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VincentAlberti
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upgrade or fresh install?

Hello there!

We have:

- ESX 3.5

- Virtual Center 2.5

- Infrastructure client 2.5

Now I am asked to upgrade the Virtual Center to Vcenter Server 4.01. (and of course the newest infrastructure client as well).

Now my question is...

is it better to upgrade the Virtual Center server or is it better to do a fresh install. I know I will loose my history but what are the pros and cons?

Hope someone can help me out!

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a_p_
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Now I am asked to upgrade the Virtual Center to Vcenter Server 4.01. (and of course the newest infrastructure client as well).

I guess you mean version 4.1?

is it better to upgrade the Virtual Center server or is it better to do a fresh install.

Since vCenter Server 4.1 is only supported on a 64-bit Windows OS, you will have to do a new install anyway. You will have the option to migrate the database in case you need it.

I know I will loose my history but what are the pros and cons?

The history is only one part you loose. Depending on your configuration, you will also loose e.g. Resource Pools, Permissions and other vCenter Server related settings.

If you decide to do a fresh install, you might want to leave the old vCenter Server running until you are done, because of the license server running on the old system. This way you don't have to install the "old" license server on the new system and you are able to use vMotion while upgrading the hosts.

André

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illvilja
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Hi,

You can upgrade vCenter, no problems. It will upgrade the database aswell, remember to take a backup of the database before though.

Going from 3.5 to 4.x for ESX I would recommend a fresh install, it's always better.



VCP3/VCP4/VTSP/VSP/MCTS: Virtualization

a_p_
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Now I am asked to upgrade the Virtual Center to Vcenter Server 4.01. (and of course the newest infrastructure client as well).

I guess you mean version 4.1?

is it better to upgrade the Virtual Center server or is it better to do a fresh install.

Since vCenter Server 4.1 is only supported on a 64-bit Windows OS, you will have to do a new install anyway. You will have the option to migrate the database in case you need it.

I know I will loose my history but what are the pros and cons?

The history is only one part you loose. Depending on your configuration, you will also loose e.g. Resource Pools, Permissions and other vCenter Server related settings.

If you decide to do a fresh install, you might want to leave the old vCenter Server running until you are done, because of the license server running on the old system. This way you don't have to install the "old" license server on the new system and you are able to use vMotion while upgrading the hosts.

André

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Ajay_Nabh
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Hi Andre

when you say "leave old VC server running" what exatly you mean? I heard suggestions that try to keep same VC server name for new server, how is it possible in same domain?

thanks

Ajay

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mwpreston
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You may also want to consider dropping your esx hosts and reinstalling with ESXi since 4.1 is the last supported ESX version...

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a_p_
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when you say "leave old VC server running" what exatly you mean? I heard suggestions that try to keep same VC server name for new server, how is it possible in same domain?

This is an option - as I mentioned above - if you decide to do a fresh install. If you decide to use the same hostname for the new vCenter then it's not possible.

André

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Ajay_Nabh
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Hi Andre

Thanks for your comments

would you be able to comment on the last line...

1) Backup "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Virtual Center\SSL\", backup vCenter DB

2) Power vCenter 4.0 down

3) Install new 2008 R2

4) Restore SSL certs to "C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\SSL\"

5) Create new 64bit DSN to vCenter DB

6) Create new 32bit DSN to Update Manager DB

7) Install vCenter 4.1 and point it to old DB, perform DB upgrade

Also consider using the same IP and DNS name for new vCenter to avoid possible problems

from the post http://communities.vmware.com/message/1575476#1575476

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a_p_
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would you be able to comment on the last line...

.....

Also consider using the same IP and DNS name for new vCenter to avoid possible problems

from the post http://communities.vmware.com/message/1575476#1575476

Sure, it's a link to another post Smiley Wink Just kidding!

It depends on the specific situation how an upgrade is done. I have a couple of small installations (2-3 hosts) without any fancy configurations and the need to preserve performance data, where it is a lot faster to do a fresh install of vCenter Server and the hosts than running upgrades. In other situations it may be preferable to upgrade as stated in the link you mentioned.

As long as you know what to do in any one situation there's nothing to be afraid of.

André

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Ajay_Nabh
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Thanks for the clarification

Cheers

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leeroyrichardso
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I upgraded our 3.5 infrastructure including vc version 4.

For the hosts I did a number of different upgrade paths, clean install, host upgrade and upgrade manager upgrade. Although all worked very well and did not encounter any problems I do now prefer using the upgrade manager.

Upgrade Manager gave me the option of a roll back if there are problems, its very straight forward setting up and at the end once you have ran the script to remove any previous versions the actual install is the same as a clean install.

I have in the past always done a clean install as this prevented any bugs/corrupt software being used by the upgrade, but there does not seem to be a need for this anymore.






Lee Richardson

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Ajay_Nabh
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I Concur with Lee on V4 upgrade path

Cheers

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acavali
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In my opinion, it depends on the servers. If they are vanilla installs, I would go upgrade. If they have agents or any customization, I would go fresh install.

If you do go fresh install, go ESXi.

The upgrade is pretty straightforward and easy to do. The reconfiguration could be a pain.

If you really want to do a fresh install, one thing to keep in mind is that if you have licensing to support Host profiles, and they are all configured the same, I would do an upgrade and make a host profile out of one of the servers. Use that host profile to copy the configurations across to the rest of the servers. Then you could do a fresh install on the first server you had made a profile from.

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Ajay_Nabh
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I am still not sure how can invalidate Lee's install upgrade path! however interesting thoughts

Cheers

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