Upgrading to vSphere 5.1 Update 1? First check interoperability!

Update April 28th 2013: Additional information on View 5.1 / vSphere 5.1 Update 1 compatibility!

This week VMware released update 1 for vSphere 5.1. vSphere 5.1 update 1 contains several bugfixes, support for new OSes and improved hardware support. Although upgrading might be a good idea, always ask yourself what the dependencies are between vSphere and other solutions in your datacenter. Investigate the interoperability between vSphere 5.1 Update 1 and other VMware solutions plus (3rd party) backup solutions and monitoring solutions.

For the interoperability with other VMware products, you can check the Interoperability Matrix, which is available on-line. When upgrading to VMware vCenter 5.1 Update 1 and ESXi 5.1 Update 1, verify you’re running the latest version for the following add-on products:

• Site Recovery Manager 5.1 Update 1 required: SRM 5.1U1 is compatible with both vCenter 5.1 and vCenter 5.1 Update 1. SRM 5.1 U1 is not compatible with vCenter 5.0.
• vCenter Operations Manager 5.7 required. This version is compatible with all 4.x and 5.x vCenter servers.
• vCenter Update Manager 5.1 Update 1, this version is only compatible with vCenter 5.1 Update 1.
• vCloud Director 5.1.2 is required and compatible with vSphere 5.x (including 5.1 update 1).
• vCloud Networking & Security 5.1.2 is required and compatible with vSphere 5.x (including 5.1 update 1).
• vCenter 5.1 Update 1 can manager ESXi all versions of ESXi 4.x and 5.x.
• Notice: There is some contradictory information about VMware Horizon View compatibility. The VMware Interoperability Matrix tells 5.2 is not compatible with vCenter 5.1 Update 1, while this KB article tells View 5.2 is compatible. I’ve asked VMware to clear up some things here. Kudos to Jay Weinshenker for commenting on this issue. I except View 5.2 to be compatible.VMware View 5.2 is compatible with vCenter 5.1 Update 1, the compatibility matrix was updated by VMware!

Happy upgrading! The full release notes for vCenter are available here, ESXi release notes here. I also suggest to read VMware KB article 2037630 which is about the update sequence for vSphere 5.1 Update 1 and its compatible products.