Upgrading from 4.6 to View 5

[VMMikeC]

I'm interested in upgrading my environment but trying to determine if its best to upgrade to ESXI 5 first and which hosts should be upgrade first.

Here's a sample of my topology

ESXI1 & ESXI2 (running ESXI 4.1 U1) are in a cluster and being managed by vCenter1.  On these hosts are my View Connection servers and a VM  vCenter2(this is the vCenter instance that manages View and has the View Composer piece installed)

ESXI3 & ESXI4 (running ESXI 4.1 U1) are in a cluster and being managed by vCenter2. Only virtual desktops are located on these hosts.

I guess my questions are....prior to upgrading to View 5, can I and/or should I upgrade ESXI3 and ESXI4 to ESXI5, or should ESXI1 and ESXI2 be upgrade first since the View Connection server and vCenter is installed on them?

My other thought was just skipping the ESXI 5.0 upgrade and just upgrade the View pieces.

Any thoughts or advice?

Thanks,

Mike

[mittim12 · Accepted solution]

View 5 is supported on vCenter 4.1 update 1 and 2  and vSphere 4.1 update 1 and 2.   I would upgrade the ESX 3 host to at least 4.1 update1, then go in and upgrade the View 5 environment, once that is completed you can upgrade to vSphere 5 whenever you choose.

http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php?

[VMMikeC]

Thanks!

I guess my layout was confusing...all hosts are already ESXI 4.1 U1....I was using esxi1,2,3,4 as the name of the hosts.

What I gather is, your advice would be upgrade View, then worry about vSphere components at a later date.

Am I losing any View 5 functionality by doing it that way?

[uday_s]

Refer to View 5.0 release notes at https://www.vmware.com/support/view50/doc/view-50-release-notes.html

You may loose Support for 3D Graphics on vSphere 5 platform and Hardware Version 8 support.

Also refer "Install and Upgrade" section in release notes.

Thanks,

Uday

[VMMikeC]

Thanks. I was aware of losing hardware version 8 and 3D graphics.

To that point though, would only the ESXI hosts that store the virtual desktops need to be on vSphere 5, or does the host that stores the View Connection server also need to be on vSphere 5?

In my environment, as mentioned, I have 3 dedicated hosts that strictly store virtual desktops. My vcenter for View is a separate instance, and is a VM, stored on some production server hosts, along with my connection servers

[uday_s]

View Connection server(s) need not be on vSphere 5.

Thanks,

Uday

[VMMikeC]

Had to bring this thread up again, as I'm getting close to my upgrade of View 5.

Going through the upgrade guide again and have a bit of confusion.

All my esxi hosts are on ESXI 4.1 U1. According to the Interoperatbility Maxtrix, ESXI 5 is not compatible with View 4.6.....I'm fine with this, as it just tells me that I'll have to upgrade the View side before upgrading the hosts.

At the same point, this is where it gets hairy....When I upgrade View Composer, should I also upgrade to vCenter 5.0 at the same time, IF I will upgrade my ESXI hosts maybe 2 or 3 weeks later?

To clarify, after step 1 of my View/vSphere upgrade, my environment will look this, vCenter 5.0/Composer 2.7, View Connection Server 5, ESXI hosts 4.1 U1

The other option that I could do is, only upgrade composer and leave vCenter at version 4.1 until I'm ready to upgrade my hosts. I figured it would be easier to upgrade vCenter together with Composer. Not sure which is the better option though

Any suggestions?

[mittim12]

What option works for you should be fine.  I choose not to upgrade my vCenter because I didn't want to make a lot of changes at once.   if your fine with doing that then by all means go ahead.  It just means less to do in the next couple of weeks. 

[VMMikeC]

Thanks. Appreciate the feedback

[caryers]

Hey Mittim12:

How can I tell if my ESXi4 Host is on Update 1? It currently shows:

ESXi, 4.1.0, 348481

Will it say Update 1?

Pleaes advise...

Scott

[VMMikeC]

It goes by the build number. You do have U1 though

http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_esxi41_u1_rel_notes.html