Installation guide

About Host Upgrades
To upgrade to vSphere 4.1, upgrade hosts with service consoles to ESX 4.1 (which also has a service console).
Upgrade hosts without service consoles to ESXi 4.1 (which does not have a service console). You cannot use
the upgrade tools to convert ESX hosts to ESXi hosts, or the reverse.
VMware provides the following tools for upgrading ESX/ESXi hosts:
vCenter Update Manager
Robust software for upgrading, updating, and patching clustered hosts, virtual
machines, and guest operating systems. Orchestrates host and virtual machine
upgrades. If your site uses vCenter Server, VMware recommends that you use
vCenter Update Manager. See the VMware vCenter Update Manager Installation
and Adminstration Guide accessible on the VMware vCenter Update Manager
Documentation page:
http://www.configuresoft.net/support/pubs/vum_pubs.html
vihostupdate
Command-line utility for ESX and ESXi. This utility requires the vSphere CLI.
esxupdate
Command-line utility for ESX only.
Release Upgrade Support for ESX/ESXi
To upgrade virtual machines from ESX to ESXi (or from ESXi to ESX), you must perform a migration upgrade.
You cannot perform an in-place upgrade from ESX to ESXi (or from ESXi to ESX). If a VMware ESX/ESXi
version does not have upgrade support, perform a clean installation, after you save your VMFS datastore to
another location or partition.
NOTE For Table 8-1 and Table 8-2 the following details apply:
n
For more information about host upgrade and patch baseline, see the VMware vCenter Update Manager
Installation and Administration Guide accessible on the VMware vCenter Update Manager Documentation
page: http://www.configuresoft.net/support/pubs/vum_pubs.html.
n
The VersionInfo place holder used in file names, represents specific ESX or ESXi version information.
Table 8-1 provides information about upgrade support for ESX. Upgrade support for a version of ESX usually
includes all associated update releases. For example, where upgrading from ESX 4.0 is supported, upgrades
from ESX 4.0 Update 1, ESX 4.0 Update 2, and so on are included. However, check the release notes of the ESX
version to which you are upgrading for greater detail on ESX upgrade support.
Table 8-1. Upgrade Support to ESX 4.1 (includes support to ESX 4.1 updates)
From ESX Version File Name Upgrade Tools Supported
ESX alpha, beta, or RC
release (any)
N/A No upgrade support
ESX 1.x N/A No upgrade support
ESX 2.5.x N/A No upgrade support
ESX 3.0.x N/A No upgrade support
ESX 3.5 (offline bundle)
Support applies to ESX
3.5 Update 5a only.
This file is a .iso file such as the following:
n
ESX-4.1.0-VersionInfo.iso
n
vCenter Update Manager 4.1 - host
upgrade baseline
vSphere Upgrade Guide
56 VMware, Inc.