Migration Esxi5.1 to Esxi 5.5

[zikorai]

Good Day ,

I m on the way to migrate from Esxi5.1 to Esxi 5.5 update2 is safty ?

also I have three hosts abd one vcenter server  how i will do it ?

about licences I use the semae or I need new one ?

If you can advice me will be thankful

Regards

[a_p_]

Upgrading from vSphere 5.1 to 5.5 is a pretty straight forward task. What you basically need to do is to upgrade vCenter Server prior to upgrading the ESXi hosts. For details, I'd recommend you take a look at the Upgrade Guide which can be found at VMware vSphere Documentation. Make sure the hosts are supported for ESXi 5.5 (see VMware Compatibility Guide)

The license is the same for all 5.x versions.

André

[zikorai]

Thanks for the answer . excuse me but in the document is not clear how step by step to do migration . if you have one link explain better I will be thankful because I m worry to do a disaster .

Regards

[a_p_]

There's unfortunately no master plan to do this. It depends on your environment, licensing and the hardware you use.

For vCenter Server it depends on whether you are using the vCenter Server Appliance, or the Windows based installation and which database is used. For the Windows based installation it also depends on whether the 5.1 environment was a fresh installation or upgraded from a previous version. For the ESXi hosts it's important - as mentioned before - to ensure the hardware is supported by the new version.

How to perform the host upgrade itself, depends on whether you have Update Manager in place, or whether you are going to upgrade the hosts manually using e.g. the interactive CD upgrade. Last but not least you may need to schedule downtime for the VM's, depending on whether they are stored on shared storage, and whether you have vMotion licensed.

André

[zikorai]

For the hosts are supported for ESXi 5.5 after cheking .

For Vcenter 5.1  I have under Windows2008R2 with Sqlserver2008R2

I don't have update manager , I will use CD upgrade , I have vmotion configured

So the plan :

first I upgarde Vcenter but how ?

second I will upgrade Host by Host I have three Hosts .

Regards

[zikorai]

can someone help me please .

Regards

[ch1ta]

Have you already checked this KB article it has extensive information regarding vCenter upgrade procedure, as well as, lots of references describing different scenarios. Also, in order to be on the safe side, don't forget to backup VMs prior to updating your Virtual Infrastructure using free backup utility, such as VeeamZIP or similar.

Cheers.

[vervoortjurgen]

upgrading vcenter on the same server is just following the single setup from vmware

it will upgrade your vcenter and databases

also install your update manager on the same server

then you can upgrade host by host with the update manager

if you dont want to install the update manager, then i would clear one host put it in maintenance mode and remove it from the cluster and vcenter

then do an upgrade or fresh install of esxi server

add the host back to vcenter

do the same with the other esx host

foir this you will need to have enough resource in the other esx host to run all vm's ofcourse

hope this helps you

[zikorai]

Thanks  vervoortjurgen     for your answer is clear just last question when I upgarde vcenter to 5.5 no problem with hosts are in 5.1 after I migrate one by one ?

[JPM300]

After your vCenter is upgraded to 5.5 with all the plugins at 5.5, you start upgrading your hosts to 5.5.  This can be done with update manager or with the ISO DVD.  You typically do them 1 by 1 or in small groups if your cluster can support that many down at a time.  After all your hosts are at 5.5 you would upgrade your VMware tools to 5.5 on all the VM's.  After that if your Datastores are not up to VMFS 5.X you can upgrade those as well.  This can all be done live, however the VMware tools may require a reboot of the VM after the upgrade depending on your previous version of the tools.

Hope this has helped

[vervoortjurgen]

you can manage esxi 5.0, 5.1 and 5.5 host with vcenter 5.5

[zikorai]

Just last question I have in the dsik 57 Go on vcenter and free space 7 Go if I do upgrade the vcenter5.1 to vcenter5.5 I need more space ?

Please can you help me I will be thankful .

Regards

[vervoortjurgen · Accepted solution]

you can upgrade with 7GB of free space but i recommend always 20GB of free space to play with and backups

depends how big your database is and the rest is installezd

updata manager etc...