upgrade esxi/vcenter 5.0 to 6.0

[ddrive]

Hi all ,

I am currently looking into upgrading my esxi hosts and vcenter to the latest versions .

Currently I am running esxi/vcenter 5.0 .

My questions are :

- Do I need a new license for version 6 ?

- Or do I need to upgrade my license ?

- what are the steps for upgrade ?

thanks in advance

Regards ,

Donovan

[schepp]

Hi,

vSphere 6.0 requires a new license key.

If you vSphere and vCenter licenses have an active Support Contract you are able to upgrade your license from 5.X to 6.0 for free.

This can be done in the myvmware.com license portal. Here's how to: How to upgrade license keys in My VMware (2006974) | VMware KB

If your contract expired you either have to renew the support + pay expiring fee or buy new licenses. This is up to what's cheaper as for example how long is your contract expired.

[rcporto]

- Do I need a new license for version 6 ?

You will need a different license for version 6.

- Or do I need to upgrade my license ?

You will need to upgrade the license, but your Contract and Subscription should be active. See how: How to upgrade license keys in My VMware (2006974) | VMware KB

- what are the steps for upgrade ?

See the following KBs:

Upgrading to vCenter Server 6.0 best practices (2109772) | VMware KB

Best practices to install or upgrade to VMware ESXi 6.0 (2109712) | VMware KB

Take in mind the you should upgrade the vCenter server first and then upgrade the hosts.