nexus 1000v upgrading from 5.1 to 5.5

[tdubb123]

I am using nexus 1000v on esxi 5.1

the version is

4.2(1)SV2(1.1a)

is this supported or will it work in esxi 5.5?

what is the process for the upgrade?

[pratjain]

Nexus 1000v Compatibility Guides are available at

Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch for VMware vSphere - Compatibility Information - Cisco

Version - 4.2(1)SV2(2.1) shows to be compatible

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus1000/sw/4_2_1_s_v_2_2_1/compatibility/...

[grasshopper]

Hi tdubb123,

The following is the definitive link to show the upgrade steps (only if upgrading the 1000v):

http://www.cisco.com/web/techdoc/n1kv/upgrade/utility/n1kvmatrix.html

The above utility is one of the best kept secrets.  It will generate links that you can share with your network folks (VSM upgrade procedure) as well as links for you to follow for your portion (vCenter, ESXi, and VEM upgrades).  To determine compatibility when you don't want to upgrade the VSM / VEM, check the release notes to see if the target ESXi / vCenter versions are supported with your current 1000v version.

The basic flow of the upgrade is:
-  Check compatibility (release notes, matrixes, etc.)
-  Upgrade vCenter (if required)
-  Upgrade VSM (note:  higher VSM's are backwards compatible with lower VEM versions.  Don't run too long like this though.  A day or two is fine)

-  Upgrade ESXi hosts / VEM modules
Note:  I personally prefer to cook a custom ISO (PowerCLI ImageBuilder for 1000v) that includes the desired VEM module along with the new ESXi version, but you can use VUM as well.  YMMV as historically certain versions of 1000v don't play nice with VUM.

Note:  a general best practice is to review all of the release notes for the versions higher than yours when deciding if you should upgrade the VSM / VEMs.  Further, it is ideally best to ask your Cisco AS team to bug scrub your environment to tell you what version you should go to.  The latest is not always the greatest, as it depends heavily on your environment.  Most likely they will tell you to take the latest, but it's good to ask.

To review the release notes for all versions above yours, simply type in 1000v in the main search page on cisco.com then click release notes.  Here's the current list of release notes:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/switches/nexus-1000v-switch-vmware-vsphere/products-release-not...

My advice is to consider upgrading the 1000v version (VSM and VEMs) as lots of bugs have been fixed in the higher versions (as always).  Also, if you upgrade to at least SV2(2.1) you can then start using the vCenter plugin for 1000v (It's brand new, and pretty awesome.  It works on the web client only, not on the fat client).  The 1000v plugin will let you answer lots more operational / day-to-day / lights-on questions without having to depend on your network guys.  Ping me via VMTN IM if you need help setting it up.

Edit:  Modified upgrade order section (added comments and link to Image builder for 1000v VEM).

[tdubb123]

hi

I need to upgrade to esxi 5.5 ssoon but looks like with my version of 1000v

4.2(1)SV2(1.1a) esxi 5.5 will not support it?

but from the link above, looks like I need to upgrade vcenter and esxi to 5.5 first and then upgrade the nexus 1k?

Will this mean that

4.2(1)SV2(1.1a)version will continue to work in esxi 5.5?

[pratjain]

You would update your vCenter and vCenter Update Manager first to 5.5 and then VSM to 4.2(1)SV2(2.2 and then upgrade your hosts to 5.5