterate that these failures only manifest when the plugin is used to manage vSphere servers in linked-mode and will not affect any standalone vSphere configuration.
  • Plugin installation may fail due to invalid TLS options set by third-party plugins
    Plugin installation may fail because of the global TLS options configured by other third-party vSphere Web Client plugins installed on your vCenter server.  Some plugins, such as Cisco UCS vSphere Web Client plugin versions prior to 2.0.2, set the global default TLS option to version 1.0, which is no longer supported on Pure Storage FlashArray due to security concerns.  If the global TLS options have been set to version 1.0, the Pure Storage plugin will not be able to be downloaded from the FlashArray for installation into vCenter.  To work around this issue, it may be necessary to disable or upgrade the Cisco UCS plugin and potentially other plugins which incorrectly set the default TLS option, restart the vSphere Web Client, and then install the Pure Storage vSphere Web Client plugin.  Once the Pure Storage plugin is installed, the Cisco UCS plugin can be re-enabled.
  • Creating a VMFS Datastore from a snapshot does not always allow connection to same hosts
    When creating a new VMFS datastore from a copy of a FlashArray snapshot in the datastore view, the dialog may not allow connecting the new datastore to all hosts which are connected to the original datastore the snapshot originates from if the original datastore is mounted on a subset of a host cluster.  As a workaround, the datastore may created on a single selected host and then manually connected and mounted on additional hosts after creation. In a future version of the plugin, we intend to provide a full list of valid hosts to optionally connect the newly created datastore to.
  • vSphere plugin requires all linked vCenter instances to be online
    It is currently necessary for all vCenter instances in a linked-mode configuration to be online and accessible for the Plugin to function correctly..  A single vCenter instance which is not online or accessible may cause some configuration operations to fail, including adding a new FlashArray to the plugin.
  • Iframe content in vSphere plugin fails to load until certificate is accepted
    The Plugin displays the FlashArray UI and datastore IOPS/throughput/latency charts through an iframe created in the web client plugin.  If the certificate of the array’s web UI has not previously been accepted in the browser, the iframe may display the following message, ‘The webpage at ... might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address’.  To clear this message, load the web UI of the FlashArray directly in a browser window, accepting the certificate.  Refresh the plugin browser window and the FlashArray UI should now display.
  • vCenter solution users are included as default users when enabling RBAC
    When adding RBAC users through the Plugin, the default list of potential users to add will contain the set of vCenter server solution users.  These users are invalid choices for RBAC and should be ignored.
  • Registering Storage Providers with vCenter 6.5 U2 and U3
    Storage Proider registration with the FlashArray vSphere web client plugin will fail with an error when using vCenter 6.5 U2 or 6.5 U3.  This does not affect vCenter 6.7.

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3.1.0 Release Notes

Release: April 2018

General 

Version 3.1.0 of the Pure Storage vSphere Web Client Plugin supports vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) version 5.5 and later and Purity version 4.6 and later. Users can upgrade to this version of the plugin from previous release version 2.1 or higher.

What's New

  • vSphere 6.7 Support
    This release of the plugin includes support for vSphere 6.7. Users requiring support for vSphere 6.7 must upgrade to this version of the vSphere client plugin.

Fixes

  • Fixes for RBAC Support
    Version 3.0.0 of the vSphere plugin would fail when attempting to enforce RBAC rules when used on vSphere version 6.0 or earlier. This release includes fixes to RBAC which allow RBAC to be used on vSphere server version 6.0 and earlier.
  • Volume Protection Group Import
    This release of the plugin fixes an issue where protection group import operations from Purity would incorrectly import invalid protection groups. Only protection groups which operate on valid volumes will be included in the list of imported protection groups.
  • Datastore resize and delete operation failures
    This release of the plugin fixes an issue where datastore resize and delete operations will fail if there is a host in maintenance mode on the same cluster. Datastore resize and delete operations will now succeed regardless if there is a host in maintenance mode.
  • VVol operations fail if the VM is within a vApp
    This release of the plugin fixes an issue where operations on virtual disks within a virtual machine that is part of a vApp will fail. All operations of VM virtual disks through the FlashArray Virtual Volume Object tab will now work for VMs within a vApp.
  • Update Host/Cluster Protection operations may fail
    This release of the plugin fixes an issue where updates to Host/Cluster Protection through the plugin will fail if any one of the FlashArrays added to the plugin become unreachable. This version of the plugin corrects this issue allowing Host/Cluster protection to be updated even if one FlashArray may be temporarily unreachable through the management interface.

Known Issues

  • Reverting a datastore to a snapshot of a different size is not prevented by the plugin
    If the user takes a snapshot of a VMFS datastore, resizes the datastore after the snapshot, then attempts to recover the now-larger datastore with the old, smaller snapshot, vSphere will be unable to use the resulting file system and ESX will not be able to use the resulting datastore. The plugin does not check or prevent recovery to a smaller file system.
  • RBAC with group permissions does not work
    If a group is granted RBAC permissions, users within the user group may not be able to perform the actions to which the group has privileges granted. As a workaround, users should be given direct permissions when using RBAC rather than through a group.
  • Plugin may grey out controls even through the user has RBAC permission
    Removing a user’s permission to control RBAC permissions will cause the flash array add/remove controls in the plugin to be greyed out. As a result, users who do not have the enable/disable RBAC permission will not be able to add/remove flash arrays through the plugin.
  • Concurrent plugin operations may fail on linked-mode vCenter servers
    All past and present versions of the plugin may exhibit failures when used simultaneously by 2 or more vSphere web client users on vSphere servers configured in linked-mode. Failures may report unrelated error messages and may require a retry. We reiterate that these failures only manifest when the plugin is used to manage vSphere servers in linked-mode and will not affect any standalone vSphere configuration.
  • Plugin installation may fail due to invalid TLS options set by third-party plugins
    Plugin installation may fail because of the global TLS options configured by other third-party vSphere Web Client plugins installed on your vCenter server. Some plugins, such as Cisco UCS vSphere Web Client plugin versions prior to 2.0.2, set the global default TLS option to version 1.0, which is no longer supported on Pure Storage FlashArray due to security concerns. If the global TLS options have been set to version 1.0, the Pure Storage plugin will not be able to be downloaded from the FlashArray for installation into vCenter. To work around this issue, it may be necessary to disable or upgrade the Cisco UCS plugin and potentially other plugins which incorrectly set the default TLS option, restart the vSphere Web Client, and then install the Pure Storage vSphere Web Client plugin. Once the Pure Storage plugin is installed, the Cisco UCS plugin can be re-enabled.
  • Creating a VMFS Datastore from a snapshot does not always allow connection to same hosts
    When creating a new VMFS datastore from a copy of a FlashArray snapshot in the datastore view, the dialog may not allow connecting the new datastore to all hosts which are connected to the original datastore the snapshot originates from if the original datastore is mounted on a subset of a host cluster. As a workaround, the datastore may created on a single selected host and then manually connected and mounted on additional hosts after creation. In a future version of the plugin, we intend to provide a full list of valid hosts to optionally connect the newly created datastore to.
  • vSphere plugin requires all linked vCenter instances to be online
    It is currently necessary for all vCenter instances in a linked-mode configuration to be online and accessible for the Plugin to function correctly.. A single vCenter instance which is not online or accessible may cause some configuration operations to fail, including adding a new FlashArray to the plugin.
  • Iframe content in vSphere plugin fails to load until certificate is accepted
    The Plugin displays the FlashArray UI and datastore IOPS/throughput/latency charts through an iframe created in the web client plugin. If the certificate of the array’s web UI has not previously been accepted in the browser, the iframe may display the following message, ‘The webpage at ... might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address’ . To clear this message, load the web UI of the FlashArray directly in a browser window, accepting the certificate. Refresh the plugin browser window and the FlashArray UI should now display.
  • vCenter solution users are included as default users when enabling RBAC
    When adding RBAC users through the Plugin, the default list of potential users to add will contain the set of vCenter server solution users. These users are invalid choices for RBAC and should be ignored.

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3.0.0 Release Notes

Release: December 2017

New in this Release

  • Support for Purity 5.0.0, including VMware virtual volumes (VVols) and ActiveCluster.
    Release notes attached at the bottom of this page, or click here.

Notes

The resources mentioned here are available on Pure1 Knowledge.

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2.5.1 Release Notes

Release: March 2017

New in this Release

  • Workaround for compatibility with Cisco UCS vSphere Web Client plugins

    This release enforces TLS version 1.2 for plugin communications with a FlashArray. The Pure Storage vSphere Web Client Plugin 2.5.1 release contains a workaround to strictly enforce the usage of TLS version 1.2 for all communications between the Pure Storage vSphere Web Client Plugin and the FlashArray.

    Why is this release necessary? When attempting to connect to a Cisco UCS server, the Cisco UCS vSphere Web Client Plugin resets the global Java Virtual Machine (JVM) TLS protocol options to 1.0. This setting forces all vSphere web client plugins installed on the vSphere server (including the Pure Storage vSphere Web Client Plugin) to use TLS version 1.0 for all secure communications to their respective appliances.

    However, since TLS 1.0 is no longer a secure protocol, Purity versions 4.7.0 and higher do not support TLS 1.0. Therefore our previous vSphere Web Client Plugins (version 2.5.0 and earlier) cannot connect to a FlashArray running Purity version 4.7.0 or later. Plugin version 2.5.1 is required.

    Notes:

    • Installation: The vSphere client plugin service may be unable to download the updated Pure Storage vSphere client plugin during the installation process. It may be necessary to disable the Cisco UCS plugin and restart the vSphere client plugin service on the vSphere server instance before the Pure Storage vSphere client plugin can be successfully downloaded and installed onto the vSphere server.

    • Other plugins: This workaround does not affect any other vSphere web client plugin installed on the same vSphere instance, meaning all other vSphere web client plugins can continue to use TLS version 1.0 for all communication.

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2.5.0 Release Notes

Release: December 2016

New in this Release

  • IPv6 support
    This feature allows the plugin to accept IPv6 addresses for FlashArrays and vCenter Servers. IPv4 is also supported.
    When an IPv6 IP address is configured in the vROps Management Pack, the address must be entered enclosed in square brackets. For example: [2015:0db8:85a3:0042:1000:8a2e:0360:7334]
  • RBAC (Role Based Access Control)
    This feature allows the admin to limit the plugin operations that specified users can access. In addition, it allows the admin to determine which users can access the FlashArrays that are configured in the plugin.
    By default, RBAC is disabled. To turn on the feature, use the lock icon is available in the vCenter FlashArray list view.
  • Unmap Datastore
    This feature makes space reclamation possible when VMDKs are deleted or migrated from thinly provisioned VMFS datastore. Two new actions are added to the datastore objects:
    • The action “Run Datastore Space Reclamation” allows the admin to run space reclamation for the selected FlashArray datastore immediately.
    • The action “Schedule Datastore Space Reclamation” allows the admin to create or delete a schedule of running space reclamation.
    This feature requires ESXi 6 or later.
  • Add a Host Group on FlashArray
    A new action is added to the cluster objects called “Add FlashArray Host Group”. The action allows the admin to add the selected cluster to the FlashArray as a hostgroup.

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2.1.0 Release Notes

Release: June 2016

New in this Release

  • Adds support for Purity 4.8 
    Includes support for pagination of protection groups, volumes, and hosts.
  • Adds support for TLS 1.1
    TLS 1.0 is deprecated in Purity 4.7.0 and higher.

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2.0.10 Release Notes

Release: December 2015

New in this Release

  • Adds support for TLS 1.1
    Addresses the Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption (POODLE) vulnerability.  Beginning with 4.7.0, Purity no longer supports TLS 1.0 to connect to a FlashArray.
  • Drops support for vCenter 5.1
    vCenter 5.1 uses JDK 1.6, which does not support TLS 1.1.

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2.0.0 Release Notes

Release: January 2016

New in this Release

  • Optionally specify a protection group when creating a new datastore in a dropdown on the "create datastore" dialog
    This feature allows customer to create a new datastore and immediately protect it using an available protection group on the FlashArray.
    • If the new datastore is automatically protected through the associated host or cluster, the selection is disabled, and "Already protected" message is displayed.
    • If there is no protection group existing on the targeted FlashArray, or no protection group that can be used to protect volumes directly, the selection is disabled.
  • Create FlashArray snapshots for a FlashArray based datastore
    A new action called "Create FlashArray Snapshot" is added to the datastore objects. Newly created FlashArray snapshot objects can be managed under the "Related objects" tab of the datastore.
  • Create snapshots for all FlashArray based datastores in a host, a cluster, or a datastore cluster
    A new action called "Create FlashArray Snapshots" is added to host, cluster and datastore clusters. The action will allow the user to take snapshots of all or a subset of the FlashArray based datastores in the object (host, cluster or datastore clusters). The snapshots taken can be managed in the "Related objects" tab of the corresponding datastore.
  • Copy the FlashArray snapshots to a new Datastore
    After selecting a FlashArray snapshot of a datastore, the user can create a new datastore from this snapshot on the same FlashArray. Size will not be configurable in this case.
  • Restore the FlashArray snapshots to the original Datastore
    After selecting a FlashArray snapshot of a datastore, the user can restore it back to the datastore where the snapshot was taken originally. This operation can be blocked if there exists virtual machines in "Powered On" state on the datastore. This is to avoid accidentally corrupting the running VMs.
  • Destroy the FlashArray snapshots
    After selecting a FlashArray snapshot of a datastore, the user can destroy the FlashArray snapshot, optionally the user can also choose to eradicate the snapshot immediately from the FlashArray. .
  • Update Protection Group on a datastore, a host, or a cluster
    On a datastore, a host or a cluster, the user can configure which protection group to add or remove from..
  • Best Practices
    On a newly created datastore, the multipathing policy is set to Round Robin(VMware).
  • Configure Multipathing
    On a datastore, a host, a cluster or a datacenter, the user can configure multipathing policy to set to Round Robin(VMware) for all datastores underneath.
  • Rename Datastore
    On a datastore, the user can rename the datastore to a new name. If the checkbox is applied then it will only rename the volume on the flash array only.
  • FlashArray "Pure Storage" tab
    When the user select the FlashArray Pure Storage tab, it will verify if the flash array has a self-signed certificate. If it does then it will pop-up an error message stating how to resolve the self-signed certificate issue or the user can select the "ignore" button.
  • Storage Configuration Health
    On a host, the user can select the "Storage Configuration Health" which determines the current health of the ESX host against the recommended ESX host limits specified in the Configuration Maximums document. Also, it search out to see if there are any issues with the ESX host's devices.
  • Upgraded the REST API used by the plugin
    Upgraded the REST API used internally in the plugin from a private API to the Purity public REST API 1.2.