Specifications

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“Microsoft SQL Database Set to Unsupported Compatibility Mode Causes vCenter Server Installation
or Upgrade to Fail,” on page 59
About the vCenter Server Upgrade
VMware supports in-place upgrades on 64-bit systems from vCenter Server 4.x, vCenter Server 5.0.x, and
vCenter Server 5.1.x to vCenter Server 5.5.
Unlike versions before vCenter Server 5.1, vCenter Server 5.5 does not support directly migrating an
existing, 5.0.x or earlier vCenter Server to a new machine during an upgrade to version 5.5. You can migrate
such an existing vCenter Server to a new machine during an upgrade to version 5.0.x, and then perform an
in-place upgrade from version 5.0.x to version 5.5. See “Upgrading to vCenter Server on a Different
Machine,” on page 52.
vCenter Server 5.5 can manage ESX 4.x/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.0.x, and 5.1 x hosts in the same cluster with ESXi 5.5
hosts. vCenter Server 5.5 cannot manage ESX 2.x or 3.x hosts.
NOTE You cannot upgrade a vCenter Server 4.x instance that is running on Windows XP Professional x64
Edition to vCenter Server 5.5, because vCenter Server 5.5 does not support Windows XP Professional x64.
vSphere 5.1 introduced vCenter Single Sign On service as part of the vCenter Server management
infrastructure. This change affects vCenter Server installation, upgrading, and operation. See “How vCenter
Single Sign-On Affects vCenter Server Upgrades,” on page 32
How vCenter Single Sign-On Affects vCenter Server Upgrades
Which users can log in to vCenter Server after an upgrade depends on the version that you are upgrading
from and the deployment configuration.
In upgrades to vCenter Server 5.0 and earlier, which do not include a vCenter Single Sign-On service, both
the local operating system users and Active Directory users that are registered with vCenter Server continue
to work with the upgraded vCenter Server.
This behavior changes if you are upgrading from a version that does not include vCenter Single Sign-On to
a version that does include vCenter Single Sign-On: vCenter Server version 5.1 or vCenter Server version
5.5.
NOTE With vCenter Single Sign-On, local operating system users become far less important than the users
in a directory service such as Active Directory. As a result, it is not always possible, or even desirable, to
keep local operating system users as authenticated users.
After the upgrade from a version earlier than version 5.1, you might be prompted for the administrator of
the root folder in the vSphere inventory hierarchy during installation. This might happen because of
changes in user stores from pre-5.1 versions to 5.1 and later versions of vSphere. See “Hierarchical
Inheritance of Permissions,” on page 107.
Simple Install Upgrade
A Simple Install upgrade installs or upgrades a single vCenter Server and related components.
If you upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5 from a vCenter Server version that does not include vCenter Single
Sign-On, vCenter Single Sign-On recognizes existing local operating system users. In addition, the user
[e-mail] can log in as an administrator user to vCenter Single Sign-On and
vCenter Server. If your previous installation supported Active Directory users, you can add the Active
Directory domain as an identity source.
vSphere Upgrade
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