Also read: Commvault Simpana 10 supports VMware vSphere 5.5
Today VMware vSphere 5.5 and various vCloud Suite 5.5 components became available for download, after being announced at VMworld 2013 back in august. An upgrade to this new version has a significant impact to your infrastructure, so it’s always a good idea to check the interoperability. VMware ‘s Interoperability Matrix is your starting point here and now includes vSphere 5.5 and vCloud Suite 5.5 products. I noticed some interoperability challenges which are summarized in the following list:
- Notice that VMware View 5.2 is compatible with vSphere 5.5.
- SRM 5.5 is only compatible with vCenter 5.5 and not with previous versions, which means you always have to upgrade vCenter & SRM at the same time to remain operational. Of course your ESXi hosts can run a previous version of ESXi (e.g. 5.0, 5.1, vCenter 5.5 can manage these hosts), but your vCenter Server should be version 5.5. See the comments by Max below :)!
- VMware vSphere Big Data Exentions is compatible with vSphere versions 5.0 and up.
- You will need vCenter Operations Manager 5.7.2 to connect to vSphere 5.5. vCops 5.7.2 is compatible with earlier versions of vSphere and includes some bug fixes. More information in the release notes.
- VMware vCloud Director 5.5 is compatible with vSphere 5.1, 5.1 U1 and 5.5.
Important: VMware vCloud Automation Center 5.2 is currently not compatible with VMware vSphere 5.5. So it seems we have to wait for an new/upgraded version here.Probably a mistake here, VMware changed the Interoperability Matrix and vCAC 5.2 is now compatible with vSphere 5.5. Thanks to solgae for the comments.- vCloud Networking & Security 5.5 is compatible with 5.1, 5.1 U1 and 5.5.
- vCenter Log Insight 1.0.4 (the latest version) is currently not compatible with vSphere 5.5.
Also, don’t forget database support:
- vCenter 5.5 discontinued support for IBM DB2 databases. SQL Server 2008 SP3 32 bit is also not supported anymore. For SQL Server 2008 R2 you will need SP1. Oracle 10g is not supported anymore. SQL Server 2012 is supported.
Use the Interoperability Matrix to check all the products you have available in your datacenter.
14 Comments
Martijn Moret
Do not forget to check if your backup software supports VMware 5.5!
viktorious
True! Do you have any news on vSphere 5.5 support for e.g. Commvault, Symantec, Veeam?
Martijn
Hi,
Veeam and Symantec do not support 5.5.
CommVault states: 5.x, but no official 5.5 support…
Regards,
Martijn
solgae
Interestingly, vCloud Director 5.5 IS compatible with vCAC 5.2, and vCloud Director 5.5 is (obviously) compatible with vSphere 5.5. So if you need to manage vSphere 5.5 environment thru vCAC 5.2, I assume you could point the vCAC 5.2 to the vCloud Director 5.5 environment that’s managing your vSphere 5.5 environment. With vCloud Suite license, it’s more than likely that you are licensed for both vCloud Director and vCAC.
solgae
Well, the matrix has been updated to show that vCAC 5.2 is compatible with vSphere 5.5. So no need for a vCD workaround.
viktorious
Thanks for your comments, I’ve updated the article to reflect vCAC 5.2 support on vSphere 5.5!
Max
OK, so how does one update to SRM 5.5 in the real world, if you simultaneously need to upgrade SRM, vCenter and ESXi for your critical production cluster(s)? I’ve read the guides and this seems to be the case – am I missing something?
viktorious
Hi Max! Yes, that’s the case…this was also the case when looking at previous versions and interoperability. Also check the possible upgrade paths: http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php and choose Solution Upgrade Path.
Max
Ah this is just a clarity-of-language issue. “vSphere” above means vCenter – not vCenter + ESXi.
According to the matrix, ESXi doesn’t need to be upgraded to use upgraded vCenter (as always), or SRM (which I thought had changed).
I’ve always upgraded SRM and vCenter at the same time, followed long after by ESXi, so no change to that process right?
Thanks,
-Max
viktorious
You’re absolutely right 🙂 Thanks for the comment, I’ve updated the article!
Jordan
Hi solage
I tried to deploy vCAC 5.2 with vSphere 5.5 platform, but I encountered an issue when I tried to configure credentials to add vSphere endpoint vCAC that system always pending the “loading” so that I cannot go to next step. I wonder whether vCAC support vSphere 5.5 directly or rely on vCloud director
Thanks, Jordan
viktorious
Hi! vCAC 5.2 is compatible with vSphere 5.5 so things should be working. Unfortunately I don’t have the possibility to test it myself. Can you add a vSphere 5.1/5.0 endpoint successfully?
Jordan
Yes, I can add vSphere 5.1 to vCAC.
Andreas
For an overview what backup software supports VMware 5.5 take a look at this article:
http://www.running-system.com/upgrade-to-vsphere-5-5-take-care-about-your-backup-software/