Please read release notes vSphere 4.1

[tietzjd25]

http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_esxi41_vc41_rel_notes.html

I found this part very helpfull

VMware vSphere 4.1 is the last release for the following product, features, and platforms. VMware will continue to provide technical support for these features and platforms through the end of their support lifecycles.

VMware ESX. VMware vSphere 4.1 and its subsequent update and patch releases are the last releases to include both ESX and ESXi hypervisor architectures. Future major releases of VMware vSphere will include only the VMware ESXi architecture.

VMware recommends that customers start transitioning to the ESXi architecture when deploying VMware vSphere 4.1.

VMware will continue to provide technical support for VMware ESX according to the VMware vSphere support policy on the VMware Enterprise Infrastructure Support page.

To learn more about the ESXi architecture and how to migrate from ESX to ESXi, go to the VMware ESX to ESXi Upgrade Center.

VMware vCenter Converter plug-in. VMware vSphere 4.1 and its subsequent update and patch releases are the last releases for the VMware vCenter Converter plug-in for vSphere Client. VMware will continue to update and support the free Converter Standalone product, which enables conversions from sources such as physical machines, VMware and Microsoft virtual machine formats, and certain third-party disk image formats.

VMware vCenter Guided Consolidation. VMware vSphere 4.1 and its subsequent update and patch releases are the last major releases for VMware Guided Consolidation. Customers who want to consolidate their physical servers have the following VMware vSphere service options:

VMware vSphere with P2V Migration Jumpstart

VMware Virtualization Assessment

VMware P2V Accelerator Services

VMware vCenter Update Manager Features. vCenter Update Manager 4.1 and its subesquent update releases are the last releases to support scanning and remediation of patches for Windows and Linux guest operating systems and applications running inside a virtual machine. The ability to perform virtual machine operations such as upgrade of VMware Tools and virtual machine hardware will continue to be supported and enhanced.

VMware Consolidated Backup. VMware has extended the end of availability timeline for VCB and added VCB support for vSphere 4.1. VMware will continue to support VCB 1.5 Update 2 for vSphere 4.1 and its subsequent update and patch releases through the end of their lifecycles. Support is extended in accordance with the VMware support policy for the VMware Infrastructure 3 platform. New major or minor versions of the vSphere platform beyond vSphere 4.1 will not be supported with VCB.

VMI Paravirtualized Guest operating system support. vSphere 4.1 is the last release to support the VMI guest operating system paravirtualization interface. For information about migrating virtual machines that are enabled for VMI so that they can run on future vSphere releases, see Knowledge Base article 1013842.

vSphere Web Access. vSphere 4.1 is the last product release for vSphere Web Access. As a best practice, VMware recommends that you use the vSphere Client, which contains all the functionality of Web Access. Because vSphere Web Access is no longer being developed, support for this product is provided on a best effort basis.

Linux Guest Operating System Customization. vSphere 4.1 is the last release to support customization for the following Linux guest operating systems:

RedHat Enterprise Linux (AS/ES) 2.1

RedHat Desktop 3

RedHat Enterprise Linux (AS/ES) 3.0

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8

Ubuntu 8.04

Ubuntu 8.10

Debian 4.0

Debian 5.0

VMware will continue to deliver customization for newer versions of Linux guest operating systems from the RedHat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server families.

Microsoft Windows 2000 MSCS. MSCS with Windows 2000 is not supported in vSphere 4.1. See the Microsoft Website for additional information.