CPU Support Deprecation and Discontinuation In vSphere Releases
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CPU Support Deprecation and Discontinuation In vSphere Releases

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Article ID: 318697

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

In response to future CPU support plans from AMD, Intel, and VMware’s Server partners, VMware provides the guidance below for support for servers using the CPUs shown in Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3. Many of these CPUs are already either at End-Of-Support (EOS) / End-Of-Life (EOL) from the above hardware vendors or will eventually be.

Intel Skylake CPUs: Intel has transitioned the Skylake generation of processors into their ESU (End of Servicing Update) / EOSL (End of Servicing Lifetime) phase. This includes the server class Xeon- Scalable Processors (SP) series, by December 31, 2023. As a result, VMware is planning to discontinue support of the Intel Skylake family processors in the future vSphere major release after 8.0.x.  

For more details on processors support, please visit Intel’s site on “Changes in Customer Support and Servicing Updates for Select Intel® Processors”.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi
VMware vCenter Server

Resolution

Definitions:

  1. Future Major Release – the next vSphere major release refers to the release after 8.0.x series
  2. Supported – vSphere supports the CPU series
  3. Deprecated – vSphere installer provided a warning for imminent discontinuation of the CPU in an upcoming major vSphere release. Installation process will be permitted to continue.

Note 1: These CPUs will continue to be supported through the lifetime of vSphere that stated release, updates, and patches, or until End-of-General Support (EoGS). See Product Lifecycle Matrix for vSphere EoGS.
Note 2: Customers installing or upgrading from release N-1 to N vSphere release on Servers with the specified CPUs will continue to see CPU support discontinuation warning messages. CPUs receiving the warnings will still be supported by all current and future vSphere N releases, updates, and patches.

  1. Discontinued – vSphere installer will prevent the installation of that release for the discontinued CPU

Table 1 below lists support discontinuation plan for future major vSphere release after 8.0.x

Customers installing or upgrading to vSphere 8.0.x releases on Servers with the specified CPUs in Table 1 will continue to see CPU support discontinuation warning messages. CPUs receiving the warnings will still be supported by all vSphere 8.0.x and older releases, updates, and patches. Below this is the warning message shown by the vSphere ESXi 8.0x  Installer with CPUs at Table 1:

The CPUs in this host may not be supported in future ESXi releases. Please plan accordingly.”

Table 1: CPU Support Deprecation/Discontinuation List  planned with future VMware major vSphere release after 8.0x

Legend:

Supported The vSphere release fully supports the processor series with the proper patches and updates applied.
Deprecated Installer Warning! See detailed explanation in “Definitions-” above.
The vSphere release supports it, but it is recommended to deprecate use of the processor series.
Discontinued The vSphere release will not be installed and does not support the processor series.

 

VCG CPU Series Name    

CPU Info

Raw CPUIDs

Code Name

vSphere 8.0.x line

Future Major
vSphere Release

Xeon D-1500 Series

6.56

0x00050660

Broadwell-DE

Deprecated

Discontinued

Xeon E3-1200-V5 Series;
Xeon E3-1500-V5 Series

6.5E.3

0x000506E3

Skylake S

Deprecated

Discontinued

Xeon E5-2600-V4 Series;
Xeon E5-1600-V4 Series

6.4F

0x000406F0

Broadwell-EP

Deprecated

Discontinued

Xeon E5-4600-V4 Series

6.4F

0x000406F0

Broadwell-EP

Deprecated

Discontinued

Xeon E7-8800/4800-V4 Series   

6.4F

0x000406F0

Broadwell-EP

Deprecated

Discontinued

Xeon E3-1200-v6 Series

6.9E.9

0x000906E9

Kabylake-S

Deprecated*

Discontinued

Intel Xeon Platinum 8100,
Gold 6100/5100, Silver 4100,
Bronze 3100 (Skylake-SP) Series

6.55.4

0x00050654

Skylake-SP

Deprecated*

Discontinued

Xeon D-2100 Series

6.55.4

0x00050654

Skylake-D

Deprecated*

Discontinued

Xeon W-2100 Series

6.55.4

0x00050654

Skylake-W

Deprecated*

Discontinued


Note:
*Deprecated notice was only implemented in 8.0.U2 due to Intel’s recent announcement for Skylake EOS/EOL in Dec 2022.


Table 2: VMware vSphere 8.0x Intel CPU Support Discontinued List 

VCG CPU Series Name

CPU Info

Raw CPUIDs

Code Name

Intel Xeon E3-1200 Series

6.2A

0x000206A0

Intel Xeon E3 (Sandy Bridge)

Intel Xeon E3-1100 Series

6.2A

0x000206A0

Intel Xeon E3 (Sandy Bridge)

Intel Xeon E5-1600 Series

6.2D

0x000206D0

SandyBridge-EP WS

Intel Xeon E5-2600 Series

6.2D

0x000206D0

SandyBridge-EP 2S

Intel Xeon E5-1400 Series

6.2D

0x000206D0

SandyBridge-EN

Intel Xeon E5-4600 Series

6.2D

0x000206D0

SandyBridge-EP 4S

Intel Xeon E5-2400 Series

6.2D

0x000206D0

SandyBridge-EN

Intel i7-3600-QE

6.3A

0x000306A0

IvyBridge-DT

Intel Xeon E3-1200-v2 Series

6.3A

0x000306A0

IvyBridge-DT

Intel i7-3500-LE/UE

6.3A

0x000306A0

IvyBridge-DT

Intel i3-3200 Series

6.3A

0x000306A0

IvyBridge-DT

Intel Pentium B925C    

6.3A

0x000306A0

IvyBridge-DT- Gladden

Intel Xeon E3-1100-C-v2 Series

6.3A

0x000306A0

IvyBridge-DT- Gladden

Intel Xeon E5-1600-v2 Series

6.3E

0x000306E0

IvyBridge EP

Intel Xeon E5-2600-v2 Series

6.3E

0x000306E0

IvyBridge EP

Intel Xeon E5-2400-v2 Series

6.3E

0x000306E0

IvyBridge-EN

Intel Xeon E5-1400-v2 Series

6.3E

0x000306E0

IvyBridge-EN

Intel Xeon E5-4600-v2 Series

6.3E

0x000306E0

IvyBridge-EP 4S

Intel Xeon E7-8800/4800/2800-v2

6.3E

0x000306E0   

IvyBridge-EX

Intel i7-4700-EQ Series

6.3C

0x000306C0

Haswell-DT

Intel Xeon E3-1200-v3 Series

6.3C

0x000306C0

Haswell-DT

Intel i5-4500-TE Series

6.3C

0x000306C0

Haswell-DT

Intel i3-4300 Series

6.3C

0x000306C0

Haswell-DT

Intel Xeon E5-1600-v3 Series

6.3F

0x000306F0

Haswell-EP

Intel Xeon E5-2600-v3 Series

6.3F

0x000306F0

Haswell-EP

Intel Xeon E5-1400-v3 Series

6.3F

0x000306F0

Haswell-EN

Intel Xeon E5-2400-v3 Series

6.3F

0x000306F0

Haswell-EN

Intel Xeon E5-4600-v3 Series

6.3F

0x000306F0

Haswell-EP

Intel Xeon E7-8800/4800-v3 Series

6.3F

0x000306F0

Intel Haswell-EX

Intel Xeon E3-1200-v4 Series

6.47

0x00040670

Broadwell-DT

Intel Core i7-5700EQ

6.47

0x00040670

Broadwell-H

Intel Atom C2700 Series

6.4D

0x000406D0

Intel Avoton 8c

Intel Atom C2300 Series

6.4D

0x000406D0

Intel Avoton 2c

Intel Atom C2500 Series

6.4D

0x000406D0

Intel Avoton 4c


Table 3: VMware vSphere 8.0x AMD CPU Support Discontinued List

VCG CPU Series Name

CPU Info

Raw CPUIDs

Code Name

AMD Opteron 6200 Series

15.01

0x00600F10

Interlagos BullDozer G34

AMD Opteron 4200 Series

15.01

0x00600F10

Valencia BullDozer C32

AMD Opteron 3200 Series

15.01

0x00600F10

Zurich AM3

AMD Opteron 4300 Series

15.02

0x00600F20

Piledriver-C32 (seoul)

AMD Opteron 3300 Series

15.02

0x00600F20

Piledriver-AM3 (Dehli)

AMD Opteron 6300 Series

15.02

0x00600F20

PileDriver-G34 (Abu Dhabi)

AMD Opteron X2250 Series

15.30

0x00630F00

Steamroller-Berlin

AMD Opteron X1250 Series

15.30

0x00630F00

Steamroller-Berlin

AMD Opteron X1100 Series

16.00

0x00700F00

Kyoto

AMD Opteron X2100 Series

16.00

0x00700F00

Kyoto