Hidden in the release notes: VMware Engineering PR Numbers

We all know about the VMware case numbers. Each SR you open gets a nice number.

Internally, VMware has a problem database. Newly found bugs end up in there. And if you spend a lot of time with VMware support, you will end up hearing a lot about these internal PR (problem reports).

Here is a cool fact you may not know. Hidden in the HTML source of the public release notes that VMware produces, are the actual PR numbers associated with the issue that is described as having been fixed. (or not fixed).

Take the NSX 6.2.0 release notes for example: https://www.vmware.com/support/nsx/doc/releasenotes_nsx_vsphere_620.html

View the source:

And if you scroll down to the fixes, you will find:

Its those DOCNOTE numbers, that are the actual PR numbers. Sometimes they also list the public KB number too.  But there are far more interal PR numbers than there are public KB equivalents.

So how can this help you?

Well for one thing, you can start asking intelligent questions of VMware support, like: 'Has something like my issue been reported before in the PR database?' (prompting the engineer to go look for it, which they don't always do on their own accord 😉
Or you can use it as a validation check. If your issue is scheduled to be fixed in an upcoming patch, ask the support engineer for the associated PR numbers! That way, you can verify yourself in the release notes, if the fix was included!
The process of getting a new patch or update through QA is quite involved, and sometimes fixes fall by the wayside. This is not immediately known to everyone inside VMware. So its always worth checking yourself; trust but verify.