Installer location

[jprovine7]

For upgrading a windows server from 5.5 to 6.5 I know you have to run the migration assistant on the vCenter server you are going to migrate. Concerning the appliance installer can that be on any Windows box, does it have to be a server, in the same subnet etc? Do you have to download everything to the box you are running the installer on?

[daphnissov]

If you're doing an in-place upgrade of a Windows-based vCenter 5.5 to Windows-based vCenter 6.5 (which you really shouldn't be doing at all), then there is no migration assistant. If you're doing an upgrade/migration from Windows 5.5 to Appliance 6.5, the migration assistant isn't installed but simply run from the installation media containing the vCSA. After running the migration assistant, you begin the wizard for the appliance. I think it would be valuable to see how this process is done, and VMware have provided a walk-through exactly for that here.

[jprovine7]

I understand about the migration assistant and i am running an migration from a windows server to a 6.5 appliance. So the real point of my question is where do you run the installer?

[daphnissov]

The installer can be run from Windows, Mac, or Linux, but often it's run from the vCenter being converted since you also have to have the ISO mounted there for the migration assistant.

[jprovine7]

I was just curious because another document said not to run the installer from the vCenter server because it gets shut down at some point in the process

[jprovine7]

This is the reason I am asking this question because of this that is included in the instructions found at this link VMware