Welcome to our three-part blog series focusing on the end of general support (EOGS) for VMware vSphere v6.0. The series will help to provide you with the guidance and support to ensure your organisation is ready.
Part 1 below is an introduction to what the EOGS means for you. In part 2, we will discuss the opportunity to modernise your datacentre if a hardware refresh is required, whilst part 3 looks at an alternative option with VMware on AWS public cloud as a means to make this transition easier.
VMWare 6.0 End of General Support
VMware vSphere v6.0 will reach end of general support (EOGS) on 12th March 2020 and VMware strongly recommends customers upgrade to vSphere v6.7 to maintain a full level of support and subscriptions.
What does this mean for you?
EOGS means that VMware will no longer offer new hardware support, server/client/guest OS updates, new security patches or bug fixes unless otherwise noted. If you run into a problem and call the VMware help desk after the EOGS date, they will simply refer you to the knowledge base. This increases risk to your data infrastructure and can result in security, reliability, regulatory, compliance and compatibility issues. Therefore, it is important to consider your options and next steps to move your data platform to the latest supported solution.
What is holding customers back from upgrading now?
Moving to vSphere v6.7 could be a major upgrade depending on what version you are coming from and, as with any project of this type, there are elements of risk that need to be considered.
The two major challenges that were holding back several of our customers are:
- Incompatible hardware. The current hardware platform may not be compatible or suitable for upgrading to vSphere v6.7 which means you will have to do a hardware assessment as part of the project. If the current platform is incompatible, then you will have to undertake a hardware refresh which presents a very good opportunity to consider modern solutions such as hyper-converged and hybrid cloud.
- Lack of time and resources. Many of our customers are already running several critical projects as well as keeping the lights on. Upgrading any platform can be a time and resource intensive operation depending on how large your estate is, particularly if a hardware refresh is required at the same time.
What options are available to you?
- Extend your support in one-year increments for a maximum of two years after EOGS. The very, very expensive option.
- Upgrade to vSphere 6.7. Requires careful planning to be done without risk. The best option.
- Do nothing. Never the best option.
Option 2 is 9 out of 10 times the best choice when a product goes EOGS. Not only does it get you onto the latest version but also gives you access to the new enhancements.
Discover the Top Ten Reasons to Upgrade to vSphere 6.7
How can CDW help?
At CDW, we have a wealth of knowledge and experience to help de-risk large projects such as this. Our solution architects and technical experts can offer the support you need to correctly assess your current environment, plan for a successful upgrade and remove complexity. Our processes streamlined over many years has enabled us to develop methodologies which reduce the time and cost for our customers. CDW has professional services to help carry out the work on your behalf, augmenting or freeing up your own resources.
We are also experienced in helping our customers move from legacy datacentre architectures to modern cloud enabled solutions such as vSAN, VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware Cloud on AWS. Our experts can help you to evaluate alternative solutions which drives greater business benefit and cost optimisations.
To book some time with one of our VMware experts and learn more, please email us or contact your CDW Account Manager.
Read Part 2 of the blog series here
