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ahilborne22
Contributor
Contributor

Upgrade to latest esxi, with "clean start"

I want to upgrade to the latest version of ESXi, but I don't want to leave any state behind on my servers, beyond perhaps an administrative login and allocation of VMs. The reason for this is that my 4.1 servers seem a bit flaky and I want to start again.

Is there an easy way to do this, or do I install from scratch (how?) and simply reallocate VMs through vCenter afterwards?

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vThinkBeyondVM
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi Friend,

  You can go ahead with upgrade as first option & add the same server to new VC.  Second option is fresh install. If you have other server, do fresh install there and relocate VMs to New server from older one by using vCenter.


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rachelsg
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi

Welcome to communities.

I will recommend go from scratch.

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ChintanWaghmare
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

well, if you are upgrading or from your current 4.1 version to the latest 5.5.. you should understand that upgrading is a multistage process in which procedures must be performed in a particular order. Also there are number of things that you need to consider like the new licences, Check your hardware compactblity with VMware HCL, there will be SSO with latest version which I guess wasnt a part of your existing 4.1 infra.

If you decide to upgrade.. you can take a look at the  VMware KB: Update sequence for vSphere 5.5 and its compatible VMware products  

and follow the vSphere uhttp://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-551-upgrad...pgrade guide that explains the detailed process, as well as Upgrading Best Practicies for vCenter and ESXi 5.5

IMO.. the ideal process should be :
1) upgrade your vCenter to the latest version
2) Add a new additional Host with esxi 5.5 in your cluster
3) Migrate/vmotion your VM's from one of your existing esx server to this host 
4) Get the evcauated esx host reinstalled with esxi 5.5 and add it back to your cluster.
Repeat step 3 & 4 till all the hosts gets upgraded to the latest version in your cluster.

|| Chintan Waghmare | Twitter: @chintanwaghmare | http://www.thechintu.com ||
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