VMware Infrastructure Policy
As referenced below, VMware will offer nine (9) years of phased support from the general availability of a new Major Release of VMware Infrastructure. Inside of a Major Release, VMware will offer a minimum of seven (7) years of phased support from the general availability of a Minor Release. Any Maintenance Release inside of a Minor Release will be supported until one (1) year after the general availability of the next Maintenance Release. When a customer purchases VMware Gold or Platinum Support for its VI release, support will be divided into three distinct phases: General Support, Extended Support, and Technical Guidance:
- General Support will be provided for two (2) years from general availability of the Major or Minor Release of VI, or one (1) year after the next Major or Minor Release, whichever is longer
- Extended Support will be provided for three (3) years following General Support
- Technical Guidance will be provided for two (2) additional years following Extended Support
Support Phase Definitions
- General Support: When a Major or Minor Release of VI is made generally available, General Support is made available. In this phase, customer will receive support from VMware as described in the table below. As new hardware is released by third party platform manufacturers, VMware continually enhances its System Compatibility Guide through continual testing and certification of such new hardware platforms. However, VMware cannot guarantee that all new hardware will become certified and supported. In cases where a determination is made to not add a new hardware component to the System Compatibility Guide, VMware will advise the customer to contact the platform vendor and request that the new hardware be tested, certified and added to the VMware System Compatibility Guide.
- Extended Support: VMware will typically announce a new Major or Minor Release of VI approximately one (1) year after the previous Major or Minor Release is first made generally available. When a new release is announced, the previous Major or Minor release will be given General Support for one (1) additional year. After the additional year, support moves to the Extended Support phase. In this phase, new hardware platforms are not supported, new guest OS updates may or may not be applied, and bug fixes are limited to issues that are critical in nature. Critical bugs are deviations from specified product functionality that cause data corruption, data loss, system crash, or significant customer application down time. A bug is considered critical only if it meets the mentioned criteria and there is no work-around that can be implemented. During this period, customers are expected to begin plans for moving to a newer release of VI.
- Technical Guidance: Following the Extended Support phase, which will typically be five (5) or more years after the Major or Minor release was first made generally available, the support enters the Technical Guidance phase. In this phase, assistance is available from VMware Global Support Services as well as the self help website, but new hardware support, guest OS updates, security patches and bug fixes are no longer available. The Technical Guidance phase is intended for usage by customers operating in stable environments with systems that are operating under reasonably stable loads. Customers will continue to receive support and workarounds to low-severity problems. In general, Maintenance Releases will not be issued in this phase.
|
|
General Support |
Extended Support |
Technical Guidance |
|
New HW Support |
Y* |
N |
N |
|
Guest OS Updates (SP, patches) |
Y |
Y** |
N |
|
Security Fixes |
Y |
Y |
N |
|
Critical Bug Fixes |
Y |
Y |
N |
|
Non-Critical Bug Fixes |
Y |
N |
N |
|
Technical Support Helpdesk |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
Self-help Portal |
Y |
Y |
Y |
* Selected popular new hardware based on VMware’s discretion, OEM partner input, and customer input. Any new hardware that includes radical changes to processor, memory, or IO (storage, networking) architecture which results in significant software changes are only considered for the latest release.
** Based on VMware’s discretion and customer input.
| VMware ESX 1, 2 | General Availability Date |
End of General Support |
End of Extended Support |
End of Technical Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version 3.5 | 12/10/2007 | 12/10/2009 | 12/10/2012 | 12/10/2014 |
| Version 3.0 | 06/15/2006 | 12/10/2008 | 12/10/2011 | 12/10/2013 |
| Version 2.5 | 11/19/2004 | 06/15/2007 | 06/15/2010 | 06/15/2012 |
| VMware ESXi 1, 3 | General Availability Date |
End of General Support |
End of Extended Support |
End of Technical Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version 3.5 | 01/10/2008 | 01/10/2010 | 01/10/2013 | 01/10/2015 |
| VMware Consolidated Backup 1 |
General
Availability Date |
End of General Support |
End of Extended Support |
End of Technical Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version 1.1 | 12/10/2007 | 12/10/2009 | 12/10/2012 | 12/10/2014 |
| Version 1.0 | 06/15/2006 | 12/10/2008 | 12/10/2011 | 12/10/2013 |
VMware VirtualCenter, VMware Vmotion, VMware HA, and VMware DRS 1 |
General |
End of General Support |
End of Extended Support |
End of Technical Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version 2.5 | 12/10/2007 | 12/10/2009 | 12/10/2012 | 12/10/2014 |
| Version 2.0 | 06/15/2006 | 12/10/2008 | 12/10/2011 | 12/10/2013 |
| Version 1.4 | 07/06/2006 | 07/06/2008 | 07/06/2011 | 07/06/2013 |
| Version 1.3 | 09/22/2005 | EOS Reached | Not covered by VI3 | See FAQ |
| Version 1.2 | 12/19/2004 | EOS Reached | Not covered by VI3 | See FAQ |
| Version 1.1 | 08/06/2004 | EOS Reached | Not covered by VI3 | See FAQ |
| Version 1.0 | 03/31/2004 | EOS Reached | Not covered by VI3 | See FAQ |
1. These dates do not apply to each individual maintenance (x.y.z) release or update. They apply to minor release level (x.y) only. For details on the maintenance release support lifecycle within a minor release, click on the appropriate minor release version number above.
2. Formerly known as VMware ESX Server.
3. Formerly known as VMware ESX Server 3i
For additional questions and supported configurations, please refer to the FAQs and the System Compatibility Guide.
