Installation guide

Table 4-1. Upgrading vCenter Server Components
Product Component Description
vCenter Server VI Client 1.x Not supported.
VirtualCenter Server 1.x Not supported.
VirtualCenter Server 2.0 Not supported.
VirtualCenter Server 2.5 Not supported.
VirtualCenter Server 2.5
Update 6
Upgrade by using the data migration tool to upgrade to vCenter
Server 5.0 on a different machine. Alternatively, if the VirtualCenter
database is on a remote machine, you can simply upgrade the
database.
vCenter Server 4.0 Upgrade in place if it is installed on a 64-bit system. If it is installed
on a 32-bit system, upgrade by using the data migration tool to
upgrade to vCenter Server 5.0 on a different machine.
vSphere Client 4.0 Not supported.
vCenter Server 4.1 In place upgrade.
vSphere Client 4.1 Not supported.
vCenter Server 5.0 Install.
vSphere Client 5.0 Supported.
IBM DB2 database Verify that your database is supported. Upgrade if necessary.
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.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express is supported in vCenter Server
5.0.
Linked Mode Cannot join a Linked Mode group during the upgrade procedure.
Join after the upgrade to vCenter Server is complete. If you are
upgrading a vCenter Server that is part of a Linked Mode group, it
will be removed from the group. vCenter Server does not support
Linked Mode groups that contain both version 5.0 and earlier
versions of vCenter Servers. After all vCenter Servers in the group
are upgraded to version 5.0, you can rejoin them.
License server License server To manage ESX 3.5x/ESXi 3.5 hosts, verify that the vCenter Server
system is configured to use a license server. Install a license server
if necessary.
ESX and ESXi ESX 2.5 host Not supported with vCenter Server 5.0.
VMFS2 volumes Supported as read-only (deprecated).
VM2 virtual machines Upgrade (optional).
VMDK2 virtual disk Not supported with vCenter Server 5.0.
ESX MUI No change.
VMware Tools Upgrade (optional).
ESX/ESXi 3.5 host Upgrade to ESXi 5.0 (optional).
ESX/ESXi 4.0 host Upgrade to ESXi 5.0 (optional)
ESX/ESXi 4.1 host Upgrade to ESXi 5.0 (optional).
ESX/ESXi 5.0 host Install.
VMFS3 volumes No change.
vSphere Upgrade
28 VMware, Inc.