upgrade to 4.1 update 2

[vmmv123]

Hi, we are looking to upgrade from esx 4.1.0, 260247 to esxi 4.1.0, 502767. We have one virtual centre and 4x hosts.

What should be the order we upgrade and any known gotchas?

Thanks

[Nikhil_Patwa]

Hello,

There is no upgrade path from ESX 4.1 to ESXi 4.1 you will need to do a fresh install for ESXi 4.1

Follow the link below for more information

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1723789

If you have an additional host then you could install ESXi 4.1 in it and start migrating VMs from your ESX hosts and installing ESXi 4.1 in it one by one.

Hope the information is useful

Nikhil

[vmmv123]

ok thanks for the info!  what steps need to be taken to go to this build then? Our new hosts have already been built...

[Nikhil_Patwa]

Where do you store your VMs are they stored in local datastore or central storage SAN?

You should add all your ESXi hosts to the vCenter Cluster so as to enable vMotion and migration of your VMs from ESX to ESXi hosts.

Once the VMs are moved out of ESX host format it, install ESXi and add to vCenter cluster, after having all ESX server formatted and installed with ESXi you can then configure your vCenter for HA,DRS,vMotion etc.

Nikhil

[vmmv123]

They are all stored on a central SAN.

The new hosts are added to their own cluster though as they are AMD procs (existing are intel) vmotion wont work? guessing we will move them cold because of this?

would you do the vcenter upgrade first or after the hosts are esxi?

thanks again!

[Nikhil_Patwa]

As long as your hosts are part of the vCenter you can migrate VMs across.

Shut down your VMs, right click it and select option Migrate. During migration select the option to move host and datastore both.

follow this best practises guide for upgrading vCenter and ESX

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102210...

It's recommended to upgrade vCenter first and then the hosts.

Nikhil

[vmmv123]

thanks muchly for your help!