Upgrading ESXi 4.0 to ESXi 5 Update 1

[Airwaysman]

We have a small cluster of 4 Hosts ESXi 4.0.0 Build 208167 + vCenter version 4.0.0 Build 208111 (32 Bit)

due to lease expiry we are replacing SAN and our vCenter Hardware server.

Most information I can find relates to an upgrade of an existing vCenter server andthen Upgrading each Host. We wish to do something slightly different but I find little information covering our scenario. (OK I may need to look deeper :-))

I am looking at doing the following, is it a workable solution.

Build a VM (2008 R2 with vCenter 5.0 update 1) Connect to same management network as the 4.0 vCenter server

create the required cluster 

Using the 4.0 vCenter disconnect each Host server in turn

Using the vCenter 5.0  Connect to each disconnected host and add to the new Cluster

Use the v5 Update manager to upgrade the hosts to 5, Then VM tools, Then VM hardware

When the new SAN is connected, Create the new data v5 data stores

sVmotion the VM's from the old SAN datastores to the new..

Shutdown and remove old SAN and 4.0 vCenter server hardware.

All the Info I can find suggets the above should be possible with very little downtime of the VM's except for tools and hardware reboots..

Have I got this right or am I missing something vital??

[weinstein5 · Accepted solution]

THat sounds reasonable - Have you reviewed VMware's upgrade guide - it has a nice dtailed plan -

[Airwaysman]

Actually yes, I think.. There are so many documents..

None of them actually mentioned our scenario..

We already have a v5 vCenter as a VM in our V4.0 environment.

we are at the state of disconnecting the hosts from vCenter 4 and then connecting to v5.

But I cannot find any docs that mention this including the pitfalls.

Considering I am not taking any databases etc over.

vCenter 5 will hopefully get all its info from the Hosts as they are connected.

I should be able to shut down vCenter 4 and continue using the v4 hosts until we are ready to start the Host, Tools and hardware updates.

I guess I am a little nervous at moving to the v5 vcenter hoping all my VM’s keep running..

Regards

And thanks for the response.

Stewart

[Gleed]

Don't forget to upgrade VUM   Are you planning to upgrade the existing VUM server and re-register it with the new vCenter?  Or will you install a new VUM server?

Also, remember you'll need to get new license keys for 5.0.  When in install vCenter you'll get a 60 day trial license, but you'll need to replace with your permanent keys befor the 60 days are up.

Regards,

-Kyle

[Airwaysman]

I am replacing the Version 4.0 Vcenter (32 bit) with new hardware version 5.0 (64 bit)

Am also installing new version 5.0 VUM on separate hardware. cannot upgrade existing v4 VUM (32 Bit) as its on outgoing hardware.

All I have read and googled suggests that I can remove the hosts from v4 vcenter and Connect to the v5 vcenter with all its guests running.

But i have not found any posts that states that 'yes we did this and it works....'.

Thanks for reminder about licences.

Cheers

Stewart