How to upgrade VMware vsphere 6.0 to vsphere 7.0 ?

[PGSU]

We want to uppgrade Vmware esxi 6.0 to Esxi 7.0. As per my understanding we need to upgrade first upgrade to 6.5 or 6.7 then 7.0

Kindly let me know detailed steps involved in this migration.

[Nawals]

That's correct. If you want to go with 7.0 then absolutely need to upgrade 6.0 to 6.5.or 6.7 and then go with vCenter 7.0. I would suggest you to check the vmware compatibility matrix and then you can make a plan for upgrade. If you share more details about you vCenter Infra like, vCenter running on Windows platform or appliance, Database server is external or internal, PSC embedded or external, vCenter version with build and ESXi version with build number? So I will share the steps which you are looking for.

[IRIX201110141]

Correct.

But at a minimum you need 6.5u2. Check VMware Product Interoperability Matrices

If you run currently on vSphere 6 i assume that you have some older Hardware so most likely vSphere 7.0 will not run. You should check the HCL. Also vSphere needs different license keys so you need an active Subscription or use the "free" vSphere Hypervisor.

Regards,
Joerg

[sudeshnas]

Hi PGSU,

Since your esxi is on version 6.0, please check if the hardware supports the upgrade to 7.0. You can check that using the below link:

VMware Compatibility Guide - System Search

Once the compatibility is checked , it is better to the upgrade the hardware BIOS, firmware and driver before you perform the esxi upgrade.

Directly upgrade of the esxi is not possible from 6.0 to 7.0.

Upgrade the esxi to 6.5 U2 or later and then you can directly upgrade to 7.0.

Ref link:

VMware Product Interoperability Matrices

Regards,

Sudeshna Sarkar

Install-Upgrade Specialist

[TimSheppard]

Before you start looking at doing an in place upgrade, you really need to weigh up if it's worth it.

Depending on the size of your deployment, it might be easier just to deploy a new vCenter Virtual Appliance at the very least.

Do your hosts support ESXi 7? Is it easier to take one host off line and then do a wipe and load of the new hypervisor and then add it to your new vCenter?

Whilst that would involve a little downtime, there is significantly less to go wrong compared to doing 2 x in place upgrades. You will still need to reboot the VMs if you are upgrading VMtools and VM hardware versions anyway.

There is a lot of documentation already written by VMware for this here - https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/vsphere-esxi-70-installation-setup-guide.pdf

[nachogonzalez]

Hey, hope you are doing fine

This are the steps I would do:

1. Check if hardware is compatible with vSphere 7.0  with vmware compatibility matrix
2. Deploy a new VCSA 7.0
3. Ugrade one ESXI host to vSphere 7.0 (reinstall) and configure.
4. Migrate vCSA VM to vSphere 7.0 host
5. Migrate non-critical VMs to 7.0 host to release resources.
6. reinstall and configure more hosts.
7. Once all vms are migrated upgrade virtual hardware and VMware tools.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/vsphere-vcenter-server-70-installation-guide.pdf

Another quick comment:
vSphere 7.0 is a brand new release and there are bugs that have not been discovered yet.
I would not release vSphere 7 into production until vSphere 7.0 U1

[PGSU]

Hi,

Please find the required details.

1) VCenter is running on windows platform.

2) Database is internal.

3) PSC embedded.

4) VCenter Version 6.0.0 Build 3339083

5) Esxi Version 6.0.0 Build15169789

Regards

PGSU

[Nawals]

1. First Take snapshot and Clone of vCenter

2. Take Full back of vCenter VM vi backup tool if using

3. Take snapshot of VMware update manager if using

Upgrade sequence of vCenter from 6.0U1b to 6.5.0 U3f

Ref: VMware VMware Product Interoperability Matrices https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php#upgrade&solution=2

1. First need to upgrade the intermeddiate hops from 6.0U1 to 6.U3.

2. Upgrade vCenter from 6.0 U3 to 6.5U1

3. upgrade vCenter 6.5U1 to 6.5U3F ( need intermediate hops) Ref: vSphere Back-in-time release upgrade restriction https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/67077

4. If using VMware update manager on exteranl server then update it.

5. Download vCenter Appliance 7.0

6. run the installer and choose migrate option for migration. (Follow the Wizard)

7. Run migration assistance ( vCenter Migration Assistant. The procedure to run the migration-assistant is the same whether you are trying to upgrade an external SSO, PSC,or Update Manager or an embedded version of these. The migration-assistant should be run on the machines hosting these services separately, before initiating the vCenter Migration/Upgrade. The migration/upgrade process will migrate data from all the components server with an active migration-assistant session.)

7. Need 1 temperory IP for vCenter migration ( IP should be in same subnet as current vCenter)

Note: During migration new vCenter will be deploy and copy the data's from source VC to target VC and vCenter will be powered off during migration. Don't worry about. If any case migration failed no worries exitng vCenter will be there to bring it up without any issue.

ESXi Upgrade from 6.0 to 6.5 and then 7.0

1. Upgrade ESXi 6.0 t0 6.5 Ref: VMware VMware Product Interoperability https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php#upgrade&solution=1

2. VMware Tools and VMware hardware on each VMs ( need reboot)

Cautious:Highly recommended to check the VMware Compatibility matrix  before upgrade. VMware Product Interoperability Matrices

[nachogonzalez]

Since your vCenter is windows you will have to deploy a new VM with VCSA since Windows server support for vCenter is discontinued

VMware vSphere 7.0 Release Notes

[jyotus]

Vcenter Version:6.7.0.52000

Build: 19300125

Want to migrate to 7.0.3 

Please let us know the steps.

[shaokat]

you can't go vSphere 6.0 to 7.x first you need to update 6.0 to 6.5 or 6.7. after successful update 6.5 or 6.7 you can go 7.x. Before upgrade ensure your data backup.