VMware vSphere 5.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 VMware vSphere 5.0 – What’s New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 vSphere Features No Longer Supported in vSphere 5.0. . . . . .
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Upgrading to ESXi 5.0 Using Update Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Uploading the ESXi Installation ISO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Introduction VMware vSphere® 5.0 (“vSphere”) is a significant milestone for VMware, introducing many new features and capabilities. For many, the road to vSphere 5.0 will begin by upgrading existing vSphere environments. Fortunately, included with the many new features and capabilities of vSphere 5.0 is a simple upgrade path that makes it easy to migrate from VMware vCenter™ 4.x to vCenter 5.0 and from VMware ESXi™ 4.x to ESXi 5.0.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Obtaining vSphere 5.0 Licenses All vSphere customers with an active Support and Subscription (SnS) contract are entitled to upgrade to vSphere 5.0 at no extra charge. To get your vSphere 5.0 license keys, log in to the support Web site (https://www.vmware.com/support/licensing/) using your customer information, and accept the new end-user licensing agreement, after which you will be able to access your vSphere 5.0 license keys. For more information on ESXi 5.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Requirements The following requirements for vCenter 5.0 are listed. These are supported minimums. Scaling and sizing of vCenter Server and components should be based on the size of the current virtual environment and anticipated growth. • Processor: Two CPUs 2.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Backing Up Your vCenter Configuration Before starting the upgrade procedure, it is recommended to back up your current vCenter Server to ensure that you can restore to the previous configuration in the case of an unsuccessful upgrade. It is important to realize that there are multiple objects that must be backed up to provide the ability to roll back: • SSL certificates • vpxd.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices 5. Give the backup a meaningful name and a useful description. 6. Change the backup destination to a location external to the vCenter Server and click OK.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Similar procedures are available for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Oracle. We refer to the Microsoft or Oracle documentation for more detailed information about this. Upgrade Scenarios When all the preliminary precautions have been taken, it is time to upgrade vCenter Server from 4.x to 5.0. We will discuss three different scenarios, but there are more possible scenarios than we will be able to discuss in this white paper.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Upgrading a 32-Bit vCenter 4.0 OS with a Local Database This scenario will describe an upgrade of vCenter Server 4.0 with a local database running on a 32-bit version of a Microsoft Windows 2003 OS. As vCenter 5.0 is a 64-bit platform, an in-place upgrade is not impossible. A VMware Data Migration Tool included with the vCenter Server media can be utilized to migrate data and settings from the old 32-bit OS to the new 64-bit OS.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices The Data Migration Tool should be unzipped in both the source and destination vCenter Server. In our scenario, we installed the Windows 2008 64-bit OS on the new vCenter Server 5.0 and extracted the vCenter installation files. A folder named datamigration contains a zip file called datamigration. This zip file contains the required tools for migrating all required data from the source vCenter Server to the destination vCenter Server.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices • Decide whether the host patches should be backed up or not. We recommend not backing them up and downloading new patches and excluding ESX patches to minimize stored data. • The backup will finish in a couple of minutes, depending on the amount of data, of course.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Installing vCenter Using Data Provided by the Data Migration Tool • Copy the contents of the “source” vCenter Server’s datamigration folder to the new vCenter Server. • Open up a Command Prompt and go to the folder containing the datamigration tools that you just copied. • Run install.bat. • Validate that the correct backup is used, and type y. • Enter the path to the installation media of vCenter Server 5.0 and proceed with enter.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices • Enter the path to the installation media of Update Manager 5.0 and proceed with enter. • Continue with the normal installation procedure: ––Select Language and click OK. ––Accept the .net Framework License Agreement and click Install. ––Click Exit to continue with the installation. ––Click Next, Next, and click I agree to the terms in the license agreement. ––Fill out the Customer Information and click Next.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices ––Leave the ports set to the default values for Inventory Service and click Next. ––Select the appropriate size for the Inventory and click Next. ––Click Install. ––Click Finish. ––In the Command Prompt screen, the vCenter database is restored and some components of vCenter Server go through the installation process again. ––Click Finish. ––Follow the reinstallation procedure for Update Manager: • Click Next. • Click Next.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices ––Start the VMware vSphere® Client™ to validate that all objects and data are still available. Using the Data Migration Tool, you can easily migrate the vCenter Server 4.0 32-bit OS using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express to a 64-bit OS. As with any tool, there are some caveats. We have listed the most accessed VMware knowledge base articles regarding the Data Migration Tool for your convenience as follows: • Backing up the vCenter Server 4.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Upgrading a 64-Bit vCenter 4.1 Server with a Remote Database Of the three scenarios this is the most straightforward, but we still suggest that you back up your current vCenter configuration and database to provide a rollback scenario. The upgrade process is as follows: • Insert the VMware vCenter Server 5.0 CD. Select vCenter Server and click Install. • Select the appropriate language and click OK. • Install .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 by clicking Install.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices • Notice the Database Upgrade Warning and ensure that you have a valid backup of your database and certificates. Click Next. • After the installation, the vCenter Agents will be upgraded on the hosts. Click Next.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices • Provide the account details and click Next. • Validate the installation destination folder and click Next. • Validate the ports for vCenter Server and click Next. • Validate the ports for the Inventory Service and click Next.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices • Select the corresponding Inventory Size and click Next. • Select the option for more than 2000 ephemeral ports if required (not required in most cases) and click Install. • Click Finish. • This starts the vSphere Client to connect to the vCenter Server to validate that all objects are still available. It should detect that the version is outdated. Click Run the installer to install the new vSphere Client. Upgrading a 64-Bit vCenter 4.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices • Back up the database to a location where your user has the correct set of permissions.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices • Copy this database from the selected location to your new Microsoft SQL Database Server. • Create a new database on your destination Microsoft SQL Server 2008. –– Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express. –– Log in to the local Microsoft SQL Server instance. –– Right-click Databases and select New Database. –– Give the new database a name and select an appropriate owner.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices –– Use the database calculator to identify the initial size of the database. Leave this set to the default and click OK. • Now that the database has been created, the old database must be restored to this newly created database. –– Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express. –– Log in to the local Microsoft SQL Server instance. –– Unfold Databases. –– Right-click the newly created database and select Restore Database. –– Select From device.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices –– Ensure that the correct database is selected to restore, as depicted in the following. –– Select Overwrite the existing database (WITH REPLACE). –– Click OK. –– Restore time will vary depending on the size of the database.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices • If you want to reuse your current environment, go to the vCenter Server and recreate the system DSN. If you prefer to keep this, go to the new vCenter Server and create a new system DSN. –– Open the ODBC Data Source Administrator. –– Click the System DSN tab. –– Remove the listed VMware VirtualCenter system DSN entry. –– Add a new system DSN using the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client. If this option is not available, download it here: http://www.microsoft.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices –– Select the correct database as the default. –– Click Finish and test the data source before clicking OK.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices • If the current vCenter Server environment is reused, take the following steps. If a new vCenter Server is used, skip this step. We have tested the upgrade without uninstalling vCenter Server. Although it was successful, we recommend removing it every time to prevent any unexpected performance or results. –– Uninstall vCenter Server. –– Reboot the vCenter Server host. • In both cases, vCenter Server must be reinstalled. –– Install vCenter Server.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Upgrading to VMware ESXi 5.0 Following the vCenter Server upgrade, you are ready to begin upgrading your ESXi hosts. You can upgrade your ESX/ESXi 4.x hosts to ESXi 5.0 using either the ESXi Installer or vSphere Update Manager. Each method has a unique set of advantages and disadvantages.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices In addition to running supported hardware, each ESXi host must meet the requirements for number and type of CPUs, amount of memory, and supported network and storage devices. For information on server sizing and capacity planning, refer to the vSphere Installation and Setup and vSphere Resource Management guides. Verifying ESX/ESXi Host Version Only hosts running ESX/ESXi 4.x can be directly upgraded to ESXi 5.0.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Disk Partitioning Requirements for ESXi ESXi 5.0 uses the same boot disk layout as ESXi 4.x. Therefore, in most cases the boot disk partition table does not require modification as part of the 5.0 upgrade. One notable exception is with an ESXi 3.5 host that is upgraded to ESXi 4.x and then immediately upgraded to ESXi 5.0. In ESXi 3.5, the boot banks are 48MB. In ESXi 4.x, the size of the boot banks changed to 250MB. When a host is upgraded from ESXi 3.5 to ESX 4.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Preserving the ESX/ESXi Host Configuration During the upgrade, most of the ESX/ESXi host configuration is retained. However, not all of the host settings are preserved.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices VMware ESXi Upgrade Best Practices The next section provides recommendations to be considered prior to upgrading. Following these suggestions will help ensure a smooth and seamless upgrade. Using vMotion/Storage vMotion Virtual machines cannot be running on the ESX/ESXi host while it is upgraded. To avoid virtual machine downtime, use vMotion and Storage vMotion to migrate virtual machines and their related data files off the host prior to upgrading.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Procedure • Install the vSphere CLI. • In the vSphere CLI, run the vicfg-cfgbackup command with the -s flag to save the host configuration to a specified backup filename.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Uploading the ESXi Installation ISO Start the upgrade by uploading the ESXi 5.0 installation image into Update Manager. From the Update Manager screen, choose the ESXi Images tab and click the link to Import ESXi Image… . Follow the wizard to import the ESXi 5.0 Image. Creating an Upgrade Baseline Create an upgrade baseline using the uploaded ESXi 5.0 image. From the Update Manager screen, choose the Baselines and Groups tab.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Attaching the Baseline to Your Cluster/Host Attach the upgrade baseline to your host or cluster. From the vCenter Hosts and Clusters view, select the Update Manager tab and choose Attach… . Select the upgrade baseline created previously. If you have any other upgrade baselines attached, remove them. Scanning the Cluster/Host Scan your hosts to ensure that the host requirements are met and you are ready to upgrade.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices If a host returns a status of Incompatible with the reason being an invalid boot disk, you cannot use Update Manager to upgrade. Try using the ESXi Installer. If a host returns a status of Incompatible with the reason being that optional third-party software was detected, you can proceed with the upgrade and reinstall the optional software packages afterward or you can proactively add the optional packages to the ESXi installation image using Image Builder CLI.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Assuming that DRS is enabled and running in fully automated mode, Update Manager will proceed to place the host into maintenance mode (if not already in maintenance mode) and perform the upgrade. If DRS is not enabled, you must evacuate the virtual machines off the host and put it into maintenance mode before remediating. After the upgrade, the host will reboot and Update Manager will take it out of maintenance mode and return the host into operation.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Booting Off the ESXi 5.0 Installation Media Connect to the host console and boot the host off the ESXi 5.0 installation media. From the boot menu, select the option to boot from the ESXi Installer. Selecting the Boot Device The ESXi Installer will load and begin the installation. The user will be prompted to choose the boot device where ESXi 5.0 is to be installed. Select the existing ESX/ESXi 4.x boot disk.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices To confirm the correct boot disk, press F1 to display details about the disk. After viewing the disk details, press Enter to close the pop-up. Selecting Option to Migrate and Preserving the VMFS Datastore When an existing ESX/ESXi 4.x installation is detected, the ESXi Installer will prompt to both migrate (upgrade) the host and preserve the existing VMFS datastore, or to do a fresh install (with options to preserve or overwrite the VMFS datastore).
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Third-Party-Software Warning If third-party software components are detected, a warning is displayed indicating that these components will be lost. If the identified software components are required, ensure either that they are included with the ESXi installation media (use Image Builder CLI to added third-party software packages to the install media) or that you reinstall them after the upgrade. Press Enter to continue the install or Escape to cancel.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Reconnecting the Host in vCenter Following the host upgrade and reboot, reconnect the host in vCenter. From the Hosts and Clusters view, rightclick the host and choose Connect. After the host has been reconnected, verify the configuration. After the configuration has been verified, take the host out of maintenance mode. From the Hosts and Clusters view, right-click the upgraded host and select Exit Maintenance Mode.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Post-Upgrade Considerations Following the ESXi host upgrade, there are several post-upgrade activities that should be performed. Configuring the VMware ESXi 5.0 Dump Collector A core dump is the state of working memory in the event of host failure. By default, an ESXi core dump is saved to the local boot disk. Use the VMware ESXi™ Dump Collector to consolidate core dumps onto a network server to ensure that they are available for use if debugging is required.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices VMware Tools 3.x VMware Tools Version 3.x, 4.x, 5.0 VMware Tools 4.x VMware Tools 5.0 Incompatible with vSphere 5.0 Must Upgrade Compatible with vSphere 5.0 Upgrade Optional Compatible with vSphere 5.0 Backward Compatible with vSphere 4.x Virtual Hardware The second step in upgrading virtual machines is to upgrade the virtual hardware version. Before upgrading the virtual hardware, you must first upgrade the VMware Tools.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices Upgrading VMware vSphere VMFS After you perform an ESX/ESXi upgrade, you might need to upgrade your VMFS to take advantage of the new features. vSphere 5.0 supports both VMFS version 3 and version 5, so it is not necessary to upgrade your VMFS volumes unless one needs to leverage new 5.0 features.
VMware vSphere® 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices The upgrade process is online and nondisruptive. Virtual machines can continue to run on the datastore while it is being upgraded. Upgrading VMFS is a one-way operation. There is no option to reverse the upgrade after it is done. Also, after a file system has been upgraded, it will no longer be accessible by older ESX/ESXi 4.x hosts, so you must ensure that all hosts accessing the datastore are running ESXi 5.0.
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