Upgrade from 4.1 to 5.1

[fajarpri]

Hi, has anyone succesfully done the upgrade from vSphere 4.1 to 5.1?

1. Any pitfalls?

2. Should I upgrade the vCenter first or the hosts? I plan to use manual upgrade using CD.

Thank you

[schepp · Accepted solution]

Hi,

yes I've done it. ESX 4.1 to ESXi 5.1 and ESXi 4.1 to ESXi 5.1. All upgrades done with the VMware Update Manager. No problem.

You always have to upgrade the vCenter first, because the 4.1 vCenter will not be able to manage 5.1 hosts.

Regards

[MarekZdrojewski]

Hi,

Yes, I've done a few.

1. No, everything went smooth

2. Always update your vCenter first and I prefer to use the Update Manager to upgrade your hosts.

P.s. read the vSphere upgrade guide whitepaper.

Cheers!

[aravinds3107]

Upgrade your vCenter to 5.1 before upgrading the host to 5.1 version as you will not be able to manage the ESXi 5.1 with earlier version of vCenter. Check VMware Interoperability Matrix

I would suggest to use VUM to upgrade the host as it would be easier than using the CD.

Make sure to read the upgrade guide , Also make sure to upgrade the VMware tools and Virtual hardware Version 9 on the VM's