Installation guide

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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.
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Make sure the system on which you are installing vCenter Server is not an Active Directory domain
controller, primary or backup.
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Make sure that the computer name has no more than 15 characters.
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vCenter Server 4.0 uses TCP/IP Ports 80 and 443 for the VMware vSphere Web client. You cannot run
vCenter Server on the same machine as a Web server using TCP/IP port 80 (HTTP) or port 443 (HTTPS)
because doing so causes port conflicts.
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If you use vCenter Guided Consolidation Service in the VirtualCenter 2.x environment, complete the
consolidation plan before you upgrade to vCenter Server 4.0. The upgrade to vCenter Server 4.0 does not
preserve or migrate any data gathered by the vCenter Guided Consolidation Service. After the upgrade,
all of the data is cleared, and you cannot restore it.
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Back up the SSL certificates that are on the VirtualCenter 2.x system before you upgrade to
vCenter Server 4.0.
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If you upgrade to vCenter Server on Windows Server 2003 SP1, the disk for the installation directory must
have the NTFS format, not the FAT32 format.
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If you use DHCP instead of a static IP address for vCenter Server, make sure that the vCenter Server
computer name is updated in the domain name service (DNS). One way to test this is by pinging the
computer name. For example, if the computer name is host-1.company.com, run the following command
in the Windows command prompt:
ping host-1.company.com
If you can ping the computer name, the name is updated in DNS.
Database Prerequisites
Before you upgrade to vCenter Server, consider the following points:
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If your database server is not supported by vCenter Server, perform a database upgrade to a supported
version or import your database into a supported version. See “Database Scenarios,” on page 41.
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You must perform a complete backup of your VirtualCenter 2.x database before you begin the
vCenter Server upgrade. The VirtualCenter 2.x database schema is not compatible with vCenter Server 4.0.
The vCenter Server 4.0 installer upgrades your existing VirtualCenter Server database schema with extra
fields, thus making the database unusable by VirtualCenter 2.x.
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You must have login credentials, the database name, and the database server name that will be used by
the vCenter Server database. The database server name is typically the ODBC System data store name
(DSN) connection name for the vCenter Server database.
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To use a newly supported Oracle database, such as Oracle 11g, you do not need to perform a clean
installation of vCenter Server if your existing database is also Oracle. For example, you can first upgrade
your existing Oracle 9i database to Oracle 10g or Oracle 11g and then upgrade VirtualCenter 2.x to
vCenter Server 4.0.
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To use a newly supported SQL database, such as Microsoft SQL 2008, you do not need to perform a clean
installation of vCenter Server if your existing database is also Microsoft SQL Server. For example, you can
upgrade a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or Microsoft SQL Server 2008
and then upgrade VirtualCenter 2.x to vCenter Server 4.0.
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If you are upgrading from VirtualCenter 2.0.x and you are using the previously bundled demonstration
MSDE database, you must perform a clean installation of vCenter Server. VirtualCenter 2.0.x with the
demonstration MSDE database has no supported upgrade path to vCenter Server 4.0.
Chapter 5 Preparing for the Upgrade to vCenter Server
VMware, Inc. 39