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sigmanila
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ESX 3.0.3 - any upgrade (migration) path to ESXi 5?

Hi Guys,

I am facing the task to get 6 Standalone, unpatched, ESX 3.0.3 Hosts to ESXi 5.0 (target will be a Cluster, VCenter Server) without spending money on new Hardware :smileycry: No need to mention that the Guests that are running on these Servers should be left as they are (mostly WIndows 2003 SP2 Servers, however, a downtime would be no problem.

Second Challange is that I can not create new Datastores as the SAN Box is already at the Limits Smiley Wink

Is there a supported Migration or Upgrade Path to accomplish this task. Any suggestion would be very much welcome.

Thanks Guys

Cheers

Sigmund

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rajvm256
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Few considerations I think you should consider.

I would rather prefer a fresh install of esxi5.0

Why not consider it?

if you do not have any critical data because for an upgrade you need to migrate and might hit some known issues.

3.5 --> 4.1  --> 5.0

Anyways if you still prefer to upgrade

1. Bring all hosts to 3.5 ----------------->  right

2. Install vCenter 5.0 ----------------->  right

3. Bring the 6 Standalone under the vCenter ---> right

4. go on with upgrade/migration of the hosts to ESXi 5 --->you might need to upgrade to 4.x before going to 5.x

Thanks | http://virtualvm.info/

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rajvm256
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sigmanila
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Thanks a lot, thats a very good start to read Smiley Happy

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sigmanila
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After doing some reading, i came up with the following conclusion

1. I have to go from ESX 3.0.3 to ESX 3.5

2. I can go from ESX 3.5 to ESX 4.x

Here comes my next question now:

From ESX 4.x - should I migrate to ESXi 4.1 and then upgrade from ESXi 4.1 to ESXi 5.0, is that even possible?

Also, in the current setup, there is no vCenter Server, so I would now already go ahead with setting up a vSphere vCenter 5.0.

From what i researched, I can include the 6 Boxes in the vCenter 5.0 after I successfully upgraded them to 3.5 as 3.0.3 is not supported.

Any more inputs on the setup?

My plan was to propose to do the following

1. Bring all hosts to 3.5

2. Install vCenter 5.0

3. Bring the 6 Standalone under the vCenter

4. go on with upgrade/migration of the hosts to ESXi 5

From there, I will recommend a path to get DR, installing 6 new Hosts with ESXi 5, bring the VM's of the old Servers to the news, and then use the old ones in a DR Site with DR Storage.

Shoot away now, how many flaws do you guys see in my ideas :smileygrin:

Thanks alot

Cheers

Sigmund

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rajvm256
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Few considerations I think you should consider.

I would rather prefer a fresh install of esxi5.0

Why not consider it?

if you do not have any critical data because for an upgrade you need to migrate and might hit some known issues.

3.5 --> 4.1  --> 5.0

Anyways if you still prefer to upgrade

1. Bring all hosts to 3.5 ----------------->  right

2. Install vCenter 5.0 ----------------->  right

3. Bring the 6 Standalone under the vCenter ---> right

4. go on with upgrade/migration of the hosts to ESXi 5 --->you might need to upgrade to 4.x before going to 5.x

Thanks | http://virtualvm.info/
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sigmanila
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Hi,

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, I myself would certainly rather reinstall, however, the VM's on these ESX include some cirtical Applications and Services such as SAP and Lotus Notes. I also do have no additional Storage at all, so I will need to utilize the existing Storage. How would you go about it in such a situation?

As for the steps, I did not made it clear in my question above, but yes, I intended to go

3.0.3 -> 3.5 using either offline upgrade or esxupdate

Install Vcenter  5

3.5 -> 4.0 ESXi using update manager

4.0 -> 5.0 using update manager

If you see any other way for me to go about it with a fresh install (with no additional Storage, Hardware) I would really prefer that. I also do not have much trust in their Backup of the Applications iside the VM's

Cheers

Sigmund

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rajvm256
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Yes . what you written is the perfect planSmiley Happy

Best of Luck...

Thanks | http://virtualvm.info/
sigmanila
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Thanks a lot Smiley Happy

I certainly will piost the progress here and I am also sure I will run into one or more of the known issues, hopefully nothing deadly hehehe :smileygrin:

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