ESX 3.0.1 Upgrade to 3.5

[robbyburmeister]

Looking for the best method to upgrade two ESX 3.0.1 server to 3.5 U4. We are not using virtual center or vmotion. I have read the upgrade guild but did not see an upgrade method for a configuration of ESX servers using a SAN without Virtual Center. From what I have read on this forum, it seems that my setps should be as follows.

1. Backup *.vmdk files

2. Boot ESX server using iso image and choose upgrade.

Is it really as straight foward as this?

Thanks for you help.

[mvoss18 · Accepted solution]

Backing up your data before an upgrade is never a bad idea. However the upgrade from 3.0.1 to 3.5 shouldn't do anything to the datastores. It's pretty simple--just shut down the VMs and boot into the 3.5 CD and choose upgrade. Then you'll need to upgrade VMware Tools on your VMs.

[msemon1]

Could you do a fresh install by this method instead of an upgrade?

Mike

[mvoss18]

You can do a fresh install but make sure you don't overwrite the VMFS partitions where your virtual machines are stored. After the install you'll browse to the datastores where your VM files reside and add each to inventory. This is made so much easier if you have vCenter /w VMotion.

[msemon1]

So if I VMotion all of my guests off the host, run a fresh installation, then all I should have to do is re-register the guests?