Upgrade to v4.1 form v4.0

[said07]

Can someone provide a been there, done that step by step of the upgrade?
(Vcenter 4.0, Update manager, and Vmware 4.0 to v4.1)

I saw on Vmware site that there was a patch to be deployed before upgrading but not sure.

Thanks,

Said

 

[mrdenny]

Don't bother with the pre patch. All that did is screw up my server.

Upgrade vCenter.
Then upgrade the hosts. Each host needs to be in maintenance mode before you can upgrade.
Then upgrade the VMware Tools.

You can use the upgrade manager, or just upgrade the file to the hosts, then use the esxupgrade command to upgrade from the command line.

Denny
MVP
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / SQL 2005 BI / SQL 2008 DBA / SQL 2008 DBD / SQL 2008 BI / MWSS 3.0: Configuration / MOSS 2007: Configuration)
MCITP (SQL 2005 DBA / SQL 2008 DBA / SQL 2005 DBD / SQL 2008 DBD / SQL 2005 BI / SQL 2008 BI)

My Blog

 

[said07]

Thanks

 

[Arisap]

Rule number 1. ***NEVER*** upgrade a host to a major release and yes, 4.1 is a major release. You should ALWAYS rebuild the host from scratch. The host installation is throw away. Why take the remote chance that an upgrade leaves something behind.

1. export performance data if you want to keep historical performance

2. Build a new Virtual Center server -- must be 64bit windows

3. Make a new SQL Server database

4. Install new VC server

5. Bring all hosts into new VC (just add them and ignore the error that they are being managed by a different VC once the VC is empty stop the service)

6. Put host1 into maintenance mode (evacuate host)

7. Install 4.1 on host1

8. Rinse and repeat steps 6 and 7. You can easily vmotion between 4.0 and 4.1 hosts

I only use upgrade manager to maintain small patches. When VMware releases a new ISO, rebuild your hosts from that ISO. Building hosts is so simple, it makes almost no sense at all to put the environment at risk.

 

[said07]

Arisap - Thank you. I should have updated this post when I got done.
My upgrade to Up 4.1 went well without issues bu using the Update manager. Maybe I took a risk.

 

[mrdenny]

I did inplace upgrades from 3.5 to 4.0 then to 4.1 without any real issues. The few issues that I hit are documented on my blog.

Denny
MVP
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / SQL 2005 BI / SQL 2008 DBA / SQL 2008 DBD / SQL 2008 BI / MWSS 3.0: Configuration / MOSS 2007: Configuration)
MCITP (SQL 2005 DBA / SQL 2008 DBA / SQL 2005 DBD / SQL 2008 DBD / SQL 2005 BI / SQL 2008 BI)

My Blog

 

[Arisap]

mrdenny, out of curiosity, why would you even bother? Seems like a lot of work. I mean in theory it can be done. but if this is for production use, it seems like a risk that is unnecessary.

 

[mrdenny]

The upgrades were very simple to do. VMware has done a good job with building the upgrade process, there is no risk in using it.

If I wanted to install a new OS without upgrading I would had to have done to the CoLo and drop in a new CD (I suppose I could have made the DRAC cards mount an ISO) and then gone through the UI installer, then had to reconfigure all the networking on the host leading to a lot of possibility for fat fingering when setting all the networking back up.

These machines were production boxes with 12 nics that needed to be configured over 4 VLANs, not to mention the HBAs and the risk of having machines which are attached to the storage which aren't in the cluster. That's a lot of risk for problems compared to doing an upgrade that works.

Denny
MVP
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / SQL 2005 BI / SQL 2008 DBA / SQL 2008 DBD / SQL 2008 BI / MWSS 3.0: Configuration / MOSS 2007: Configuration)
MCITP (SQL 2005 DBA / SQL 2008 DBA / SQL 2005 DBD / SQL 2008 DBD / SQL 2005 BI / SQL 2008 BI)

My Blog