Installation guide

Preparing for the Upgrade to vCenter
Server 3
Before you upgrade to vCenter Server, review the prerequisites.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n
“About the vCenter Server 4.1 Upgrade,” on page 21
n
“vCenter Server Upgrade Summary,” on page 21
n
“Prerequisites for the vCenter Server Upgrade,” on page 23
n
“vCenter Server Database Patch and Configuration Requirements,” on page 25
n
“Database Scenarios,” on page 26
n
“Configure vCenter Server to Communicate with the Local Database After Shortening the Computer
Name to 15 Characters or Fewer,” on page 27
n
“Back Up VirtualCenter 2.5 or Higher,” on page 28
n
“Run the vCenter Agent Preupgrade Check Tool,” on page 28
n
“Downtime During the vCenter Server Upgrade,” on page 30
About the vCenter Server 4.1 Upgrade
VMware supports in-place upgrades on 64-bit systems from vCenter Server 4.0 to vCenter Server 4.1.
You can upgrade VirtualCenter 2.5 and vCenter Server 4.0 to vCenter Server 4.1 by installing vCenter Server
4.1 on a new machine and migrating the existing database. This upgrade method makes it possible to upgrade
from a 32-bit system to a 64-bit system.
vCenter Server 4.1 can manage ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts in the same cluster with ESX 4.x/ESXi 4.x hosts. ESX 2.x
hosts cannot be managed by vCenter Server 4.1.
vCenter Server Upgrade Summary
The upgrade to vCenter Server impacts other software components of your datacenter.
Table 3-1 summarizes the impact on your datacenter components.
Table 3-1. Upgrading vCenter Server Components
Product Component Description
vCenter Server VI Client 1.x Not supported
VirtualCenter Server 1.x Not supported
vSphere Client 4.0 Upgrade
VMware, Inc. 21