Running a vSphere environment out of the support program has always been highly inadvisable due to the risk of being a sitting duck for any major outage. Keeping your environment supported means VMware will have your back should things get spicy.
Originally GA’d on September 19th 2013, vSphere 5.5 will soon celebrate its fifth birthday by digging its grave. It is important for folks who are still running it to know that the end of general support for this version will be on the 19th September 2018.
What does it mean?
It means that past that date, VMware will no longer provide new hardware support, server/client/guest OS updates, new security patches or bug fixes unless otherwise noted.. It will not be possible to open support tickets with Global Support Services GSS.
If for some reason you are not able to upgrade an environment before the EoGS and still really need support, VMware offers the option to purchase extended support in one year increments for up to two years beyond the EOGS date. Visit VMware Extended Support for more information.
After the 19th September, vSphere 5.5 will be in the technical guidance phase until September 19th 2020. Technical Guidance is available primarily through the self-help portal and telephone support is not provided. Customers can also open a support request online to receive support and workarounds for low-severity issues on supported configurations only.
What to do now?
VMware strongly recommends to upgrade your environment to vSphere 6.5 or vSphere 6.7 to keep active support. Note that the general support of vSphere 6.5 has been extended to a full five years from date of release, which means the general support for vSphere 6.5 will end November 15, 2021. The End of General for vSphere 6.7 will also be on November 15, 2021.
Obviously if you are a bit late to upgrade, don’t give in to the panic and risk doing it recklessly. You can visit the vSphere Upgrade Center that will guide you through the upgrade process should you need that little extra confidence boost. One should always take the time to assess the environment and prepare accordingly.
- What VMware products am I using?
- What order should I upgrade the components in?
- What third party services do I need to consider?
- Is my hardware compatible?
And don’t forget to upgrade your licenses keys.
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