upgrade from 5.0 to 5.5

[cruzenbye]

Our existing environment is 5.0 with a Tier1 cluster of 3 servers, plus 2 tier 2 clusters.  We run Vcenter 5.0 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 VM in the tier 1 cluster with Sql Express.   Currently overallocated with resources so I cannot go into maintenance to do the ESX upgrade without impacting production of a 24x7 environment.   In our DR site I have a second Tier 1 cluster environment with VCenter licensed up there as well.

I just received 3 new hosts and more storage so I can begin my migration and upgrade.  Loading Esx 5.5 onto the new servers and the option is to upgrade 5.0 or rebuild.   I'm leaning towards a rebuild under Windows server 2012 with full SQL 2008.  (We use SRM, and VCOps and manage the entire environment thru one console,  so I plan to run the Windows version of Vcenter since the virtual appliance will not support those yet.)

My question is, is it worth backup/restore of the SQL express DB or would I be better off just rebuilding my database from scratch? 

[vervoortjurgen]

start from scratch is more work ofcourse but then you have the posibility to improve on some configs maybe

i would go for new deployment too on windows 2012R2 and sql 2012 std not 2008 (maybe even 2014 if its supported)

ofcourse document everything very good. vDS switches, storage, etc...

[Gabrie1]

My suggestion would be to start from scratch. Build a new vCenter environment with the new hosts in it. Test that environment and when finished migrate the old environment by simple hijacking the running ESXi hosts from the old vCenter into the new vCenter. Make sure you're NOT using a dvSwitch because that is connected to a single vCenter.

If you want I can help you walk through a migration plan. Just send me an e-mail.

Gabrie