Specifications

Table 6‑2. ESXi 5.0.x Upgrade and Update Methods
Upgrade or Update Method
Upgrade from ESX or ESXi 4.x to
ESXi 5.0.x
Update or Patch from ESXi 5.0 to
ESXi 5.0.x
vSphere Update Manager yes yes
Interactive upgrade or update from
CD, DVD, or USB drive
yes yes
Scripted upgrade or update yes yes
vSphere Auto Deploy no yes, if the ESXi 5.0 host was deployed
using Auto Deploy
esxcli no yes
Upgrading Hosts That Have Third-Party Custom VIBs
When you upgrade a host that contains custom VIBs, the upgrade displays an error message unless the
same VIBs are included in the upgrade ISO file.
A host can have custom VIBs installed, for example, for third-party drivers or management agents. For
example, ESX/ESXi 4.x hosts can contain Cisco Nexus 1000V VEMs or EMC PowerPath modules. The ESXi
5.0 architecture differs from ESX/ESXi 4.x so that customized third-party software packages (VIBs) cannot be
migrated when you upgrade from ESX/ESXi 4.x to ESXi 5.0. When you upgrade a 4.x host with custom VIBs
that are not in the upgrade ISO, the ESXi installer displays an error message that lists the missing VIBs.
To migrate the third-party customizations as part of the host upgrade, use ESXi Image Builder to create a
custom ESXi ISO image that includes the missing VIBs. For information about using Image Builder to make
a custom ISO, see the information about Using ESXi Image Builder in the vSphere Installation and Setup
documentation.
To upgrade without including the third-party software, you can take one of the following actions.
n
Remove the third-party software. If you are using vSphere Update Manager, select the option to
remove third-party software modules during the remediation process. For information about
upgrading with vSphere Update Manager, see Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update
Manager.
n
Override the error message during the host upgrade by selecting the Force Migrate option.
CAUTION Using either of these two options might cause the upgraded host to not boot properly, to exhibit
system instability, or to lose functionality. Ensure that your system does not have any critical dependence
on third-party VIBs that requires resolution on first boot and cannot be resolved later. For example, your
system might require custom drivers for NICs that you are booting from.
If you are upgrading a host running ESX/ESXi 4.1 Upgrade 1 or ESX/ESXi 4.0 Upgrade 3, you will see the
error message for the VIBs listed in Table 6-3, even if you have never installed any custom VIBs. If you are
sure that the proper functioning or your system does not depend on those VIBs, you can choose to ignore
the warnings and continue with the upgrade.
Chapter 6 Upgrading and Migrating Your Hosts
VMware, Inc. 85