Upgrading ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1.

[TrooperX]

I am currently planning my upgrade to VCenter & ESX 4.0 U to VCenter & ESX 4.1. Currently I have 4 ESX 4.0 U Hosts and 1 VCenter Server Windows 2008 32bit Server, MS SQL 2005 Enterprise Database. No VUM!!!

I have built a Windows 2008 Server 64bit because 4.1 needs to upgrade (i.e. Migrate really!!!)

Is it possible to have both VCenter Servers connected for the upgrade in case the Windows 2008 Server 64bit VCenter Server goes South? Or should I just install the 4.1 VCenter Server on the new Windows 2008 Server 64bit and then upgrade the ESX Hosts to 4.1 after that?

Also based upon my knowledge the SQL 2005 Enterprise Database should be fine since its on a seperate Physical server.

What Am I Missing Here???

Thanks In Advance

[golddiggie]

Your ESX hosts will only be able to be connected to one vCenter Server at a time...

I would migrate the hosts (4.0) to the new vCenter (4.1) before you update the hosts... That way you can vMotion/migrate the VM's from one host to the others, update the host to 4.1, then migrate VM's back... Continue the process until the upgrade is complete and all your hosts are updated to ESX 4.1...

I would also recommend reading the Upgrade Guide listed under the vSphere 4.1 Documentation page...

VMware VCP4

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[TrooperX]

Thanks. I am very familiar with the upgrade guide. I was not sure about haveing 2 Vcenter Servers connected to the Hosts. Now I believe you can have both VCenter Servers connected to the Database as long as the ESX Hosts are managed by the VCenter 4.0 U2 prior to migrating the over.

Your Thoughts????

Best Regards,

[WessexFan]

Thanks. I am very familiar with the upgrade guide. I was not sure about haveing 2 Vcenter Servers connected to the Hosts. Now I believe you can have both VCenter Servers connected to the Database as long as the ESX Hosts are managed by the VCenter 4.0 U2 prior to migrating the over.

Your Thoughts????

Best Regards,

Only one vCenter server can manage the hosts at a time... you are correct about the backend database, however.

Like Gold said, you can update vCenter to 4.1 on a 64-bit machine, migrate your hosts to it and then run the 4.1 upgrade on the hosts one-by-one. In my experience, this has been the way to go.