datastore migration questions

[marshallmathers]

we are migrating to new infrastructure

current infrastructure is esxi 6.0

newly created infrastructure is 6.7

i have  also created a new 5 TB data store and mapped it my 6.7 hosts.

will my 6.0 hosts be able to see this data store? i chose VMFS 6 when i created added it.

Will my 6.0 hosts be unable to see a VMFS 6 data-store?

How do i migrate to the new infrastructure? DO i have to MAP a VMFS 5 datastroe and then upgrade it later ?

or should i upgrade my old hosts to 6.5 ?

[daphnissov]

will my 6.0 hosts be able to see this data store? i chose VMFS 6 when i created added it.

Will my 6.0 hosts be unable to see a VMFS 6 data-store?

No, 6.0 hosts cannot interact with a VMFS-6 datastore. You must destroy that VMFS-6 datastore and format it as VMFS-5. Or, alternatively, create a new one on VMFS-5 than can be mounted to both sets of hosts.

How do i migrate to the new infrastructure? DO i have to MAP a VMFS 5 datastroe and then upgrade it later ?

See above. Note that there is no online "migration" or "upgrade" of VMFS-5 to VMFS-6. A new datastore will have to be created and formatted as VMFS-6 due to the underlying metadata changes.

or should i upgrade my old hosts to 6.5 ?

Up to you. Personally, I probably wouldn't waste my time.

[larstr]

marshallmathers,

There are several ways to do this and it's quickest if you're able to map one of your existing VMFS5 volumes to one (or more) of your new hosts. Then you will be able to either vmotion or poweroff on old, power on on new host, and then storage vmotion to new storage.

It's also possible to migrate VMs from old to new without shared storage, but then it will take quite a bit more time to get all your VMs migrated.

For your other questions, your old host may or may not support 6.7 (or 6.5). Old hw is typically not supported and ESXi may not even start if you upgrade.

Good luck!

Lars

[a_p_]

VMFS has been introduced with vSphere 6.5, i.e. older hosts do not support this version.

How to migrate depends on your environment. Upgrading the old hosts may be an option, if the hardware is supported. However, in this case you may rather consider to map/present the old datastore to the new host, so you don't have to change the "old" environment.

André