Adding a VSphere 6 Host to a VCenter 5.5 Appliance?

[DMonteith]

Hi guys,

I have a VCenter 5.5 appliance which I am hoping to use to manage a VSphere 6 host. Unfortunately, I just can't add the host. I keep getting the error below:

I've made sure the hosts files on both the host and the Center are correct, I've made sure Lockdown Mode is disabled on both, set the ssl handshake timeout on both is set to 120000, restarted the management agents multiple times on both, made sure the vCenter had a Managed IP Address, basically followed everything in these articles:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100580...

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=1...

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102767...

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=1...

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=1...

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100349...

So this whole exercise has been very educational for me, but hasn't really gotten me anywhere.

But, then it came to me - can you even manage a vSphere 6 Host from a vCenter 5.5 appliance? Do I need to upgrade my vCenter?

If I CAN manage the v6 host from the v5.5 center, what am I doing wrong or what should I be checking/doing?

Thanks in advance for you help.

[npadmani · Accepted solution]

you got to upgrade your vCenter server to version 6 first, then only you will be able to manage ESXi 6 host.

[AjithDhas]

As npadmani mentioned in the previous comment we can't manage a 6.0 host with 5.5 VC or less. You need to upgrade the VC to 6.0

[DMonteith]

Can I just upgrade from the license I already have? Or will I need to purchase a new license for 6?

[npadmani]

You need new set of keys for vSphere 6 and vCenter 6

please login into your my vmware account, and double check if you are eligible to get an upgrade.

Also refer following URL to see more info about getting license upgrade

VMware vSphere 6 Pricing and Licensing | United States

[DMonteith]

Alright, that's what I needed. Thanks for the answers, guys!