4.1 Update 1 Upgrade Question

[AndyR8939]

Hi Guys,

Bear with me if this is a silly question, but I just want to make sure I get it right.

I have 3 ESX 4.1 (build 260247) hosts which are managed by a vCenter Server 4.1 (build 258902), which I want to upgrade to 4.1 update 1.

I have installed Update Manager on a new VM ready to do this.  Question is, do i need to updae vCenter Server to update 1 first, or can I just do the hosts?  If I have to do the vCenter Server first will my regular 4.1 (not update 1) hosts reconnect OK afterwards?

I've tried it in a test lab using the update-from-esxi4.1-4.1_update01.zip file and it seemed to go OK on 1 host.  Should I also try upgrading one using the ISO in a host upgrade release or is the update zip sufficient?

Sorry if it sounds dumb, just never had to update any ESXi hosts before so wanted to get it clear in my head before I do it live.

Thanks,

Andy              

[WiscBrad2011101]

From my experience if the vCenter server is not updated first and it is not Update 1 it can not connect to ESXi servers at update 1. It connects to about 80% then  fails. I forgot the specific error that comes up. So upgrade the vCenter server first.

Also I typically just reinstall ESXi if there is a major upgrade like U1. Is there a reason your not just reinstalling one ESXi host at a time?

[AndyR8939]

Thanks.

Will update vCenter Server to update 1 first then just to be safe.  Like I said i've tried it on a lab and it works OK, but it'll be just my luck that 20% of the time it will fail on my live servers

No, not thought about a total reinstall of the host as I just thought that what the upgrade manager was there for so thought I'd go with that instead.  Is there any benefit to doing it from scratch as opposed to an upgrade with the upgrade zip and upgrade manager?

[WiscBrad2011101]

It just garantees a clean install no matter what. Thats just what I have done sense 3.0 days.. any big upgrades reinstall . 

[AndyR8939]

Thanks.  Yeah if I was doing a Windows/Linux server with a major upgrade I'd tend to want to do a clean install just to be safe rather than an upgrade.

Having never patched or upgraded ESXi I wasn't sure the best way to go, so might just do a clean install.  Hopefully wont take toooooo long.  Dont suppose there is a config dump for ESXi is there?  Something where I could dump a config and then re-apply afterwards to save me having to manually re-config everything on that host?

[WiscBrad2011101]

Typically you would use host profiles for that.

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