Help.. ESX 3.0.0 upgrade

[Buck_Brown]

Current Setup:

HP DL385 G5, ESX server 3.0.0 VI 3.0 VIC 2.0, All current VM images are on the local server. All 8 licenses are used. (Very simple setup) Except for I have no way to Vmotion or restore a backup for testing before installing or upgrading.

Goal:

Move the current ESX license Database off of an expiring SQL 2000 server and move it to our new SQL 2005 server.

We have been told that SQL 2005 will not communicate with ESX server 3.0.0? If that is true, we will have to Upgrade ESX.

Any preferences of which ESX version to go to in this solution. Would you update ESX before the Database?

[starz · Accepted solution]

The license database is held by a FlexLM license server, it is not saved in any SQL database. For moving the licenses to a new server all you need to do is this:

1. Install the license server application on the new server

2. Add the current licence-file to this new licence server

3. Change all licence-server hostnames on the ESX-servers and VC to the new hostname

I think what you meant was moving the VirtualCenter database information from SQL2000 to SQL2005? That's not hard either, if you're doing it right from the beginning. There are some caveats however, and has been thoroughly explained in other threads on this forum. The ESX-servers themseleves are never talking to any database.

Regarding which version to go for, I personally like the new 3.5.

[ctfoster]

In terms of the order you'll need to upgrade VC to 2.5 first as an ESX 3.5 host can not be managed by VC 2.0.x.

There is a very useful upgrade guide.

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