vSphere 7.0 Update 2 support > in our performance testing labs, we have recently discovered that U2 reduces NBDSSL transport performance quite significantly. Specifically, we're seeing about 30% backup speed drop comparing to previous vSphere builds, which is a major issue because most of our enterprise customers who chose Network transport mode use NBDSSL at this point (particularly because VMware themselves has been pushing the usage of NBDSSL as a best practice). We were able to reproduce the issue without Veeam in the picture, and it looks like some regression in U2 so we are opening a support case with VMware. However, since this is not a show stopper, we will not be waiting for the resolution and will ship the official vSphere 7.0 U2 support with our next cumulative patch as planned.
Linux kernel 5.8+ support > overall, the status remains more or less the same: our developers are iterating the new kernel module quickly based on feedback from maintainers. But there are some significant news nevertheless: after talking to Oracle developers last week, we found we're not the only major vendor impacted by the make_request_fn function removal from Linux kernel. Apparently, they too are using this function for I/O interception in their ASMFD (ASM Filter Driver) kernel module. So we showed them the current code of the replacement functionality we developed, and they really liked it. While I'm just happy to see another major vendor having the same need, as this significantly increases the chances of upstreaming the code we developed soon!