I often get asked if a certain version of vSAN can be deployed on a different version of vSphere. The answer is no. vSAN is built into the vSphere version. That means vCenter needs to be upgraded to the correct version of vCenter and all the hosts in the cluster need to be upgraded to the correct version of ESXi in order to get the features of that version of vSAN. Lastly, vSAN formats each disk drive with an on-disk format, so to get the full features of a specific release, you may need to update the on-disk format.
Here’s basically how everything breaks down:
- If you have vSphere 5.5 (vCenter Server 5.0 & ESXi 5.0) then you have vSAN 5.5.
- If you have vSphere 6.0 (vCenter Server 6.0 & ESXi 6.0) then you have vSAN 6.0.
- If you have vSphere 6.0 U1 (vCenter Server 6.0 Update 2 & ESXi 6.0 Update 1) then you have vSAN 6.1.
- If you have vSphere 6.0 U2 (vCenter Server 6.0 Update 2 & ESXi 6.0 Update 2) then you have vSAN 6.2.
- If you have vSphere 6.5 (vCenter Server 6.5 & ESXi 6.5) then you have vSAN 6.5.
- If you have vSphere 6.5.0d (vCenter Server 6.5.0d & ESXi 6.5.0d) then you have vSAN 6.6.
- If you have vSphere 6.5 Update 1 (vCenter Server 6.5 Update 1 & ESXi 6.5 Update 1) then you have vSAN 6.6.1.
- If you have vSphere 6.7 (vCenter Server 6.7 & ESXi 6.7) then you have vSAN 6.7
Here’s a more detailed matrix:
| Version | Release
Date |
Build
Number |
Installer Build Number | vSAN Version | vSAN
On-Disk Format (Web Client) |
| ESXi 6.5 U2 | 2018-05-03 | 8294253 | N/A | 6.6.1 U2 | 5 |
| ESXi 6.7 GA | 2018-04-17 | 8169922 | N/A | 6.7 GA | 6 |
| ESXi 6.6.1 Patch 02 | 2017-12-19 | 7388607 | N/A | 6.6.1 Patch 02 | 5 |
| ESXi 6.5 Express Patch 4 | 2017-10-05 | 6765664 | N/A | 6.6.1 Express Patch 4 | 5 |
| ESXi 6.5 Update 1 | 2017-07-27 | 5969303 | N/A | 6.6.1 | 5 |
| ESXi 6.5.0d | 2017-04-18 | 5310538 | N/A | 6.6 | 5 |
| ESXi 6.5. Express Patch 1a | 2017-03-28 | 5224529 | N/A | 6.5 Express Patch 1a | 3 |
| ESXi 6.5. Patch 01 | 2017-03-09 | 5146846 | 5146843 | 6.5 Patch 01 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.5.0a | 2017-02-02 | 4887370 | N/A | 6.5.0a | 3 |
| ESXi 6.5 GA | 2016-11-15 | 4564106 | N/A | 6.5 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Patch 7 | 2018-07-26 | 9239799 | N/A | 6.2 Patch 7 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Patch 6 | 2017-11-09 | 6921384 | N/A | 6.2 Patch 6 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Express Patch 11 | 2017-10-05 | 6765062 | N/A | 6.2 Express Patch 11 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Patch 5 | 2017-06-06 | 5572656 | N/A | 6.2 Patch 5 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Express Patch 7c | 2017-03-28 | 5251623 | N/A | 6.2 Express Patch 7c | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Express Patch 7a | 2017-03-28 | 5224934 | N/A | 6.2 Express Patch 7a | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Update 3 | 2017-02-24 | 5050593 | N/A | 6.2 Update 3 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Patch 4 | 2016-11-22 | 4600944 | N/A | 6.2 Patch 4 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Express Patch 7 | 2016-10-17 | 4510822 | N/A | 6.2 Express Patch 7 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Patch 3 | 2016-08-04 | 4192238 | N/A | 6.2 Patch 3 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Express Patch 6 | 2016-05-12 | 3825889 | N/A | 6.2 Express Patch 6 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Update 2 | 2016-03-16 | 3620759 | N/A | 6.2 | 3 |
| ESXi 6.0 Express Patch 5 | 2016-02-23 | 3568940 | N/A | 6.1 Express Patch 5 | 2 |
| ESXi 6.0 Update 1b | 2016-01-07 | 3380124 | N/A | 6.1 Update 1b | 2 |
| ESXi 6.0 Express Patch 4 | 2015-11-25 | 3247720 | N/A | 6.1 Express Patch 4 | 2 |
| ESXi 6.0 U1a (Express Patch 3) | 2015-10-06 | 3073146 | N/A | 6.1 U1a (Express Patch 3) | 2 |
| ESXi 6.0 U1 | 2015-09-10 | 3029758 | N/A | 6.1 | 2 |
| ESXi 6.0.0b | 2015-07-07 | 2809209 | N/A | 6.0.0b | 2 |
| ESXi 6.0 Express Patch 2 | 2015-05-14 | 2715440 | N/A | 6.0 Express Patch 2 | 2 |
| ESXi 6.0 Express Patch 1 | 2015-04-09 | 2615704 | 2615979 | 6.0 Express Patch 1 | 2 |
| ESXi 6.0 GA | 2015-03-12 | 2494585 | N/A | 6.0 | 2 |
| ESXi 5.5 Patch 10 | 2016-12-20 | 4722766 | 4761836 | 5.5 Patch 10 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Patch 9 | 2016-09-15 | 4345813 | 4362114 | 5.5 Patch 9 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Patch 8 | 2016-08-04 | 4179633 | N/A | 5.5 Patch 8 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Express Patch 10 | 2016-02-22 | 3568722 | N/A | 5.5 Express Patch 10 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Express Patch 9 | 2016-01-04 | 3343343 | N/A | 5.5 Express Patch 9 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Update 3b | 2015-12-08 | 3248547 | N/A | 5.5 Update 3b | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Update 3a | 2015-10-06 | 3116895 | N/A | 5.5 Update 3a | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Update 3 | 2015-09-16 | 3029944 | N/A | 5.5 Update 3 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Patch 5 re-release | 2015-05-08 | 2718055 | N/A | 5.5 Patch 5 re-release | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Express Patch 7 | 2015-04-07 | 2638301 | N/A | 5.5 Express Patch 7 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Express Patch 6 | 2015-02-05 | 2456374 | N/A | 5.5 Express Patch 6 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Patch 4 | 2015-01-27 | 2403361 | N/A | 5.5 Patch 4 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Express Patch 5 | 2014-12-02 | 2302651 | N/A | 5.5 Express Patch 5 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Patch 3 | 2014-10-15 | 2143827 | N/A | 5.5 Patch 3 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Update 2 | 2014-09-09 | 2068190 | N/A | 5.5 Update 2 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Patch 2 | 2014-07-01 | 1892794 | N/A | 5.5 Patch 2 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Express Patch 4 | 2014-06-11 | 1881737 | N/A | 5.5 Express Patch 4 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Update 1a | 2014-04-19 | 1746018 | N/A | 5.5 Update 1a | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Express Patch 3 | 2014-04-19 | 1746974 | N/A | 5.5 Express Patch 3 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Update 1 | 2014-03-11 | 1623387 | N/A | 5.5 Update 1 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 Patch 1 | 2013-12-22 | 1474528 | N/A | 5.5 Patch 1 | 1 |
| ESXi 5.5 GA | 2013-09-22 | 1331820 | N/A | 5.5 | 1 |
As a reference, see:
Build numbers and versions of VMware vSAN (2150753) – This is a new KB post that went up on July 31, 2017 which provides the same information as above.
Build numbers and versions of VMware vCenter Server (2143838)
Build numbers and versions of VMware ESXi/ESX (2143832)
Understanding vSAN on-disk format versions (2145267)
Live Virtually 
Looks ESXi 6.5.0d / vCenter 6.5.0d = Witness Appliance 6.5.0d (not 6.6):
https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=WITNESS-OVA-65-D&productId=614
Thank You !
Looks like something goes wrong at ESXi 6.5.0d – so vSAN version was set to 6.6 instead 6.5.x.
Not exactly. There were significant vSAN features added to the ESXi 6.5.0d that were enough to increment the release number. If there were just bug fixes, then we would have kept the 6.5.x nominclature.