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FAQ about End of Support for VMware Shared

FAQ about End of Support for VMware Shared

VMware Shared is no longer available for new deployments. Existing instances are supported until 15 January 2025. Ensure that you migrate all your VMware Shared resources to IBM Cloud® for VMware Cloud Foundation as a Service by 15 January 2025. For more information, see End of Support for VMware Shared deployments.

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the End of Support for VMware Shared deployments.

What does the End of Support announcement mean?

If you are an existing customer, support for IBM Cloud for VMware Shared deployments will continue until 15 January 2025. You can also add instances during this period, but it is recommended that you deploy any new instances on the next-generation multitenant offering VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) as a Service. VCF as a Service is based on the same underlying software VMware Cloud Director, which retains the same admin console. You also benefit from performance improvements, options of network edge tier, improved private networking through IBM Cloud Transit Gateway, greater regional coverage, and minor rebalancing in pricing. All these benefits make VCF as a Service the ideal landing zone for your workloads.

If you are new to VMware Shared, and don't have any existing deployments, you are not able to provision new instances of VMware Shared. You can directly use the next-generation performance that is offered by VCF as a Service, with on-demand pricing (hourly) and discounted reserved usage (monthly). For more discounts for continued use, contact your IBM® seller.

Why is the support for IBM Cloud for VMware Shared ending?

It is important to understand that IBM Cloud for VMware Shared is based on VMware NSX-V, which continues to be supported until the end of 2024. IBM's exclusive support extension contract with VMware® by Broadcom will end in January 2025, thus rendering IBM Cloud for VMware Shared unsupported.

What is the next step?

It is recommended that you immediately assess your workloads on IBM Cloud for VMware Shared, and plan the migration to VCF as a Service at the earliest. For more information about migration options, see Migrating from VMware Shared to VCF as a Service.

Is the price changing? Will it cost more?

While the price remains largely the same between the two platforms, you can benefit from three key changes:

  • The pricing for vCPU and RAM is rebalanced to enable more cost-effective scaling of RAM.
  • On-demand Base Charge is not applicable in VCF as a Service, as it is replaced by the network edge tiers.
  • Network edge tiers are added with four available options, such as Efficiency Edge, Medium Edge, Large Edge, and Extra-Large Edge. IBM anticipates that most customers require an Efficiency Edge for their virtual data center, which keeps the price flat across the two platforms.

Customers with an average virtual machine (VM) of 4 vCPU, 12 GB of RAM cannot see any difference in their monthly bills after they migrate to VCF as a Service. However, customers that use a higher ratio of RAM can see a cost benefit while they move migrate VCF as a Service. Both scenarios assume that customers require an Efficiency Edge, rather than a larger tier.

In addition to these changes, IBM also aligns the Veeam Block Storage pricing to the vSAN storage rates to remain consistent with the underlying technology used. As a result, some VMware Shared customers (with heavy Veeam Block Storage usage) can see a net price increase, when they move to VCF as a Service.

All existing customers will receive an email with these changes.

How different is VCF as a Service from VMware Shared?

VCF as a Service offers several advantages over IBM Cloud for VMware Shared:

  • Better architecture design that is based on the most recent supported software-defined networking platform from VMware NSX-T™ Networking, with upgraded High Availability.
  • Increased global reach with planned expansion through 2024 and 2025.
  • Single-pane-of-glass management for customers that use both single and multitenant consumption, with a common bill across.
  • Optimized compute pricing model to provide better cost economics for scaling of RAM.
  • Optional high-performance network edges to support bandwidth-intensive workloads.
  • Improved private networking experience by using IBM Cloud Transit Gateway.

Do I have options for self-service migration tools to migrate my VMs?

Yes. VMware Cloud Director Availability (VCDA) enables the VMs migration to VCF as a Service. You can find more details on how to onboard and migrate your VMs to VCF as a Service in a secure, simple, and cost-effective manner with the help of VCDA. For more information about migration paths, step-by-step guides, and managed migration services options, see Migrating from VMware Shared to VCF as a Service.

I have complex workloads that require migration support. What migration paths can I explore?

Some migrations require redesigning and reestablishing network connections, edge migrations, and extra support. IBM offers a range of managed services through IBM Consulting, IBM Cloud Expert Labs, and migration partners, such as PrimaryIO. For more information about migration paths, step-by-step guides, and managed migration services options, see Migrating from VMware Shared to VCF as a Service.

Do I have promotions or discounts to offset the cost of dual run?

Yes. IBM offers migration promotions and discounts for existing VMware Shared customers. Contact your IBM Customer Success Manager or IBM Sales representative for details about approved promotions that you can take advantage of and start your upgrade or migration.

Does VCF as a Service offer all the features and capabilities that are available in VMware Shared? If any parity gaps exist, when will they be addressed?

VCF as a Service has nearly identical features and capabilities that are used in VMware Shared, in addition to a few new capabilities and performance improvements.

The key capabilities of both platforms are:

  • Private-only connectivity
  • IBM Operated Management Plane with 99.99 availability SLA, based on VMware Cloud Director, with API connectivity
  • On-demand (hourly), reserved (monthly), 1 and 3-year committed use
  • NFS and vSAN storage options
  • Self-managed backup to cloud through Veeam
  • Migration tool
  • High availability: single-zone

IBM is actively working on some features to address in 2024, which include:

  • Load balancer
  • Self-managed disaster recovery that uses Veeam Cloud Connect
  • High availability: multi-zone regional network HA
  • High availability: stretched vSAN
  • SOC2 and C5 report

If you rely on the roadmap features, contact your IBM Customer Success Manager or IBM Sales representative to understand the custom upgrade paths and migration promotions that are available to you.

Self-managed disaster recovery that uses Zerto is not on the roadmap for 2024.

Does the migration tool also migrate the network configuration?

No. VCDA does not include any capability to migrate the network configuration.

If the network configurations are not migrated, would it be advisable to use new subnets to minimize potential issues?

You can use new subnets, however most customers don't. If you plan to migrate a subnet in multiple batches, then you need to reassign IP addresses as no L2 extension capability exists.

What are the recommended steps for an optimal migration?

We recommend the following best practices:

  1. Provision your VMware Cloud Foundation as a Service instance in the same region as the existing VMware Shared instance.

  2. Create your network or networks in VCF as a Service: segments, networks, firewall rules, NAT, and so on. For more information, see Technical considerations about migrating from VMware Shared to VCF as a Service.

  3. (Optional) If you are planning to use IBM Cloud® Transit Gateway to connect to other resources, configure interconnectivity.

    If you are planning to keep the existing subnets, do not advertise these routes through Transit Gateway until the VMs are migrated.

  4. Verify that your workloads are ready to be migrated, that is, you can see the source VMs and destination VDC and networks. For more information, see Migrating VMware Shared workloads to VCF as a Service with cloud-to-cloud connections.

  5. Set up the replication in advance and plan to perform the migration outside working hours, for example, a weekend evening.

    The workloads are restarted as part of the migration.

  6. (Optional) If you are using Transit Gateway, after the workloads are migrated, advertise the appropriate routes.