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Virtualization: Upgrading With VMware

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By Don Woodward - Senior Solutions Architect

VMware vSphere is the most established and widely used virtualization platform in the enterprise today.  VMware is constantly innovating new features and retiring old versions as they become unsupported.  For example, VMware has evolved their UI (User Interface) to support HTML5 while older technologies like .NET, Flash and Java are being replaced.  Hardware options are also evolving to include Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) and new processors from Intel and AMD.  Newer, more powerful hardware offers the benefit of hardware consolidation while often reducing hypervisor licensing requirements.

If you are still running vSphere 6.0 or earlier, it is time to upgrade.  VMware ended General Support of version 6.0 as of March 20, 2020, and support for vSphere 6.5 was extended until November 15, 2021. Currently vSphere 6.7 is also scheduled for End of General Support on November 15, 2021. Recommended plan of action:

  • Upgrade to VMware vSphere 6.7 at a minimum.
  • Check the VMware HCL (Hardware Compatibility List) and Product Interoperability Matrix to ensure that your hardware and VMware solutions (plugins, backup software, etc) are compatible with vSphere 7.0.
  • Engage with BlueAlly to perform a basic evaluation of your hardware infrastructure to see if you should consolidate your environment and reduce licensing requirements by moving to newer hardware.
  • Plan to upgrade to VMware 7.x in 2021 when a comprehensive update to VMware 7.0 is made available.

BlueAlly can assist with all aspects of your virtual environment including assessments, upgrades (hardware and software), installation, optimization, licensing, management, backup/recovery, etc. Please contact your BlueAlly Account Manager or email us at [email protected] to discover ways that we can help!