Replacing standalone ESXi 5.5 with version 6.5, what about existing VMs?

[Wabun]

Hi All,

I am replacing 2 x ESXi 5.5 standalone servers with ESXi standalone servers version 6.5, will my existing VMs work fine when moved to the new 6.5 version or do I need to prepare them?

Situation, I will move all VMs with Veeam backup to the second ESXi 5.5 server.

Replace old 5.5 server with newer 6.5 server, then I want to move ALL VMs to the new 6.5 server and replace the other server.

Now my question is there anything I might need to do with the VMs before I move them to new 6.5?

Do I need to upgrade the VMs to newer hardware version 10 for example?

Any help much appreciated.

[diegodco31]

Hi

Upgrade the hardware virtual if you really need it.

I recommend upgrading vmtools.

[SupreetK · Accepted solution]

1) VM hardware version 4 and above is supported with ESXi 6.5.

2) Ensure no VMs are running on snapshots before backing them up with Veeam.

3) If the existing datastore version is VMFS-5, create the same version on ESXi 6.5 as well.

4) Same network portgroups need to be created on the new servers.

5) If you want to move them live between 5.5 and 6.5, ensure EVC is enabled in case the CPU series is different.

Please consider marking this answer as "correct" or "helpful" if you think your questions have been answered.

Cheers,

Supreet

[BerndtSchumann]

You should be able to run your VMs with no issues, but will most probably need to upgrade their hardware version and VMware Tools.

[Wabun]

SupreetK​

Thank you for the extensive reply, very good list, just wondering why the datastore must be same VMFS-5 version, is that because of Veeam?

[Wabun]

BerndtSchumann​

Thank you, to what hardware version do you recommend I update the existing VMs?

[SupreetK]

On ESXi 6.5, you have an option to create VMFS-6 datastore. In case the previous VMs were running on an VMFS-3 datastore and on snapshots, they might be incompatible on an VMFS-6 datastore. Hence, the additional check

Cheers,

Supreet

[daphnissov]

This isn't accurate. You don't need to re-create a VMFS-5 datastore on the same version of an ESXi host. If a host can read/write to that version of a VMFS datastore, there is no minor version dependency. Bottom line:  You shouldn't have problems with VMFS versions when moving VMs from a 5.5 host to a 6.5 host. As a matter of best practice, ensure all snapshots are deleted prior to doing any movement, and create your datastore(s) on ESXi 6.5 on VMFS-6 (in fact, 6.5 will prohibit you from creating any VMFS-3 datastores).

[SupreetK]

VMFS-5 uses the VMFSsparse format for virtual disks smaller than 2 TB. SEsparse is a default format for all delta disks on the VMFS-6 datastores. On VMFS-5, SEsparse is used for virtual disks of the size 2 TB and larger. Thinking of this, I did not want Wabun to encounter any issues with regards to the compatibility. Therefore, wanted to get rid of all the snapshots before migrating them.

Cheers,

Supreet

[Wabun]

Hello, SupreetK​

The datastore for the ESXi servers has always been from installation the vmfs-5 version. I will go for the vmfs-6 for now, knowing it won't give any issues for the current VMs

I will make sure there are no snapshots for any VM.

Many thanks.