How to: Upgrade to vSphere 5
On July 12th, VMware announced the release of vSphere 5.
With the release comes the challenge to upgrade your existing installation.
However, there are a few caveats:
- vSphere 5 is the first version which comes in a ESXi version ONLY! ESXi 5 is available in an embedded or installable version. If you’re running ESX 3.x or 4.x you should do a clean installation. You can find more information here.;
- VMware changed their licensing method. Familiarize yourself with this and check if you need to upgrade/extend your licenses. You can find more information here.
Because I run a VMware vSphere 4.1 environment, this is a upgrade from vSphere 4.1 to 5.
The upgrade is a straight forward five step process.
vCenter server upgrade
Step 1: Upgrade the VMware vCenter server and, if applicable, the VMware Update Manager. Before you start, check any other VMware associated solution which uses VMware vCenter server, such as VMware View, vCloud Director and Site Recovery Manager. Use the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix to determine which versions of these solutions are compatible with vCenter Server 5.0.
Before you start the upgrade process, back-up the vCenter- and Update Manager databases.
When all other solution are compatible and you have created a backup of the databases, it is time to update the vCenter server.
Note: As vCenter server 4.1, version 5 is only supported on 64 bit operating systems. As such, there is no in-place upgrade path for vCenter Server installs on 32 bit operating systems. If your vCenter Server is installed on a 32 bit operating system, you need to switch to a new 64 bit machine where vCenter Server 4.1 can be installed.
Start the VMware vCenter installer.
The first thing you will notice is the new layout.
Select the correct language and the installation will detect the earlier vCenter server installation.
Accept the End-User Patent agreement and the License Agreement and proceed.
Fill in your organization’s information and license key and proceed.
The installation detects the current vCenter server database and the used ODBC driver. Check whether the correct database is displayed to avoid upgrading the incorrect database.
Confirm that you want to upgrade your existing database and that you have made a back-up of the database and SSL certificates before starting the upgrade process.
Specify if you want the upgrade process to upgrade your vCenter agents automatically or manually. If you want minimal disruption, choose the automatic option, although VMware HA and FT will continue to function when disconnected from the vCenter server.
Enter the password for the vCenter server service account.
Check the destination folders and change them if necessary.
Check the ports used by vCenter server and the Inventory service. In my home test environment the changes made for the previous vCenter server installation were neatly preserved.
Then a new vCenter server installation feature. Select your vSphere setup to correctly size the memory used for the vCenter server Java Virtual Machine (JVM) memory.
There are three options, Small <100 hosts, Medium >100 hosts <400 hosts, Large > 400 hosts. Personally I think I will never use the Medium and Large option although I would love to setup such a huge environment.
Last but not least, check the option to increase the number of ephemeral ports. You should do this when the vCenter server manages hosts on which more than 2000 virtual machines will be powered on. This can be the case with large VMware View deployments.
When you are done, select Next to start the installation process.
When you’ve passed these screens, the installation process has enough information to upgrade your previous vCenter server installation.
Next, the vSphere client upgrade.
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Page 1 - vCenter server upgrade Page 2 - vSphere client upgrade Page 3 - Web Client server installation Page 4 - ESXi host upgrade Page 5 - Virtual Machine upgrade
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vSphere client upgrade
Step 2: Upgrade the VMware vSphere client which is pretty straightforward.
Next, the Web client server installation.
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Page 1 - vCenter server upgrade Page 2 - vSphere client upgrade Page 3 - Web Client server installation Page 4 - ESXi host upgrade Page 5 - Virtual Machine upgrade
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Install Web Client server
Step 3: Install the new Web Client server which enables the new vCenter server web interface.
Select the option from the VMware vCenter Installer.
Accept the End-User Patent agreement and the License Agreement and proceed.
After that, specify the HTTP and HTTPS port settings for the clients to connect to.
Check the destination folders, change them if necessary and start the installation.
Next, ESX host upgrade
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Page 1 - vCenter server upgrade Page 2 - vSphere client upgrade Page 3 - Web Client server installation Page 4 - ESXi host upgrade Page 5 - Virtual Machine upgrade
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ESX host upgrade
Step 4: Upgrade the ESXi host.
My server is running ESXi 4.1.0, which is eligible for an in-place upgrade to ESXi 5.
When you are ready to upgrade an ESXi host and have gathered the information required to configure the host after the upgrade, you should take the following steps:
- Move all virtual machines to other hosts;
- Remove the ESXi host from vCenter Server;
- If you’re using Fiber Channel storage, I recommend you disconnect the storage from the host before the upgrade process and reconnect after the upgrade completes. This prevents you from accidentally formatting any datastores.
When ready, insert the DVD or mount the ISO-file, boot the server and select the ‘ESXi-5.0.0-standard installer’ from the boot menu.
Accept the Welcome screen and accept the End User License Agreement.
Select the local partition on which ESXi is installed. The asterisk will indicate that it already contains a VMFS partition. Press F1 to see the details of the partition or press Enter to continue.
Because a local VMFS datastore is detected, three options are show.
- Upgrade ESXi, preserve VMFS datastore;
- Install ESXi, preserve VMFS datastore;
- Install ESXi, overwrite VMFS datastore.
Because I wondered if the installation would really preserve all my settings, I selected the first option.
Check the installation path and press F11 to start the installation/upgrade process.
After the installation completes, remove the installation DVD or unmount the ISO-file and reboot the server.
Once the install completes, reconfigure your host settings and add the host back into vCenter Server.
Move your VMs from the other hosts back onto the new ESXi host.
The final step for this phase is to upgrade your datastores to VMFS version 5. This can be done with live virtual machines running on the datastores and do not require any virtual machine downtime. vSphere 5.0 fully supports datastores with VMFS version 3, so the datastore upgrade may be scheduled at a time that’s convenient for you.
Next, the Virtual Machine upgrade.
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Page 1 - vCenter server upgrade Page 2 - vSphere client upgrade Page 3 - Web Client server installation Page 4 - ESXi host upgrade Page 5 - Virtual Machine upgrade
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Virtual Machine upgrade
Step 5: The final step in the upgrade process is the upgrade of all virtual machines in the environment.
Start the virtual machine upgrade by first upgrading VMware Tools, followed by the upgrade of the Virtual Hardware to version 8. Virtual Machines need to be powered off in order to be upgraded, so you should plan appropriate outage windows for this step. You can perform an orchestrated upgrade of Virtual Machines with vSphere Update Manager, which allows you to upgrade VMware Tools and virtual hardware at the same time.
Note: vSphere 5.0 fully supports running virtual machines with VMware Tools version 4.x as well as Virtual Hardware versions 4 and 7, so you comfortably run existing virtual machines until a suitable outage window is available.
The complete upgrade process is now complete. When you go through all these pages and setting it may look like a lengthy process but it’s actually not. The complete upgrade took me no more than one hour!
Now you can enjoy all new vSphere 5 features VMware has given us/you. Enjoy!
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Page 1 - vCenter server upgrade Page 2 - vSphere client upgrade Page 3 - Web Client server installation Page 4 - ESXi host upgrade Page 5 - Virtual Machine upgrade
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