VMFS volumes during 3.0.2 to 3.5u4 upgrade

[taylorb]

Well I was waiting to upgrade my 3.0.2 until ESX4 came out, but of course it does not support my still excellent HP ML570 G4 servers. So I am updating to 3.5u4 until I can get new hardware approved . My plan was to migrate all my VMs off of one 3.0.2 server at a time, upgrade it to 3.5u4, vmotion the machines back and be happy. I will upgrade VMtools at the next maintenance window. But, I am a little nervous about attaching the 3.5 host back in with all my VMFS volumes still running 3.0.2 hosts and VMs. Does this pose any risk at all? the documentation seems to state that both use VMFS3 so there should be no issue, but I wanted to hear if anyone can confirm this upgrade plan works OK.

Thanks.

[Troy_Clavell · Accepted solution]

It's all VMFS3, you will be fine

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1005325

[Rumple]

Its the same level of vmfs, but i would highly suggest you unplug your storage (or unzone it if necessary) so that you do not have an accidental format or wipe of the storage.

Best practice is to always try to remove storage prior to rebuild or upgrade.

[depping]

I agree, detach your storage before you do the upgrade. Not detaching is definitely a risk.

Duncan

VMware Communities User Moderator | VCP | VCDX

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[taylorb]

Thanks, I definitely planned to unplug the fiber and reattach only after the install it complete. Glad to know it is going to be as easy as that. I remember with ESX 2.5 to 3.0 upgrade there was VMFS compatibility issues due to different versions so I just wanted to double check.