updating host on which vcenter resides (essentials no vmotion) all local disks

[jamiegorel]

Hello

I am certain this has been answered. I looked and did not hit the jackpot with the right keyword combo so here i am

systems:

2 L380 G6 RAID 5 3* 300 GB SAS 10k networked behind cisco firewall, vcenter installed on 1 of the machines

I have vcenter installed for 2 hosts (soon to be three) and have started to use the update manager. I updated the other host (the one without vcenter). A

s i am not sure how to enter the host with vcenter on it into maintenance mode (with vcenter on it), then update the host where vcenter resides with vcenter closed.How is this done?

If there is a routine whereby this can be done (remember no vmotion), that would be great. If needed i could move the vcenter server once shut , but once vcenter is shut ( to migrate it, needs to be shut to migrate yes?) how could it be 'told' to move?

Please let me know i really appreciate it.

thanks

JAMIE

[FranckRookie]

Hi Jamie,

You need to stop all VMs on your hosts before updating it.

You can move the vCenter VM to the other host, for example using Converter. Then restart vCenter and update the first host with Update Manager.

Another solution is to stop all VMs and use vihostupdate command line.

Check first that you have a good backup of your VMs...

Good luck!

Regards

Franck

[jcwuerfl]

If all ESX(i) servers can see all of the storage, you can stop the VM's on the server you want to update and basically unregister the VM with the current server you are on by doing a right click and remove from inventory. Then on the other host you already upgraded browse to the VM in the datastore browser and right click on the VMX file and register the VM again to vCenter then start up the VM's on that host. Should be pretty quick and easy with no vmotion as long as all the hosts can see all the storage where these VM's are.

[jcwuerfl]

Oh shoot, just saw the last part of the subject where you said all local disks. Its still pretty easy but will take more time to copy the VM's. Basically shut down the VM's and go to the Datastore Browser and download those VM folders to your workstation. Once you do that you can upload them to the new host using the datastore browser and then unregister the VM from the old host by right clicking remove form inventory (note the files are still on the old host) and then you can register the VM on the new host by browsing to the VMX files on the new hosts local datastore and right clicking on the VMX file and register the VM. Once that's done and you confirm its working you can delete the old folder in the Datastore Browser on the old host. Or yes, I think you can use Converter to move it from one host to another which may be a bit easier actually as long as you don't have the "free" version of esxi.