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TheKenApp
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Contributor

Need to upgrade DVSwitch from 6.5.0 to 7.0.3 - ESXi 7.0.3 and later

Hi,

I did create a support request for this issue, but I also want to reach out to the community regarding this as well. 

We have multiple version 6.5.0 distributed virtual switches, Which we want to upgrade to "7.0.3 - ESXi 7.0.3 and later".
My concern is the outage this may cause for VMs.

I figure there are two options available to me:
1) Upgrade the existing distributed switches, or
2) Create new Distributed switches, and migrate the network for each VM.

I would like to know if upgrading a distributed switch would cause a disruption of network traffic to/from our VMs, and if so, what kind of outage would this cause (milliseconds, seconds, minutes ...).

Option #2 would be very time consuming, but if this causes less of an outage for each VM, I would create new switches, and change the network adapter for each VM.

Any advice regarding what would be the best process for upgrading our distributed switches to 7.0.3 would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ken

 

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markey165
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Hot Shot

Hi @TheKenApp 
If you're worried about the unknowns 

Personally, I would choose one of the following "safer" options. These give you a greater degree of control, rather than a big bang, lose everything scenario.

  1. Setup a new DVS, enable hybrid mode, and move VMs from the old DVS to the new DVS. This approach will need at least 1 spare Physical NIC. If you have these already, great. If you havn't, but you have 2 NICs assigned to the 6.5.0 DVS, you can remove one of them, and assign it to the new DVS. Then add your port groups, test connectivity, then migrate your VMs across non disruptively. Finally migrate the 2nd NIC from the old DVS to the new DVS, and bin the old DVS
  2. Move 2 or 3 hosts into a new Cluster, create new DVS on 7.0.3, enable hybrid mode, then vMotion the VMs from the old cluster to the new cluster.

Note hybrid mode is needed to ensure vMotion compatibility when migrating VMs from a 6.5.0 DVS to a 7.0.3 DVS.

HTH :smiling_face_with_smiling_eyes:

 

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TheKenApp
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Thanks for the advice. We have spare NIC ports on our hosts, but not on the switch that services them, so I will not be able to pursue this option. 

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markey165
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@TheKenApp No worries, but note that option 2 of my reply was a separate option in case you missed it, and a viable alternative, if you don't want to risk upgrading the DVS in situ :smiling_face_with_smiling_eyes:

 

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TheKenApp
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OK, I will look into that as an option. Thanks!

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