ESX 4.1 to ESXi 4.1

[ANorton]

With the end of life for ESX coming about I am looking at deploying the ESXi hypervisor. IS there an upgrade path to switch between the 2 or is it a clean install of ESXi?

After I build my first ESXi server do I just vmotion my vCenter server to that host and then continue to rebuild the existing hosts to ESXi?

Looking for ideas and advice.

Thanks

Aaron

[piaroa]

No upgrade path, you will need to wipe your ESX installation and install a fresh ESXi.

Make backup of your VMs, and yes, you can VMotion from ESX full to ESXi without any issues.

If this post has been helpful/solved your issue, please mark the thread and award points as you see fit. Thanks!

[admin]

To shift from ESX 4.1 to ESXi 4.1, you will have to do a fresh install. There is no patch available for the same. After doing a fresh install, you can add the ESXi server to any vCenter Server.

Note: You can only vMotion Virtual Machines but never a host.

Hope this answers your query.

-Swati

[ANorton]

I am not familiar with ESXi and pretty used to using ESX. Should I do some studying on the ESXi interface so I have less issues or is the install pretty straight forward?

[admin · Accepted solution]

The ESXi 4.1 installation is pretty staright forward. You can also refer to the ESXi setup guide for details on setting up ESXi 4.1:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_esxi_i_vc_setup_guide.pdf

-Swati