Migrating to new hardware

[Ntinsky]

Hello everyone,

I could use your expertise with the following project:

Before i get into details i would like to clarify that i am a Senior Windows Server engineer and have never done something like that before so bear with me.

There is a current setup which consists of a 2 x ESXi host  (ProLiant DL380 G6) in cluster, running ESXi version 5,5 , 7967571 and cannot be upgraded due to unsupported hardware.

There is also Vcenter Server 6.5 appliance and a Netapp E2824 storage which holds about 20 VMs on it.

The hosts will be replaced by 2 x DL380 Gen10 (again in cluster) which will run ESXi version 6.7(not sure which build number).

They will be decommissioned since they have served their purpose and  can no longer support new/future version updates.

So, i am trying to make an assessment list with all the steps necessary and my questions are:

• What is the best practice to use, in order to move the current storage with the VMs, to the new hosts cluster? 

• Before i unmount the datastore and detach any LUNs from the current hosts, do i have to upgrade VMware tools on each VM before i shut it down?
• Can i somehow migrate the current Vcenter Server appliance to the new hosts, or do i have to install it on the new host from scratch?

Again, thank you in advance and excuse the long post since i have never tried that before and i could really use your expertise and/or your opinion on the topic.

Kind Regards

[scott28tt]

@Ntinsky 

Moderator: Moved to vSphere Upgrade & Install Discussions

[Arvind_Kumar11]

No need to upgrade the VM tools prior shut down. VMTools can be upgraded once you migrate the vms on the newer hosts.

If you are willing to go with the "upgrade" instead of rebuild, then you can configure your new hosts with ESXi 6.5 (same as your vcenter) and add them to cluster.

By this, you can easily migrate your VMs from old hosts to new one and get rid of old hardware.

Once done, then plan your upgrade of vcsa 6.5 to 6.7 first, later upgrade your new hosts to v6.7.

[Ntinsky]

I can't add the new hosts to the cluster, because the current cluster runs on ESXi 5.5, unless you meant adding them to the existing Vcenter (which resides on one of the 5.5 old hosts) and from there create a new cluster.

Old and new hosts can't coexist due to hardware incompatibilities, otherwise i would have just added the new hosts to the existing cluster, transfered the resources and removed the old ones

[Arvind_Kumar11]

You can add hosts to existing cluster even if you existing cluster is running ESXI 5.5 hosts, as there is no cluster version attribute.

Try it! Realtime scenarios could be different.

But if you still face issue, then you can go for creating new cluster and do cross cluster migrations for your vms.

[Ntinsky]

@Arvind_Kumar11 

Even if the cross cluster migration scenario works, can i also tranfer the Vcenter Server to the new hosts? It is a realtime scenario, that's why i posted this question. I am not willing to experiment with production environment.

Are you sure about your suggestions?

[e_espinel]

Hello.
I recommend you first migrate the old ESXi hosts to at least 6.0 so you can manage them from the old vcenter (6.5) or directly from the new vcenter server 6.7.
To install the ESXi use the customizable ISO from HP.

What physical connection do you have between the old ESXi hosts and the Netapp E2824 storage ?

What physical connection do you have or plan to have between the new ESXi hosts and the Netapp E2824 storage ?

[Ntinsky · Accepted solution]

@e_espinel 

Unfortunately, the old ESXi hosts cannot be migrated to 6.0, due to hardware incompatibility (ProLiant DL380 G6), which is the main reason they are being replaced by 2 new ones.

Physical connection to he Netapp storage is via Fibre SAN. Same connection will be used with the new ESXi hosts. 

After hours of searching for information and checking on various tips from people who are familiar with this tasks and since the whole task will be implemented out of office hours, I was thinking of utilizing this approach

1. Power off VMs
2. Unregister from the old Vcenter
3. Mount source LUN to the new Esxi host and choose to keep same VMFS Signature.
4. Register VMs

In any case thank you all for your tips and feedback.