vSphere 8.0 Support

[Marc.H]

Hi,

I know vSphere 8.0 is out only a few days, but just wanted to raise the question, if support will be in Veeam v11 or if we have to wait for v12.

Thanks
Marc

[Andreas Neufert]

Overall plan for all vSphere and Microsoft Windows/Hyper-V releases is to support it within 90 days of the general availability stage.
In this case we have planned to support vSphere 8 with the v12 release.

We even support vSphere 8 already within VMware Cloud on AWS today (most actual VM hardware version is not enabled there).

vSphere 8.0 is currently in a Initial Availability stage, which is a stage that customers and partners can test compatibility with their environments. VMware will create potential patches and fixes and might release another RTM release. General availability of vSphere 8 is I think expected within 2 months.

[Marc.H]

Hi Andreas,

yes, it's still in IA at the moment. Thanks for sharing those 90days after GA. That gives a bit of planning for customers that might want to jump on v8.0 very fast.

Thanks
Marc

[kelvinkoh]

I tested running using Veeam 11 latest patch with ESXi 8 and so far backup for VM Level and agent have no issue. however i face FLR restoration issue when try to restore with "Overwrite" and "Keep". it always prompt for credential error , credential confirm is correct. the only way to restore FLR is to use "Copy to" option. i not sure this is due to esxi 8 or not. still try to figure out.

[Andreas Neufert]

Which VM hardware level is the VM on? Did you backed up the VM with Veeam Guest Processing?

[Andreas Neufert]

vSphere 8 went GA today. Our plan did not change and we will support vSphere 8.0 with the upcoming Veeam Backup & Replication v12 release (staying within our promise to support any new vSphere release within 90 days after GA).

[Gostev]

In addition, since the original vSphere 8 RTM build, which our earlier testing didn't show any issues with, went GA unchanged today, we're intended to officially support it with V11a. Needless to say, vSphere 8 will only be supported in "compatibility" mode for v11a - that is, only when used without any new vSphere 8 features that V11a is simply unaware of (such as new VM hardware version).

System Requirements will be updated accordingly in the coming days, @Dima P. is on it... just waiting for QC to finish a few remaining tests.

Thanks!

[Dima P.]

Hello folks,

It's now official with latest Veeam B&R v11a however, please consider the limitations. Don't be shy and let us know your vSphere 8.0 experience, most beloved features and how overall upgrade to new version worked out. Thank you and have a great weekend!

[anthony.s]

Would you be able to elaborate on what is not supported regarding VMs with hardware version 20?

[Andreas Neufert]

We can not handle the hardware type at all and restores would fail. The reason is that hardware version 20 has a completely new metadata format with additional config files.
Upcoming Veeam Backup & Replication v12 will address this.

[Matthias_Hiller]

But why :

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... ml?ver=110

Here is stated that Veeam can Handly VMware 8.0 with "This version is supported starting from Veeam Backup & Replication 11a (build 11.0.1.1261)."

can someone clarify the situation since we will get new Hardware / SAN Server HA Equip for our internal System so i want to use the newest available and usable Software

Kind Regards!

[Andreas Neufert]

As shared above, the limitations are documented here. https://www.veeam.com/kb4378
You can install the VMs with an older hardware version and then update to the latest within VMware VM Management after you performed upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication v12.

[albertwt]

That's great, thank you for sharing an update @Andreas.

[Momo-70]

I have read KB4378 that Veeam 11 with Vsphere 8.0 has the limitation of Virtual Machines using Hardware Version 20 are not supported.

However I am running the latest Veeam 11, with ESXI 8.0 and when looking at the ESXI 8 host in Veeam it brings up all the VM's including the ones that are Hardware Version 20.

So I then as a test, created a backup Job for one of the Windows Server 2022 AD VM's that is a Hardware Version 20 VM and it has successfully backed it up.

i thought it would not back it up all, but it has and I can even run a restore job to restore the guest files and it successfully brought them up in a browser window. I didn't actually proceed with the restore, but it was allowing me to select the files.

I then tried doing a full VM Restore and just renamed and restored it to a different location on the ESXi 8 Host and it successfully restored and then booted up, and was able to login and it's up running with AD and everything.

So i am wondering what exactly is not supported when backing up Hardware Version 20 VM's ?
What will not work ?

Thanks.

[Dima P.]

Momo-70,

So I then as a test, created a backup Job for one of the Windows Server 2022 AD VM's that is a Hardware Version 20 VM and it has successfully backed it up.

Ability to protect v20 machine is not blocked in the UI, you can configure it.

So i am wondering what exactly is not supported when backing up Hardware Version 20 VM's ? What will not work ?

However, if anything goes wrong with v20 machines from vSphere 8.0 during backup or restore we wont be able to support and address this issue.

Is there any particular functionality you are looking from v20 hardware version? Thanks!

[Andreas Neufert]

Hardware Version that came with vSphere 8 has some metadata stored outside of the VMX file. We had to adjust for this case our processing in Backup & Replication v12

[Momo-70]

Momo-70,


Ability to protect v20 machine is not blocked in the UI, you can configure it.


However, if anything goes wrong with v20 machines from vSphere 8.0 during backup or restore we wont be able to support and address this issue.

Is there any particular functionality you are looking from v20 hardware version? Thanks!

Thankyou for your reply.

I wasn't looking for anything in particular with v20 hardware version, I just have setup all the VM's with V20 hardware version, as it's a new server, with the latest version of Vsphere 8.0, so I'm just using the V20 hardware with all the newly created WIndows 2022 Server VM's.

So I just wanted to know that if I back them up and restore them with Veeam 11, which worked fine for the one I tested, if I have to be aware of anything once I power up the restored V20 Hardware VM's ?

If the restored V20 hardware version VM, is working as it should, then I wanted to be sure that I didn't have to do anything else or run any other commands to have it be fully functional ?

Thankyou.

[Momo-70]

Hardware Version that came with vSphere 8 has some metadata stored outside of the VMX file. We had to adjust for this case our processing in Backup & Replication v12

Ok so if there is metadata outside of the VMX file for V20 versions, then having backed up and restored one with Veeam 11, and it is working fine, then would there be anything missing or not fully fundtional on v20 VM's restored with V11 Backup and Replication ?

Because the one I backed and restored with V11 as a test, seems to working fine and I can't see any issues.

Thankyou.

[Andreas Neufert]

Lauch event is soon. Please register: https://go.veeam.com/v12

[Andreas Neufert]

Regarding HW v20 with Veeam v11. We do not know as we never tested it what happens if you ignore the removed metadata in the other file. VMware informed us about this change and we have implemented the necessary changes in v12. In VMware Cloud on AWS Veeam v11 works with vSphere 8 since a while but HW v20 is deactivated there.

[Momo-70]

Regarding HW v20 with Veeam v11. We do not know as we never tested it what happens if you ignore the removed metadata in the other file. VMware informed us about this change and we have implemented the necessary changes in v12. In VMware Cloud on AWS Veeam v11 works with vSphere 8 since a while but HW v20 is deactivated there.

Ok fair enough. Will definitely go to Veeam 12 when it becomes available, so as to have full official Veeam support for Vsphere 8.0 and all features.

At present from the testing I have done, I can confirm that Veeam 11, has successfully backed up and restored a V20 HW version Windows 2022 VM.
I have it currently backing up the Win 2022 VM everyday and so far it is successful.
I also have the restored the Win 2022 HW v20 VM, and it is running successfully on Vsphere 8.0 ESXI Host, managed with VCenter 8.0, with no issues.

[Gostev]

I don't expect issues backing up or restoring HW v20 VMs which are NOT using any functionality that is new to v20.
FYI, the specific feature of HW v20 VMs we don't support in V11a is called the vSphere DataSets.

[CharadeUR]

Here is the issue. We installed some new hardware and wanted the latest vmware so we installed 8. We then went to Veeam 12 because that was all that was supported. And I tried 11 but ran into issues. However our cloud provider doesn't support Veeam 12 yet. Lucky we have onsite storage as well so we have backups as long as a tornado doesn't destroy our building. But our offsites were part of our ransomware protection since they backup as well i think using snapshots on their SAN for 5 days. So I feel like not supporting 11 that my cloud provider supports is a problem. Likely would not be a problem but it has been a year and still no support. It is frustrating to say the least. I guess this is just a rant as there is not much that is going to solve this issue until the cloud provider says they are ready.

[karsten123]

vSphere 8.0 up to 8.0c is fine with v11a and some minor limitations. Are you on 8.0 u1?