Automation

Hi Luc,

could you suggest if there is any recommendation in terms of  maintaing esxi build as per the build of vcenter .

its not powercli question but since i found info using powercli so thought of asking powercli community.

following  are different builds (of version 5.5) of esxi and vcenter build is 5.5u3a.  

vmware tech support once suggested to have 3116895 for vcenter 5.5u3a.

get-vmhost|group-object -property build.

I would suggest to use the VMware Product Interoperability Matrices as guideline for the vCenter vs ESXi relation.

Also take note of the life cycle of vCenter and ESXi (see VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix)

On the ESXi builds, I would strive to keep them as best as possible on the same build.

A solid principle imho is to adopt the N-1 version.

In other words don't go for the latest compatible ESXi build, but the one before last.

In your test system you can of course go for the latest available ESXi build.

In summary:

• select the vCenter version depending on the features you want and on the life cycle of the version (5.5 for example doesn't have years left, start thinking about an upgrade)
• aim for the N-1 compatible ESXi version
• test system can go for the latest build, which will allow you to prep the upgrade on the other systems

But each environment is different, and might have other requirements.

Thnaks Luc ,

all the builds which i mentioned is for version 5.5 .and if i check interoperatability matix  all these are suported for vcenter5.5 u3.

iam not sure why vmware tech support mentioned that max we can build for esxi5.5 u3a for vcenter 5.5 u3.

however thanks for your recommendations .