Downgrade 7 to 6.7 not an option?

[jobee1]

Good morning, 

I purchased VMware 7 to replace my current 6.0 and I would like to downgrade my 7.0 license to 6.7. I went to do the actual downgrade but the only downgrade option I'm seeing is 6.0. Do I need to make changes somewhere else to enable a downgrade to 6.7 or is 6.0 my only option?

My "New Version Aversion" runs pretty strong and I'm not sure I want to go to 7 at this time (I spoke with the vendor and said I wanted 6.7 but was told that I could do 7.0 and downgrade to 6.7). Any help here would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks,

Joe B

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

License keys are provided for major versions, i.e. v6, v7, ... So don't worry and downgrade the license key to v6. This downgraded license is supposed to work with any v6 version, i.e. v6.0, 6.5, and v6.7.

André

[jobee1]

That is what I was really hoping to hear. Now I have a follow-up -- When I finally bump back up to v7 can I upgrade this license back to 7 or will there be other things I'll need to do? 

Thanks, 

Joe B 

[a_p_]

Yes, you can upgrade your license to v7 anytime you want.

André

[jobee1]

Thanks Andre! That is really good news. 

Thanks, 

Joe B 

[pragg12]

[Retracted due to incorrect information]

[a_p_]

@pragg12 

Are you sure? I've never heard, or read that anywhere.
Did you do this yourself, or do you have a reference from which you have this information?

André

[jobee1]

Since I haven't installed anything yet I'll give this a try, hopefully today, and see what happens.

Thanks,

Joe B 

[pragg12]

Hi @a_p_ @jobee1 

I could not find any documentation either. Hence, when faced with similar issue, I reached out to our VMware account support team and got this information. However, at that time VCSA was on 6.7 and keys were for ESXi 7, I had to downgrade keys to be used on ESXi 6.7.

I did a test run just now and it is not possible what I mentioned. I will retract my above comment. 

[jobee1]

Sigh, I'm currently unable to install the software. I initially requested MicroSD cards for my ProLiant servers but the vendor engineer recommended an SSD mirror. I was unable to install the software on the drives so I contacted HPE support and was told that I would need an add-on controller to run the drives. I have spoken with the vendor and they are getting me an RMA for the drives and are looking into the MicroSD card I want to order. Due to them being out of stock. Sheesh, I'm behind on this project and getting behinder. It's like I work in IT or something. 

Thanks,

Joe B

[a_p_]

The recommendation regarding an SSD mirror (a HDD mirror will also do) is basically what I recommend too for ESXi 7.0.
SD/USB was an option until v6.7, but with the ESXi Hardware Requirements for v7.0 things have changed.

From the mentioned documentation:

~snip~
The recommended ESXi 7.0 install options are the following:

• An 8 GB USB or SD and an additional 32 GB local disk. The ESXi boot partitions reside on the USB or SD and the ESX-OSData volume resides on the local disk.
• A local disk with a minimum of 32 GB. The disk contains the boot partitions and ESX-OSData volume.
• A local disk of 142 GB or larger. The disk contains the boot partitions, ESX-OSData volume, and VMFS datastore.

~snip~

Since the official recommendation suggests to have an additional local disk with option 1 above, installing ESXi on SD/USB doesn't make any sense to me anymore.

André

[jobee1]

@a_p_

I purchased the 7.0 license with the thought of installing 6.7 and waiting until 7.0 had been out long enough to work out its kinks and then moving up to 7.0. As I mentioned in my original post I have a strong new version aversion and 7.0 is a little too new for my comfort zone. Should I just go ahead and install 7.0? 

Thanks, 

Joe B 

[a_p_]

I understand that you do not want to be the first one to open a support case for a new version, but v7.0 has been available for quite some time now, and I have it running on several customer sites already without issues.

What you may want to make sure however -  that's basically the same for all versions - is that any 3rd party application (e.g. Backup) that you are using supports the vSphere version/build that you plan to install.

André

[jobee1]

Thanks Andre, I will move forward with this install. 

Thanks, 

Joe B