diff --git a/cinder/tests/unit/volume/drivers/vmware/test_vmware_vmdk.py b/cinder/tests/unit/volume/drivers/vmware/test_vmware_vmdk.py
index c07720ff5fe..ebc239d6bc1 100644
--- a/cinder/tests/unit/volume/drivers/vmware/test_vmware_vmdk.py
+++ b/cinder/tests/unit/volume/drivers/vmware/test_vmware_vmdk.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ Test suite for VMware vCenter VMDK driver.
 import ddt
 import mock
 from oslo_utils import units
+from oslo_utils import versionutils
 from oslo_vmware import api
 from oslo_vmware import exceptions
 from oslo_vmware import image_transfer
@@ -1592,12 +1593,15 @@ class VMwareVcVmdkDriverTestCase(test.TestCase):
         get_vc_version.assert_not_called()
 
     @mock.patch('cinder.volume.drivers.vmware.vmdk.LOG')
-    @ddt.data('5.1', '5.5')
+    @ddt.data('5.5', '6.0')
     def test_validate_vcenter_version(self, version, log):
-        # vCenter versions 5.1 and above should pass validation.
+        # vCenter versions 5.5 and above should pass validation.
         self._driver._validate_vcenter_version(version)
-        # Deprecation warning should be logged for vCenter version 5.1.
-        if version == '5.1':
+        # Deprecation warning should be logged for vCenter versions which are
+        # incompatible with next minimum supported version.
+        if not versionutils.is_compatible(
+                self._driver.NEXT_MIN_SUPPORTED_VC_VERSION, version,
+                same_major=False):
             log.warning.assert_called_once()
         else:
             log.warning.assert_not_called()
@@ -1607,7 +1611,7 @@ class VMwareVcVmdkDriverTestCase(test.TestCase):
         # Validation should fail for vCenter version less than 5.1.
         self.assertRaises(exceptions.VMwareDriverException,
                           self._driver._validate_vcenter_version,
-                          '5.0')
+                          '5.1')
 
     @mock.patch.object(VMDK_DRIVER, '_validate_params')
     @mock.patch.object(VMDK_DRIVER, '_get_vc_version')
diff --git a/cinder/volume/drivers/vmware/vmdk.py b/cinder/volume/drivers/vmware/vmdk.py
index b1ef9cab92b..2e4f0a1abe2 100644
--- a/cinder/volume/drivers/vmware/vmdk.py
+++ b/cinder/volume/drivers/vmware/vmdk.py
@@ -223,13 +223,14 @@ class VMwareVcVmdkDriver(driver.VolumeDriver):
     # 1.5.0 - restrict volume placement to specific vCenter clusters
     # 1.6.0 - support for manage existing
     # 1.7.0 - new config option 'vmware_connection_pool_size'
-    VERSION = '1.7.0'
+    # 1.7.1 - enforce vCenter server version 5.5
+    VERSION = '1.7.1'
 
     # ThirdPartySystems wiki page
     CI_WIKI_NAME = "VMware_CI"
 
     # Minimum supported vCenter version.
-    MIN_SUPPORTED_VC_VERSION = '5.1'
+    MIN_SUPPORTED_VC_VERSION = '5.5'
     NEXT_MIN_SUPPORTED_VC_VERSION = '5.5'
 
     # PBM is enabled only for vCenter versions 5.5 and above
@@ -1866,11 +1867,10 @@ class VMwareVcVmdkDriver(driver.VolumeDriver):
         elif not versionutils.is_compatible(self.NEXT_MIN_SUPPORTED_VC_VERSION,
                                             vc_version,
                                             same_major=False):
-            # TODO(vbala): enforce vCenter version 5.5 in Pike release.
             LOG.warning('Running Cinder with a VMware vCenter version '
                         'less than %(ver)s is deprecated. The minimum '
                         'required version of vCenter server will be raised'
-                        ' to %(ver)s in the 11.0.0 release.',
+                        ' to %(ver)s in a future release.',
                         {'ver': self.NEXT_MIN_SUPPORTED_VC_VERSION})
 
     def do_setup(self, context):
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/vmware_vmdk_enforce_vc_55-7e1b3ede9bf2129b.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/vmware_vmdk_enforce_vc_55-7e1b3ede9bf2129b.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..38bdcb47e1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/vmware_vmdk_enforce_vc_55-7e1b3ede9bf2129b.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+upgrade:
+  - The VMware VMDK driver now enforces minimum vCenter version of 5.5.