Upgrade vs. Fresh Install

[lakey81]

I was trying to find out if there are any disadvantages to performing an upgrade from say ESXi 5.x to 5.5 versus doing a fresh install of 5.5?  Obviously it saves a lot of time and configuration to do the upgrade but is there any old residue hanging around afterwards like if you did a upgrade on say windows?

[BenLiebowitz]

I don't know what the official stance is, but I've always preferred to do a fresh install vs an upgrade if at all possible.  It is nice to retain all the settings with an upgrade, especially if you let VMware Update Manager perform the upgrade for you.  I've never had a problem with either method though. 

[abhilashhb]

It totally depends on the environment. if you are running a home lab then it makes sense to install a fresh copy for whatever reason. Some guys don't want to run into issues and think upgrade is a tougher task etc. If its a production then you cannot even think about a fresh installation. So much configuration to backup and restore and many other headaches. So people prefer upgrading it. It totally depends on you and your requirement. if you are someone who is willing to take risk and have a proof that there'll be some residue files if you upgrade you could always go for fresh installation.

[lakey81]

Thanks, I guess I will have to call support on this one to get an official answer. 

[TedH256]

VMware is not going to have an official answer. The responses that you have gotten so far really speak to the range of factors: you must decide whether there are any good reasons to either preserve the existing db or "start fresh". Your decision will be based upon whether you value the historical performance data, the list of products that you use that depend on vcenter (any backup products, View Composer, SRM, a host of others) and whether there are any indications of corruption or other difficulty with the db contents.

There is no "right answer" to your question - it depends on all of the factors stated, and only you can determine the correct path for your situation.

My .02 = unless you have some compelling failures or issues, an upgrade is fine. On the other hand, if you don't have any other product dependencies, and your number of hosts is small and you don't use distributed vswitches, then .... go ahead and start fresh, no big deal.

[abhilashhb]

Exactly. I was going to tell the same thing. VMware would never be able to answer this question. Its something a end user has to decide or an administrator has to decide. Why would you worry about it? Its a clear question with no or a yes. You either have to do a upgrade or a fresh install. When would you do one of them is totally dependant on your environment. Like ted said if you have lot of changes that will be lost why would you do a fresh install? I have never seen anyone who has complained about a upgrade telling some residue configurations were left. So, decide for yourself. If you go to VMware you will not get an answer for sure.

[lakey81]

Well I was only referring to ESXi not vCenter or anything else.  vCenter is definitely an upgrade since historical performance data is just too valuable for troubleshooting and capacity analysis.  Just from upgrading my lab I did notice today that some old driver modules came over from the previous version that were not apart of the ESXi image i upgraded with.  It would just be nice to understand what the real differences with an upgrade vs. a fresh install so we can make an informed decision on which way to go and I think that's something VMware should provide guidance on like they do for vCenter upgrades where you would lose some historical data.

[ramkrishna1]

Hi

Welcome to the communities.

Its completely depend upon your environment and how much downtime operation can afford

I will suggest to go with up gradation

" I take a decision and make it right."

[TedH256]

OK my bad then - somehow I took you to mean/be asking about vCenter. Very sorry for my confusion!

So - yes, well ... until about 2 years ago, I was always very reluctant to do upgrades of ANYTHING, including ESX/ESXi. Just as a matter of principle and because of some bad experiences early in my tech career.

However, I experimented rather thoroughly, and consulted forums and the KB, and came to believe that upgrading using update manager is by far the easiest way to go, and I am convinced that there are no "bad effects" that linger as a result. Now, I prbly have not done every combination of os and install type to every other (boot from san, local, sd card, etc ...), nor encountered every odd situation. But my experience has been golden. Then only caveats that I have found in the last 2 years covering the upgrade of maybe 20 systems or so, has been a few hosts where the ntp settings failed to properly upgrade (ntp became set to manual start instead of start with host a couple times) and also scratch space settings. Other than that, no issues at all.

I do my own systems as I do with customer systems: I upgrade vcenter (sometimes do a fresh install, just because of particular situations) and then configure update manager, import the esxi image, create an upgrade baseline, and go from there ....

YMMV

[madisonremovals]

Upgrade is good but there are times that I've experienced few issue as image and other. So, I prefer fresh install.

[OscarDavey]

Hello,

Upgrade should be more effective, if everything goes without problems.

Read these URLs and then do it.

VMware KB: Methods for upgrading to ESXi 5.5

VMware KB: Installing or upgrading to ESXi 5.5 best practices

Hope will help.

[TommyFreddy]

After upgrading in my case most of the time network did not worked properly.

In my experience always prefer new install.

[OscarDavey]

A fresh install is the better way all things considered.

[settlersoman]

totally agree

I wrote a short post: vSphere upgrade: in-place or fresh install? | Settlersoman - A settler in the SDDC world.