Upgrading vCenter from 5.0 to 5.5 Update 2e

[MariusRoma]

I need to upgrade my vSenter v. 5.0 to VMware vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2e.

The vCenter is a VM running Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 10.50.1600.

The VM is not member of Active Directory.

• What should I consider before performing the update?
• Where can I locate a detailed documentation of the upgrade process and a list of questions I'll have to answer?
• During the update the ESXi hosts will go on working as well as the guest VM.
• Should I try to power off as many VMs as I can?
• Should I do anything at the SQL side?
• Should I take a snapshot and/or make a (Veeam) backup of the vCenter VM in case anything goes wrong with the update?
• Given something goes wrong during the update, can I just revert to the snapshot?
• Is there anything else I can do to ensure a successfull update?

Regards

Marius

[npadmani]

https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-upgrad...

vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2e Release Notes

Most answers could be found from above two urls.

[GaneshNetworks · Accepted solution]

• What should I consider before performing the update?
  • https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-upgrad...
• Where can I locate a detailed documentation of the upgrade process and a list of questions I'll have to answer?
  • https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-upgrad...
• During the update the ESXi hosts will go on working as well as the guest VM.
  • Yes, vCenter upgrade won't impact either ESXi or VM
• Should I try to power off as many VMs as I can?
  • Not required
• Should I do anything at the SQL side?
  • Make sure you have FULL backup. Rest will take care by vCenter 5.5 installation
• Should I take a snapshot and/or make a (Veeam) backup of the vCenter VM in case anything goes wrong with the update?
  • It's recommended to have snapshot
• Given something goes wrong during the update, can I just revert to the snapshot?
  • Yes, You can
• Is there anything else I can do to ensure a successfull update?
  • Read the upgrade guide twice
  • Make sure you note down the ESXi server name, which holds your vCenter VM
  • Make sure you have root password of the ESXi server name, which holds your vCenter VM

[MariusRoma]

thank you to everybody for the useful information.

Let me imagine a very pessimistic scenario.

• I shutdown my vCenter VM, take a snapshot and restart it.
• I start the upgrade and something goes wrong.
• Users go on working with their VMs.
• The upgrade fails so that I power down my vCenter VM and restore the last snapshot.

Or. even worse:

• I shutdown my vCenter VM, take a snapshot and restart it.
• I start the upgrade and something goes wrong.
• Users go on working with their VMs.
• I presume that everything is ok so I go on working
• One day later I discover that something critical is wrong so I decide power down my vCenter VM and restore the snapshot made one day before

What am I losing?

• Any change made to the VM contents? I don't think so...
• Any change made to the VM settings? I don't think so...
• Any change made to the ESXi hosts settings?
• What else?

Regards

marius

[GaneshNetworks]

• Any change made to the VM contents? I don't think so...
  • VMs will not lose any content
• Any change made to the VM settings? I don't think so...
  • VMs will not lose any settings
• Any change made to the ESXi hosts settings?
  • ESXi hosts will not lose any settings
• What else?
  • You cannot manage all your ESXi Hosts and VMs in a single pane of window
  • DRS will not work
  • You cannot make any changes in cluster settings
  • Alarms will not work
  • etc.,

[gklopfer]

Hello, I am in a similar situation where I need to upgrade two hosts from 5.0 to 5.5 and bring in two new 5.5 hosts into the cluster.  I am fairly new to VMWare, and have been heavily researching this topic which brought me to your post.  ‌GaneshNetworks  makes it sound all too easy, so I was wondering how your experience with the upgrade went.  

For testing I am going to down grade one of my new 5.5 hosts to 5.0, clone a VM from one of the active 5.0 hosts then upgrade to 5.5 to see how well it works.  I really can't afford to lose any of my VMs.  I still have some further reading but since your post was fairly new, I thought I would see how your upgrade went, and if you have any advice to share.

Thanks

Gary