[Cloud Director] Support for version 10.5

[mbo77]

10.5 was recently released and as always the question arises if or when Veeam will support this version.
From the release notes I can see that API versions 34+ should still be supported, but deprecated for the next major release.

Is there information around which API level is supported by Veeam with the most recent patch level?

[tyler.jurgens]

I believe Veeam has a policy that they usually support new versions within 90 days of release.

I am more curious if Veeam has any KB article that lists VMware Cloud Director versions are supported with which Veeam version - similar to what they do for vSphere (https://www.veeam.com/kb2443).

[Andreas Neufert]

No, but you can find these information in the release notes and the user guide. As customers update more frequently the vCloud Director while keeping very old ESXis in place, there is less demand for such a list.

Yes, the goal is always to stay compatible within 90 days of the release.

[tyler.jurgens]

Can I please have that list anyway? It's very difficult to find anything at a glance. I'm not a fan of keeping very old ESXi's in place.

We're going through and trying to upgrade our clusters, but need to dig through *multiple* different vendors to try to find compatibility information. If Veeam was the only third-party software I needed to worry about, I'd be more inclined to read through the release notes to find it, but it's only one of many. Veeam is by no means the worst vendor here either, but having a KB here that is clear and concise about VCD-specific versions that I can link to my leadership team and say "This right here says we're good!" would go a long way. Plus I could then bookmark one KB article and reference it in the future as well, next time we upgrade our cluster.

[Andreas Neufert]

I forwarded the request to the KB team. Let´s see if they can apply this.

[mbo77]

Yes, it would be much appreciated to include that information into the KB.
Furthermore, it would be good to know the API level used/supported. Then we can have this aligned with the deprecated levels in the upcoming release.

[pawan.kumar1]

Hi

any time frame when we will get the support form Cloud Director 10.5. Because my all production was stuck after upgrade to 10.5.
my all clients backup is not happening.

[Gostev]

Hi, you need to be sure to check our system requirements before installing new 3rd party software versions. The above-mentioned 90 days target is because this is aligned to release vehicles, which happen roughly every 3 months. We can't ship an update every time some platform is updated, because it happens more or less every other day due to a sheer number of OSes, platforms and applications we support.

@veremin @Andreas Neufert is a hotfix for V12 possible to add compatibility with 10.5, or changes are significant and support can only be added to V12a?

[marcus.haase]

API version 34, which is the "latest" API Veeam 12 supports was introduced with vCD 10.1 which was released in April 2020. This is far beyond 90 days. The current API version is 39.

[Gostev]

Not sure what you mean. I never said we have a 90 days target to switch to the latest and greatest API version?

Anyhow, actually this is something we were doing in the early days of our vCD integration, and this taught us to stick to stable API versions for as long as they are still supported as new API versions almost always have something things broken and other things deprecated or removed, making it impossible to support vCD version which are still officially supported by us.

[tyler.jurgens]

At what point does Veeam target a new API version for VMware Cloud Director? Additionally, for any KB article for VMware Cloud Director support, it would be very helpful to add what Cloud Director API version is supported by that Veeam release.

[Gostev]

Normally it happens at major releases because it can only be done in coordination with changing our System Requirements: once we confirm our ability to drop some older vCD versions from supported, we then consider moving to a later API version that still supports the now-oldest vCD version supported by Veeam.

[pawan.kumar1]

please share the time line.

any time frame when we will get the support form Cloud Director 10.5. Because my all production was stuck after upgrade to 10.5.
my all clients backup is not happening.

[Gostev]

Well, we can be sure we're definitely not talking about a timeline that would allow you to "wait out" without doing client backups. Cloud Director 10.5 is a significant release and it will take some time to create and properly test the integration patch. Plus there may be unexpected regressions in 10.5 itself... this happened before and required a hotfix from VMware before we could even declare official support.

So I highly suggest you roll back your Cloud Director to a supported version. I know of at least one user who already downgraded back to 10.4 successfully and their backups are running fine again.

[pawan.kumar1]

Hi Gostev

roll back is not possible in current scenario. My client is suffering from backup issue.

[pawan.kumar1]

Hi Team

please understand our problem and provide me the solution. my all clients are suffering backup issue. we are unable to provide backup.

[Gostev]

Hi, Pawan.

Your problem is that you didn't follow the official System Requirements for Veeam and jumped a just released Cloud Director release. Which V12 code shipped 8 months prior is obviously completely unaware of.

The ONLY solution to your problem is to rollback to a supported Cloud Director version 10.4 and wait for us to deliver support for version 10.5. Our standard target for supporting new OS/app/platform versions is 90 days and we've already confirmed with the responsible R&D team that 10.5 support requires a significant effort due to the magnitude of changes.

Thank you for understanding.

[pawan.kumar1]

Hi Gostev,

we understand the things, but unfortunate we are unable to rollback. it's our clients requirement. so please consider it in higher priority to release the 10.5 support.

[Gostev]

To be clear, supporting new platform releases is always the highest priority for us. But no priority can change the fact that Cloud Director 10.5 is not some bug fix release but a major update with many changes and new features that requires a significant time to add and test official support for. Definitely much longer than you can "wait out" without any backups.

And I like to think that having backups is higher on your clients' requirements list than having 10.5 ?

[arogarth]

I updated our vcloud directors yesterday and today I see, that the API 34+ is not supported... This is really bad, beacause previous API Version are deprecated since one Year!!!!

90 Days is too long for that - This is a century in modern Software lifecycle! AND New API is release a year before - VEEAM had much of time to do theire homeworke here...

[arogarth]

NOTE: API Version up to 35.2 are deprecated since July, 2022 !!!!
> VMware Cloud Director API versions 33.0, 34.0, 35.0 and 35.2 are deprecated and will be unsupported starting with the next major VMware Cloud Director release.
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud ... index.html

SO, veeam did not do theire homework and be compabibilty for latest Version - they had one year of time get ready for that change!!

[arogarth]

@Gostev - You said "Normally it happens at major releases"...

VEEAM 12 was released in Feb, 2023 - The API Version <35.2 is deprecated since July 2022... WHY?? There was time to implement it....

[Gostev]

I have already explained this just a few posts above: we use older API versions in order to be compatible with older Cloud Director versions which are still officially supported by us.

[pawan.kumar1]

Hi

half of the time over, please let us know the any time line to release.

[Gostev]

Hi. Sorry, I don't follow you: half of what time is over?

The next immediate release vehicle is 12a expected towards the end of this year, so I expect full support for 10.5 will be added there.

Depending on the test results (still on-going) we may be able to provide basic compatibility-level support for core functionality earlier. But not sure yet, need to wait for the full regression testing cycle to complete with 10.5.

[arogarth]

Support for 10.5 - end of this YEAR????!!!! It is a bad joke, or??

What is that for a professional service? The API is release since years and it is deprecated sinc a year - and veeam wants to tell us that the implementation will come and of this year???!!!

Sorry, but this is a no-go ....

[Gostev]

Full support for 10.5 does not just mean an API version change obviously, but also support for / compatibility with all the (many) new features added to Cloud Director 10.5

[pawan.kumar1]

Support for 10.5 - end of this YEAR????!!!! It is a bad joke, earlier you says 90 days now end of this year.
any tentative release date.

[Gostev]

90 days is a target, not a guarantee. It is based solely on the fact that we have release vehicles every 90 days on average. Sometimes more often (immediately after a significant release), other times less often (just prior to the next release). And we're unable to ship new features randomly, outside of those release vehicles.

Before we talk 12a timelines, let's wait for the full regression testing cycle to complete against 10.5 first. Because as I mentioned above, a basic compatibility patch is also a possibility and this won't need to wait for 12a.

[pawan.kumar1]

Hi Gostev

any chance when 12a start to release. our major project is stuck due to this update.