Upgrading vCenter 4.0 to 4.1 Windows Server 2008 R2

[orehmann]

Hi

I am plannung the upgrade of our current vSphere 4.0 U2 environment to vSphere 4.1. As I first have to upgrade our vCenter here some facts and questions:

- vCenter Server OS : Windows Server 2008 R2 (so 64Bit)

- VMware vCenter : 4.0 U2 (Help->About: Build 258672) 32-Bit (at least I think so as all the processes like vpxd have a *32 in task manager)

- SQL Express 2005 (2005.90.....) / Native Client installed

Now my question is, which is the easiest way to upgrade to vCenter 4.1 64 Bit ?

1) Inplace ?

Can the vCenter 4.1 installer upgrade a 32Bit vCenter to a 64Bit Instance and upgrading the vCenter/Update Manager DBs ?

If yes, do I have to create a 64Bit DSN first ?

2) Data Migration Tool

- Use the Data Migration Tool to backup/export my vCenter 4.0 to C:\DataMigration

- Stop/Uninstall vCenter 4.0

- Delete C:\ProgramData\VMWare Folder

- Uninstall SQL Express 2005 and delete the VMWare VIM/VUM DBs

- Clean the Registry HKLM\Software\VMWare / HKCU\Software\VMWare

- Go to the "datamigration" folder and issue the install.bat to install a new instance of vCenter 4.1

Would this work ? Would this setup up a new vCenter 4.1, SQL Express 2008, VMware Update Manager, .... import the 4.0 DB and convert it ?

Neither Hostname nor IP would change.

So which szenario works and which one is the better if both of them work ?

Regards

Oliver

[schepp]

Hi,

here is what I did:

• Backup and export the DB.

• Set up new server with 2008 R2 (same DNS Name and IP as the old host)

• install MS SQL 2008

• import the old DB

• create 64 bit DSN for vCenter

• create 32 bit DSN for Update Manager (yeah it's still required in 32bit)

• install vCenter (it will detect the 4.0 DB and upgrade it to 4.1)

• install VUM

• install other plugins

Done, everthing works fine

Regards

[jcwuerfl]

Another way, if you just want to start clean is setup a fresh Win08R2 Server and SQL DB and do a new install. Then just disconnect your host from the old vCenter and add it to your new vCenter. * Note this you may loose your old stats but if your ok with this then this works fine.