VMware: ESX 3.5 & VC 2.5

As we are all well aware already, new versions of ESX and VirtualCenter have been published by VMware, which will demonstrated on the VMworld event this year held in Cannes (France) at the end of Februari.

Here is a short overview of all the new features introduced in these versions, some more interesting than others:
1. Integration of tools like Guided Consolidation and VMware Converter in the VI Client.
2. Image customization of 64-bit guests (sysprep based instead of xml based).
3. Provisioning across datacenters (in previous versions, you had to have templates in each datacenter).
4. Datastore browser that supports file sharing between hosts (you will be able to just cut and paste files between ESX hosts. Seems like a basic feature to have but in the past you had to do this from the console).
5. Support for 256GB RAM in the ESX host and 64GB RAM for a guest.
6. Lockdown mode: the ability to prohibit management of a host when it is already managed by VirtualCenter. (very practical new feature).
7. Limit the amount of remote console connections.
8. Update Manager: provides a patching solution for ESX hosts and (some) guests. This includes offline patching. (Microsoft is also working on an offline patching solution with codename "Himalaya").
9. Storage VMotion: the ability to migrate virtual machines from one LUN to another without downtime. The migration needs to be done on the same host. You just present the source and target LUN and off you go.
10. VMware Converter integration into VI Client: makes it easier to do V2V and P2V right from VI Client and also allows customers that use VCB to restore backed up virtual machines right from VI Client.

Especially the last 5 features are really interesting to sell and implement at our clients.

Where did I get this from? Who else but Mike Laverick! Check out the guide he made about the new features here.

Except the points mentioned above and lots of other stuff I can't all write down here, there are a few more things I read in the document:
1. Virtual disks can now be enlarged from VI Client. No need for vmkfstools. (GREAT!!)
2. Power-on boot delay for guests and an option to boot directly in the BIOS after a guest reboot.
3. Static MAC addresses for a guests, set from the VI Client.
4. The new datastore browser allows you to upload files to and from the datastore.
5. You can configure time synch with NTP from VI Client.