There have been a few situations lately where having the VMware VM Mobility guide was quite handy. Thanks to a co-worker for finding this and bringing it to my attention.
Because different products were launched at different times, you cannot determine corresponding generations by matching product version numbers.
The following list provides a quick guide to the generations of currently supported products. Earlier products are no longer supported.
* Generation 2—GSX Server 1.x, ESX Server 1.0 and 1.1
* Generation 3—Workstation 3.x, GSX Server 2.x, ESX Server 1.5
* Generation 4—Workstation 4.x, VMware ACE 1.x, GSX Server 3.x, ESX Server 2.x (uniprocessor and SMP)
* Generation 5—Workstation 5.x, VMware Player 1.x, VMware Server 1.x, ESX Server 3.x
* Generation 6—Workstation 6.x, VMware ACE 2.x, VMware Player 2.x, VMware Fusion 1.x
Products in the same generation provide similar capabilities and similar virtual hardware, making it easier to move virtual machines from one product to another. In the simplest cases, the virtual machines are interoperable—they can be moved back and forth without modification and they run without problems. However, even within the same generation there might be differences that require you to take some special steps when moving a virtual machine from one product to another.