6.7

You can upgrade vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller on the same virtual machine or
physical server or on different virtual machines or physical servers. When you upgrade vCenter Server
with an embedded Platform Services Controller, you upgrade vCenter Server and the
Platform Services Controller on the same virtual machine or physical server. When you upgrade the
vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller, first install the Platform Services Controller
that contains all of the required services on one virtual machine or physical server, and then upgrade
vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components on another virtual machine or physical server.
Note Upgrading vCenter Server on a network drive or USB flash drive is not supported.
Table 2‑2. Minimum Recommended Hardware Requirements for Installing vCenter Server
and Platform Services Controller on Windows
Platform Services
Controller
vCenter
Server with
an
Embedded
or External
Platform
Services
Controller
for a Tiny
Environment
(up to 10
Hosts, 100
Virtual
Machines)
vCenter
Server with
an
Embedded
or External
Platform
Services
Controller
for a Small
Environment
(up to 100
Hosts, 1000
Virtual
Machines)
vCenter
Server with
an
Embedded
or External
Platform
Services
Controller
for a Medium
Environment
(up to 400
Hosts, 4,000
Virtual
Machines)
vCenter
Server with
an
Embedded
or External
Platform
Services
Controller
for a Large
Environment
(up to 1,000
Hosts,
10,000
Virtual
Machines)
vCenter Server
with an
Embedded or
External
Platform Services
Controller for X-
Large
Environment (up
to 2,000 Hosts,
35,000 Virtual
Machines)
Number of
CPUs
2 2 4 8 16 24
Memory 4 GB RAM 10 GB RAM 16 GB RAM 24 GB RAM 32 GB RAM 48 GB RAM
Note If you want to add an ESXi host with more than 512 LUNs and 2,048 paths to the vCenter Server
inventory, your vCenter Server instance must be suitable for a large or x-large environment.
For the hardware requirements of your database, see the database documentation. The database
requirements are in addition to the vCenter Server requirements if the database and vCenter Server run
on the same machine.
Storage Requirements for vCenter Server and
Platform Services Controller on Windows
When you upgrade vCenter Server, your system must meet minimum storage requirements.
The storage requirements per folder depend on the vCenter Server services deployed on the machine,
the upgrade deployment model, and the size of your vSphere inventory. The installer dynamically
calculates the storage requirement during the upgrade, and verifies that the machine has sufficient free
disk space before proceeding with the upgrade.
vCenter Server Upgrade
VMware, Inc. 32