[POLL] Legacy ESXi versions usage (2018 Edition)

[Gostev]

Hello, everyone!

Since Update 4 release time frame coincides with End of Technical Guidance for ESXi 5.0 and 5.1 (2018/08/24), we're considering dropping support for these ESXi versions along with ESXi 4.1, which was already planned for this update.

The primary drivers for our side are:
- Getting rid of older VDDK versions that we're still carrying to enable support for legacy ESXi versions - their presence may cause issues with some security certifications we're working on
- Reducing the number of platforms we have to test our products against is always a good thing, because it directly impacts the overall product quality

At this time, my belief is that Spectre/Meltdown vulnerabilities have pushed everyone to upgrade to at least ESXi 5.5 simply due to the lack of patches for previous ESXi versions. So, by the time Update 4 is released, I expect virtually everyone will have migrated off the unsupported ESXi versions.

So with this poll, I would like to confirm this thinking - or be proven wrong and understand the reasons for staying on unsupported ESXi version, as well as security practices that enable the corresponding users to do so.

Please, do explain your case if you choose any option other than "ESXi 5.5 or later", as this may directly impact our plans - including postponing this change, or extending support for the previous Veeam product versions to ensure that you're covered.

Thank you!

[AlexLeadingEdge]

Despite being a fully qualified VCP, we have had so many issues with ESXi since migrating from 5.5 to 6.0+ that we have gone fully Hyper-V with all of our clients. If I did go back to ESXi (not likely to happen) it would be 5.5 as I keep hearing horror stories from my fellow System Engineers and Administrators who are still trying to have a stable ESXi 6.0 install. I'm not going to vote because I'm not in the ESXi market anymore and I don't want mislead Veeam on what the ESXi market needs.

[djbtompkins]

ESXi 5.5

[Zew]

Still running ESXi 5.5u3b, I'm liking 6.5 other than. They dropped phat client support. I'm a fan of .Net all the way, I love the HTML 5 interface of 6.5 hosts, but the unamoothness of it until you get to the console plugin. Makes the console alright but you still can't manage the host outside the web mgmt interface. Hyper-V doesn't support NFS, garbage for any multipathing block level storage (NTFS-CSV is simply a bandiad to the NTFS FS), not an of SMB.

So ESXi 5.5 all the way.

[sasam]

Hi

Does this mean, old versions (5.0 and 5.1) will only not be supported on newer Veeam releases, or will not work with new releases of Veeam?

Ty
S

[VER]

Still running 5.1 as with 5.5 the support for Quadro 4000 cards was dropped. I cannot switch to the grid cards as they are not supported by HP for the model we have.

[Mike Resseler]

Sasa,

What is supported today with our current versions does not change. Newer releases or updates then will have different support matrix. Does that answer your question?

Thanks
Mike

[oliverL]

6.5 U1 running so far everywhere - Reason #1 from a non-administrative-View: Enhanced Snapshot Technology which came with 6.0 and a whole bunch of Bugfixes with 6.5 U1

Also HTML5 GUI which makes working with vSphere for normal administrative Tasks way more comfortable

Flash-Client sucks. Unfortunately Template Deployment, NPIV and other "not-Daily" Tasks aren't implemented yet in HTML5. I do hope that vmWare will do something about it, so that the Plugins will finally move to the HTML5 Client.

[pvarlien]

ESXi 5.5

[jb238]

ESXi 5.5 on most of my installations. It is really stable and easy to administer.
We probably will be forced to upgrade to 6.5 since HPE does not get their new DL385 Gen10 with AMD Ryzen CPU certified by VMware with ESXi 5.5. I hate the stupid web client.

[DenisK]

6.0 U2

[zulea]

5.5

[cputnam]

Ummm... 5.0.

I suspect that a lot of smaller shops are going to be running old versions. It's not that the IT staff (zero to one people, normally) don't care, but that it's difficult to convince management that the time, expense, and risk of upgrading is worthwhile.

Having said that, go ahead and drop support for old versions of ESXi. We small shops need something we can point to: "See? This platform is totally unsupported and we need to commit resources to upgrading."

[mmonroe]

We will be running 5.1 for another year or so. Hopefully we can get moved up to new hardware, vSAN and ESXi 6.x or even 7.x all at the same time.

[jmmarton]

Sasa,

What is supported today with our current version does not change. Newer releases or updates then will have different support matrix. Does that answer your question?

Mike I believe what Sasa is asking is that if we drop support for ESXi 5.0/5.1 in Update 4, does that mean those versions simply aren't officially supported but may work, or will Update 4 not work with those older versions at all?

Joe

[nicholasc]

5.5 and 6.0
We dropped 5.1 end of last year, finally.
Keep cracking that whip on improving your releases! You have a lot of fans up here in Calgary, Alberta!
Go VEEAM!

[bnaritomi]

ESXi 5.5

[stephen.frazier]

ESX 5.1 and 6.5 We have a critical system that is not supported on ESX after 5.1 so we must keep a few ESX 5.1 hosts to run it. Everything else runs on ESX 6.5 hosts. So for the next few years until that system is replaced we must run both levels.

[smoore33]

Marked 5.5, but I believe we may have 1 server on 5.1 or 5.0, hopefully to be updated by fall (?). But then, we are always a half version behind on Veeam anyway.

[drichman]

5.5

[Gostev]

if we drop support for ESXi 5.0/5.1 in Update 4, does that mean those versions simply aren't officially supported but may work, or will Update 4 not work with those older versions at all?

Update 4 not work with those older versions at all (see VDDK bullet in the first post of this topic as to why). And this is exactly what started this whole discussion internally - security concerns around those outdated components that VMware has stopped patching long ago, because they no longer support the corresponding ESXi versions.

[tarmendariz]

VMWare 5.5

[cardertd]

Unfortunately, we have one host that will not run newer than 5.1, but our remaining hosts are running 6.0u3 and 6.5

[damind]

ESXi 5.5 or later

[jonhocut]

There is always the hypothetical that we acquire another company that runs older versions that we have to find a way to support. But I suppose step one in those cases is to first get them upgraded to a supportable version. Just trying to give you some guidance on a scenario I can imagine us facing. I certainly don't have plans for this to be the case.

[revog]

Currently running all ESX on 6.0U3. But it is planned upgrading to 6.5U1/2 during 2018.

[dadan]

ESXi 6.0 U2

[frp]

We were not aware that support for version 5.1 iscoming out this year

[aceit]

Personally I'm running a mixture of > 5.5.x
Still on 5.5.x on some machines due to hardware compatibility (vmware removed some FC drivers in later versions) so I keep 5.5 as a min version in my environment till such machines are decommissioned (and due to recent Spectre/Meltdown thing I'm trying to delay any big refresh till there is proper fix in-silicon, maybe in vain ).

[SteinUser]

ESXi 6.5