Upgrading existing vcenter4.1U2 to 5.5U1, from Windows 2008 R2 to 2012 R2, from SQL 2008 R2 to SQL2012

[rb51]

Hi all,

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Test Environment

2x ESX4.1U2

1x VM running vcenter 4.1U2 (Windows 2008 R2)

1x VM running vcenter VCDB on SQL 2008 R2 (Windows 2008 R2)

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I have create a Windows 2012 R2 VM (using the bios.440.rom and vmx hack) and installed SQL 2012 on the same VM. Restored the VCDB on this new 2012 VM and installed vcenter5.5U1 using simple install method all roles in this VM. It seems to have worked well, as it kept all information, I can vMotion VMs, etc.

Couple of questions:

1) In a production environment, would this be safe, i.e., Windows 2012 is not supported on ESX4.1U2? If so, would I be able to remove the bios.440.rom file + vmx hack after migrating the hosts to esxi5.5U1 and work fine (I will try this when I migrate the existing test host, just want to know whether somebody has already come across this)?

2) I am reading blogs and articles about certificates on vcenter5.5U1......At the moment we can access the WebClient on the test enviroment using https://test-vcenter:9443/vsphere-client with the website warning. I know this is a security issue, but in case I need to hurry this upgrade; is this something I need to worry about in terms of vcenter functionality?

Comments and suggestions are much appreciated

[vThinkBeyondVM]

Hi Friend,

As per ESXi and vCenter server release notes : I do not see any references where windows 2012 is supported.

Ref 1. VMware vCenter Server 4.1 Update 2 Release Notes

2. VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1 Update 2 Release Notes

On certificates front, there should not be any issue from vCenter functionality perspective. You will have default certificates installed.

[rb51]

Hi Vicky,

thank you for your reply.

vcenter 5.5U1 supports Windows 2012 R2 OS and SQL 2012 for database....

What I meant is to setup the 2012 VM using the hack and install vCenter....Than once the hosts are migrated to ESXi5.5U1 I could clone VM and remove the hac.

I am reading about certificates and yes it seems that functionality is not affected, just the security side of things

Thanks