Host migration from NEWER vCenter Server to older version

[mattman555]

Has anyone moved hosts currently connected to a newer version of vCenter Server 4.1.0 to an older build?

Example - 4.1.0 build 345044 to 4.1.0 build 208111

If you have what were some of your experiences (tips and tricks) with this type of migration?

Thanks,

Matt..

[Troy_Clavell · Accepted solution]

should be no problem.  Disconnect the host from the old vCenter, then remove.  From there add host to the new.  they vpx agent will be re-installed and your host should be added to inventory with no issue.

You will lose historical data though...

[mattman555]

Thanks Troy!

Your reply was pretty much what I was thinking too, and if a host has an uninstall issue I might need to do a manual uninstall of the agent.

Another thought was, the vm's have a newer version of vmtools and by moving their hosts to an older version of vCenter Server would this affect the vmtools version in someway?

[a_p_]

VMware tools are directly related to the host version, so there's nothing to worry about them or the VMs.

André

[Troy_Clavell]

as I was replying a.p.s email came through.... I can't type fast enough.

[S_D]

I'm curious why you're moving to an older vCenter Matt? What's the use case?

Sean

[mattman555]

Hey Sean...

We hare having 2 issues with vCenter Server 4.1.0 345044 and it might mean we have to roll back.

Issuse 1 - Its now a known issue that editing exisiting templates fail, you can fix this (see kb URL below) however if you restart the vCenter Service you'll have the same problem again

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102536...

Issue 2 - When acknowledging alarms we get the error Call “AlarmManager.SetAlarmStatus” for object “AlarmManager” on vCenter Server “[your vcenter server here]” failed.

I have an open ticket with vmware right now and they are working the issue.

Rollback Plan -

I'm talking with support about a roll back plan from 4.1.0 345044 to 258902 while preserving the database.  However if the issues above can be resolved then we might not need to roll back.

Thanks...

Matt..

[Troy_Clavell]

Matt,

Can you give me the PR number so I can have our TAM track this bug.... Thanks!!