With the new version of VMware vSphere there are some small and big changes: some products and features were removed, but also some new features were addes (for the 140 new features of vSphere 5 see: vSphere 5.0 Features and Duncan’s 50 out of 140 vSphere 5 Features Challenge).

Who is out:

• the old ESX (the legacy ESX with the full Service Console) has gone, see: ESX and GSX are dead?!
• the old Converter Enterprise (integrated in vCenter Server) has gone and only the Standalone Converter remain
  but in this was there is not more a cold conversion solution (from VMware)
  see also: http://communities.vmware.com/people/vmroyale/blog/2011/09/13/vmware-vcenter-converter-plug-in-is-removed-in-vsphere-5
• the new VUM 5 does no more support the guest remediation, also if VMware has acquire Shavlik (the repository was used in the previous versions of VUM)
  now there is a new specific product for it: VMware vCenter Configuration Manager
• Guided Consolidation is no more included… use Capacity Planner or other tools
• VCB is no more included and previous version are not supported
  use backup programs that implement the specifc APIs (VADP)
• the 32 bit software has gone?! ESXi is 64 bit (from vSphere 4.0), vCenter Server is 64 bit (from vSphere 4.1)…
  but VUM 5.0, View Composer, vSphere Client, … are still 32 bit

Who is in (for a complete list see previous links):

• vCenter Server for Linux: distribuited as a virtual appliance (vCenter Server Virtual Appliance)
• the Web Client is a possible multiplatform replace (in several tasks) for the vSphere client (still only for Windows platform)
• AutoDeploy
• Central collector for hosts log and core dump
• Storage DRS and Storage Profiles

Andrea Mauro

Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.