I was browsing through the latest docs in the VMware KB this week and noticed one describing the end of availability of vSphere Enterprise, vSphere with Operations Manager (vSOM) Standard and Enterprise edition. That got me to browsing through VMware’s product lifecycle matrix which provides dates for every VMware products on GA, end of availability, end of support and end of technical guidance. Going through the huge list (VMware has so many products past and present), these are the key ones listed that are ending support in 2016:
- VMware App Volumes 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 – 2016/12/09
- VMware Data Recovery 2.0 – 2016/08/24
- VMware ESXi 5.0 and 5.1 – 2016/08/24
- VMware EVO:RAIL 1.0 and 1.1 – 2016/09/09
- VMware EVO:RAIL 1.2 – 2016/12/10
- VMware Fusion 7.x – 2016/03/03
- VMware NSX for vSphere 6.1 – 2016/10/15
- VMware vCenter Log Insight 2.0 – 2016/06/10
- VMware vCenter Operations 5.8.5 – 2016/12/31
- VMware vCenter Server 5.0 and 5.1 – 2016/08/24
- VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 and 5.1 – 2016/08/24
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VMware vCenter Update Manager 5.0 and 5.1 – 2016/08/24
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VMware vCloud Automation Center 5.2 – 2016/12/10
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VMware vCloud Networking and Security 5.5 – 2016/09/19
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VMware vRealize Operations 6.0 and 6.1 – No earlier than 2016/12/09
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VMware vSphere Data Protection 5.1 – 2016/08/24
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VMware vSphere Replication 5.1 – 2016/08/24
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VMware Workstation 11.x – 2016/06/02
Again these are the end of support dates for these products which means if you have SnS, VMware offers maintenance updates and upgrades, bug/security fixes and technical assistance until these dates. After these dates they have typically have a technical guidance phase which lastes for a fixed duration and provides support through their self-help portal only (no telephone support), they do not offer new hardware support, server/client/guest OS updates, new security patches or bug fixes during this phase. You can read more about these different product support phases here. So for those of you still on vSphere 5.0 & 5.1, the clock is ticking, better start planning your upgrades.
