Best upgrade solution from Windows vCenter 6.0 to VCSA 6.5

[petesherman]

Hello,

We are currently running ESXi 6.0 on our three hosts and are using Windows vCenter on a Server 2012 box. We recently got another host, and want to use ESXi 6.5 on that with vCSA 6.5 as well.

I know that Windows vCenter 6.0 cannot manage ESXi 6.5 and vCSA 6.5 can manage older ESXi  hosts. So my question is, what would be the best upgrade path to get my new ESXi host to 6.5 and install vCSA 6.5 on it as well?

Would it be best to install ESXi 6.0 on the new host and vCSA 6.0 and then upgrade vCSA to 6.5 and then ESXi to 6.5?

Thanks!

[daphnissov · Accepted solution]

In your case, it'd probably be easiest to go ahead and do the upgrade to 6.5 using the vCSA (which will migrate your instance of 6.0 away from Windows), install your new host on 6.5, then upgrade your existing ESXi 6.0 hosts to 6.5. Make sure to check that everything is compatible across the board, and don't forget external solutions, plug-ins, and integrations.