Specifications

Updating Version 3.5 Hosts in High Availability Clusters Before Upgrading

vCenter Server

Before you upgrade vCenter Server to version 5.0, make sure that any ESX 3.5 hosts that are in a vSphere

HA cluster are updated to a patch level that supports High Availability.

If a version 3.5 ESX or ESXi host is in a vSphere HA cluster and is not updated to a patch level that supports

High Availability, you cannot add that host to the HA cluster or remove it from maintenance mode after the

associated vCenter Server is upgraded to version 5.0.

Update ESX 3.5 hosts to ESX350-201012401-SG PATCH, and update ESXi 3.5 hosts to ESXe350-201012401-I-

BG PATCH. If you have updated your version 3.5 hosts to these patch levels but you still cannot add the

hosts to a HA cluster or remove them from maintenance mode after the associated vCenter Server is

upgraded to version 5.0, you might need to apply the following patches.

Apply these patches to ESX 3.5 hosts:

ESX350-201012401-SG PATCH

ESX350-201012402-BG PATCH

ESX350-201012404-BG PATCH

ESX350-201012405-BG PATCH

ESX350-201012406-BG PATCH

ESX350-201012407-BG PATCH

ESX350-201012408-SG PATCH

ESX350-201012409-SG PATCH

ESX350-201012410-BG PATCH

Apply these patches to ESXi 3.5 hosts:

ESXe350-201012401-I-BG PATCH

ESXe350-201012402-T-BG PATCH

For information about updating version 3.5 hosts with patches, see the ESX Server 3 Patch Management Guide.

You can download patches from the VI3 Patches and Updates page at

http://www.vmware.com/patch/download/.

Upgrade to vCenter Server 5.0

Upgrade vCenter Server 4.x to vCenter Server 5.0 on the same machine if the vCenter Server 4.x instance is

on a 64-bit machine.

This procedure requires downtime for the vCenter Server that you are upgrading. You do not need to turn

off virtual machines.

If an earlier version of vCenter Server is on your machine, the vCenter Server installer detects and upgrades

it. If the upgrade fails, no automatic rollback occurs to the previous vCenter Server version.

In-place upgrade to vCenter 5.0 is not supported on Microsoft Windows XP.

NOTE If your vSphere system includes VMware solutions or plug-ins, make sure they are compatible with

the vCenter Server version that you are upgrading to. See the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix at

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php.

If the vCenter Server that you are upgrading from has plug-ins or plug-in versions that are incompatible

with vCenter Server 5.0, for example vSphere Converter or Update Manager, these plug-ins will be

unregistered during the upgrade process.

Chapter 4 Upgrading to vCenter Server 5.0

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