vCenter Server 4 to 5: Fresh Install or Upgrade?

[christas]

I am working with a customer who needs to upgrade their current vCenter Server 4.X (physical/stand-alone) to v5. They have decided to replace the physical server vCenter is installed on since the warranty will quickly expire, and vendor support will have to be renewed.

There are roughly 10-20 ESX hosts [4.1] and over 200 VMs. I understand a lot of the configurations will be lost when moving to the new vCenter Server. My questions are these:

1. If using the old DB from the previous VC, what do I need to be aware of.

2. Should I remove the clusters and hosts from the old VC before powering off?

3. What is the best order in doing this? ((reference KB's are nice))

4. Do I completely remove the datacenter that the old VC was managing - then power off, then add the ESX hosts and basically "start over"?

5. What about 3rd party SSL certs? Has anyone had issues with these when adding the hosts to the new vCenter Server?

6. Currently the environment has EVC modes configured, will those configs be maintained by the environment when I add the hosts back into an EVC cluster with the new VC?

Basically I just want to cover all basis and be as prepared as possible.

Also, there is a seperate part of the existing datacenter that must be PCI compliant, with special configurations in place. Will those be recognized by the new vCenter since I plan on using the old VC's DB?

Thank you in advance for helping and offering your experiencing and suggestions!

[eeg3]

I would just migrate to a new server and keep everything the same, unless things are funky now and you'd like a clean slate. This would also be a good time to virtualize vCenter, but it'd probably be best to do a regular vCenter migrate (and go to Windows 2008 if they're not on it already) than a P2V.

KBs:

1. Upgrading to vCenter 5.0 Best Practices
2. Overview of Upgrading or Migrating from vCenter Server 4.x to vCenter Server 5.x

[christas]

1. Virtualizing vCenter is not an option in this case.

2. vCenter is installed on a physical box (64-bit MS Serv'08 R2) but remember the customer is wanting to replace the server with a newer one. So in-place upgrades are also not an option....

3. P2V is definitely not a consideration.

Thanks for the links.

[Troy_Clavell]

.....1. Virtualizing vCenter is not an option in this case.

Why?  This, in my opinion is the best way to run vCenter.  You can utilize DRS/HA and not have to worry about failing hardware or older hardware.  If it were me, I would challenge the customer to come up with a reason as to why virtualizing is not an option.  As the old saying goes, "eat your own dog food".

just my $.02

[christas]

  As the old saying goes, "eat your own dog food".

Ha! I love the comment above. I can't give you an exact answer, other than the customer stated that it is something they want to keep. Given the nature of this account & the new relationship the Sales Rep has with their 'Intel" side of the business, I think it's best to play safe, and not offer too many opposing comments unless it's a configuration issue - or lack of best Practise...

Anyway, I do hope that some one will answer the questions I've presented.

The environment is what it is, so keeping that in mind, and respecting the customers pace and decisions, I would like some help with the questions I've asked.

-Cheers

[Troy_Clavell]

I can't speak directly for custom SSL certs because we don't use them.  With that said, regardless of where you run vCenter, the key to vCenter is it's DB.  So, if you are retaining the existing DB and plan to upgrade it, then I would say, just ensure you have a good backup prior to the upgrade.  From there the install is pretty much a "next, next, next" wizard.  Just ensure to "use existing DB" (or something along the lines of that verbiage) during your install of vCenter5.  If you are using the same hostname and IP, your inventory should remain intact.  Worse case, your hosts may be disconnected for awhile while the HA (FDM) agents and vCenter agents are pushed to your hosts.

If you are chaning the hostname and IP of vCenter, you'll probably have to "connect" your hosts back to inventory and authenticate to them during the connection process.

Also, I would make a note of your vCenter Unique ID (Administration--vCenter Server Settings).  Ensure the ID is the same.  This wil keep your guests MAC addresses consistent with your existing environment.  Not a must, but consistency is always nice.

If you start over, with a fresh DB, fresh install of vCenter and a new Hostname and IP address, well, you'll need to recreate your DataCenter, Clusters, Resource pools, etc, then add the hosts back into vCenter.

[arturka · Accepted solution]

Hi

I see this time you asked before upgrade 🙂

I am working with a customer who needs to upgrade their current vCenter Server 4.X (physical/stand-alone) to v5. They have decided to replace the physical server vCenter is installed on since the warranty will quickly expire, and vendor support will have to be renewed.

no problem with migration to new physical server,

open below link, your scenario is called, Upgrade to vCenter Server on a Different Machine and Upgrade the Database but I definatelly advice you to read whole topic called upgrading to vCetner server 5  🙂

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp

1. If using the old DB from the previous VC, what do I need to be aware of

• stop vCenter services and do DB backup first,  before migration
• point ODBC from new vCenter server to old DB before migration starts

2. Should I remove the clusters and hosts from the old VC before powering off?

do not power anythin off 🙂 do not remove anything from old vCenter server, just stop vCenter services before migration

3. What is the best order in doing this? ((reference KB's are nice))

see point above

4. Do I completely remove the datacenter that the old VC was managing - then power off, then add the ESX hosts and basically "start over"?

see two points above

5. What about 3rd party SSL certs? Has anyone had issues with these when adding the hosts to the new vCenter Server?

if you will properly migrate perform migration - using migration utility provided by VMware, no problems with certificates

6. Currently the environment has EVC modes configured, will those configs be maintained by the environment when I add the hosts back into an EVC cluster with the new VC?

Migrate to new vCetner along with DB, you will avoid EVC problems

Good luck

Artur

[eeg3]

christas wrote:

1. Virtualizing vCenter is not an option in this case.

2. vCenter is installed on a physical box (64-bit MS Serv'08 R2) but remember the customer is wanting to replace the server with a newer one. So in-place upgrades are also not an option....

3. P2V is definitely not a consideration.

Thanks for the links.

In regards to #2, as detailed in "Upgrading to vCenter Server on a Different Machine and Upgrade the Existing Database" KB article, you would migrate using the data migration tool and then upgrade. More details on using the data migration tool are in the Upgrade Guide, as well.

[christas]

Artur wrote:

Hi

I see this time you asked before upgrade 🙂

Yes -- as you can *see* I am begining to do this quite often for customers! [ I work for a solutions provider type company ] So in many cases, I will often find myself doing the same thing, with just different environmental factors.

I am very glad you answered all of my questions. Judging by some previous upgrades, I definitely did not follow the correct order, and it cost me. Fortunately, backups were made.

I really do appreciate your reply. I have marked  your answer as correct.

Thanks!