Adding VMWare 7 host to vsphere 5.5 server

[Walter_Harms]

I have a couple of new 7.0 esxi hosts that I wish to add to my current 5.5.9 vCenter Server which already has two old licensed esxi 5.5.0 hosts. 

Is this possible or do I have to upgrade the vCenter Server? 

When I try I get this error:

Connot contact the specific host (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx). The host may not be available on the network, a network configuration problem may exist, or the management services on this host may not be responding.

Call "Datacenter.QueryConnectionInfo" for object "xxxxxxx" on vCenter Server "VM-Manager.xxx.xxx.xxx" failed.

The new hosts are currently evaluation only and we are waiting on licences. 

Is this a license issue, a version issue or something else? 

Thanks in advance

Walter

[scott28tt · Accepted solution]

@Walter_Harms 

You need your vCenter Server on 7.0: https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php#interop&2=&1=

If you're running anything like production workloads your vCenter Server and ESXi hosts should all really be on 6.5 now in any case, to be supported and receive updates.

[Walter_Harms]

Thanks Scott

I sort of figured that.

Based on the chart, I assume a 7.0 vCenter Server won't manage the 5.5 ESXi hosts.

We are a small IT shop and consultants set up our VMWare servers YEARS ago. I'm a jack of all (IT) trades, master of none.

We want to use the new hosts for the mission critical VMs and save the old hosts for the remaining VMs.

To this end, I think I'll run a separate machine as the VM Manager with 7.0 vCenter Server to manage the new servers.

I can move VMs from the old to the new using our Veeam back server. Can you suggest an easier way?

Thanks for replying.