Installation guide

Contents

Updated Information 7

About This Book 9

Changes to the Upgrade Process 11

vCenter Server Upgrade 11

Host Upgrade 11

Datastore Upgrade 12

Virtual Machine Upgrade 12

Licensing 13

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 Virtual Machines (with vCenter Server) 22

Upgrading by Moving Powered Off or Suspended Virtual Machines (Without vCenter Server) 23

Upgrading to vCenter Server on a New Machine 24

Changing Host Types 25

Change ESX to ESXi Installable 25

Change ESXi Embedded to ESX 25

Change ESXi Embedded to ESXi Installable 26

System Requirements 27

ESX Hardware Requirements 27

ESXi Hardware Requirements 30

vCenter Server and the vSphere Client Hardware Requirements 32

vCenter Server Software Requirements 33

vSphere Client Software Requirements 34

Support for 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems 34

Requirements for Creating Virtual Machines 34

Required Ports 34

DNS Requirements for vSphere 35

Supported Remote Management Firmware Versions 36

Preparing for the Upgrade to vCenter Server 37

About the vCenter Server 4.0 Upgrade 37

vCenter Server Upgrade Summary 37

VMware, Inc.