Upgrading vCenter to version 5.5 using a new server

[Nikhil_Patwa]

Hello all,

I have vCenter 4.1 and need to upgrade to vCenter 5.5. My vCenter 4.1 is running on Windows Server 2008 SP2 and SQL Server 2008 SP3 database.

The requirement is to have a new server installed with Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 for the vCenter 5.5.

Question is how can I achieve the upgrade of vCenter 4.1 to 5.5 on a different server? is this possible? if yes what are the things to take care off since it's not an in server upgrade.

Looking for your valuable suggestions and information.

Regards,

Nikhil

[weinstein5]

To keep you existing environment you will have to copy the vCenter database to the new SQL Server - you can check the upgrade guide http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-upgrade... which does detail upgrade vCenter by moving it to a new server and database -

[Nikhil_Patwa]

Hi Weinstein,

I had gone through the vCenter 5.5 Upgrade guide and on page 54 it says:

You cannot directly migrate an existing vCenter Server to a different machine during an upgrade to version 5.1.x or 5.5.

This means first I will have to upgrade my vCenter 4.1 to vCenter 5.0 - inplace upgrade and then from vCenter 5.0 to vCenter 5.5 to a different server.

vCenter 4.1 is already 64-bit running on Windows Server 2008 SP2.

Any other suggestions, has anyone managed to upgrade vCenter 4.1 to vCenter 5.5

Regards,

Nikhil