vSphere Client & Multiple vCenter Servers

[Cary]

I have an environment that requires me to have separate vCenter Servers (one for a cloud attached ESX 4 and another for ESXi 5).  I currently have vSphere Client 5.1 installed and able to manage both environments (obviously running two instances of the Client).  My question is around upgrading Update Manager.

Currently, I have Update Manager 4.1.0 installed on my primary management console and when logged in to vCenter Server managing ESX 4 guests, it works great.  For obvious reasons, when I log in to server managing ESXi 5 it does not.  If I update/upgrade Update Manager to the latest version that supports 5.1, will it break the 4.1?  My intial thought is that they are two separate vCenter Servers so it should be ok, but I don't want to break something.

Any thoughts feeedback would be greatly appreciated!!!  Thanks in advance!!!

Cheers...

[jdptechnc]

There shouldn't be any issues using the 4.1 plugin for the 4.1 envirionment and the 5.1 plugin for the 5.1 environment.  The client will load the correct plugin when you connect to the vCenter server.

[Cary]

When I attempt to run the installer, I get "An earlier version of VMware vSphere Update Manager is already installed on this system.  Click OK to upgrade".  It would appear that you can't have two (2) versions of the plug-in in the same client.

[jdptechnc]

Hi,

I went back and tested this (I have a 5.1 vCenter with update manager, and I connected to an old 5.0 vCenter with update manager).  The 5.0 plugin installed on my client and I was able to manage the 5.0 update manager, and it did not break the 5.1 update manager when I connected back to my 5.1 environment.

I know that is sort of the reverse order of what you are trying to do, but you can have both plugins installed.

When I look at my Program Files (x86)\Vmware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Plugins folder, I see both version of the plugin.

[Cary]

Thanks for the details.  Unfortunately, that may be a 5.x thing versus a 4.x thing.  Unless there is a switch on the installer that allows you to "Keep" the existing plug-in, the installer wants to overwrite.

Thanks again for checking on that.  Hoping that someone out there has a weird environment like I do.  🙂

Cheers...

[jdptechnc]

Could be.

You could test this by installing the vSphere clients on another computer in the same order that everything was installed on your management computer, and try enabling the new version of the plugin there.  If it breaks on the other computer, then you know you shouldn't enable it on your main management computer.