VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.1 on Dell VxRail 8.0.310 is now GA (Generally Available) as of October 24th 2024. Dell Technologies and VMware are thrilled to announce the General Availability of VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.1. Building on our strong partnership, this announcement marks a significant milestone. This release supports ESXi 8.0 U3b and vCenter Server 8.0 U3c, and introduces several new features and enhancements, including support for in-place upgrades to VCF 5.2.1 from existing VCF 4.5.0 and higher environments (N-3 upgrade support), and vCenter Reduced Downtime Upgrades. This is the first VCF release to support the ability to manage all SDDC certificates and passwords from a single UI. It also offers support for NSX in-place upgrades for clusters that use VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines.

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

DELL: VCF 5.2.1 on VxRail Release Notes

VMware: VCF 5.2.1 on VxRail Release Notes

The following is a list of all the components and their versions as per VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.1:

VCF 5.2.1 release includes the following major updates:

DELL VxRail 8.0.310 release components aligned with VCF 5.2.1:

Some other notable highlights of this VCF 5.2.1 On VxRail 8.0.310 release include:

• N-3 upgrade support: Support upgrades to VCF 5.2.1 from existing VCF 4.5.0 and higher environments (N-3 upgrade support). 
• VCF Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU) adoption: 
  • Ability to schedule RDU-based upgrades for reduction in maintenance downtime.
  • The unified bundle will contain RDU ISO (for RDU and UR-based upgrades).
  • Upgrade and Install bundles will be separate, although both will package the same RDU ISO.
• Starting with VCF 5.2.1, VMware allow NSX in-place upgrade. Enable customers to choose NSX in-place upgrade or patch post VCF 5.2.1. During an NSX in-place upgrade, the NSX vibs installed on each host is upgraded “live.” This eliminates the need to migrate workloads. Reduce the total maintenance window, thereby reducing the overall upgrade time.
• Enhanced password and certificate management.

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 5.2.1 on Dell VxRail 8.0.310 Release

Cloudbuilder & WFO API Script Download Links:

Broadcom support – Download VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.1 Cloud Builder

Broadcom community – VCF on VxRail Workflow Optimization #5.2

Some Additional Useful Links:

• Correlating VMware Cloud Foundation version with the versions of its constituent products
• VMware Blog: ‘VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.1: Continuing on the Path of Innovation and Integration’
• 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