ESXi 4.0U1 to ESXi 4.1U1, upgrade or fresh install?

[aldikan]

Hi Guys,

Sorry if this had been answered before,

can't find direct references,

What is the general concensus on getting hosts from ESXi4.0U1  to ESXi4.1U1, upgrade or fresh install?

Upgrade with Update Manager works very slick and easy, I tested Upgrade route already and it also allows to keep all Historical performance data intact, which is a plus.

Are there really a serious drawbacks with taking "Upgrade" route? Will the Esxi code get bloated with "upgrade" path which can backfire down the road?

Thanks,

Alex

[a_p_]

To answer your question: Upgrade.

ESXi basically consists of a firmware image which will be replaced (it works with 2 boot banks) only maintaining the configuration settings.

André

[aldikan]

Thanks Andre,

Leaning towards the "upgrade" option, just need to justify this to the Manager.

Alex

[Walfordr]

I would upgrade.  I see no advantange of a fresh install.

I went from ESX3.5 to ESXi4.1 fresh install.  I was able to migrate the vCenter DB to 4.1 and keep all of the performance history.  I wish I had the luxury of using VUM.  It Makes the process much easier but utilizing vMotion.

[aldikan]

Thanks guys,

Went with "upgrade", nice and easy,

Pinged our local area VMware engineer and he confirmed that for ESXi "Upgrade" is perfectly fine,

For ESX, fresh install (for big version rollups) should be considered, depends on what agents installed on the management console.

Good Day,

Alex

[a_p_]

For ESX, fresh install (for big version rollups) should be considered,  depends on what agents installed on the management console.

Considering that ESX 4.1 is he last version of ESX, you may not need to think about this in the future (starting with ESXi 5).

André