VCB gets new life

[dsellens]

All support for VCB was supposed to have been dropped in July, but a reprieve has been given.  The following note is now on the latest release notes for VC 1.5 update 2:


New: VMware has extended the end of availability timeline for VCB, and has added VCB support for vSphere 4.1. VMware will continue to support VCB 1.5 Update 2 for vSphere 4.1 and its subsequent update and patch releases through the end of their lifecycles. Support is extended in accordance with the VMware support policy for the VMware Infrastructure 3 platform. New major or minor versions of the vSphere platform beyond vSphere 4.1 will not be supported with VCB.

[dsellens]

VCB may have a longer life, but VMware Converter no longer will restore VCB backups.  See KB 1026945 and 1026944 :

VMware has extended the end of availability timeline for VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) and has added VCB support for vSphere 4.1. However, not all capabilities that are available prior to vSphere 4.1 are available in this release.
 
If you choose to use VCB scripts to protect your vSphere virtual machines, restoring these images requires the use of VMware vCenter Converter. Prior to vSphere 4.1, vCenter Server 4.1, and vCenter Converter 4.1, you could use either vCenter Converter Standalone or vCenter Converter integrated to restore these VCB images. However, beginning with vSphere 4.1, vCenter Server 4.1, and vCenter Converter 4.1, the VCB restore capability is no longer available.
 
VMware recommends that you retain a copy of vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.1 or earlier to restore VCB images when deploying a vSphere 4.1 and vCenter Server 4.1 environment.
Additional Information
For related information, see Support for VMware Consolidated Backup (1026945).

[Viperman]

So are they dropping ALL support for VCB or just support for VCB in vSphere?  What about companies that are still running 3.5?

Why would someone ever want to run VCB if their backup program support the vStorage API?

[dsellens]

As the post I quoted says, support for VCB will continue on the current platforms per their general support policies but will not be extended beyond vSphere 4.1 to any new releases. 

And You are correct.  If you are using a third party backup solution, then current versions of that solution should be using the new APIs and will have to use the new API's to fully support ESXi and versions of the vSphere Hypervisor past 4.1.