To upgrade esxi 4.1 to 5.1(with vm and vmfs) in a cluster on vc 5.1
I have prepared new vc 5.1 and configured new cluster using 8 esxi 4.1 host, multiple vms are running on these 8 host, and showing utilization till 80%..have few concerns..
1.Please advice best approach to upgrade host one by one to avoid any failure/outage for my running prod environment ?
2.And also confirm how vmware tools and hardware version should be upgraded for different vms-after host upgrade with min downtime ?
3.In case any failure during host upgrade,is there any back out plan we can preserver before upgrading host?
4.Can we go for vmfs upgrade after upgrading complete cluster [all host in cluster] or have to upgrade vms first with updated h/w version/vmware tools ?
5.Is it require to upgrade all host first(in cluster/datacenter/vc) which are connected to specific datastore before we go for vmfs upgrade?
1.Please advice best approach to upgrade host one by one to avoid any failure/outage for my running prod environment ?
2.And also confirm how vmware tools and hardware version should be upgraded for different vms-after host upgrade with min downtime ?
3.In case any failure during host upgrade,is there any back out plan we can preserver before upgrading host?
4.Can we go for vmfs upgrade after upgrading complete cluster [all host in cluster] or have to upgrade vms first with updated h/w version/vmware tools ?
5.Is it require to upgrade all host first(in cluster/datacenter/vc) which are connected to specific datastore before we go for vmfs upgrade?
ASKER
Thanks,
We are done with Test Plan.
just to confirm whether we need to pull out the host form Prod Cluster before we go for upgrade ? or just to put in maintenance mode?
Please advice best approach to avoid any outage..
3. is it ok if we preserve host profile before upgrading host form 4.1 to 5.1 Or can we apply that after upgrade or in case any failure ?
We are done with Test Plan.
just to confirm whether we need to pull out the host form Prod Cluster before we go for upgrade ? or just to put in maintenance mode?
Please advice best approach to avoid any outage..
3. is it ok if we preserve host profile before upgrading host form 4.1 to 5.1 Or can we apply that after upgrade or in case any failure ?
Put the Host into maintenance mode.
Host Profiles will not be compatible from 4.1 to 5.1.
Host Profiles will not be compatible from 4.1 to 5.1.
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ASKER
Thanks
1. Test the upgrade and become familiar with it in a test environment. Move the VMs to other hosts with vMotion. Apply the upgrade to the host using the CDROM or the virtual media (remotely) if supported by the server. Check if hardware is supported. Read the Upgrade doc and release notes. Consider disabling HA during any scheduled maintenance. -IMportant: install critical patches after the upgrade.
2. Until the hosts are in 5.1, you still need to reboot after installation of VMtools.
3. If the upgrade fails, it might better to do a fresh install. If you moved the VMs to other hosts before the upgrade, it shouldn't be a big deal to install ESXi from scratch. Otherwise, the only product I know of to backup the host's configuration is Acronis vmProtect9.
4. No, don't upgrade vmfs until all other host are in 5.1.
5. yes.