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gelico
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Questions about 3.5 upgrade

Hello,

We are going to upgrade to 3.5 version following the Upgrade Guide and how is specified we'll start upgrading Virtual Center from 2.0.1 version.

We have two little questions:

  • It's better to migrate to 3.5 and them to 3.5 update 1 or directly upgrade to 3.5 update 1?

  • We read we must upgrade VC to 2.5 first and our esx could be managed with this version.

  • Just another question anyone knows how may time the virtual center upgrade takes? And the esx hosts upgrade?

But after the VC upgrade the servers will be seen by VC or must we do something special (re-add, or ...)?

Our environment is

  • VC 2.0.1

  • One 3.0.0 ESX server

  • One 3.0.1 ESX server (we'll apply these patches first ESX‐1002083, ESX‐1002085, and ESX‐7557441)

  • Tree 3.0.2 ESX servers

  • One 3.5 Stand Alone (not managed from VC yet)

Thanks

Angel

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williamarrata
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NO, thats incorrect. Just follow the steps that I stated above. The Upgade 1 is a FULL installation, you do not need to do 2 steps.

Hope that helped. Smiley Happy

Hope that helped. 🙂

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williamarrata
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I think if you follow the Upgrade guide you'll do just fine. Its quite easy.

My answer to your first question. Yes, Upgrade your VC FIRST to this version.

VMware VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 1

Latest Version: 2.5 Update 1 | 4/10/2008 | Build: 84767 | Release Notes

This is the link for the download.

Once you have completed the successfull installation of you new VC then go to your next step. Upgrading your esx boxes to ;

VMware ESX 3.5 Update 1

Latest Version: 3.5 Update 1 | 4/10/2008 | Build: 82663 | Release Notes

This is the link for the download.

Some saftey tips; Make sure you shut down your VM's and unhook your hba's, by doing this you'll prevent the mistake of formating the wrong drive or LUN. This is one of the most common mistakes I have seen.

Once you have upgraded your ESX hosts, re-attach your hba's, reboot hosts, rescan storage adapters, and you should see all you LUN's and VM's. At this point you should Add from Inventory all your VM's and once that is completed, Install VMware Tools and you should be good to go.

Hope that helped. Smiley Happy

Hope that helped. 🙂
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TomHowarth
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As William has stated, just follow the guide,

Remember VC first,

then migrate Guests from one machine - upgrade to 3.5 U1 - migrate Guests back and then upgrade next - continue until all Hosts are upgraded.

once the host are upto 3.5 U1 then update tools.

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

Tom Howarth VCP / VCAP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: http://www.planetvm.net
Contributing author on VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment
Contributing author on VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere 4 Study Guide: Exam VCP-410
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gelico
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Hello,

I must understand it's better to 3.5 first.

Isn't it ?

Thanks

Angel

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williamarrata
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NO, thats incorrect. Just follow the steps that I stated above. The Upgade 1 is a FULL installation, you do not need to do 2 steps.

Hope that helped. Smiley Happy

Hope that helped. 🙂
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gelico
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OK,

I see, just two questions .....

How many time the VC upgrade takes? And the esx upgrade?

On the other side after the VC upgrade my esx hosts (not migrated yet) will be directly managed or must we done something special (re-add).

Thanks

Angel

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depping
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ESX takes about 20 minutes. VC about an hour. but this will depend on the hardware etc.

keep in mind when installing the Update Manager that the default location for patches is c:\documents and settings\.... you would want to change this.

Duncan

My virtualisation blog:

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

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gelico
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Hi,

What about this, "But after the VC upgrade the servers will be seen by VC or must we do something special (re-add, or ...)"?

And sorry, I have not found any info related to VC 2.5 Update 1 compatibility, must we assume is the same that VC 2.5? I mean can we manage from VC 2.5 Update 1 our all esx hosts (3.0.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.2, 3.5 Update 1)?

Thanks

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williamarrata
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If you are building a NEW VC you will have to pull your hosts from the old VC to the new one. If you are just upgrading your VC, your hosts will be able to see the hosts that are there. What you will have to do is to Upgrade Virtual Hardware and then Install VMTools to all your VM's

Hope that helped. Smiley Happy

Hope that helped. 🙂
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gr8fnma
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Can ESX3.0.1 and ESX3.5U2 coexist in cluster so I can migrate my vms from 3.0.x to 3.5?

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DangerClose
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Yes. You can have ESX 3.0 and ESX 3.5 servers in the same cluster and the VMs can exist in the same resource pool for that cluster. When you migrate the VMs from a 3.0 to 3.5 host, you will see the tools status change from ToolsOK to ToolsOld (because obviously 3.5 is a newer version). Even if you upgrade the VMs to the ESX 3.5 tools, you can still migrate them back to the ESX 3.0 hosts, you just won't have IP information listed when you select the Summary Tab on a particular VM.

So in short, yes you can :smileysilly:

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