Upgrade to ESXi 5.0

[Rohail2004]

Can I upgrade ESXi 4.1 to ESXi 5.0 via Update Manager?

Also I don’t find the host upgrade utility to upgrade from ESXi 4.1 to ESXi 5.0? where can I find it?

[Troy_Clavell · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can use VUM to upgrade to ESXi 5.  The Host Update utility is not a valid upgrade tool

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2004501

[Shakaal]

Hi,

VMware Update Manager can be used to perform in-place upgrades of hosts running vSphere 4.1, or you may choose to do a clean installation of ESXi 5.0.

also You can upgrade or migrate hosts ESX/ESXi 4.x to ESXi 5.0 by invoking an update script. You can use a script to upgrade ESXi from a CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, or by PXE-booting the installer. You can also call a script from an interactive installation

Regards

[jamdev]

Hi,

If you are just upgrading the free version of ESXi4.x to ESXi5 the procedure could not be any simpler.

1.Burn a copy of the ESXi5 media.

2.Shutdown all VMs on your host[I recommend a backup of your VMs, cause you never know].

3.Insert CD in host and reboot.

4.Let system boot from CD.

5.Once host has booted go carefully through the prompts.

6.One of these prompts will ask you if you want to upgrade [or in place UPGRADE].

7.Choose upgrade option and acknowledge.

8.Upgrade will take 10 minutes to complete.

9.Once it is done reboot and your host will now boot with ESXi5.

10.Now bring up your VMs and upgrade Vmtools on them and you are done.

Now if you are upgrading an infrastructure of vsphere you need to upgrade vcenter first to the latest version. Once you are done with that upgrade do the upgrade for the hosts by doing the above procedure. The above procedure I've done dozens of time without fail, but like I said, always make a backup. You never know.

Jamdev12

[MauroBonder]

Look too this guide of upgrade http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-upgrade...