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This article provides details on Extended Service Branch (ESB) For Horizon 8, App Volumes and Dynamic Environment Manager.For information on Horizon 7 ESB, refer to KB52845.
Horizon introduced Extended Service Branch (ESB), starting with Horizon 8 2111 / 8.4. All other releases not designated ESBs will be known as Current Releases (CR). Horizon 8 ESBs typically receive at least three (3) planned periodic maintenance updates. Guidance for the timing of these updates is as follows: Update 1: 6-12 months after the base version releaseUpdate 2: 15-21 months after the base version release Update 3: 24-30 months after the base version release The specific release frequency and timing will be determined based on need.A few important notes about Horizon 8 ESB: Each update will only contain critical bugs, security fixes, and new Windows 10 & 11 support, no new features will be added to these updates. Whenever a maintenance update is released, the corresponding release notes and download page will reflect the ESB update explicitly. VMware is committed to supporting Horizon 8 ESB for 3 years. After 3 years, the ESB version will be supported under the technical guidance phase for 1 year. Approximately every 12 months, a new ESB release will be available, accumulating features and updates since the previous ESB release. For example, Horizon 8 2111 / 8.4 was the first ESB on the Horizon 8.x branch, and Horizon 8 2212 was the next ESB on the 8.x branch, with Horizon 8 2312 the most recent ESB. No new special licensing requirements are needed for ESBs. A customer with a license to access the CR branch can also access ESBs Customers can switch between ESB and CR releases anytime. However, you can only upgrade from one version to another if the upgrade-to version is released after the upgrade-from version. For example, Horizon 8 2111.1 was released in Nov 2022. You can upgrade from Horizon 8 2111.1 to 2303, as Horizon 8 2303 was released in March 2023. However, you cannot upgrade from 2111.1 to 2209 (which was released prior to the 2111.1 release) VMware recommends customers deploy the latest available maintenance update for the given ESB version. Horizon 8 Release1st Update2nd Update3rd UpdateHorizon 8 2111 / 8.4 ESB2111.1 / 8.4.12111.2 / 8.4.2 Horizon 8 2212 / 8.8 ESB2212.1 / 8.8.12212.2 / 8.8.2 Horizon 8 2312 / 8.12 ESB For build number details please refer to KB 2143853 App Volumes 4 Release1st Update2nd Update3rd Update2111 / 4.5.0 ESB2111.1 / 4.5.12111.2 / 4.5.4 2212 / 4.9.0 ESB2212.2 / 4.9.22212.7 / 4.9.7 2312 / 4.13 ESB 2312.2 / 4.13.2 DEM Release1st Update2nd Update3rd Update2111 / 10.4.0 ESB2111.1 / 10.4.1 2212 / 10.8.0 ESB 2312 / 10.12.0 ESB To streamline upgrade planning, Horizon 8 ESB, App Volumes, and Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM) are engineered for broader interoperability. For optimal support, it is recommended to utilize the latest maintenance releases of App Volumes YYMM and DEM YYMM products corresponding to the Horizon 8 YYMM release. For more details around which versions are supported, please consult VMware Interoperability Matrix https://interopmatrix.vmware.com/Interoperability Please be aware of the following issue on certain builds resolved in Horizon 8.9 2303 and 8.7.1 2209 Horizon Cloud Pod (CPA) : After an upgrade to Horizon 8.7 or 8.8 (2209, 2212) with CPA, A Connection Server randomly goes offline and requires a service restart (92558) FAQ Q. What are Extended Service Branches (ESB) and how are they different from Current Releases (CR)? A. Similar to the Horizon 7 ESB, VMware Horizon 8 will provide customers with the option of deploying Extended Service Branches (ESB). An Extended Service Branch is a parallel release branch to the existing Current Releases (CR) of the product. By choosing to deploy an ESB, customers will receive periodic maintenance updates, which include cumulative critical bug fixes and security fixes. There will be no new features in the maintenance updates, so customers can rely on a stable Horizon platform for their critical deployments. Most importantly, ESB customers do not need to upgrade to newer component versions in order to receive the fixes. VMware will release new ESB versions once a year, typically 12 months apart. Once released, each ESB release will be actively supported for 36 months. During those 36 months, there will be up to 4 scheduled maintenance updates, at an approximate interval of 6, 9, 15 & 24 months from the ESB release. Active support is defined here to mean eligibility to receive hot fixes. After 36 months of active support, this particular ESB will no longer be eligible for hot fixes, but will still be supported under the general support guidelines until the end of the general support period, as defined in the VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix. Q. What is the scope of an Extended Service Branch release? A. The Extended Service Branch releases are aimed at bringing minimum disruption and maximum stability to our customer’s Horizon deployments. The fix payload for maintenance updates will vary dependent on need and urgency. ESB maintenance updates will contain some or all of the following: Critical defect fixes. Security fixes. Support for the latest Windows 10 & 11 (SAC/LTSC) versions. Support for update releases only from other VMware products (vSphere/ESX, vSAN, vCenter, etc.) that Horizon runs on for rolled-up fixes only. No new features from the update release will be supported in the ESB. Q. What customer environments are best suited for Extended Service Branches? A. Extended Release Branch is best suited for customers with mission-critical desktop and application workloads where the predictability & stability of the platform is paramount, and where frequent platform upgrade does not align with their business needs. Alternatively, customers who require the latest features & capabilities should instead consider the Current Release branch. Q. What is the licensing requirement for the Extended Service Branch? A. Extended Release Branches will be covered under the same licensing as the Current Releases. Q. What specific component will be supported as an Extended Service Branch? A. Horizon 8 Connection Server and Agents, App Volumes and Dynamic Environment Manager are covered in ESB. Horizon Client software is not covered by the Extended Service Branch policy. Current Horizon Client versions will be qualified with Horizon ESB. Q. Can you mix and match products from the Extended Service Branch and the Current Release Branch? For example, running a Horizon 2111 ESB with App Volumes 2303? A. Mixing release branches may be supported per the interoperability matrices. Please see the VMware Interoperability Matrices for more details regarding generally supported product combinations. Q. What is the support policy around interoperability between Unified Access Gateway, vSphere, vSAN, and Horizon ESB releases? A. For Unified Access Gateway compatibility with Horizon ESB, refer to the VMware interoperability matrix. vSphere does update releases to address the defects found after the release. Since Horizon interlocks with vSphere very closely, our customers wait for Horizon to confirm the interoperability with the new releases before upgrading the vSphere. Until then their vSphere stack remains locked. Given this fact, the following is the support policy around interoperability between vSphere, vSAN, and Horizon ESB releases. Horizon ESB will support only the new update release of the vSphere (e.g., vSphere 7.0U1, 7.0U2) with the condition that no new feature of vSphere will be supported. This will have a very minimal impact on Horizon and customers will also be able to upgrade the vSphere stack for the fixes. Horizon ESB will not support any major release of vSphere because it may bring substantial changes to the infrastructure which defeats the purpose of ESB. Q. What is the upgrade path for customers on the Extended Service Branch? A. Once customers deploy an Extended Service Branch, the following options are available to upgrade the environment. Upgrade to the next Extended Release Branch before the end-of-support date of the current ESB. Alternatively, if they choose to switch to the Current Release branch, they may upgrade as long as the CR they upgrade to is released at the same or later date than the most recent ESB SP update they received. Q. What if a third-party product is deprecated between two consecution service pack releases of an ESB? A. If a third-party product (OS or other) has reached EOL by the vendor, Horizon will also stop support for the 3rd party product and either remove or replace it with a newer, supported version of the 3rd party product in the subsequent release of ESB and CR. Q. What is the Win 10 & 11 support policy for Horizon 8 Extended Release branch? A. At the time of the initial release of the Extended Release Branch, the Win 10 and 11 versions supported will be defined by the Win 10 and Win 11 Guest OS Support FAQ on Horizon . Each subsequent SP update will support the most recently released Win 10 and 11 versions, 2 previous versions (as long as they are still supported by MSFT), and we will aim to qualify one future Win 10 version and Win 11 version at tech preview level (once released). See https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/78714 for latest compatibility information of Horizon 8 with Windows 10/11 releases. Q. Is there a separate versioning pattern for the ESB maintenance update? A. There is no separate versioning pattern for ESB Service Packs. Once a version is designated as an ESB version, subsequent .dot releases will be considered maintenance updates on the ESB version.
Each ESB release is explicitly mentioned in the What's New section of Documentation:What's New - VMware Horizon 8 2111 Release NotesWhat's New - VMware Horizon 8 2212 Release NotesWhat's New - VMware Horizon 8 2312 Release Notes