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techhouston
Contributor
Contributor

upgrade vmware from 5.5 to 6.5

my current vsphere client and vcenter servers are running 5.5.0 and I need to see how to upgrade to 6.5? I read that you can start by upgrading vcenter server first to 6.5 and then do the ESXi hosts one a time.

will it be ok to upgrade from 5.5 to 6.5 or I need to do 6.0 and then 6.5?

thanks

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guruswapanvi
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

You can upgrade directly from 5.5 to 6.5.

You can refer to 6.5 install guide on how to upgrade to 6.5.

Thanks!

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techhouston
Contributor
Contributor

how to backup vcenter server? I have the following:

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should I be download a new version of SQL to backup the DB etc..?

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Unless you already have a backup for the vCenter Server in place, you may e.g. install SQL Server Studio to maintain/backup the SQL database.

Unless there's a requirement for running vCenter Server on Windows, I'd suggest you consider migrating to the vCenter Server Appliance (see https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2147686).

In any case, make sure you are aware of  Important information before upgrading to vSphere 6.5 (2147548) | VMware KB

André

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virtualtech_wor
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi,

Would suggest you to upgrade ESXi from 5.5 to 6.0 Update 2 at least to start with.

The reason being, it looks like there are some important VMware products that are not yet compatible with 6.5.

I would wait for little more to upgrade to 6.5.

For upgrading 5.5 to 6.0, there are good articles around. like:

http://www.vladan.fr/easily-upgrade-esxi-5-x-to-the-latest-esxi-5-5-update-1-via-cli/

If you still want to upgrade to 6.5, then you could probably look at this guide: http://www.vladan.fr/how-to-upgrade-esxi-6-0-to-6-5-via-iso/

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techhouston
Contributor
Contributor

please let me know if I should install sql express 2008, i dont see sql management option to pen the run a backup of the DB.

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