Vcenter and ESXi 5.x upgrade to 5.5 and Compatability questions

[SamiEMC]

Hello Gents

I have number of Vcenter and ESXi 5.x upgrade to 5.5  and Compatability questions

1) Have you done it from 5.0 ? or do we need to go from 5.0 to 5.1 then 5,5 ?

2) is it easy / Complicated process ?

3) I heard that 3rd Part Tools arent Supported yet , is that Correct ? ( Deep Security from Trend Micro , HP open View and Symantec NetBackup )

please advise

Thanks and Regards
SamiEMC         

[abhilashhb]

1) Have you done it from 5.0 ? or do we need to go from 5.0 to 5.1 then 5,5 ?

I haven't come across lot of people upgrading from 5.0 to 5.5. I would suggest you to move to 5.1 and then to 5.5. As SSO and things will be fresh install and not upgrade if you move from 5.0 to 5.5.

2) is it easy / Complicated process ?

It isn't very complicated. most of the times its a simple job if you don't run into errors.

3) I heard that 3rd Part Tools arent Supported yet , is that Correct ? ( Deep Security from Trend Micro , HP open View and Symantec NetBackup )

From 5.5 VMware suggests you to use web client(as most of the features are available with web client) and not the thick vsphere client that everyone's comfortable with.

Below is a blog by William Lam telling what all plugins that are supported and yet to be released for web client.

virtuallyGhetto: Which Vendor Has A vSphere Web Client Plugin?

[a_p_]

1 + 2.) If your host OS and the database are supported by vCenter 5.5, you can directly upgrade from v5.0 to v5.5. Anyway, I strongly recommend you take a look at the Upgrade Guide (http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-upgrade...) and check all of the requirements before you start the upgrade.

3.) You need to check with the vendors of these products whether they already support vSphere 5.5. Talking about support, make sure your hosts, storage system, ... are supported too.

André

[rangerek]

As for NetBackup - it is NOT compatible at all - we were planning to upgrade from 4.1 to 5.5 but the showstopper was the lack of compatibility of Symantec NetBackup

at page 13 of  http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH127089

"Note: Support for vSphere 5.5 will be added in a future NetBackup release."

[matzeetc]

as for now Trend Micro Deep Security is not supported. Rumors say it's not gonna be supported until Q2 2014

VMware Compatibility Guide: Networking and Security

[Deevie]

According the release notes of Deep Security 9 SP1 patch 2 (released on date 17-12-2013), vSphere 5.5 is supported.

2.1 Enhancements

  =====================================================================

  Deep Security Filter Driver 9.0 Service Pack 1 Patch 2 adds the

  following enhancement:

  Enhancement: ESXi 5.5 Support - This Patch certifies that

  the latest version of the Filter Driver supports

  ESXi 5.5.