Upgrade over WAN

[tresearch]

I am currently running VirtualCenter Server 2.5 with five ESX 3.5 hosts.

The hosts are spread over three different sites, 2 at a site with the Virtual Center, 2 at another site, and one at another site.

I would like to upgrade to vSphere 4.0.

I am planning on setting up a new vCenter Server so I can move to a 64bit OS. I'll attach the old database to the new server and have the installer upgrade the schema for me. I'll likely keep the old server online as my license server until the upgrade process is complete, then decommision it.

I'll also have one update manager instance, installed on the new vCenter Server that I'm building.

My question is, what is the most effective way to do the host upgrades given the fact that 3 of the hosts have a WAN link between them and the Update Manager instance?

[AndreTheGiant · Accepted solution]

For patching you can use the stage feature of Update Manager.

But for the upgrade step (IMHO) could be better to use a local machine with vSphere client and the Host Update Utility:

download the ISO locally and then run the upgrade.

Andre

[depping]

Staging option definitely if you want to use VUM!

Duncan

VMware Communities User Moderator | VCDX

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[tresearch]

Ok, so the Host Update Utility can be run from any windows machine and uses a locally stored ISO?

That will help me at one site, where I have machines available to do that. At the site that houses vcenter and Update Manager I'll just use that. The last site however holds ONLY a single ESX host. So there are no other machines I could run it from there.

Are there any other "staging" options available that can be run against a remote host?

What do you suppose the likelihood that a remote upgrade via Update Manager will work on a 4 Mbps link?

[AndreTheGiant]

Ok, so the Host Update Utility can be run from any windows machine and uses a locally stored ISO?

Right.

Are there any other "staging" options available that can be run against a remote host?

You can download manually the zip files and use esxupdate.

Andre

[tresearch]

Esxupdate can only be used for updates though, not host upgrades right?

I was referring to other options for host upgrades...

[AndreTheGiant]

Esxupdate can only be used for updates though, not host upgrades right?

Right.

Andre