Updating Dell R720(corrected) on VSphere 5.5 Essential to 6.5 Essentials

[loufeliz]

Hello.  I have task to update a Essentials cluster for 3  2 socket servers.      The  R720's (corrected) support VSphere 6.5 so that is my goal, since  6.7 is not officially supported.

In starting we are freeing up one host in cluster as it only houses test vm's.

We run the vsphere virtual applicance

It is my understanding I first need to upgrade VSPhere to 6.0 or 6.5 as it can mange down to 5.5

After that I was going to do a fresh install fo 6.5 on the free 2 socket server and then migrate vm's over to it and then upgrade the other 2 servers, one at a time, coying VM's from the 5.5 to the 6.5 host.

Is there a problem with my upgrading vsphere from 5.5 to 6.5 or should I goto 6.0 first?

We backup all our vm's using Unittrends .  I will of course backup the vpshere vm  appliance before attempting any of this.

Any thing I need to be aware of before trying this?   I will be checking Dell for a Dell specific install of VSPhere 6.0 and 6.5 just in case before I start.

Regards,

Lou

[KocPawel]

Hi,

As you can see below:

VMware Product Interoperability Matrices

you can upgrade directly from 5.5 to 6.5 (the same with ESXi).

First you need to upgrade vCenter server before you upgrade hosts.

Here is update sequence:

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147289

[loufeliz]

Thanks for the links.  I will focus on vsphere upgrade first and then deal with host updates/upgrades.   I just realized I wrote 2950's ...they are Dell R720's.   I am actually going to upgrade RAM to add more and add/replace disk drives to take advantage of Raid 10 with 16 drives in each.  So I may just do clean install on each as I upgrade the hardware afer I move VM's to updated node once its on 6.5. I have been running them on USB Flash boot so I am replacing those as well .  Using 16GB usb drive on the internal usb port. Been doing this for past 6-7 years.

Cheers!

[berndweyand]

are you sure that 6.5 runs on pe2950? according to https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=server&details=1&partner=23...

the hardware supporting only up to 5.5u3

maybe it runs, maybe not due to missing drivers or cpu-support

[loufeliz]

I was thinking 2950   but hosts are actually R720's. 

[berndweyand]

then it will work. PE720 are supported for 6.5

Follow the hints of kocpawel.

i have updated some environments direct from 5.5 to 6.5 without any problems

[AhmedIbrahimVMw]

Hi,

Sounds fine to me.

Just make sure that you do the task where you'll copy "VM's from the 5.5 to the 6.5 host" is run in a maintenance window, because you might not be able to vMotion (live migrate) these VMs, as newer builds of ESXi (6.5 in this case) can remove/add CPU instruction sets, which leaves you unable to pass the validation step in the Migration (vMotion) wizard.

So if you hit this issue, you'll need to safely shut down the VMs, migrate them to the 6.5 host, then power them on again.