Upgrade from ESX3i to ESX4

[mfarhan]

hello,

i want to upgrade from the ESX3i to ESX4 vSphere.

i dont want to lose my VMs.

Can anyone guide me with some better way to do this?

Regards

mfarhan.

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

i want to upgrade from the ESX3i to ESX4 vSphere.

Do you really mean ESX and not ESX i

There is no upgrade path from the installable version to the full version. You would habe to backup your VM's do a fresh installation and restore the VMs.

For ESXi 3 to ESXi 4 you can easily upgrade. (Backup recommended, but not needed if nothing goes wrong)

i dont want to lose my VMs.

Nobody wants that

Can anyone guide me with some better way to do this?

First, make sure your hardware is supported for the new version --> http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

Then uprade to the new version (e.g. ESXi 4.1) using "vihostupdate" or the Update Manager (if you are running vCenter)

For the free version you can download the necessary upgrade bundle at http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_vsphere_hypervisor/4

and follow the steps in e.g. http://technodrone.blogspot.com/2010/07/updating-your-vmware-hypervisor-server.html

André

[f10]

Yes, you cannot upgrade from ESXi 3.5 to ESX 4, but from what I recollect if you use ESX 4.0 update 1 CD and there are existing VMFS volumes it will give you an option to preserve them. However if the VM's are critical backup is a MUST

If you found this or other information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful".