RHEL 9.x High Availability (HA) Support on VMware ESXi 8.x
Article ID: 430485
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
There is often confusion regarding the supportability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) High Availability (HA) Add-Ons when running as guest operating systems on VMware vSphere.
It is important to distinguish between:
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vSphere HA: A VMware feature providing high availability for virtual machines at the infrastructure level.
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RHEL HA: A Red Hat software feature (Clustering) that operates within the guest operating system.
Environment
VMware vSphere ESXi
Cause
This article addresses common inquiries regarding the support matrix and configuration requirements for RHEL 9.x clustering services on VMware environments, based on official Red Hat and VMware compatibility guides.
Resolution
1. Red Hat Support Policy
Support for the RHEL HA Add-On resides primarily with Red Hat. For specific support policies regarding RHEL 9.x HA running on VMware, please refer to the official Red Hat documentation:
Red Hat High Availability Support Policies - VMware Virtual Machines
2. VMware OS Compatibility
From an infrastructure perspective, RHEL 9.x is fully supported as a guest operating system on ESXi 8.x and 9.x. You can verify the specific update levels (e.g., 8.0 U3) via the Broadcom Compatibility Guide:
3. Summary Recommendation
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For Guest OS Support: Ensure your ESXi host is on a version validated in the Compatibility Guide.
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For Clustering Support: Reach out to the Red Hat Support Team to ensure your specific HA configuration (e.g., fencing agents, storage heartbeats) aligns with their supported deployment patterns on vSphere.
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