Upgrade stand-alone ESX3.5 host

[VirtualTman]

Hi there,

I have 1 ESX 3.5 host with 2 VM's with their vm files all on the local ESX storage (no SAN storage)

The ESX Server is joined to vCenter 4.1.

What would be some good approaches to upgrading the host to ESX 4.1 and preserving the local datastore (thus keeping my VM's intact)?

Upgrade Manager? What would be the procedure for this?

Also VM hardware version is 4 for the 2 VM's

Thanks!

[idle-jam]

most of the approach will maintain the datastore, i would suggest you to read on this KB. http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1009039

[bulletprooffool]

Just follow the normal upgrade guide : http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf

Also, a google search will return several great guides / videos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFSZHPTVvrI

Upgrades will maintain all stores etc so you have no problems.

Good luck.

[VirtualTman]

Excellent thanks guys.

So when upgrade, can I leave the host in maintenance mode in vCenter or do I need to disconnect or remove it and reconnect or add it back again after the upgrade? Do i need to re-register the VM's?

[idle-jam · Accepted solution]

Re add back is a better option as it will redeploy vcenter agent to the host again. The virtual machines do not need to reregister as it will reappear once the host is added back.