Using compatibility matrix to avoid plug-in compatibility issues

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
Plug-in incompatibility can result in client failures

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x

Cause

Third-party plug-ins may be incompatible with certain versions of the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client. The Compatibility Matrix allows the end user to control whether a plug-in will deploy on specified client versions

Resolution

To disable and enable plug-ins from deploying on the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client, you must edit the compatibility-matrix.xml configuration file. You can locate the file in one of the following directories:

Location of the compatibility-matrix.xml Configuration File:
 

vSphere Environment Setup	vSphere Client	vSphere Web Client
vCenter Server for Windows	C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-ui	C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-client
vCenter Server Appliance	/etc/vmware/vsphere-ui	/etc/vmware/vsphere-client

You can define your compatibility rules by inserting a <PluginPackage> element inside the <pluginsCompatibility> element for each plug-in.

For Example:

<Matrix>
  <pluginsCompatibility>
     <PluginPackage id="com.vmware.example" version="2.7.5" status="incompatible"/>
     ...
     <PluginPackage id="" version="" status=""/>
  </pluginsCompatibility>
</Matrix>

The <PluginPackage> element contains the following attributes:
 
id - The string ID of the plug-in that you want to prevent from deploying or explicitly declare as compatible with current version of the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client.

version - The version of the plug-in that you want to prevent from loading. The version is a string in any of the following format:

• Version: An exact version, e.g. 2.7.3, 3.5.3, etc. The format allows for maximum of 4 dotted numbers.
• Interval: [0, 6.4] or [6.5, 7.0) or (7.5, ). As seen you can use empty strings to mark infinity values. I.e in the example above from v7.5 to infinity.

status - The rule that you want to be applied for the plug-in. The status can be:

• incompatible - The plugin is incompatible. Either cannot deploy at all, or if deployed causes us a lot of grief.
• compatible - The plugin is compatible, which in other words means: it is expected to work and we are not aware of any major issues (not that there may not be any - simply we don't know them).