Dave Smith
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VSphere 5.5. to 6.7
We have two ESXI servers running 5.5 in a datacenter with vSphere as the management component. They are attached to a shared SAN for storage.
What are the steps required to update the system to 6.7?
What are the steps required to update the system to 6.7?
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I was thinkng of upgrading using your article (https://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/18799/HOW-TO-Upgrade-VMware-ESXi-5-1-to-ESXi-6-0-in-5-easy-steps.html#c1959900 )but I'm open to ideas. What would you recomend as the best option? As I say we have separate hardware so could build the servers offlione and then migrate the datastore?
Upgrades can and always will give issues, if you can it's always better to start with a new installation.
if you can afford downtime with the swap.... e.g. present datastores to new servers, power off on old host, register VM with new host, and power on.
We like new installs, because it gives us time to Test New installs, and transfer services, and there's a rollback if all goes wrong...
if you can afford downtime with the swap.... e.g. present datastores to new servers, power off on old host, register VM with new host, and power on.
We like new installs, because it gives us time to Test New installs, and transfer services, and there's a rollback if all goes wrong...
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Sounds like a fresh install would be the best bet rather than a in place upgrade as we could use time out of hours in order to minimize downtime. Our site does not provide a 24 hour service so this is also good when migrating from old to new.
Once ESXI is installed on the new servers and vSphere installed, do you have a step by step guide to how to migrate the data from the old ESXI hosts to the new hardware? We will be using a new SAN storage device also.
Once ESXI is installed on the new servers and vSphere installed, do you have a step by step guide to how to migrate the data from the old ESXI hosts to the new hardware? We will be using a new SAN storage device also.
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Yes the old SAN (which contains the current datastore) could be connected to the new hosts. What would be the steps if we decided to do this? We already have a new SAN so would need to migrate off the old one at some point.
I'm sorry I might be "brilliant", but I cannot read your mind, or know what the existing SAN is!
What is it ? How is it connected ?
OR, in-place upgrade on existing hosts, to 6.0 (remove them from current vcenter server), add to new vCenter Server, and use Storage vMotion to Migrate from old to new hosts and SAN.
Do you have vMotion and Storage vMotion licenses ?
What is it ? How is it connected ?
OR, in-place upgrade on existing hosts, to 6.0 (remove them from current vcenter server), add to new vCenter Server, and use Storage vMotion to Migrate from old to new hosts and SAN.
Do you have vMotion and Storage vMotion licenses ?
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Haha, my apologies, here's me thinking you could read minds as well as all the other things you can do!
The SAN is connected is directly attached to both ESXI hosts via SAS cables. Its a Dell Storage device.
I would need to check on the licences for vMotion.
If we dont have licenses for vMotion, once the SAN is connected to the new servers what would be the next steps?
Plus do you have an artivle that relates to upgrading from 6.0 to 6.7 like the one you did for 5.5 to 6.0?
The SAN is connected is directly attached to both ESXI hosts via SAS cables. Its a Dell Storage device.
I would need to check on the licences for vMotion.
If we dont have licenses for vMotion, once the SAN is connected to the new servers what would be the next steps?
Plus do you have an artivle that relates to upgrading from 6.0 to 6.7 like the one you did for 5.5 to 6.0?
ASKER
Actually apon checking the HCL the old servers (Dell Poweredge R620s), as far as I can see, do not support 6.7 U3. So it looks like an upgrade to 6.7 on the exsiting hardware and then a migration to the new servers is not an otpion. So a fresh install is the only option it would seem, do you have a guide or advice on the steps required?
If you go with a new install, you will have to Migrate the old VMs off the old servers to the new using VMware Converter.
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Cheers Andy, was working in my lab, will deploy these steps to my live system soon,
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