vSphere Upgrade Guide ESX 4.0 ESXi 4.0 vCenter Server 4.0 vSphere Client 4.0 This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
vSphere Upgrade Guide You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at: http://www.vmware.com/support/ The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates. If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to: docfeedback@vmware.com Copyright © 2009–2011 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws.
Contents Updated Information 7 About This Book 9 1 Changes to the Upgrade Process 11 vCenter Server Upgrade 11 Host Upgrade 11 Datastore Upgrade 12 Virtual Machine Upgrade 12 Licensing 13 2 Example Upgrade Scenarios 15 About the Upgrade Process 15 Upgrading Environments with Host Clusters 16 Upgrading Environments Without Host Clusters 17 Upgrading by Moving Virtual Machines Using VMotion 18 Upgrading by Moving Virtual Machines Using Upgrade VMotion 20 Upgrading by Moving Powered Off or Suspended Virtua
vSphere Upgrade Guide Prerequisites for the vCenter Server Upgrade 38 vCenter Server Database Patch and Configuration Requirements 40 Database Scenarios 41 Configure vCenter Server to Communicate with the Local Database After Shortening the Computer Name to 15 Characters or Fewer 42 Back Up VirtualCenter 2.x 43 Downtime During the vCenter Server Upgrade 43 6 Upgrading to vCenter Server 4.
Contents 12 Postupgrade Considerations for Hosts 77 Restore vSphere Web Access on ESX Hosts 78 Evaluation Period Countdown 78 Clean Up the ESX Bootloader Menu After Upgrade 79 Uninstalling the VMware License Server 79 vSphere Host Update Utility Support for Rolling Back ESX/ESXi Upgrades 80 Roll Back an ESX Upgrade 80 Roll Back an ESXi Update, Patch, or Upgrade 81 Restore the ESX Host Configuration 81 Restore the ESXi Host Configuration 81 13 Upgrading Virtual Machines 83 About VMware Tools 84 About Vir
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Updated Information This vSphere Upgrade Guide is updated with each release of the product or when necessary. This table provides the update history of the vSphere Upgrade Guide. Revision Description EN-000112-04 n n Included a new topic, “DNS Requirements for vSphere,” on page 35 in System Requirements section. Modified the component values of Virtual Processor in “Requirements for Creating Virtual Machines,” on page 34 section EN-000112-03 Added cautionary wording to Chapter 11, “Upgrade to ESX 4.
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About This Book ® The vSphere Upgrade Guide describes how to upgrade from earlier versions of VMware ESX™, ESXi, and VMware vCenter™ Server to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 and vCenter Server 4.0. This guide includes the following tasks: n Upgrade to vCenter Server 4.0. n Install vCenter Server 4.0 on a different machine and keep the VirtualCenter 2.x database. You would do this if you are upgrading from a 32-bit server to a 64-bit server, for example. n Upgrade to ESX 4.0 from ESX 3.x. n Upgrade to ESXi 4.
vSphere Upgrade Guide VMware vSphere Documentation The vSphere documentation consists of the combined VMware vCenter Server and ESX/ESXi documentation set. Technical Support and Education Resources The following technical support resources are available to you. To access the current version of this book and other books, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Changes to the Upgrade Process 1 VMware vSphere introduces many changes to the upgrade process for vCenter Server and ESX/ESXi. This chapter includes the following topics: n “vCenter Server Upgrade,” on page 11 n “Host Upgrade,” on page 11 n “Datastore Upgrade,” on page 12 n “Virtual Machine Upgrade,” on page 12 n “Licensing,” on page 13 vCenter Server Upgrade The process of upgrading VirtualCenter includes several changes from the upgrade process in previous releases.
vSphere Upgrade Guide vSphere Host Update Utility This tool is for upgrading ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 standalone hosts to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 and for patching ESXi 4.0 standalone hosts. A standalone host is an ESX/ESXi host that is not managed in vCenter Server. This utility is intended for small deployments with fewer than 10 ESX/ESXi hosts and without vCenter Server or vCenter Update Manager. The utility includes a wizard that guides you through upgrades.
Chapter 1 Changes to the Upgrade Process Licensing Licensing is centralized in vCenter Server. If you upgrade all your hosts, you no longer need a license server or host-based license files. All product licenses are encapsulated in 25-character license keys that you can manage and monitor from vCenter Server. Each host requires a license, and each vCenter Server instance requires a license. You cannot assign multiple license keys to a host or to a vCenter Server system.
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Example Upgrade Scenarios 2 Upgrade scenarios for vSphere 4.0 include cases with and without clustered hosts, hosts that you upgrade on the same machine where they are currently running, and hosts that you upgrade using different machines.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Because certain commands can simultaneously upgrade more than one stage, VMware recommends that you thoroughly understand the irreversible changes at each stage before you upgrade your production environments. To ensure that your datacenter upgrade goes smoothly, you can use vCenter Update Manager to manage the process for you.
Chapter 2 Example Upgrade Scenarios vCenter Update Manager puts the host into maintenance mode before upgrading the host. The downtime for the procedure depends on the network speed and the server boot time. In case of upgrade failure, vCenter Update Manager supports rollback to the previous release. For a detailed description of the procedure, see the vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide. 7 Use vCenter Update Manager to upgrade your virtual machines.
vSphere Upgrade Guide 4 If your environment has vCenter Guided Consolidation, complete the consolidation plan and then upgrade it to the latest version. 5 Use vSphere Host Update Utility to upgrade ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts to ESX 4.0. This procedure involves putting the host into maintenance mode before you upgrade the host. The downtime for the procedure depends on the network speed and the server boot time. In case of upgrade failure, the process supports rollback to the previous release.
Chapter 2 Example Upgrade Scenarios Before you begin this procedure, complete the following tasks: 1 Upgrade VirtualCenter 2.x to vCenter Server 4.0. a Make sure your database is compatible with vCenter Server 4.0. This release discontinues support for some database versions and adds support for other database versions. See the Compatibility Matrixes on the VMware vSphere documentation Web site. b Make sure that you have the required permissions to perform this procedure.
vSphere Upgrade Guide The virtual machine upgrade process is different for ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0. In earlier versions, you upgraded the virtual hardware upgrade before you upgraded VMware Tools. For ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0, you upgrade VMware Tools before you upgrade the virtual hardware. You can use either the vSphere Client or vCenter Update Manager to upgrade virtual machines. In a clustered environment, VMware recommends that you use vCenter Update Manager . See the vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide.
Chapter 2 Example Upgrade Scenarios You can install the vSphere Client on the same machine with your previous version of the VI Client. You must have the previous version of the VI Client to connect to previous versions of VirtualCenter and ESX/ESXi. For the supported operating systems and other prerequisites, see the Compatibility Matrixes and the Installation Guide. Procedure 1 Install ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Upgrading by Moving Powered Off or Suspended Virtual Machines (with vCenter Server) This scenario is known as a cold migration upgrade. When you use cold migration to move virtual machines from one host to another host, additional downtime is required for the virtual machines. This scenario assumes that the hosts do not have VMotion. Prerequisites The requirements for a cold migration upgrade are as follows: n One or more machines meeting ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 requirements.
Chapter 2 Example Upgrade Scenarios 2 Add ESX 2.5.x or ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts to vCenter Server 4.0. 3 Power off or suspend the virtual machines on the ESX 2.5.x or ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts. 4 Move the virtual machines to the ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 hosts. What to do next 1 Upgrade your virtual machines: a If they are not already powered on, power on the virtual machines and upgrade to the latest version of VMware Tools. This upgrade allows you to use the new features of ESX 4.0./ESXi 4.0.
vSphere Upgrade Guide 3 Upgrade ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 to ESX 4.0, or perform a fresh installation of ESX 4.0. A fresh installation is required if your legacy hosts are ESX 2.5.x. 4 (Optional) Create a VMFS3 datastore. 5 Move the virtual machines to ESX 4.0 host. What to do next 1 Upgrade your virtual machines: a If they are not already powered on, power on the virtual machines and upgrade to the latest version of VMware Tools. This upgrade allows you to use the new features of ESX 4.0./ESXi 4.0.
Changing Host Types 3 Changing host types from ESX to ESXi (or ESXi to ESX) have no in-place upgrade, but you can migrate existing virtual machines and datastores or perform an in-place, fresh installation to replace one host type with another.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Procedure 1 2 Choose a method to replace ESXi Embedded with ESX. n If you do not want to preserve the virtual machines on the datastore, disable ESXi Embedded and install ESX. See the ESXi Embedded Setup Guide and the ESX Installation Guide. n If you do want to preserve the virtual machines on the datastore, migrate virtual machines from an ESXi host to an ESX host. See Basic System Administration. Reregister the virtual machines with the ESX host by using vSphere Client.
System Requirements 4 Hosts running vCenter Server and ESX must meet specific hardware and operating system requirements.
vSphere Upgrade Guide n Intel PRO 1000 adapters SCSI Adapter, Fibre Channel Adapter, or Internal RAID Controller One or more of the following controllers (any combination can be used): n Basic SCSI controllers are Adaptec Ultra-160 and Ultra-320, LSI Logic Fusion-MPT, and most NCR/Symbios SCSI controllers. n Fibre Channel, see the Hardware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
Chapter 4 System Requirements Recommendations for Enhanced ESX Performance There are several things you can do to enhance ESX performance, including using multiple physical disks, such as SCSI disks, Fibre Channel LUNs, and RAID LUNs. Following are some recommendations for enhanced performance: n RAM – The ESX host might require more RAM for the service console if you are running third-party management applications or backup agents.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Table 4-2. Tested Combinations for USB (Continued) External USB DVD Drive Firmware Version LG 8x portable DVD Rewriter Rev: KE01 SONY DVD+- R 20X Rev: SS01 ESXi Hardware Requirements Make sure the host meets the minimum hardware configurations supported by ESXi 4.0. You need the following hardware and system resources to install and use ESXi 4.0: n Supported server platform (for a list of supported platforms, see the Systems Compatibility Guide) n VMware ESXi 4.
Chapter 4 System Requirements n ServerWorks HT1000 NOTE ESXi does not support using local, internal SATA drives on the host server to create VMFS datastores that are shared across multiple ESXi hosts. n Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disk drives – Supported for installing ESXi 4.0 and for storing virtual machines on VMFS partitions. n USB devices – Supported for installing ESXi 4.0. For more information, refer KB 1010574 at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010574.
vSphere Upgrade Guide vCenter Server and the vSphere Client Hardware Requirements The vCenter Server system is a physical machine or virtual machine with access to a supported database. The vCenter Server system and the vSphere Client machines must meet specific requirements. Minimum Requirements for vCenter Server n CPU – 2 CPUs n Processor – 2.0GHz or faster Intel or AMD processor. Processor requirements might be higher if the database runs on the same machine. n Memory – 3GB RAM.
Chapter 4 System Requirements Recommendations for Optimal Performance Depending on the number of ESX hosts and virtual machines in your environment, the following system requirements should be used as guidelines for optimal performance. IMPORTANT The recommended disk sizes assume default log levels. If you configure more granular log levels, more disk space is required. Table 4-3 summarizes the requirements for a medium deployment. Table 4-3.
vSphere Upgrade Guide vSphere Client Software Requirements Make sure that your operating system supports the vSphere Client. The vSphere Client requires the Microsoft .NET 3.0 SP1 Framework. If your system does not have it installed, the vSphere Client installer installs it. For a list of supported operating systems, see the vSphere Compatibility Matrixes at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_compatibility_matrix.pdf on the VMware vSphere documentation Web site.
Chapter 4 System Requirements VMware uses designated ports for communication. Additionally, the managed hosts are listening for data from the vCenter Server system on designated ports. If a firewall exists between any of these elements and Windows firewall service is in use, the installer opens the ports during the installation. For custom firewalls, you must manually open the required ports.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Ensure that the ESXi host management interface has a valid DNS resolution from the vCenter Server and all vSphere Clients and vSphere Web Clients. Ensure that the vCenter Server has a valid DNS resolution from all ESXi hosts and all vSphere Clients and vSphere Web Clients. Ensure that the vCenter Server is installed on a machine that has a resolvable fully qualified domain name (FQDN).
Preparing for the Upgrade to vCenter Server 5 Before you upgrade to vCenter Server, review the prerequisites. This chapter includes the following topics: n “About the vCenter Server 4.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Table 5-1. Upgrading vCenter Server Components (Continued) Product Component Description VirtualCenter Server 2.5 Upgrade vCenter Server 4.0 Install 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. Linked Mode Cannot join a Linked Mode group during the upgrade procedure.
Chapter 5 Preparing for the Upgrade to vCenter Server n The installation path of the previous version of VirtualCenter must be compatible with the installation requirements for Microsoft Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM/AD LDS). For example the installation path cannot have commas (,) or periods (.). If your previous version of VirtualCenter does not meet this requirement, you must perform a clean installation of vCenter Server 4.0.
vSphere Upgrade Guide n If you are upgrading from VirtualCenter 2.5 with the bundled SQL Server 2005 Express, you do not need to perform a clean installation of vCenter Server. n If you have a Microsoft SQL database and you are upgrading from VirtualCenter 2.0.x, make sure that bulk logging is enabled. You can disable it after the upgrade is complete. n If you have a Microsoft SQL database, your system DSN must be using the SQL Native Client driver.
Chapter 5 Preparing for the Upgrade to vCenter Server Table 5-2. Configuration and Patch Requirements Database Type Patch and Configuration Requirements Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Bundled database that you can use for small deployments of up to 5 hosts and 50 virtual machines. You cannot install the bundled database during an upgrade to vCenter Server.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Table 5-3. vCenter Server Upgrade Scenarios for Each Database Type (Continued) Supported in VirtualCenter 2.x Supported in vCenter Server 4.0 Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Yes No After you upgrade to a database server that is supported by vCenter Server, you can perform a fresh installation or upgrade to vCenter Server. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Yes Yes You can perform a fresh installation or upgrade to vCenter Server.
Chapter 5 Preparing for the Upgrade to vCenter Server 3 Update the data source information, as needed. 4 Verify the data source connectivity. Back Up VirtualCenter 2.x You must back up a VirtualCenter 2.x system to ensure that you can restore your previous configuration of VirtualCenter if the vCenter Server upgrade does not complete successfully. If you begin the upgrade to vCenter Server, and you did not back up your VirtualCenter 2.
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Upgrading to vCenter Server 4.0 6 The upgrade to vCenter Server includes a database schema upgrade and an upgrade of VirtualCenter 2.x. This chapter includes the following topics: n “About the Database Upgrade Wizard,” on page 45 n “Upgrade to vCenter Server,” on page 45 About the Database Upgrade Wizard The Database Upgrade wizard updates the schema of the VirtualCenter database. The Database Upgrade wizard runs after you complete the vCenter Server installation wizard.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Procedure 1 Select Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services > VMware VirtualCenter Server to stop the service. This step is recommended, especially if the VirtualCenter database is on a remote system. 2 As Administrator on the Windows system, insert the VMware vCenter Server Installation CD or doubleclick autorun.exe. 3 When the vCenter Server Installer page appears, click vCenter Server. 4 Select a language for the installer and click OK.
Chapter 6 Upgrading to vCenter Server 4.0 What to do next See Chapter 8, “Postupgrade Considerations for vCenter Server,” on page 55. Upgrade the vCenter Server Database Schema When you upgrade to vCenter Server and use an existing supported database, the Database Upgrade wizard runs after you click Install in the vCenter Server installer. The Database Upgrade wizard upgrades the existing database schema to make it compatible with vCenter Server 4.0. For upgrades from VirtualCenter 2.
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Upgrading to vCenter Server on a Different Machine and Keeping the Existing Database 7 When you upgrade to vCenter Server, you can install vCenter Server on a new machine. One common reason for doing this is to run vCenter Server on a 64-bit machine. Preparing the database for any type of upgrade always means creating a full backup. In addition, you have the following options: n After you create a full backup of the database, leave it where it is.
vSphere Upgrade Guide n You must have Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio installed on the source machine and the destination machine. The Express versions (SQLServer2005_SSMSEE.msi and SQLServer2005_SSMSEE_x64.msi) are free downloads from Microsoft. Procedure 1 In SQL Server Management Studio, make a full back up of the source machine database. 2 Copy the backup file (.bak) to the C:\ drive on the destination machine.
Chapter 7 Upgrading to vCenter Server on a Different Machine and Keeping the Existing Database 4 When the detach operation is complete, copy the data files (.mdf and .ldf) to the destination machine's database folder. By default, the database folder is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data. 5 In SQL Server Management Studio on the destination machine, right-click the Databases directory and select Attach. 6 Select the .
vSphere Upgrade Guide Create a 32-Bit DSN on a 64-Bit Operating System You can install or upgrade to vCenter Server on both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. Even though vCenter Server is supported on 64-bit operating systems, the vCenter Server system must have a 32-bit DSN. This requirement applies to all supported databases. By default, any DSN created on a 64-bit system is 64 bit. Procedure 1 Install the ODBC drivers.
Chapter 7 Upgrading to vCenter Server on a Different Machine and Keeping the Existing Database 4 On the source machine, stop the VirtualCenter service by selecting Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services > VMware VirtualCenter Server. 5 On the destination machine, start the vCenter Server 4.0 installer. 6 When prompted by the installer, select the DSN that you configured on the destination machine.
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Postupgrade Considerations for vCenter Server 8 After you upgrade to vCenter Server, consider the postupgrade options and requirements. n To view the upgrade log, open %TEMP%\VCDatabaseUpgrade.log. n Install the vSphere Client and make sure you can access the vCenter Server instance. n Upgrade any additional modules that are linked to this instance of vCenter Server. Additional modules might include vCenter Update Manager, vCenter Converter, and vCenter Guided Consolidation, for example.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Upgrade to the vSphere Client Virtual machine users and vCenter Server administrators must use the vSphere Client 4.0 to connect to vCenter Server 4.0 or to connect directly to ESX 4.0 hosts. The VI Client 2.5 and the vSphere Client 4.0 can be installed on the same machine. The vSphere Client upgrade operation requires no downtime. No virtual machines or clients need to be powered off for this process.
Chapter 8 Postupgrade Considerations for vCenter Server License Server Scenarios If you upgrade to vCenter Server 4.0 and you want the vCenter Server system to manage ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts, you might need to verify that the license server is running and reconfigure vCenter Server 4.0 to point to the license server, depending on your upgrade scenario. Table 8-1 lists the license server scenarios and the necessary actions. Table 8-1.
vSphere Upgrade Guide 6 If the vCenter Server installer detects a role conflict, select how to resolve the conflict. Option Description Yes, let VMware vCenter Server resolve the conflicts for me Click Next. The role on the joining system is renamed to where is the name of the vCenter Server system that is joining the Linked Mode group and is the name of the original role.
Chapter 8 Postupgrade Considerations for vCenter Server 4 Restart the vCenter Server. The new database setting takes effect. Restore VirtualCenter 2.x You can restore the previous VirtualCenter configuration if you have a full backup of your VirtualCenter database and the previous VirtualCenter SSL certificates. Prerequisites You might need some or all of the following items to restore VirtualCenter and its components in the event of a system failure or disaster.
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Upgrading Datastore and Network Permissions 9 In previous releases of vCenter Server, datastores and networks inherited access permissions from the datacenter. In vCenter Server 4.0, they have their own set of privileges that control access to them. This might require you to manually assign privileges, depending on the access level you require. In vCenter 4.0, users are initially granted the No Access role on all new managed objects, including datastores and networks.
vSphere Upgrade Guide n “Update Datastore Permissions,” on page 63 n “Update Network Permissions,” on page 64 Datastore Privileges In VMware vSphere 4.0, datastores have their own set of access control privileges. As a result, you might need to reconfigure your permissions to grant the new datastore privileges. This is required if you have nonpropagating Read-only permission set on the datacenter for users.
Chapter 9 Upgrading Datastore and Network Permissions Table 9-3. Network Privileges (Continued) Privilege Name Actions Granted to Users Affects Pair with Object Effective on Object Delete Network Remove a network. hosts, vCenter Servers datacenter datacenters Move Network Move a network between folders in the inventory. NOTE Privileges are required on both the source and destination objects.
vSphere Upgrade Guide 10 Click OK. The datastore is saved with the new permissions. NOTE You need to set up permissions for new datastores that you create. By default, new datastores are created under the datacenter folder in the inventory. You can move it into a datastore folder, as appropriate. Update Network Permissions You must change Read-only nonpropagating network permissions to propagating network permissions in order for users to access the networks.
Preparing for the Upgrade to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 10 After completing the upgrade to vCenter Server, upgrade legacy VMware ESX/ESXi hosts to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0. These topics are intended for administrators who are upgrading ESX, ESXi, and virtual machines from ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0. One topic discusses the upgrade path from ESX 2.5.5.
vSphere Upgrade Guide vSphere Host Update Utility When you install the vSphere Client, you can also install vSphere Host Update Utility. vSphere Host Update Utility is a standalone Microsoft Windows application recommended for smaller deployments with fewer than 10 ESX/ESXi hosts, without vCenter Server or Update Manager. vSphere Host Update Utility provides an easy way to upgrade from a remote location, without a CD, and with minimum down time.
Chapter 10 Preparing for the Upgrade to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 You can use Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) to prevent virtual machine downtime during the upgrade process. Update Manager monitors hosts and virtual machines for compliance against your defined upgrade baselines. Noncompliance appears in detailed reports and in the dashboard view. Update Manager supports mass remediation. See the vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide.
vSphere Upgrade Guide List of Preserved Configuration Components When you upgrade to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0, the host upgrade process preserves many components of the ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 configuration. ESXi For ESXi, the upgrade to ESXi 4.0 preserves almost all configuration data, including your networking, security, and storage configuration. The only configuration not preserved is related to licensing, because a new ESXi 4.0 license is required after the upgrade.
Chapter 10 Preparing for the Upgrade to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 n /etc/hosts.deny n /etc/ldap.conf n /etc/openldap n /etc/sudoers n /etc/snmp n /usr/local/etc n /etc/rc.d/rc*.d/* n /etc/xinetd.conf n /etc/motd n /etc/initiatorname.vmkiscsi n /etc/vmkiscsi.conf NOTE To migrate other files, consider using a postupgrade script. For example, you might want to create a script that copies the .ssh directory for root. The creation of custom scripts is beyond the scope of this manual.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Release Upgrade Support for ESX/ESXi If a VMware ESX/ESXi version does not have upgrade support, perform a clean installation, after you save your VMFS datastore to another location or partition. You can upgrade most versions of VMware ESX/ESXi to the ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 version. You cannot perform an in-place upgrade from ESX to ESXi (or from ESXi to ESX). To upgrade virtual machines from ESX to ESXi (or from ESXi to ESX), you must perform a migration upgrade.
Chapter 10 Preparing for the Upgrade to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 Direct, in-place upgrade from ESX 2.5.5 to ESX 4.0 is not supported, even if you upgrade to ESX 3.x as an intermediary step. The default ESX 2.5.5 installation creates a /boot partition that is too small to enable upgrades to ESX 4.0. As an exception, if you have a non-default ESX 2.5.5 installation on which at least 100MB of space is available on the /boot partition, you can upgrade ESX 2.5.5 to ESX 3.x and then to ESX 4.0. The upgrade of ESX 2.5.
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Upgrade to ESX 4.0 or ESXi 4.0 11 The upgrade procedures differ for ESX 4.0 and ESXi 4.0. CAUTION n You must upgrade to vCenter Server before you upgrade ESX/ESXi. If you do not upgrade in the correct order, you can lose data and lose access to your servers. n When you upgrade a host from ESX 3.x to ESX 4.x, the customized partitions in 3.x are not replicated in 4.x.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Procedure 1 Download an ESX 4.0 ISO file and save it on the same Windows computer on which vSphere Host Update Utility is installed. 2 Use the vSphere Client to put the host into maintenance mode. 3 Select Start > Programs > VMware > vSphere Host Update Utility 4.0. 4 Select a host from the list and click Upgrade. If a host is not in the list, you can add it by selecting Host > Add Host. 5 Type the location of the ESX 4.
Chapter 11 Upgrade to ESX 4.0 or ESXi 4.0 What to do next See Chapter 12, “Postupgrade Considerations for Hosts,” on page 77. Upgrade ESXi Hosts You can use vSphere Host Update Utility to upgrade ESXi 3.5 hosts to ESXi 4.0. vSphere Host Update Utility is meant for small deployments in which a host is being managed by a single administrator. For example, the following scenario is not supported: Admin 1 starts to upgrade host1 using vSphere Host Update Utility.
vSphere Upgrade Guide The host is upgraded to ESXi 4.0. If the upgrade fails, restart vSphere Host Update Utility before you retry the upgrade. vSphere Host Update Utility might appear to stop working. If this happens, wait several minutes to see if the utility starts working again. VMware recommends that you do not cancel the upgrade at any point during the upgrade process. The host might appear to successfully boot into ESXi 4.0.
Postupgrade Considerations for Hosts 12 A host upgrade is not entirely complete until after you have ensured that the host management, configuration, and licensing is in place. After you upgrade an ESX/ESXi host, consider the following: n View the upgrade logs. For ESXi, you can use the vSphere Client to export the log files.
vSphere Upgrade Guide n “vSphere Host Update Utility Support for Rolling Back ESX/ESXi Upgrades,” on page 80 n “Roll Back an ESX Upgrade,” on page 80 n “Roll Back an ESXi Update, Patch, or Upgrade,” on page 81 n “Restore the ESX Host Configuration,” on page 81 n “Restore the ESXi Host Configuration,” on page 81 Restore vSphere Web Access on ESX Hosts For ESX hosts only, the vSphere Web Access service is disabled after you upgrade the host.
Chapter 12 Postupgrade Considerations for Hosts Clean Up the ESX Bootloader Menu After Upgrade After you determine that the ESX 4.0 upgrade is stable, you can remove the ESX 3.x boot option from the ESX 4.0 bootloader menu to disable the ability to roll back to ESX 3.x. After you upgrade a host from ESX 3.x to ESX 4.0, the ESX bootloader boots into ESX 4.0 by default, but retains the option to boot into ESX 3.x. The ESX 3.x boot option is useful if the ESX 4.
vSphere Upgrade Guide 7 Click OK. vSphere Host Update Utility Support for Rolling Back ESX/ESXi Upgrades When you use vSphere Host Update Utility to perform a host upgrade, the support for rolling back upgrades differs for ESX and ESXi. For ESX, the default behavior for vSphere Host Update Utility is to roll back the host to the previous version of ESX if the upgrade does not complete successfully.
Chapter 12 Postupgrade Considerations for Hosts Roll Back an ESXi Update, Patch, or Upgrade For purposes of rollback, the term update refers to all ESXi patches, updates, and upgrades. Each time you update an ESXi host, a copy of the ESXi build is saved on your host. If you think an ESXi patch might be making your host not work as expected in your environment, you can roll back the update. ESXi permits only one level of rollback. Only one previous build can be saved at a time. In effect, each ESXi 4.
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Upgrading Virtual Machines 13 After you perform an ESX/ESXi upgrade, VMware recommends that you upgrade all the virtual machines that reside on the host. The first step in upgrading virtual machines is to upgrade VMware Tools. If the virtual machines do not have VMware Tools installed, you can use the VMware Tools upgrade procedure to install VMware Tools. After you install or upgrade VMware Tools, upgrade the virtual machine hardware.
vSphere Upgrade Guide n “Upgrade VMware Tools on Multiple Virtual Machines,” on page 94 n “Configure a Virtual Machine to Automatically Upgrade VMware Tools,” on page 94 n “Upgrade Virtual Hardware,” on page 95 n “Upgrade Virtual Hardware on Multiple Virtual Machines,” on page 96 About VMware Tools VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance of the virtual machine’s guest operating system and improves management of the virtual machine.
Chapter 13 Upgrading Virtual Machines Planning Downtime for Virtual Machines Plan downtime for each virtual machine during the upgrade process. Typically, this downtime occurs during the virtual machine upgrade and the VMware Tools upgrade. Depending on your upgrade plan, some virtual machine downtime might be required during the ESX upgrade. If an ESX/ESXi host is not managed by vCenter Server, you cannot use VMotion to move virtual machines.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Table 13-1 summarizes the downtime required by guest operating system and by upgrade operation. Table 13-1.
Chapter 13 Upgrading Virtual Machines 8 Follow the onscreen instructions. 9 Reboot to make the changes take effect. The VMware Tools label on the Summary tab changes to OK. What to do next (Recommended) Upgrade the virtual machine hardware to version 7. Perform an Interactive Upgrade of VMware Tools on a Linux Guest in an X Terminal Upgrade VMware Tools to the latest version to enhance the performance of the virtual machine's guest operating system and improve virtual machine management.
vSphere Upgrade Guide 10 Answer the prompts and press Enter to accept the default values if appropriate for your configuration and follow the instructions at the end of the script. 11 For Linux guest operating systems, execute the following commands to restore the network: /etc/init.d/network stop rmmod vmxnet modprobe vmxnet /etc/init.d/network start 12 Use the exit command to exit from the root account. The VMware Tools label on the Summary tab changes to OK.
Chapter 13 Upgrading Virtual Machines Some Linux distributions use different device names or organize the /dev directory differently.
vSphere Upgrade Guide Procedure 1 From the vSphere Client, right-click the virtual machine, select Power, and select Power On. 2 Select the virtual machine and click the Summary tab. The VMware Tools label indicates whether VMware Tools is installed and current, installed and not current, or not installed. 3 Click the Console tab to make sure that the guest operating system starts successfully, and log in if necessary.
Chapter 13 Upgrading Virtual Machines 14 Answer the prompts and press Enter to accept the default values if appropriate for your configuration and follow the instructions at the end of the script. 15 For Linux guest operating systems, execute the following commands to restore the network: /etc/init.d/network stop rmmod vmxnet modprobe vmxnet /etc/init.d/network start 16 (Optional) When the upgrade is complete, log off the root account: exit The VMware Tools label on the Summary tab changes to OK.
vSphere Upgrade Guide 8 Run the VMware Tools tar installer: cd vmware-tools-distrib ./vmware-install.pl Respond to the prompts and press Enter to accept the default values. 9 Log off of the root account: exit The VMware Tools label on the Summary tab changes to OK. What to do next (Recommended) Upgrade the virtual machine hardware to version 7.
Chapter 13 Upgrading Virtual Machines When the installation finishes, the message VMware Tools for NetWare are now running appears in the Logger Screen (NetWare 6.5 and NetWare 6.0 guests) or the Console Screen (NetWare 5.1 guests). The VMware Tools label on the Summary tab changes to OK. What to do next (Recommended) Upgrade the virtual machine hardware to version 7.
vSphere Upgrade Guide 8 Click OK. 9 For Linux guest operating systems, run the following commands to restore the network. /etc/init.d/network stop rmmod vmxnet modprobe vmxnet /etc/init.d/network start The VMware Tools label on the Summary tab changes to OK. What to do next (Recommended) Upgrade the virtual machine hardware to version 7. Upgrade VMware Tools on Multiple Virtual Machines You can upgrade VMware Tools on multiple virtual machines by using the Virtual Machines tab.
Chapter 13 Upgrading Virtual Machines n Virtual machines must be hosted on an ESX 3.0.1 or later, and VirtualCenter must be version 2.0.1 or later. Virtual machines residing on a VMware Server host cannot be automatically upgraded. n Virtual machines must be running a Linux or Microsoft Windows guest operating system that is supported by ESX 3.0.1 or later and VirtualCenter 2.0.1 or later. Procedure 1 Power off the virtual machine. 2 Right-click the virtual machine and select Edit Settings.
vSphere Upgrade Guide n Determine the version of the virtual hardware by selecting the virtual machine and clicking the Summary tab. The VM Version label displays the virtual hardware version. IMPORTANT VMware recommends that before you upgrade the virtual hardware, first upgrade VMware Tools on the virtual machine. This is especially important for virtual machines with Microsoft Windows guest operating systems.
Chapter 13 Upgrading Virtual Machines 7 Power on the virtual machines. For Microsoft Windows guest operating systems, the operating system detects a new device, configures the device, and prompts you to reboot the guest operating system. If any unknown devices are recognized, the operating system prompts you to configure the device manually. 8 For Windows guest operating systems, reboot the guest operating system to make the changes take effect.
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About Host Updates and Patches 14 Host updates are for maintenance releases. Software patches address critical security issues or urgent bug fixes. An update or patch can include a new build of firmware, an update of VMware Tools, or an update of the vSphere Client. VMware provides the following tools for installing updates and patches to ESX/ESXi hosts: vSphere Host Update Utility Graphical utility for ESXi only. vCenter Update Manager For ESX and ESXi, automates patching and updates.
vSphere Upgrade Guide System Requirements for vSphere Host Update Utility vSphere Host Update Utility has the same system requirements as the vSphere Client. To use vSphere Host Update Utility, you must have the following items: n A workstation or laptop with vSphere Host Update Utility installed. vSphere Host Update Utility is bundled with the vSphere Client. You can install vSphere Host Update Utility when you install the vSphere Client.
Chapter 14 About Host Updates and Patches n One patch might be a subset of another patch. These behaviors are expected and are managed by vSphere Host Update Utility as needed. If you install a patch, do not be concerned if vSphere Host Update Utility installs multiple patches. Procedure 1 Select Start > Programs > VMware > vSphere Host Update Utility 4.0. 2 Select a host. 3 In the Host Details pane, click Scan for Patches. 4 Enter the host username and password and click Login.
vSphere Upgrade Guide For example, suppose the current boot build is 52252 and the current standby build is 51605. When you update the host to build 52386, the update process replaces build 51605 with build 52386 and makes build 52252 the standby build. If the update is successful, you continue to boot from build 52386 until the next update. If an update fails and the ESXi 4.0 host cannot boot from the new build, the host reverts to booting from the original boot build.
Chapter 14 About Host Updates and Patches Update an ESX/ESXi Host Using Offline Bundles with the vihostupdate Utility You can use the vihostupdate utility in conjunction with offline bundles or with a depot. This topic describes the procedure using offline bundles. Prerequisites Before you can update or patch an ESX/ESXi host from the command line, you must have access to a machine on which you can run the VMware vSphere Command-Line Interface (vSphere CLI).
vSphere Upgrade Guide Update an ESX/ESXi Host Using a Depot with the vihostupdate Utility You can use the vihostupdate utility in conjunction with bundles or with a depot. This topic describe the procedure using depots. Prerequisites Before you can update or patch an ESX/ESXi host from the command line, you must have access to a machine on which you can run the VMware vSphere Command-Line Interface (vSphere CLI).
Chapter 14 About Host Updates and Patches Procedure 1 Determine which bulletins are installed on your ESX/ESXi host. vihostupdate.pl --server --query Note the bundle ID for the bundle to uninstall. 2 Run the vihostupdate command. vihostupdate --server --remove --bulletin vihostupdate can remove only one bulletin at a time. VMware, Inc.
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Index Numerics 32-bit DSN requirement 52 64-bit moving to 24, 49–52 upgrading vCenter Server to 49 A adding hosts to vSphere Host Update Utility 100 applying patches 102, 103 applying patches to ESX/ESXi 104 AskBeforeDownload 101 ATA disks 27 automatic upgrades, VMware Tools 94 automatic VMware Tools upgrade 93 B back up, ESX host configuration 69 backup, host configuration 69 backup plans 59 backup VirtualCenter 43 best practices, updates and upgrades 99 boot and standby builds for ESXi 101 build number
vSphere Upgrade Guide restoring the configuration 81 update, rolling back 81, 102 ESXi Embedded replacing with ESX 25 replacing with ESXi Installable 26 ESXi Installable changing ESX to 25 changing ESXi Embedded to 26 ESXi upgrade 75 esxupdate 99 evaluating ESXi 78 F firewall 34 G global data 57 groups 57 guest operating systems 34 H hardware requirements for ESXi 30 for vCenter Server 32 hardware requirements for the vSphere Client 32 hardware requirements, ESXi 31 host compatibility check 66 host patc
Index postupgrade considerations for vCenter Server 55 privileges, datastores 62 process for upgrading 15–17 ProxyServer 101 R RemoteDepot 101 requirements for virtual machines 34 requirements for vSphere Client 34 restore ESX 81 restoring the ESXi configuration 81 restoring VirtualCenter 2.
vSphere Upgrade Guide joining a group 57 ports 34 postupgrade considerations 55 postupgrade tasks 58 vCenter Server downtime 43 vCenter Update Manager 11, 65, 99 vCenter upgrade 37 VI Client 56 vicfg-cfgbackup 69 vihostupdate 99, 102–104 virtual hardware, upgrading 83, 96 virtual hardware upgrade, downtime 85 virtual machine upgrades 12 virtual machines downtime during upgrade 85 RAM requirements 30, 31 requirements 34 upgrade 84 virtual machines upgrade 84 VirtualCenter backup 43 upgrading to vCenter Serv
