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Panzer
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Upgrading ESX while connected to SAN

Hi. Back in the days it was considered best practice to disconnect the host fram the SAN while installing or upgrading ESX. Is this still the case with ESXi 5.5?

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admin
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Hi,

Actually it is still the best practice to disconnect from the SAN, But you could do it on the fly as well using the update manager if your upgrading from ESXi 5.1 to ESXI 5.5. I have seen many do it

without any problems. Just ensure hardware is compatible in HCL.

Thanks,
Avinash

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admin
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Hi,

Actually it is still the best practice to disconnect from the SAN, But you could do it on the fly as well using the update manager if your upgrading from ESXi 5.1 to ESXI 5.5. I have seen many do it

without any problems. Just ensure hardware is compatible in HCL.

Thanks,
Avinash

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Panzer
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I am upgrading from 4.0 to 5.5

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admin
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Just ensure that the Hardware and SAN is compatible with ESXi 5.5, and you can have the SAN connected it should work good.

VMware Compatibility Guide: System Search 

And to add if it is not compatible it does not mean it will not work, Just VMware will not support it if it breaks.

Thanks,
Avinash

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Sreejesh_D
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you have to be bit careful if you are upgrading ESX 4.0 to ESXi 5.5.  Go through the following KB. It will help you to know whether your scenario is a supported one or not.

VMware KB: Methods for upgrading to ESXi 5.5

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VirtuallyMikeB
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To add to the responses, this issue is not related to the version of ESXi.  The reason it's best to disconnect from the SAN while installing ESXi locally is that during the install, the installer will scan for storage devices and return everything it sees.  This includes local disks and LUNs on storage array.  If you're not careful, you could accidentally install ESXi to a LUN on the storage array and overwrite the existing data on that LUN.  This is usually very bad.  To avoid this simple mistake, when installing ESXi onto local storage, simply disconnect the server from the storage network or unmask any LUNs associated with that server to minimize the opportunity to make this mistake.

Cheers,

Mike

http://VirtuallyMikeBrown.com

https://twitter.com/VirtuallyMikeB

http://LinkedIn.com/in/michaelbbrown

----------------------------------------- Please consider marking this answer "correct" or "helpful" if you found it useful (you'll get points too). Mike Brown VMware, Cisco Data Center, and NetApp dude Sr. Systems Engineer michael.b.brown3@gmail.com Twitter: @VirtuallyMikeB Blog: http://VirtuallyMikeBrown.com LinkedIn: http://LinkedIn.com/in/michaelbbrown
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Panzer
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I used the Update Manager to Upgrade the host from ESX4.0 to ESXi5.5, and it worked great. The SAN was Connected during the Upgrade.

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