Is upgrade to vSphere compulsory

[alfio2009]

I understand that Vmware want to beat competition however I could not find any benefit with their new cloud computing product vSphere I would rather keep my actual VI3.5 version so my question is this:

Is the upgrade to vSphere compulsory, I mean will the VI 3.5 version be discontinued any time soon and for how long the support of VI3.5 will be available.

Thanks

Alfio

[paulmack]

I would think 3.5 will still be supported for the forseeable future. After all, they are still releasing patches for ESX 3.0.3.

Cheers

Paul

[Texiwill]

Hello,

No upgrade is not compulsory. I think there are some ESX 2.5 systems still running as well.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky
VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
====
Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.
Blue Gears and SearchVMware Pro Blogs -- Top Virtualization Security Links -- Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

[azn2kew]

I do not believe VMware forces you to upgrade to vSphere 4.0 and not all the features are being utilize by all companies and ESX 3.5 still runs perfectly at this point. There are people just waiting for these features and can't wait to get hands on as well. You're are not compulse to anything but rather give you a heads up about availability and option for you to upgrade if you decided. ESX 3.5 will be still be a while before they would announce not supported. But if you already have Enterprise license, you can utilize some of those features free so why not think about it in more technical and availability standpoints.

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Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

VMware vExpert 2009

iGeek Systems Inc.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[TomHowarth]

There is no compulsion to upgrade, however you will not be able to purchase 3.5 only vSphere. you will then be able to generate a VI3 license from your license portal.

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Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert

VMware Communities User Moderator

Blog: www.planetvm.net

Contributing author for the upcoming book "VMware Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment”.

[MattG]

Remember vSphere is 64-bit CPU compatible only, so for many it will not be an option until the next HW upgrade cycle.

-MattG

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