Unified VCF Versioning in ESXi Release

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

Starting vSphere 9.0, ESXi will start using the same versioning format and release cadence as VCF releases to provide a uniform experience.
User facing release aliases such as Update 2a or U3b that were used for previous vSphere releases are discontinued and replaced by the VCF-format release version string.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Resolution

Traditionally ESXi release types consist of: major release, update release, patch release, express patch and hot patch.
ESXi 7.0/8.0 uses the following format:

<Major version field 1>.<Minor version/Major version field 2>.<Update release> - <Internal quarter identifier>.<Patch identifier>.<Buildnumber>

For example, ESXi 8.0 Update 3e has a version string of 8.0.3-0.70.24674464 in the above format

Starting vSphere 9.0, ESXi will be released with VCF in the unified release types of: major release, minor release, maintenance release, express patch and hot patch.
As a result of this change, the ESXi versioning will use the following format:

<Major version>.<Minor version>.<Maintenance version>.<Express/hot patch identifier>.<Buildnumber>

The <express/hot patch identifier> field can be:

- Single digit '0' for a major, minor or maintenance release
- 4 digits non-zero number for an express/hot patch in the format EEHH.
- EE represents express patch digits starting 01 and HH represents hot patch digits starting 01. For example, first hot patch over the first express patch will be listed as '0101'

For example, a 9.0.1 hot patch release may have a full version string of 9.0.1.0101.12345678 in the new format

Note: The important change would be the replacement of hyphen after the 3rd version section(<Maintenance version>), also note the removal of the "quarterly" bit so there is one less field in the full version string.

The table below provides side-by-side comparisons to illustrate how the new release/versioning scheme work:

Previous Release Type	8.0 Example Release Name	Actual Release Full Version	New Release Type	9.x Similar Release Name	Sample Release Full Version
Major release	8.0 GA	8.0.0-1.0.20513097	Major release	9.0.0.0	9.0.0.0.12345678
Update release	8.0 U2 / Update 2	8.0.2-0.0.22380479	Minor release	9.2.0.0	9.2.0.0.23456789
Patch release	8.0 U2b / P03	8.0.2-0.30.23305546	Maintenance release	9.2.1.0	9.2.1.0.34567890
Express patch release	8.0 U2c / EP2	8.0.2-0.40.23825572	Express patch release	9.2.1.0100	9.2.1.0100.45678901
Hot patch release	8.0 U2b Hot Patch 1	8.0.2-0.30.23465881	Hot patch release	9.2.1.0101	9.2.1.0101.56789012

Note: While release documentation and UI/SDK of VCF and vSphere use the new version format to identify an ESX release, low-level version strings, like those found in VIB or component metadata, may still contain a hyphen in the version, such as 9.0.1-0101.12345678.