Note: there is an updated version of this post.
Some days ago I’ve wrote about why upgrade and why don’t upgrade to the new vSphere 6.0 and one of the main reason was the compatibility aspect.
Not only with hardware (most of vSphere 5.5 hardware is in HCL also for version 6.0), but mainly for the software part, especially the 3rd part software!
And the most important is your backup solutions: if maybe you can accept some risks using a new release of vSphere, you cannot accept the risk of loose your backup or use beta backup product in an environment. Backup must be, first of all, reliable! Compatibility and support are not an option in a production environment.
Of course, if you are using traditional approach with an agent inside each VM you are not affect at all… compatibility is just with guest operating system and this does not change.
But, in order to gain the most of benefit from the virtualization, you are probably using some native backup solution (that is based on the VMware VADP API). Of course new version of VMware VDP (that now include also VDP Advanced) fully support the new 6.0.
Also some new features, like Virtual Volumes may impact how backup are done… for example will be the SAN transport mode available with Virtual Volumes? This can provide storage visibility and potentially storage offload, but it depends if and how will be supported in backup API. For VDP this is not a problem because it cannot work in SAN transport mode.
So what happen with other vendor?
In the past, Andreas Lesslhumer (leader of VMUG Austria) has built a compatible table for vSphere 5.5, but actually I don’t see any update for 6.0, so I’m going to build something similar for the new version.
Post added: Manfred Hofer (co-leader of VMUG Austria) has now realized a better version of this resource with not only a nice aspect, but more information (including compatibility with Microsoft Hyper-V). Have a look at his post: Backup Interoperability Matrix.
This list include only backup products that are using the VMware VADP API. Other solutions are not considered (just because they not depend by vSphere version, but just by guest OS version). Also I don’t consider products that are out-of support or at end-of-life.
Announced support for vSphere 6.0:
- Symantec: both NetBackup and Backup Exec are VMware vSphere 6 Ready on their first dates of general availability. Interested customers can read more about the April release of Backup Exec 15 here (http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/backup-exec-15-beta-registration-now-open), more about the just-released NetBackup 7.6.1.1 here, and may plan rollouts knowing they have a backup solution in place for cutting edge virtual environments. We will continue to enhance our vSphere 6 capabilities in NetBackup 7.7 later this year.
- Veeam: expect to support vSphere 6 by the end of April 2015 as a part of Veeam Backup & Replication 8.0 Update 2 (see also this announce).
- Nakivo: has simple published this video about the support at vSphere 6.
- Acronis: see the comment in the post, but April is the expected period for the compatibility of Acronis Backup for VMware. Acronis Backup Advanced for VMware already supports vSphere 6 since Update 6 version ( but not in the Northern American version, that still doesn’t support it yet )
For all the other I’ve put a question mark just because there aren’t (or I’ve not found) information on when (or if) the product will support vSphere 6.0… But I suppose that in the next months we will see some big changes in this table.
Do you have updated information or data that I’ve missed? Just post a comment and I will update the page.
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Andrea Mauro
Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.
