View 4.5 Upgrade - Compatible components?

[liontari]

Hi,

I’m drawing up a maintenance plan for Upgrading View from 4.0 to 4.5.

I understand that we do not have to upgrade to vCenter 4.1 to use View 4.5, but need to be on vCenter 4.0 U2 as a minimum.

(re. http://communities.vmware.com/message/1623613#1623613 )

Can I therefore confirm that the following Upgrade components and sequence are correct, and that and upgrade component versions are compatible.

1. Upgrade View Connection Server to View 4.5 Connection Server

2. Upgrade vCenter server to View Composer 2.5

3. Upgrade vCenter Server to to vCenter Server 4.0 Update 2

4. Upgrade ESX 4.0 Hosts to vSphere 4.1 (and all Virtual Machines’ VMware Tools to Version 7)

5. Upgrade View Agent on Virtual Machines (used with View) to View Agent 4.5

6. Upgrade View Composer Desktop Pools

7. Upgrade View Clients to View 4.5 Client

My concern is that in this scenario, we are upgrading ESX hosts to vSphere 4.1, yet only upgrading vCenter Server to vCenter Server 4.0 Update 2, and not to vCenter Server 4.1. Is this correct?

Thanks.

[mclark]

The vSphere compatability matrix, says that vSphere 4.1 is not compatible with vCenter 4.0, so you will need to plan on upgrading vCenter along with everything else. If you look at that post you referenced, he said they support "vSphere 4" at vCenter 4.0 U2. However, since you are upgrading to "vSphere 4.1", you will not be able to use vCenter 4.0.

[kjb007]

vCenter 4.0.2 is not sufficient to manage ESX 4.1 hosts. The upgraded host will disconnect from your vCenter, and will not be able to join back in. The first step should be to upgrade vCenter. Otherwise, keep vCenter and ESX at 4.0.x

vExpert

VMware Communities Moderator

vmwise.com / @vmwise

-KjB

[liontari]

Many Thanks for your reply, and the information.

Our objective is to upgrade to View 4.5, not to upgrade ESX hosts to 4.1

Our main problem is that our vCenter server (physical) does not meet the hardware criteria for vCenter Server 4.1

I presume therefore it would it suffice to upgrade ESX 4.0 Hosts to vSphere 4.0.2 in this scenario, in the following order (as per upgrade guide)?

1. Upgrade View Connection Server to View 4.5 Connection Server

2. Upgrade vCenter server to View Composer 2.5

3. Upgrade vCenter Server to to vCenter Server 4.0 Update 2

4. Upgrade ESX 4.0 Hosts to vSphere 4.0.2 (and all Virtual Machines’ VMware Tools to Version 7)

5. Upgrade View Agent on Virtual Machines (used with View) to View Agent 4.5

6. Upgrade View Composer Desktop Pools

7. Upgrade View Clients to View 4.5 Client

I assume also that we need vCenter Upgrade Manager (rather than previous ‘Host Update Utility’), or vihostupdate utility. Is that correct, or can I use the Host Update Utility’ to upgrade ESX hosts to 4.0.2?

[mclark]

Since View 4.5 is supported only on vSphere 4.0 U2 and above, I would upgrade vCenter and ESX first. So #3 is #1, #4 is #2, then upgrade the View stuff.

Also, I don't know if you considered this, or if there's some reason you don't want to, but you could install vCenter 4.1 as a VM, thus allowing you to run vCenter 4.1, and get rid of one more physical box.

The Host Update Utility was phased out in 4.1, but I think it is still available in 4.0 U2. If not, it is fairly easy to use the Update Manager in vCenter to upgrade the hosts. I used Update Manager to upgrade from ESXi 4.0 U1 to ESXi 4.1.