Impact of Minor ESXi Build Version Discrepancies on VMware Site Recovery Manager Failover

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

User's planning a Site Recovery Manager (SRM) failover may encounter environments where the Protected Site and Recovery Site utilize different build numbers of the same ESXi version. This article clarifies if build alignment is mandatory for successful recovery.

 

Environment

VMware Live Site Recovery 9.x

Cause

SRM supports recovery between sites with different ESXi build numbers provided they reside within a compatible major/minor version branch and the vCenter/SRM interoperability matrix is respected.

Resolution

 

1. Compatibility Verification: Confirm that both ESXi builds (e.g., Build 24784735 and Build 25067014) belong to the same supported minor version (8.0 Update 3).

2. Interoperability Check: Validate that the vCenter Server and SRM versions at both sites are identical or within the supported pairing range according to the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix.

3. Alignment Requirement: Build alignment is not mandatory and will not act as a showstopper for recovery operations.

4. Validation: Perform an SRM Test Recovery prior to the scheduled failover. This ensures all Virtual Machines register correctly and power on within the recovery site's specific build environment without impact.

 

Additional Information

Product Interoperability Matrix