May I download and install 4.1 U3 even if my Basic support has already ended ?

[MartinF10]

Hi,

we bought ESXi 4.1 U1 Essentials Pack more than 2 years ago. Now we would like to upgrade our HW so we bought new servers dl360 g8. Unfortunately these server are not supported with 4.1 U1. Basic support ended last year.

May I download and install 4.1 U3 without any license problems ?

Thank you.

[vmroyale]

Hello and welcome to the communities.

This would be a "patch" more than an upgrade, and you won't run into any licensing issues with it. Going to vSphere 5 is where you would have licensing problems.

[a_p_]

Your access to downloads is based on subscription. Afaik you are entitled to download any patches for the current version as well as upgrades if your subscription was valid at the time the new version went GA.

André

[MartinF10]

Ok thank you.

Is there any step-by-step manual how should I proceed when applying this kind of minor upgrade?

My plan is:

1) Migrate VMs to 2 machines

2) Install U3 on one host

3) Migrate to this host, install U3 on another host

4) Migrate from third host, install U3

5) vcenter upgrade

Is this ok ?

[Troy_Clavell]

vCenter should be your first upgrade.  From there the rest is fine.

see also, http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_upgrade_guide.pdf

[a_p_]

Although it's considered best practice (and required in some cases) to upgrade vCenter Server first, it's not a requirement in your case. Please take a look at http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php for details.

André

[MartinF10]

So I'm upgrading vCenter. According to upgrade guide after choosing DSN, it should offer me "Yes, I want to upgrade my vCenter Server database t" or "No, I do not want to upgrade my vCenter Server database" but all I have is on the picture:

[a_p_]

I assume you are reading the section about upgrading from version 4.0!? Since going from vCenter Server 4.1 U1 to U3 is more of a patch than an upgrade, there's no requirement for a database upgrade. Choose "Do not overwrite, ..." and continue the installation.

André