Coexistence of hosts with different esxi and vcenter versions

[Qnappo]

Hi ... a clarification ... I have an hp gen 10 dl360 server where I could install the latest release of esxi vsphere 6.7 u3, this should go into a farm where there are already two other hosts but with esxi 5.5 that I could, as specified by HP and Vmware lead to version 6.0 u3 , the question is whether there are contraindications in having two different versions or I would like to downgrade the new server to 6.0.

[daphnissov]

They can all coexist within the same subnet, but not in the same cluster as a vCenter 6.7 would be required and it cannot manage ESXi hosts of version 5.5.

[Qnappo]

First of all thanks to the fast response, I, however, can update the old two hosts from 5.5 to 6.0u3, I was wondering at this point if vcenter for version 6.0 could include and administer in the datacenter, the host with vsphere 6.7

[daphnissov]

No, there is never any forward compatibility of vCenter to ESXi hosts. The only way you'd be able to manage 6.0 and 6.7 hosts is by a vCenter of version 6.7. Even then you should not put those hosts in the same cluster.

[KocPawel · Accepted solution]

Hi,

For vCenter in version 6.0 you can manage ESXi hosts with version: 5.5 and 6.0.

You can check this out on VMware Intercompatibility Matrix:

https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php#interop&2=&1=

So if you want to manage ESXi in version 6.7, first of all you have to upgrade your vCenter server.

Upgrade sequence:

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/53710

About mixing ESXi versions in one cluster:

Generally it works. Usually, this is done to facilitate rolling upgrades.  If you have a large 32-node cluster it's difficult to upgrade all 32 hosts at once.

But I am not sure if it is officially supported. If you need to mix HA/DRS cluster with different versions of ESXi remember that you must use VMware Tools, VM Hardware version etc. in versions supported by all hosts in cluster.

[Qnappo]

Ok based on this, since no HA is expected because the vmware license is an essential, I think I will upgrade the two hosts 5.5 to 6.0, and a new installation on the new HP host of version 6.0 in this way I will have everything aligned and I shouldn't have any problems, thanks again for the quick and clear answers to both.

[KocPawel]

One more thing.

vSphere 6.0 has end of general support on March 2020 (end of life is probably +1 year).

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/66977

So think about upgrades in near future

[Qnappo]

mhhh, this instead could be a problem, it means that first I will check the compatibility of the two HP hosts at least for the 6.5 version so I will have at least a little more breath..many tnxs