On November 18 2021, VMware pulled vSphere 7.0 U3, which includes the removal of:
- ESXi 7.0 Update 3 (Build 18644231 dated 2021/10/05, release notes archive)
- ESXi 7.0 Update 3a (Build 18825058 dated 2021/10/28, release notes archive)
- ESXi 7.0 Update 3b (Build 18905247 dated 2021/11/12, release notes archive)
- VMware vCenter/VCSA 7.0 Update 3b (Version 7.0.3 Build 18980211, release notes archive)
They have also pulled the release notes, so I’ve included links to the cached versions above in case you’re seeking them.
This "recall" is unfortunate, and it brings me no joy to report this. In well over 10 years of staying on top of vSphere releases in my home lab, I can’t recall any major VMware vSphere release pulled many weeks after it became GA. I sure hope VMware is more conservative in their approach to future major update releases, and ships code only when it’s ready, not when it was expected to be ready. I expect transparency, especially in enterprise products, and I look forward to seeing how VMware handles the next steps. Probably best for me to leave it at that.
These downloads are no longer available from VMware Customer Connect directly, due to several critical issues identified in them. You may still be able to find them on vExpert and VMUG Advantage EVALExperience.
What should you do if you’ve already updated to any of the 7.0U3 releases, like I did? If you’re in a lab like I am, it’s not big deal, just wait for VMware to issue a fix. There is no need to roll-back if you’re not experiencing issues, and my 2 node home lab is in that camp. Read onward for details.
VMware explains in kb.vmware.com/s/article/86398:
Q. Why are these releases being pulled?
A. VMware has identified critical issues with these builds. For further information, please refer to KBs 86287 & 86281. For more details behind the decision, please review Important Information on ESXi 7 Update 3 .
Here’s an excerpt from Important Information on ESXi 7 Update 3:
Removal of ESXi 7 Update 3 from Download Site
Select customers have encountered issues while upgrading their environments to the ESXi 7 Update 3 release.After careful consideration, we have removed the ESXi 7 Update 3 release from our Product Downloads site. We made this decision to protect our customers from potential failures which may occur as they upgrade to ESXi 7 Update 3. While we believe that this would only impact a limited set of customers, it was serious enough for us to take the action. When we have resolved the upgrade issues in ESXi 7 Update 3, we will notify our customers that they may resume upgrades to ESXi 7 Update 3 at that time. For more details on the underlying issues, please refer to KB article 86398.
Our review process uncovered partner driver interoperability problems which prevented certain upgrade paths from completing in some customer environments. Specifically, driver VIB changes caused naming collisions in ESXi. This resulted in upgrade failures and related HA failures. Unfortunately, our quality testing and certification process missed this issue. We investigated options to address it with patches, however, due to certain operational complexities for our customers we removed the ESXi 7 Update 3 release from our download site.
Note that the VMware vCenter Server 7 Update 3 release remains stable and available. Customers may continue to download and upgrade to this latest vCenter Server release.
For customers who have already successfully upgraded to ESXi 7 Update 3, you may remain on this release and will have full support from VMware.
We will reissue ESXi 7 Update 3 as soon as we have the driver issues fully resolved–which involves working with our partners. Customers will be notified when the release is available via our normal release notifications, including a post on this vSphere Blog site.
See also at TinkerTry
See also
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