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phenrichs
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎03-19-2010 06:43 AM

Upgrading esx3.5 with virtual center 2.5 to vsphere4 and move from oracle to sql server

we currently have one ESX 3.5 host with a dedicated virtual center 2.5 that is using a license server and an oracle database.

the plan is to add an esx4 (vsphere) host to this environment. We understand that we must upgrade the virtual center box to manage both hosts. We want to take the oracle database offline and have the vcenter 4 server use a sql server 2008 database. I am looking for best practice recommendations for this.

is the best way to simply shutdown the oracle and install vcenter4 as if new and then add the new host and the old host? what does this mean for licensing? Does a vcenter upgrade find the license for the 2.5 version and authenticate against it? or is a new license key required regardless of deployment strategy?

I am considering just starting from base as a new install because I don't want to have any conflicts with the oracle.

Regards,

Paul

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Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal
‎03-19-2010 06:56 AM

If you are starting "net new" then it's pretty straight forward. If it were me, I would start from scratch even with your vCenter. Build it as a VM, side by side with your older instance. This way you can document any roles and permissions, virtual machines and templates folders, DRS rules, etc....

Create your new SQL instance ensuring you have dbo on both the VCDB and the MSDB (to create rollup jobs). Once your new vCenter instance is on-line got to the main toolbar and choose Administration--vCenter Server Settings. You can add in your VI3 vCenter Server as the license source for your VI3 Hosts.

When complete, just disconnect and remove the host(s) from the old environment into the new. You can then shutdown your old vCenter Server Service but leave the license server running. Or build a standalone license server...either or.

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