VMware Cloud Community
BobbyJ
Contributor
Contributor

OK, 3.5 who's doing it ... and who's done it... ??

Just getting ready to install 5 new ESX 3.0.2 hosts in an DRS-HA cluster and am just wondering if now would be a good time to jump to 3.5 (we have the licensing).

Usually as a general rule of best practice I wait 6 mos or so after a release before upgrading, but if things are solid enough I think now would be a good time to do the upgrade, saving some headaches down the road.

So, I'm wondering what the masses are doing...

1. Are there alot running on 3.5

2. Are there any major problems with 3.5 (known anyways)

3. Are there any big changes from 3.02 I would need to know about to plan for.

Thanks for sharing.

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35 Replies
petedr
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Dave,

Yes is is planned for the next generation product to also include support for 3i.

Pete@esxpress

www.thevirtualheadline.com www.liquidwarelabs.com
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BobbyJ
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for all the imput so far... I gues to clarify, and I guess this is the underlying question to my 3 original questions.

Would anyone that is installing 5 new Hosts go right to 3.5, or go 3.0.2 wait 6 months then look at 3.5? I know for me I generally wait, but wanted to get others opinions.

Thanks.

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mike_laspina
Champion
Champion

Going to ESX 3.5 is a commitment to VC2.5, if you have not run it in the environment yet I would say keep on course with ESX 3.0.2 until you are ready.

http://blog.laspina.ca/ vExpert 2009
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ejward
Expert
Expert

I'm setting up VC 2.5 on a new server today. Rolling out 3.5 on a lab server. Installing 2 new hosts with 3.5 (Managed by new VC server) next week. If that goes well, migrate other hosts (12) over the next month or so. As long as it's stable (I've had the beta running for a few months with no downtime), I can live with a few of the features not working well.

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Borat_Sagdiev
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I work closely with Platespin (we are a channel partner) and I was told that a 3.5 - compatible release of Convert will be out within 30 days (that was 2 weeks ago, today is January 26th). Our client chose to install ESX 3.5 himself against our recommendations so now we sit and wait to perform his P2Vs across the WAN. We tried using Vizioncore's vConverter in the meanwhile, it works, but is not as slick as PowerConvert and is slower across the WAN. They (Vizioncore) also just came out with a release that works with 3.5. I say stay with 3.0.2 untile the supporting cast of characters is ready or if you absolutely need any of the features that it offers over the older versions.

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ejward
Expert
Expert

I do a lot of booting VMs from CD. In 3.0 I can never catch the boot sceen and hit ESC quick enough to get to the boot options. In 3.5 you can set a delay or even set it to boot from CD on next boot. This alone was worth the upgrade of a couple of hosts for me.

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Tibmeister
Expert
Expert

I have 8 hosts that are running ESX3i installable with no major problems. 3 of these hosts are PE2950's with the PERC 6/iR controller, and no problems there. Getting ready to replace 3 PE2850's with Dell M600 blades. The license server picks them up very nicely, and the Capacity Planner has come in very handy. I have used SVmotion like a mad man and have had no problems.

I would have to say from my experiance, 3i/VC2.5 rocks and I fully recommend it to anyone who asks.

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Schorschi
Expert
Expert

The more we test ESX 3.5 and VC 2.5 the more we are stepping back. IBM hardware, no support for ESX 3.5 officially even published. HP just told us due to NIC agent/NIC driver/HP IML errors with HP Insight Manager Agents 7.9.1, we will need to use HP Insight Manager Agents 8.0.0. Dell, R900 evaluation server for our lab, has been delayed, expect the 6i driver issues have something to do with this. Most recently we have found a few issues with ESX 3.0.2 integration to VC 2.5, and it is critical for us to have ESX 3.0.x supported so we can phase into 3.5/VC 2.5.

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java_cat33
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Hi - what HP server are you testing your 7.9.1 agents and drivers etc on?

We've had no issues with 7.9.1 agents etc

What is version 8.0.0?

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Schorschi
Expert
Expert

Quite a list... BL460c G1, BL680c G5, DL580 G5, and a few others, ML350 G3 (just so see what it does, nothing serious), DL380 G3, G4. We have consistently seen the HP IML NIC status flip-floppy state issue on all of the above with HP 7.9.1.

HP stated that Insight Agents 8.0.0 is due out soon and they recommended we try 8.0.0 when released.

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DougBaer
Commander
Commander

The main issue that I had was that the installer did not recognize 3.5 as a valid version -- at that point, I ran out of time to play with it. I understand that this has been corrected.

Doug Baer, Solution Architect, Advanced Services, Broadcom | VCDX #019, vExpert 2012-23
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Schorschi
Expert
Expert

Specific to your question. HP 7.9.0 agents you had to add "3.5" to the install script, but since HP 7.9.1, resolved.

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dominic7
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I've installed about 25 ESX 3.5.0 hosts now with only a single major issue which ( storage VMotion and VMs deployed from thin provisioned templates bug). Otherwise it's been pretty good. Storage VMotion is a huge plus in general, and the update manager faeature of VC 2.5 is likewise awesome. Changing around the build scripts took a little time but wasn't too bad.

Been using the HP 7.9.1 agents, and while I'm not a fan of the SIM agents in general they seem pretty solid so far.

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java_cat33
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

hmm... interesting. Thanks for the info. It will be interesting to see the new agents.

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ehinkle
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

How did you set that delay, I was not aware of that feature?

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ejward
Expert
Expert

How did you set that delay, I was not aware of that feature?

If you edit the settings of the VM, on the Options tab, there are boot options. Here you can set a boot delay or force it to boot to the BIOS screen on the next boot.

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