Upgrade from ESX 4.0 to ESXi 4.1 (or 4.2) Vcenter server is a VM

[echo757]

Hi,

I have a Vsphere cluster with 3 host (HP Blades) running ESX 4.0. I am trying to plan an appropiate upgrade process to ESXi 4.1 (or 4.2 if it is the latest) and the Vcenter server is a virtual machine as well. I also have a standalone ESXi 4.1 host used as a test enviroment, that can be utilized during this upgrade. Could someone please advise the best way to approach this scenario>>

[vmroyale]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

I have a Vsphere cluster with 3 host (HP Blades) running ESX 4.0. I am trying to plan an appropiate upgrade process to ESXi 4.1 (or 4.2 if it is the latest) and the Vcenter server is a virtual machine as well. I also have a standalone ESXi 4.1 host used as a test enviroment, that can be utilized during this upgrade. Could someone please advise the best way to approach this scenario>>

ESXi 4.1 is the latest version. Your best bet is to utilize the best practices listed in kb 1022104, the upgrade pre-installation requirements and considerations listed in kb 1022137 and the Upgrade Guide documentation.

Good Luck!

[Troy_Clavell]

...and just in case. There is no upgrade path from ESX to ESXi, it would be a rebuild.

[AndreTheGiant]

See also: http://www.vmware.com/go/upgradetoesxi

Andre

[idle-jam]

If your vCenter (vSphere 4.1 requires it to be 64bit win2k8r2) can be reuse, i would suggest turning on snapshot as if things doesnt work well on the upgrade you could rollback your vcenter.

iDLE-jAM | VCP 2, VCP 3 & VCP 4

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[nkrishnan]

Hi,

ESX to ESXi (Embeded ESX) upgrade is not supported. Here is the brief steps of you would like to migrate ESX to ESXi

1) Back up all the VMs in the local datastore ( ESXi installation will clear all the data store and re-create the VMFS volumes) and note down the required configuration

2) Back up the VC and VUM DB

3) Use Data migration tool and migrate if you are running VC on 32bit VM, and migrate the configuration to new 64bit windows and continue the upgrade,

if you installed VC on 64bit Windows, do the normal upgrade by running the VC 4.1 setup

4)Upgrade the VUM

5) installed ESXi on the machines and re-configure the settings.

Thanks

Nithin