VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 on Dell VxRail 8.0.210 is now GA (Generally Available) as of March 26th 2024. This is the first VCF release to support VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA for AI workloads within the VMware Cloud Foundation ecosystem. The collaboration with NVIDIA provides optimized support for AI and machine learning tasks, leveraging NVIDIA’s specialized hardware for accelerated computing. VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 brings significant improvements to license management through the introduction of a single license key at the offering level. With this update, customers no longer need to manage multiple licenses at the component level. Instead, they can use a single license key that covers the entire VMware Cloud Foundation offering (except vSAN TiB license). This simplifies license management and reduces administrative overhead for organizations deploying and managing VMware environments. The introduction of License Later Mode is particularly beneficial for customers evaluating VMware Cloud Foundation (60 day evaluation period). This mode allows organizations to fully deploy VMware Cloud Foundation components even without immediately entering license information. This flexibility enables customers to explore and test the platform’s capabilities before committing to a full license deployment, enhancing the evaluation process. VxRail 8.0.210 is a feature release of the VxRail hyper-converged infrastructure solution that brings support for vSphere 8.0 Update 2b (u2b) and addresses critical vulnerabilities documented in VMSA-2024-0006.

Release Notes: the bill-of-materials below can be officially referenced in the following Release Notes links :

DELL: VCF 5.1.1 on VxRail Release Notes

VMware: VCF 5.1.1 on VxRail Release Notes

The following is a list of all the components and their versions as per VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1:

VCF 5.1 release includes the following major updates:

DELL VxRail 8.0.200 release components aligned with VCF 5.1:

Some other notable highlights of this VCF 5.1.1 On VxRail 8.0.210 release include:

• N-3 upgrade support: Support upgrades to VCF 5.1.1 from existing VCF 4.4.x and higher environments (N-3 upgrade support). 
• VCF on VxRail to support 16G platforms: Support for hybrid, all-flash and all-NVMe 16G VE-660 and VP-760 platforms. VxRail VE-660 based on PowerEdge R660 & VxRail VP-760 based on PowerEdge R760.
• Increased VCF remote cluster maximum support for up to 16 nodes and up to 100ms latency.
• Support for Remote vCenter Plug-in: Remote plug-in replaces the existing local vCenter plug-in. Greenfield installations will have it running by default; upgrades will convert from local to remote. A new remote plug-in service is deployed in K8S in VxRail Manager.
• LCM enhancements including improved VxRail pre-checks, self-remediation of iDRAC issues, and sequential node reboots. 
• Serviceability enhancements including improved expansion pre-checks, external storage reporting, and improved troubleshooting capabilities. 
• VMware End Of Availability of Perpetual Licensing and SaaS Services (deprecation of VCF+ licensing).
• Single Solution License Key: With Solution Licensing, customers can use a single license key to cover the entitlements for most component products within VMware Cloud Foundation. This simplifies the licensing process by reducing the need to manage multiple license keys for individual components. Customers can apply the solution license key using the vSphere Client or utilize the SDDC Manager UI to apply individual component licenses. This flexibility allows organizations to choose the method that best suits their deployment.
• VMware Validated Solutions: All VMware Validated Solutions are updated to support VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 Visit VMware Validated Solutions for the updated guides.

Please refer to the following blog by Karol @cl0udguide for a detailed overview of all the new features included with this release:

Learn About the Latest VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 on Dell VxRail 8.0.210 Release

Cloudbuilder Download Link:

Download VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1 Cloud Builder

Some Additional Useful Links:

• Correlating VMware Cloud Foundation version with the versions of its constituent products
• VMware Blog: Announcing General Availability of VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1
• VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x on Dell VxRail 8.0.x Release Notes
• VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail Support Matrix
• VMware’s Approach to Private AI