vCenter Upgrade from 5.5 U3 to 6.5

[bijendramisra]

Our vCenter currently running on vCenter 5.5 and we would like to go with 6.5 (Windows installtion) rather 6.0. What is the process?

What all things I need to take backup before I proceed for upgrade. Will DB backup enough to go for vCenter upgrade. Its production environment. Please suggest.

Additional Component associated.

1. Update Manager

2. SRM

3. Orchestrator

4. DB Switch.

5. SSO

6. Replication

6. Some more Plugin installed.

Thanks,

Bijendra

[rcporto]

Assuming you're planning upgrade only the vCenter and required components and will not upgrade the vSphere ESXi hosts, you should first validate the compatibility with not only other VMware products, but with third-party solutions like backup software and vCenter plugins as well.

Once you validate the compatibility, keep in mind that there is a upgrade sequence that you should follow and it is documented here: Update sequence for vSphere 6.5 and its compatible VMware products (2147289) | VMware KB

Last but not least, along side with vCenter database backup, if you're running vCenter on virtual machine, take a snapshot before start the upgrade. And that apply not only for vCenter, but for all other solutions that are running on virtual machine and that you will upgrade.

[GregPatria]

I have the same case, will upgrade from vCenter 5.5 to 6/6.5, but I have to upgrade vCenter heartbeat (I have 2 vCenter active - passive in the Stretch cluster environment). I heard vCenter heartbeat become one feature on vCenter 6.5. Could you please to share about requirement and consideration that I have to know before I upgrade my vCenter?

thanks.

[rcporto]

Greg Patria C

vCenter Server Heartbeat is EOL and do not support vCenter versions 6.x, but with newer releases of vCenter Server, you can use FT to protect vCenter Server version 6.x or the new vCenter HA feature introduced on vCenter 6.5, see: https://www.vladan.fr/vmware-vsphere-6-5-native-vcenter-high-availability/

No matter the HA option that you choose to protect your vCenter 6.x, the first step is remove the vCenter Heartbeat, see how: Uninstalling VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.4 and later (2014202) | VMware KB

[bijendramisra]

We are using EMC Avamar for backup solutions and our vCenter is a physical machine not a VM.

Not sure Avamar can take entire vCenter backup or not. That I need to check with Backup team.

Will the Database take SSO and DV Switch configuration backup as well? Do I need to uninstall plugin before I go with the upgrade?

Thanks,

Bijendra

[rcporto · Accepted solution]

The vCenter database do not include SSO configuration, since that configuration is stored on a different database, so you will need to do the SSO database backup separately, see how: Backing up and restoring the VMware vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 configuration (2057353) | VMware KB

You can always export the vDS configuration in case you need restore only the vDS configuration instead of the whole vCenter database, see: Exporting/importing/restoring Distributed Switch configs using vSphere Web Client (2034602) | VMware...

Another important thing to backup is the vCenter SSL certificates located at: %allusersprofile%\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter

For additional vCenter upgrade best practices see the official documentation: Best Practices for vCenter Server Upgrades