Can I upgrade from ESXi 6.5 GA to 7.0 U3 at once?

[hoon0715]

Hi, all.

I'm currently using 4 ESXi 6.5 GA versions with vSAN.

I preparing to upgrade to vSphere 7.0.

After checking the upgrade path, I found that for 6.5 GA versions, would prevent a direct upgrade to 7.0 via the CLI due to a change the certificate.

I have a question here.

1. Should I follow the path 6.5 GA > 6.5U2 > 7.0U3? Or do I need to apply a patch after 2020 first before upgrading to 6.5 U2?

2. If I upgrade through ISO file, can I upgrade from 6.5 GA to 7.0 U3 right away?

Thanks in advance !

Best regards.

[e_espinel · Accepted solution]

Hello.
I recommend you to apply Update 3 ( Build 13932383) and then the latest patch package (Build 18678235) available for version 6.5.
link: https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/patch#search

About migrating to version 7.0 you should perform a complete check of your Hardware and its current configuration to avoid surprises.
Have a full backup of all your VMs
link: https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2021/09/esxi-7-boot-media-consideration-vmware-technical-guidance.h...