Moving VMs from ESX 3.5 to 4.0 help

[admin]

I need to move VMs which currently reside on an ESX 3.5 box and put them on an ESX 4.0 box.  The VMs live on the SAN so is it just as easy as moving the files from one SAN to another?   Or is there also an upgrade process involved?    Thanks for the help.

[vmroyale]

Hello.

Yes, just copy them over and add to inventory.  You can upgrade the virtual machine hardware version later, but you don't have to do it now.

Good Luck!

[RvdNieuwendijk · Accepted solution]

If you just move the virtual machines to another SAN and ESX 4 host they will still run. It would however be nicer if you also upgrade the virtual machines hardware to version 7 and also upgrade the VMware Tools. Remember that after upgrading the virtual machines hardware to version 7 you will not be able to move the virtual machines back to an ESX 3.5 host.

Regards, Robert

[admin]

Thanks for the help on this .. and will do!

[DSTAVERT]

When changing  the to Hardware Version 7 make sure you update VMware tools before you upgrade the hardware version.

[idle-jam]

also i would create a snapshot before doing two operations. if the vmware tools failed, i could roll back. this is just something that i practice.