The Compatibility Matrices for vSphere Replication 8.6.x describe the compatibility between vSphere Replication 8.6.x and platform components, VMware solutions, database software, and guest operating systems. Interoperability details for vSphere Replication can be found in the VMware Product Interoperability Matrices. The present pages describe how to use that tool to find the relevant information.
Where the VMware Product Interoperability Matrices does not provide information relating to vSphere Replication, this information is listed here.
General Information
- vSphere Editions
- Upgrade Path
- Platform Components
- Interoperability with VMware Solutions
- Supported Database Software
vSphere Editions
The license for vSphere Replication 8.6.x is included in the following editions of vSphere
| vSphere Edition |
vSphere Replication 8.6.x |
| vSphere Essentials | NO |
| vSphere Essentials Plus | YES |
| vSphere Standard | YES |
| vSphere Enterprise | YES |
| vSphere Enterprise Plus | YES |
| vSphere Desktop | YES |
NOTE: vSphere Replication 8.6 does not support vSphere 7.0 Update 2 if virtual machine encryption is switched on. To use virtual machine encryption with vSphere Replication 8.6, you must use vSphere 7.0 Update 2c or later.
Upgrade Path
You can upgrade existing installations of vSphere Replication 8.4.x and vSphere Replication 8.5.x to vSphere Replication 8.6.
For the most up to date supported upgrade paths for vSphere Replication, check the VMware Product Interoperability Matrices.
- Click Upgrade Path.
- From the Select a Solution menu, select VMware vSphere Replication.
Platform Components
For the most up to date ESXi and vCenter Server interoperability, for vSphere Replication 8.6.x, check the VMware Product Interoperability Matrices.
For the supported versions of vSAN, see KB 2150753.
For vCenter Server to vCenter Server replications, the version of the vSphere Replication Management server on the source and the target site can be 8.5 or 8.6.
Interoperability with VMware Solutions
For the most up to date information on the interoperability of vSphere Replication with VMware solutions, check the VMware Product Interoperability Matrices.
Supported Database Software
vSphere Replication 8.6.x includes only an embedded vPostgreSQL database. vSphere Replication 8.6.x does not support external databases.
Guest Operating System Support
vSphere Replication 8.6.x supports the protection and recovery of virtual machines that run all of the guest operating systems that vSphere 7.0 and later versions support.
NOTE: If support for a guest operating system has been added in an update release of ESXi Server and vSphere Replication, to protect virtual machines that run those operating systems you must update ESXi Server to the corresponding update release as well as updating vSphere Replication. You must update ESXi Server on both the source and target sites.
For the full list of guest operating systems that vSphere 7.0 and later versions support, check the online VMware Compatibility Guide.
- Go to http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=software.
- Select Guest OS from the drop-down menu.
- For Product Name select ESXi.
- For Product Release Version select ESXi n, where n is a release of ESXi that vSphere 7.0 and above versions support.
- To see all the supported versions of guest operating systems from an operating system vendor:
- For OS Family Name, select All.
- For OS Vendor, select the operating system vendor. For example, select Red Hat.
- To check which updates of a particular operating system is supported:
- For OS Family Name, select the operating system. For example, select Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0.
- For OS Vendor, select All.
- Click Update and View Results.
Guest OS Quiescing Support
VSS Quiescing Support
Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) quiescing is supported for virtual machines running Windows Server 2003, XP, or later versions of Windows. vSphere Replication does not support quiescing for earlier versions of Windows, such as Windows 2000. The quiescing option is unavailable for unsupported operating systems.
NOTE: vSphere Replication 8.6.x does not support VSS quiescing on Virtual Volumes.
When you enable quiescing, vSphere Replication first attempts application level quiescing. If application level quiescing fails, vSphere Replication attempts file-system level quiescing.
| Operating System |
Application Quiescing |
File System Quiescing |
| Windows Server 2003 | Discontinued support |
YES |
| Windows Server 2008 | YES * |
YES |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 | YES * |
YES |
| Windows Server 2008 R2_x64 | YES * |
YES |
| Windows Server 2012 | YES * |
YES |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 | YES * |
YES |
| Windows Server 2016 | YES |
YES |
| Windows Vista | NO |
YES |
| Windows 7 | NO |
YES |
| Windows 8 | NO |
YES |
| Windows 10 | NO |
YES |
| Windows 11 | NO | YES |
* vSphere Replication performs application quiescing on Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2016 by creating a snapshot of the virtual machine. See Working with Microsoft Shadow Copy and Linux Backup Implementation for Windows Server 2008 and 2012 limitations.
- The virtual machine must be running on a 6.5 or later host.
- The UUID attribute must be enabled. It is enabled by default for virtual machines created on 4.1 or later. For details on enabling this attribute, see Enable Virtual Machine Application Consistent Quiescing in Working with Microsoft Shadow Copy.
- The virtual machine must use SCSI disks only and have the same number of free SCSI slots as the number of disks. Application-consistent quiescing is not supported for virtual machines with IDE or SATA disks.
- The virtual machine must not use dynamic disks.
Linux Quiescing Support
To enable the quiescing of virtual machines that run Linux guest OS, install the latest version of VMware Tools on each Linux machine that you plan to replicate.
NOTE: vSphere Replication 8.6.x supports quiescing for Linux guest OS only for virtual machines that run on ESXi 7.0 hosts or later.
| Operating System |
Application Quiescing |
File System Quiescing |
| SLES 11.x | NO |
YES |
| SLES 12.x | NO |
YES |
| SLES 15.x | NO |
YES |
| RHEL 5.x | NO |
YES |
| RHEL 6.x | NO |
YES |
| RHEL 7.x | NO |
YES |
| RHEL 8.x | NO |
YES* |
* Replication with quiescing is supported for RHEL 8.x VMs if the version of the ESXi host where the VMs are running is 8.0.0 or later.
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