upgrade esx 4.0 to esx 4.1 with update manager

[kcorum]

I am trying to update esx hosts 4.0 to esx 4.1. The documentation i have read says that you can do it with update manager in vCenter server. I am new to vmware/esx/vCenter and just installed esx 4 a few months ago. I am following the directions in the vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide. I have already updated vCenter Server to 4.1 and the guide is for version 4.1. At the top of page 90, the instructions say to open Update Manager and then choose the tab which says "Host Upgrade Releases". I do not see this as an option. When I open Update Manager I see the following tabs: Getting Started, Baselines and Groups, Configuration, Events, Patch Repository and that is it. What am I missing? I've been reading about this upgrade to 4.1 for the past week and have been following the upgrade guide from 4.0 to 4.1. I would like to upload the zip upgrade that I download from vmware but have not idea how to get it into Update Manager. Please help.

Thanks,

Kristi

[a_p_]

Take a look at http://www.vmguru.nl/wordpress/2010/07/how-to-upgrade-to-vsphere-4-1/. It explains the upgrade step-by-step.

André

[ashleymilne]

Andre, it explains the upgrade process, but it glosses over this part:

"Run the Pre-upgrade package for ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1 before you upgrade from ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1 using esxupdate or vihostupdate"

Which is very unhelpful as those of us who do not know how to use esxupdate or vihostupdate are left scratching our heads.

Its a helpful walkthough but, in my opionion, it focuses too much on everything that is easy, the VCenter upgrade et al, and glosses over the host upgrade part which in my opinion, is the most crucial part of the upgrade.

AM

[a_p_]

"Run the Pre-upgrade package for ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1 before you upgrade from ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1 using esxupdate or vihostupdate"

I have to agree, it is mentioned but not described.

Mike Laverick has a post on RTFM which explains the whole update including esxupdate of the pre-upgrade package.

http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/2010/07/27/upgrading-to-vsphere-4-1/

André

[admin · Accepted solution]

Which version of update manager are you using? It should be 4.1 for upgrading ESX hosts from 4.0 to 4.1

[kcorum]

Okay, I now see what I did wrong. I installed vCenter 4.1which made my Update Manager display as 4.1 in the plugin list, however, I did not actually install UM 4.1. I just went back and installed it and then installed the plugin and see the option I was missing before.... one small thing solved. Now to upload the update.

[Colonel_K]

Did you get the update uploaded??

I get stuck at this point because no matter what I do the upgrade zip file refuses to upload correctly. I've checked the MD5 and verified that the download is sound but it just refuses to upload correctly....

CK

[kcorum]

I was able to get the .zip release file for ESX 4.0 to 4.1 uploaded successfully, but I have not added to a baseline yet or installed it. I downloaded the file again yesterday and had no trouble uploading it last night.

[admin]

You are most likely trying to import the file named pre-upgrade-, which is not designed for /needed by update manager. Only import the files named upgrade-from- .

[Colonel_K]

Sachin,

You are right in part. I did try to import the pre-upgrade first. However, the problem is confirmed by VMware support who told me that if you try to import the pre-upgrade first it breaks VUM so that any subsequent upgrade package refuses to import.

They are working on a patch and KB article.

The workaround is to uninstall VUM, reinstall VUM and re-initialise the database.

That didn't work for me, so I nuked the Windows 2008 R2 server it sat on a rebuilt from scratch.

Now it has imported and upgraded the hosts correctly.

CK

[admin]

Hello everyone:

     I'm having a bit of a problem in a couple of ESX servers for a lab environment and I have to upgrade them fro ESX 4.0 to ESXi 4.1, I've read all the posts but every one of them point me to get a couple of file which I don't have access at the moment. Could anyone please help me get the following files:

Pre-upgrade package for ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1
ESX 4.1 (upgrade ZIP from ESX 4.0)

I would really appreciate your help.

thanks a lot

Allan O. Mancera