Plain Virtualization

If you have read in my previous article , back in Aug 2024, that a number of Aria Operations Management packs will be retired from general support on 1st Oct 2024. Without the build in management packs provided, what can you do next? Aria Operations does come with a Management Pack Building which many are not aware. I like to share from this article  that I came across that illustrate how easy to just pull the wanted metric that you need to build your own dashboard. If those existing dashboard from management pack that is end of life, you can then see what metrics are been pulled and customize your own to keep moving forward. Alternatively, you can seek any system integrator to help build such dashboard easily if you have no such engineer in house to help.

Coming 1st Oct 2024, the Aria Operations Management Packs will be end of general support (EoGS). Here is the KB . The affected management packs are as follow: vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware Integrated OpenStack vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for CloudHealth VMware Aria Operations Management Pack for Flowgate VMware Aria Operations Management Pack for Aria Hub VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware Smart Assurance Aria Operations Management Pack for Aria Operations for Apps Aria Operations Management Pack for VMware Tanzu Application Service Aria Operations Management Pack for Microsoft Hyper-V Aria Operations Management Pack for NetApp FAS/AFF Aria Operations Management Pack for Microsoft SCOM Aria Operations Management Pack for Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops Aria Operations Management Pack for Dell EMC OpenManage Enterprise Aria Operations Management Pack for HPE OneView Aria Operations Manag...

This is definitely one of the good news that the vSphere 7.x End of General Support (EoGS) has been extended to 2nd Oct 2025 instead of the original Apr 2025. You can find this in the lifecycle website  https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/productlifecycle . Yes the website is not as good as the previously lifecycle.vmware.com as the dropdown does not work and you have to search ESXi in their search field instead. This definitely is more welcoming as many customers are running short of time to upgrade to vSphere 8 and given that new hardware are often required, there is some gap in the timing. At least now Broadcom has extend the General Support. That means we have 6 months more time to quickly plan for it.

If you are not aware, vSphere 6.0 is coming to the end of general support on 12th Mar 2020. If you are still running 6.0 or below, it is a good time to quickly planned for an upgrade to at least version 6.5 or 6.7 since it got extended for a full 5 years from the day of release for vSphere 6.5 which is 15th Nov 2021. You can refer to the KB . Once the end of general support, what this means is, there will be no new patches to fix bugs. You will only get support based on what is recorded in KBs. Also things without any engineering effort. You will only receive technical guidance before the end of support. Here is a good article to understand the different support after End of Life of a product. Update 14th Mar 2020 Softwares release with vSphere 6.0 that are ending general support are as follows: Center Server 6.0 vCenter Update Manager 6.0 ESXi 6.0 Site Recovery Manager 6.0 and 6.1 vSAN 6.0, 6.1 and 6.2 vSphere Data Protection 6.0 and 6.1 vSphere Replication 6.0 and 6...

Recently have received few questions regarding vSphere Enterprise edition. As announced by VMware, vSphere Enterprise edition is no longer available for purchase from 30th Jun 2016. Details can be found from this KB . As this End of Availability (EOA) from vSphere 6.0, a customer who wants to upgrade to 6.5 or 6.7 or even vSphere.Next would ask how can I proceed. If you read from the KB: "Customers choosing not to upgrade their vSphere Enterprise or vSOM Enterprise licenses to Enterprise Plus and who remain active on SnS will continue to be entitled to future minor or major releases of these Enterprise editions if they are made available per the terms of their SnS agreement." As long you are on existing SnS, you are free to upgrade. So what it means, although vSphere Enterprise Edition is no longer available for purchase, there is still vSphere Enterprise edition for vSphere 6.5 and 6.7. This is not a software limitation. However, do note this is based on terms of ...