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dingding
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

is upgrade virtual hardware & vmware-tools the same thing?

i see them listed as 2 topics in VI3-VCP training material.

is upgrade virtual hardware(vmware-vmupgrade) and install vmware tools in VM

doing the same thing, i think the only difference is the former method need the VM powered off?

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larstr
Champion
Champion

No, it's two different things.

If you upgrade the virtual hw, you upgrade the hw devices that the VM is seeing from a previous version (2.x hardware) to a recent version of the hw. The devices in ESX 3 that a VM in ESX 3 see is a bit different than the devices it used to see in 2.x (most importantly the NICs).

When you upgrade the vmware tools, you upgrade the driver package that supports the VM on the ESX server.

Lars

dingding
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

so when do i need upgrade the vm hardware besides the ESX2->ESX3 upgrade scenario?

if a VM is P2V from HP/IBM physical server, do i need upgrade the vm hardware use the vmware-vmupgrade utility?

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dingding

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Wimo
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

On a P2V, you are building a new VM. The physical server had no virtual hardware, so there is none to upgrade.

If you right click the VM in VC, and Upgrade Virtual Hardware is one of the choices - do it.

The other scenario would be a GSX to ESX migration/upgrade.

langonej
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You need to upgrade the virtual hardware and then install vmware tools. If you've done it in the opposite order, you will likely not be using the flexible adapter (assuming this is a 2003 guest).

Upgrading the virtual hardware is done when the VM is powered off, as you mentioned.

Tools gets done while it's online, but it will require a reboot.

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dingding
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

1) so if i P2V a VM from workstation or GSX, HW upgrade is not necessary, is that true?

2) if i have a VM run on workstation or GSX, and ftp the vmdk files to ESX, then use vmkfstools -i to convert the disk format, create a new VM include these disks, do i need to do the HW upgrade?

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larstr
Champion
Champion

1) so if i P2V a VM from workstation or GSX, HW

upgrade is not necessary, is that true?

Going from workstation to esx isn't p2v, but v2v, so you might need to upgrade your virtual hw.

2) if i have a VM run on workstation or GSX, and ftp

the vmdk files to ESX, then use vmkfstools -i to

convert the disk format, create a new VM include

these disks, do i need to do the HW upgrade?

Yes.

Lars

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dingding
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

here p2v mean VMware Converter. I don't agree with you on Q1, because Vmware Convert will create a new VM in ESX and only copy data to it.

i will test it.

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dingding
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I have done these 2 test, one with VMware converter, the other with manually ftp to ESX, but in both test, i havn't seen the "Upgrade Virtual Hardware" menu item as Wimo said.

because it's easy to seen that your vmware-tools is out of date or OK, so the key to my question is can i know my virtual hardware need upgrade or not?

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

You have to RIGHT-CLICK the item inside the VC, to see the "upgrade hardware option".

IF you import with VM convert TO ESX, this option won't be there, as the VM is automatically upgraded

IF you FTP vmdk file, then you NEED to upgrade the hardware.

another way to tell if you need to upgrade the hardware, you can click edit settings, and click on the hard drive. If the option for set to persistent is grayed out, then you need to complete the upgrade hardware, otherwise the vmdk file is ALWAYS persistent.

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dingding
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I do these 2 test many times, but i never see the "upgrade hardware option" menu item.

i use the ACE management server appliance, which is less than 50MB. so you can test it to see the result.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

When you use Converter to move a VM from on VMware product to another, Converter automatically takes care of the virtual hardware changes for you, so there is no need to do a virtual hardware upgrade.

As was mentioned earlier, VMware Tools is done separately after upgrading the hardware.

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