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End of Support for KMIP for VMware

End of Support for KMIP for VMware

End of Marketing: As of 31 October 2025, new deployments of VMware Solutions offerings are no longer available for new customers. Existing customers can still use and expand their active VMware® workloads on IBM Cloud®. For more information, see End of Marketing for VMware on IBM Cloud.

Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP™) for VMware® offering support will end on 31 December 2026, after which the KMIP for VMware service will no longer work. Migrate to IBM® Key Protect for IBM Cloud®.

Support for the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP™) for VMware® service will end on 31 December 2026 after which the service will no longer be available. You must migrate to the native IBM® Key Protect for IBM Cloud® offering, or an alternative key management service of your choice by 31 December 2026.

If you are using the KMIP for VMware service, you must plan and start migration to IBM® Key Protect for IBM Cloud® services at the earliest.

The new key provider offering, IBM® Key Protect for IBM Cloud®, has the following advantages over the KMIP for VMware adapter:

  • Improved performance because the calls from KMIP to key provider are closer in network distance and no longer cross the service-to-service authorization boundaries.
  • Improved visibility and management for the KMIP keys.
  • No change in pricing.

To experience an improved performance at no additional cost, you must migrate to IBM® Key Protect for IBM Cloud® from KMIP for VMware service. For more information about KMIP migration, see Migrating from KMIP for VMware to IBM Cloud native KMIP providers.

Customers who are using vSphere version 7.x can encounter a Broadcom bug in vSphere HA that results in restart of virtual machines with vSphere encryption during the rekeying process. However, Broadcom provides a workaround for this issue. For more information about the workaround, see Encrypted VM with Change Block Tracking (CBT) enabled unexpectedly powers off after shallow rekey operation.

For more information about end of life procedures for IBM Cloud infrastructure services and third-party software products, see Lifecycle policy for IBM Cloud products. If you have any questions or need assistance, send an email to clouddigitalsales@us.ibm.com, or open a support ticket in the VMware Solutions console.