In response to customer feedback, we are helping consolidate backup and recovery solution, a major pain point for many today. Moving forward after vSphere 6.5, our focus will be on Storage APIs - Data Protection to further strengthen the vSphere backup partner ecosystem providing you with a choice of solution providers. As a result of that customer feedback and new direction, we are announcing the End Of Availability (EOA) for vSphere Data Protection. vSphere 6.5 is the last release to include vSphere Data Protection and future vSphere releases will no longer include this product.

Transition Overview

All existing vSphere Data Protection installations with active Support and Subscription (SnS) will continue to be supported until their End of General Support (EOGS) date. The EOGS dates for vSphere Data Protection are published on the VMware Lifecycle Policy Matrix under the dates listed for different versions. After the EOA date, you can continue using your existing installations until your EOGS dates.

VMware supports a wide ecosystem of backup solutions that integrate with vSphere and vCenter using vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection framework. You can use any data protection products that are based on this framework.

Beginning today, Dell EMC is offering you a complimentary migration to the more robust and scalable Dell EMC Avamar Virtual Edition. vSphere Data Protection is based on Dell EMC Avamar Virtual Edition, a key solution for protecting and recovering workloads across the SDDC. To learn more about this offer please go to the Dell EMC website.

If you have additional questions please contact your VMware Sales Representative or read the FAQs