Specifications

Table 4‑1. Upgrading vCenter Server Components
Product Component Description
vCenter Server,
vSphere Client, and
vSphere Web Client
VI Client 1.x Not supported.
VirtualCenter Server 1.x Not supported.
VirtualCenter Server 2.0 Not supported.
VirtualCenter Server 2.5 Not supported.
VirtualCenter Server 2.5
Update 6
Upgrade by using the data migration tool to upgrade to vCenter
Server 5.0.x on a different machine. Alternatively, if the
VirtualCenter database is on a remote machine, you can simply
upgrade the database.
vCenter Server 4.0 Upgrade in place if it is installed on a 64-bit system. If it is
installed on a 32-bit system, upgrade by using the data migration
tool to upgrade to vCenter Server 5.0.x on a different machine.
vSphere Client 4.0 Not supported.
vCenter Server 4.1 In place upgrade.
vSphere Client 4.1 Not supported.
vCenter Server 5.0 Upgrade to vCenter Server 5.0.x.
vCenter Client 5.0 Upgrade to vCenter Client 5.0.x.
vSphere Web Client 5.0 Upgrade to vSphere Web Client 5.0.x.
IBM DB2 database Verify that your database is supported. Upgrade if necessary.
Oracle database Verify that your database is supported. Upgrade if necessary.
Oracle 9i is no longer supported.
SQL database Verify that your database is supported. Upgrade if necessary.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is no longer supported.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express is supported in vCenter Server
5.0.x
Linked Mode You cannot join a vCenter Server to a Linked Mode group during
the upgrade procedure. Join after the upgrade to vCenter Server is
complete.
If you are upgrading a version 5.0 vCenter Server that is part of a
Linked Mode group, it will not be removed from the group. If you
are upgrading a pre-5.0 vCenter Server that is part of a Linked
Mode group, it will be removed from the group. vCenter Server
does not support Linked Mode groups that contain both version
5.0.x and pre-5.0 versions of vCenter Server. After all vCenter
Servers in the group are upgraded to version 5.0.x, you can rejoin
them.
License server License server To manage ESX 3.5x/ESXi 3.5 hosts, verify that the vCenter Server
system is configured to use a license server. Install a license server
if necessary.
ESX and ESXi ESX 2.5 host Not supported with vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMFS2 volumes Supported as read-only (deprecated).
VM2 virtual machines Upgrade (optional).
VMDK2 virtual disk Not supported with vCenter Server 5.0.x
ESX MUI No change.
VMware Tools Upgrade (optional).
ESX/ESXi 3.5 host Upgrade to ESXi 5.0.x (optional).
ESX/ESXi 4.0 host Upgrade to ESXi 5.0.x (optional)
vSphere Upgrade
28 VMware, Inc.