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abugeja
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Windows 2019 server doesnt report back as 2019. Says 2016 or later in vCenter or vROPs

Hi,

Whenwe deploy a Windows 2019 server with the latest version of vmware tools in a 6.7 environment it says its guest the OS is Windows 2016 or later. How do i get it report back as Windows 2019?

Thanks.

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abhilashhb
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi,

Which version of vROPS are you using?

Where are you seeing this? What do you see when you go to - Environment>VM>Summary ?

Abhilash B
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhilashhb/

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abugeja
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we are using vROPS 8.0.1

It says in the summary page of vROPs or in vCenter again in the summary page in Guest OS - Microsoft Windows Server 2016 or later (64-bit)

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abhilashhb
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

And what does it show as in the vCenter? 2019 or 2016 or later?

Abhilash B
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhilashhb/

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abugeja
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From vCenter it says - Microsoft Windows Server 2016 or later (64-bit)

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abhilashhb
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

So vROPS is displaying what vCenter is providing it. If you want the VM to show Windows 2019. It should be changed on vCenter first.

Abhilash B
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhilashhb/

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Moderator: Thread moved to the vSphere area.


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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Only vSphere 7 will offer a Server 2019 option:

VMware Knowledge Base


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abugeja
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So why wouldnt it be showing up in vCenter saying its a 2019 server?

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abhilashhb
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

As Scott pointed out, you only have the option for 2019 in vSphere 7.

The OS version is not something that will automatically show for a VM by detection, the user selects it while creating the VM.

In your case, someone who created the VM chose 2016 or later as they didn't see 2019 available.

Abhilash B
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhilashhb/

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abugeja
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Why should 2019 only be an option in vSphere 7.0 when both 6.5 and 6.7 still have over a year of support remaining.

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abhilashhb
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Well support wise vSphere 6.5 and 6.7 versions support the Windows 2019 operating system. You just don't see the option in the UI.

That's why you see a separate option for 2016 and 2016 and later.

As a workaround, you can use custom groups on your vROPS to identify the 2019 VMs (whichever VMs have OS as 2016 or later) - Managing Custom Object Groups in vRealize Operations Manager

Abhilash B
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhilashhb/

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abugeja
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Or why cant VMware introduce a Windows 2019 option when its built. I dont understand....

And what about all the Windows 2016 servers already in the environment.

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Server 2019 didn‘t exist when 6.5 and 6.7 were released.

You’ll not find Ubuntu 20.04 or MacOS 10.15 in the list when you look at the settings of a VM either, for the same reason.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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abhilashhb
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Scott has answered your first question.

I have provided you a workaround to this in my previous comment. You can group them in a custom group and call the group "Windows 2019" so you can do reporting and other tasks on that. 

Abhilash B
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhilashhb/

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abugeja
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Pretty poor support from VMware tbh. Surely it wouldn't be hard to introduce a Windows 2019 build option as they have done in vSphere 7.0. Yes i could create a custom group in vrops but then i need to manually manage this.

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Depending on how you deploy your VMs you could automate at least some of what you're trying to do (on 6.5/6.7) with some combination of VM tags, vRO, and PowerCLI.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

As per the KB article I posted, this is a limitation of VM hardware version 16 and earlier.

Only vSphere 7 supports VM hardware version 17, that is why older vSphere versions cannot offer the 2019 option.


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Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
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abugeja
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imo i still wouldn't think it would be hard to include what the guest OS is in vCenter. It shouldn't need a major upgrade to obtain this information and customers shouldnt need to do workarounds either

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