How to upgrade from ESX 4.0u2 to ESXi 4.1?

[thorwitt]

Is there an easy way to do this?

[turkina]

You'll have to reinstall each of your hosts with ESXi 4.1. There is no upgrade from ESX to ESXi.

If you have a cluster you need to install ESXi 4.1 on, simply take one host down at a time, reinstall with ESXi 4.1, add to your cluster, and config. You can run both ESX and ESXi in the same cluster.

VI3/4 VCP

[Troy_Clavell]

as stated, a rebuild is your only option.

[thorwitt]

So we have to write down the ESX 4.0U2 host configuration (name, ip etc.) and then boot from the ESXi 4.1 .iso put in all the data and format the local disk (remove the fc cable to protect the existing shared datastores)?

There is no way to use the Update Manger from vCenter 4.1 to do this automated?

[turkina]

No. ESX and ESXi are two different beasts. You have to reinstall.

VI3/4 VCP

[bshubinsky]

Correcto.

When we did this, we took screenshots of the various configs and IP addressing information (we also created an excel worksheet with the information as well). Vmotion stuff to other hosts, reinstall, vmotion back onto new host. Rinse and repeat with the rest of the hosts until your completed.

[turkina]

That's the way to do it!

Just make sure you update vCenter to 4.1 before you load ESXi 4.1 on any of your hosts.

VI3/4 VCP