Adding a vSphere Host

[gedi78]

Finally got myself licensed to add a new vSphere host. My current 3 hosts are running vSphere 4.0 but i'm current with my support and maintanence so licensed fer v5.

Was looking for advice re the 4th Host. Should I install vSphere v5 or go with the exact same version as the current servers?

Thanks in advance.

[harrygunter]

If you go with a 5 host you will need to upgrade the VC to 5 also.

I have run mixed environments (4.1 and 5) without problem, but I only do this during the upgrade across the cluster.

[Troy_Clavell]

That is fully dependant on what vCenter version you are running. If vCenter 5.x, then you can build a ESXi 5 Host and add it to your existing inventory.  If anything less than vCenter 5.x, you'll need to stay with your current release.  What version of vCenter are you running? 4.0 is pretty old, so this may be the time to start looking at upgrading your infrastructure?

[weinstein5]

Some questions first - Are you using vCenter 4? If so you will have to upgrade it vCenter 5 to manage the ESXi 5 host - and you license is an essentials bundle you will also need to upgrade the vCenter license to Standard so you can manage more than 3 hosts - If you do upgrade to vCenter 5 you can manage the ESXi 4 hosts but you will have to pay attentioin to the virtual hardware that is being used -

If all 4 hosts are independent and not part of a vCenter environment there should be no problem install ESXi5 however to keep your environment consistent I would recommend downgrading the license and installling ESXi 4.x -

[gedi78]

yes, using vCentre 4.0.0 Standard

The hosts are configured as part of a HA cluster.

How would i go about downgrading the licence or would it be backward compatable?

Thanks again

[Troy_Clavell · Accepted solution]

you'll need to go to your license portal, there you have the option to "downgrade" the vSphere5 key to vSphere4.  When you are ready to go to vSphere5, just "upgrade" the key again.