vSphere 4 to vSphere 5 migration

[pan1268]

Hi,

We have just migrated from vCenter 4.0 to vCenter 5.0 update 1  and upgraded all the related vCenter componants to 5.0 update 1. Now we have around 6(4 node) ESX 4.0 update 4 clusters with production VM running on them. Somes VM are configured with MSCSClustering.We have a dvSwitch configured. I would like to know and confirm the steps to migrate these ESX 4 hosts to ESXi 5 hosts: I have decided to create

1) New 4 node ESXi 5.0 update 1 cluster

2) Then present the old ESX4.0 cluster storage to the newly built ESXi 5 cluster.

3) vMotion migrate all the standalone VMs to the new ESXi hosts.(upgrade the tools and VM hardware later)

4) When all VMs migrated to new ESXi 5 cluster remove the old ESX hosts from the vCenter server.

Now I have doubt with the MSCS Cluster VMs ; can I vMotion migrate the MSCS Cluster VMs after presenting the datastore and RDMs to the new ESXi 5 cluster.(Not to mention that i will vMotion migrate the clustered VMs after switching off the secondary node.)

Will the MSCS cluster VMs (having attached RDMs) work this way. Please help.

Many thanks in advance.

Cheers

[weinstein5]

Have you reviewed the upgrade guide - http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-501-upgrad...

Also did you upgrade your existing vCenter server or a new installation?

You would not be able to vmotion the VMs that are members of the MSCS cluster - best way is to add the hosts to the new vCenter environment and is you can tolerate downtime for the MSCS clusters perform shut down the VMs and upgrade the ESXi hosts -

[pan1268]

Hi

Thank you for replying.

I have gone through the guide. We have done the fresh installation of the vCenter 5.0 as we have changed our hardware, but all the ESX hosts are still ESX 4.0 and we are in the process of installing new ESXi hosts.  I know that i need to shutdown the MSCS clustered VM before vMotion migrate them to new host. My question is If I present the RDMs and data stores(which is presented to the old ESX 4 Cluster at the moment) to newly installed ESXi 5 host cluster (meaning the old ESX 4 cluster and new ESXi 5 Clsuter can see the datastores and RDMs) will I be able to vMotion migrate and succesfully start the MSCS cluster VMs.

Cheers