Specifications

How vSphere 5.0 Differs from
vSphere 4.x 2
vSphere 5.0 is a major upgrade from vSphere 4.x.
The following changes from vSphere 4.x affect vSphere installation and setup. For a complete list of new
features in vSphere 5.0, see the release notes.
Service Console is
removed
ESXi does not include a Service Console. You can perform most tasks that
you performed in the Service Console by using esxcli commands in the ESXi
Shell, by using vCLI commands, and by using VMware PowerCLI
commands. See Command-Line Management in vSphere 5.0 for Service Console
Users and Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces.
ESXi does not have a
graphical installer
The graphical installer relied on the Service Console, which is not a part of
ESXi. ESXi retains the text-based installer.
vSphere Auto Deploy
and vSphere ESXi
Image Builder CLI
Before ESXi 5.0, ESXi was installed on the physical disk of each ESXi host.
With ESXi 5.0, you can load an ESXi image directly into memory by using
vSphere Auto Deploy. You can provision and reprovision large numbers of
ESXi hosts efficiently with vCenter Server, and manage ESXi updates and
patching by using an image profile. You can save host configuration such as
network or storage setup as a host profile and apply it to the host by using
Auto Deploy. You can use ESXi Image Builder CLI to create ESXi installation
images with a customized set of updates, patches, and drivers.
For complete information on using vSphere Auto Deploy and ESXi Image
Builder PowerCLI, see the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Changes in the ESXi
installation and upgrade
process
ESXi 5.0 uses a single installer wizard for fresh installations and upgrades.
ESXi 5.0 also provides a new option for deploying ESXi directly into the host
memory with vSphere Auto Deploy. The vihostupdate and esxupdate
utilities are not supported for ESXi 5.0. You cannot upgrade or migrate to
ESXi 5.0 by using any command-line utility. After you have upgraded or
migrated to ESXi 5.0, you can upgrade or patch ESXi 5.0 hosts using vCLI
esxcli commands.
IMPORTANT After you upgrade or migrate your host to ESXi 5.0, you cannot
roll back to your version 4.x ESX or ESXi software. Back up your host before
you perform an upgrade or migration, so that, if the upgrade or migration
fails, you can restore your 4.x host.
See “ESXi 5.0.x Upgrade and Update Options,” on page 84.
VMware, Inc. 11