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End of Support for VMware Shared deployments

End of Support for VMware Shared deployments

As of 28 March 2024, VMware Shared is not available for new deployments. Support for existing instances is extended until 28 February 2025. All customer and management data, including the backups of workloads, will be deleted in March 2025. Migrate all your VMware Shared resources to IBM Cloud® for VMware Cloud Foundation as a Service by 28 February 2025.

IBM Cloud support for IBM Cloud for VMware Shared will end on 28 February 2025. As stated in End of Support for NSX-V instance deployments, IBM’s exclusive support extension for VMware® NSX-V is ending soon. Because IBM Cloud for VMware Shared uses NSX-V as the underlying networking software, it will no longer be supported after 28 February 2025.

The upgraded replacement for VMware Shared is VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) as a Service, the next generation IBM-managed VMware Cloud Director offering. IBM® strongly recommends that you migrate your workloads to VCF as a Service.

VCF as a Service is based on VMware NSX-T software and is provided at near-identical pricing. As of December 2024, VCF as a Service multitenant is available in 7 IBM Cloud regions, and more regions are added periodically.

As of 28 March 2024, new orders for IBM Cloud for VMware Shared instances are not accepted. If you are an existing customer, you can continue to use your VMware Shared deployments until 28 February 2025 after which access to workloads will end. IBM does not anticipate any further extensions after 28 February 2025 and all existing workloads will be deleted in March 2025. Regardless of the retention period, all backups would also be deleted in March 2025. IBM strongly recommends that you assess your workloads immediately and complete your migration to VCF as a Service before 28 February 2025.

IBM Cloud offers secure, simple, and cost-effective onboarding and migration options: either self-service or assisted. For more information, see Migrating from VMware Shared to VCF as a Service.

Pricing changes to consider when you migrate to VCF as a Service multitenant

Review the following pricing considerations:

  • The prices for vCPU and RAM are rebalanced for VCF as a Service multitenant to enable more cost-effective scaling of RAM.
  • VCF as a Service multitenant uses vSAN-backed Block Storage for Veeam, while the legacy VMware Shared offering uses the less expensive 0.25 IOPS File Storage. This difference results in a net increase in price for Veeam Block Storage when you migrate.
  • On-demand Base Charge is not applicable for VCF as a Service, as it is replaced by the newly introduced network edge tiers. Network edge charges apply to both on-demand and reserved usage.
  • The following options are available for network edges: Efficiency, Medium, Large, and Extra Large. Most customers require an Efficiency edge for their first virtual data center, which is price-matched with the Base Charge in VMware Shared.

For more information about pricing, see the VCF as a Service About page.

Migration considerations

Since VCF as a Service is based on VMware Cloud Director, it retains the same console that is used for VMware Shared. You benefit from performance improvements, greater global coverage, and a small price rebalancing, which make VCF as a Service the ideal landing zone for your workloads.

Additionally, VCF as a Service multitenant includes different options for network edges: an Efficiency edge, and three types of Performance edges.

Depending on the size and complexity of your workloads, you can migrate them by using a self-service migration tool. If you need assistance, you can choose a partner to help with some migration activities or ask them to do a full migration for you.