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PenguinJeff
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Upgrading Windows vcenter 5.5 to vcenter appliance 6.7

I don't see a direct route but I see I can go from 5.5 to 6.5 and I should be able to go from 6.5 to 6.7

So I am trying to go from 5.5 to 6.5 and am running into an issue.

I'm using the following guide.

How to upgrade Windows vCenter 5.5 to the 6.5 Appliance - VirtuallyBoring

When I try running the migration-assistant (and I do run as Administrator as indicated)  I keep getting the message:

Check that VMware vCenter Server services are up and running, and that the entered credentials are valid.

As far as I know all services are running. I checker in the service manager and all that should normally be running are. There are a few services that I do not normally run.

Like Orchestrator Server and Configuration and Snapshot provider. All the rest of my VMware services are running. I even tried running all of these, with the same result.

I verified that the firewall is disabled and I verified that the credentials let me into the web interface.

Administrator@vsphere.local works with the password I am providing to the web interface.

What other tests can I run to find where the issue is? Is there another method of upgrading. It is a semi simple environment I don't mind reorganizing my machines into folders. I just need them to continuously run as I migrate.

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PenguinJeff
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I used the route of installing a 6.5 vcenter appliance as a stepping stone. I installed the 6.5 vcenter appliance then I upgraded the ESXi vsphere hosts to 6.5.

I had to use some tips from here Dell PowerEdge R715 - ESXi 6.5 Upgrade Incompatible  to get around errors I was getting:

The upgrade contains the following set of conflicting VIBs:

Micron_bootbank_scsi-mtip32xx-scsi_2.4.10-1OEM.500.0.0.472560

Micron_bootbank_scsi-mtip32xx-scsi_2.4.10-1OEM.500.0.0.472560

but after enabling ssh and running

esxcli software vib remove -n scsi-mtip32xx-scsi

on each server I was able to upgrade each to ESXI 6.5

At that point I was able to attach them to an vcenter 6.7 machine.

So what I did was upgrade each ESXI to version 6.5 then move the virtual machines onto it and bring them into the vcenter 6.7 by attaching it with all the machines on it.

When I got all the vsphere hosts to 6.7 I was able to try and upgrade them to 6.7.

Only one of my old servers are supported with the ESXI 6.7 image. On the others I get the error:

The CPU for host: <hostname> is not supported. Host cannot be upgraded.

Looking it up they are Dell Poweredge R810's with CPU's Xeon E7540's and they are not supported and no known work arounds except to stay at ESXI 6.5.

But I was able to apply the licenses I had gotten so I think I am good having 6.5 ESXI machines attached to vcenter 6.7. I guess this will be the last upgrade I can do with the old hardware.

I will need to upgrade my servers before I can go to the next vmware version (which isn't out yet.)

For now I will leave the old version of vcenter working while I copy the directory structures and move machines to match what I had in my old environment.

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rutgerblommah
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Is your vCenter Server running with the standard ports?

//Rutger
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Finikiez
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Just to double check - did you start migration assistant using 'Run as adminisrtrator'?

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PenguinJeff
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All standard ports. I am running SSO on it as well so maybe that changes things.

And yes I am running migration-assistant.exe with  "Run as Administrator".

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Finikiez
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Can you post a screenshot where you get the error?

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PenguinJeff
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migration.jpg

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PenguinJeff
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> nmap vcenter

Starting Nmap 7.60 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2018-05-24 08:11 MDT

Nmap scan report for vcenter (10.0.100.245)

Host is up (0.00028s latency).

rDNS record for 10.0.100.245: vcenter.mind.unm.edu

Not shown: 977 closed ports

PORT      STATE SERVICE

80/tcp    open  http

88/tcp    open  kerberos-sec

111/tcp   open  rpcbind

135/tcp   open  msrpc

389/tcp   open  ldap

443/tcp   open  https

445/tcp   open  microsoft-ds

636/tcp   open  ldapssl

1063/tcp  open  kyoceranetdev

2049/tcp  open  nfs

3389/tcp  open  ms-wbt-server

8009/tcp  open  ajp13

8080/tcp  open  http-proxy

8443/tcp  open  https-alt

9009/tcp  open  pichat

9090/tcp  open  zeus-admin

10000/tcp open  snet-sensor-mgmt

49152/tcp open  unknown

49153/tcp open  unknown

49154/tcp open  unknown

49155/tcp open  unknown

49156/tcp open  unknown

49175/tcp open  unknown

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 2.07 seconds

list of ports open

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PenguinJeff
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services..jpg

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dmeyner22
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Do you care about historical data?  It would probably be easier to just build a new VCSA and connect your host to it and then upgrade your host.  You can run both VCs in parallel (and I don't mean they can manage the same host at the same time) and verify settings on the new from the old.

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PenguinJeff
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No I do not care about historical data. I'm not against building a new. I would just need to know what route to take?

Install vcenter app 6.5? Can I attach my 5.5 esxi hosts to that and upgrade them?

I could not attach my 5.5 ESXi hosts to vcenter app 6.7 I tried.

The only thing I really care about is that the machines stay running as I migrate.

The skipping heartbeat for a vmotion is acceptable.

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PenguinJeff
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I used the route of installing a 6.5 vcenter appliance as a stepping stone. I installed the 6.5 vcenter appliance then I upgraded the ESXi vsphere hosts to 6.5.

I had to use some tips from here Dell PowerEdge R715 - ESXi 6.5 Upgrade Incompatible  to get around errors I was getting:

The upgrade contains the following set of conflicting VIBs:

Micron_bootbank_scsi-mtip32xx-scsi_2.4.10-1OEM.500.0.0.472560

Micron_bootbank_scsi-mtip32xx-scsi_2.4.10-1OEM.500.0.0.472560

but after enabling ssh and running

esxcli software vib remove -n scsi-mtip32xx-scsi

on each server I was able to upgrade each to ESXI 6.5

At that point I was able to attach them to an vcenter 6.7 machine.

So what I did was upgrade each ESXI to version 6.5 then move the virtual machines onto it and bring them into the vcenter 6.7 by attaching it with all the machines on it.

When I got all the vsphere hosts to 6.7 I was able to try and upgrade them to 6.7.

Only one of my old servers are supported with the ESXI 6.7 image. On the others I get the error:

The CPU for host: <hostname> is not supported. Host cannot be upgraded.

Looking it up they are Dell Poweredge R810's with CPU's Xeon E7540's and they are not supported and no known work arounds except to stay at ESXI 6.5.

But I was able to apply the licenses I had gotten so I think I am good having 6.5 ESXI machines attached to vcenter 6.7. I guess this will be the last upgrade I can do with the old hardware.

I will need to upgrade my servers before I can go to the next vmware version (which isn't out yet.)

For now I will leave the old version of vcenter working while I copy the directory structures and move machines to match what I had in my old environment.

Reply
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