6.5.1

Table Of Contents
The vCenter Server Appliance installer contains executable files GUI and CLI upgrades which you can
use alternatively.
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The GUI upgrade is a two stage process. The first stage is a deployment wizard that deploys the OVA
file of the new appliance on the target ESXi host or vCenter Server instance. After the OVA
deployment finishes, you are redirected to the second stage of the process that sets up and transfers
the services and configuration data from the old appliance to the newly deployed appliance.
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The CLI upgrade method involves running a CLI command against a JSON file that you previously
prepared. The CLI installer parses the configuration parameters and their values from the JSON file
and generates an OVF Tool command that automatically deploys the new appliance and transfers the
services and configuration data from the old appliance.
For information about the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance upgrade
requirements, see System Requirements for the New vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services
Controller Appliance.
Important If the appliance that you are upgrading is configured in a mixed IPv4 and IPv6 environment,
only the IPv4 settings are preserved.
If the appliance that you are upgrading uses a non-ephemeral distributed virtual port group, the port group
is not preserved. After the upgrade, you can manually connect the new appliance to the original non-
ephemeral distributed virtual port group of the old appliance.
To upgrade a vCenter Server Appliance 5.0 or 5.1, you must first upgrade to version 5.5 or 6.0 and then
upgrade to version 6.5. For information about upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance 5.0 or 5.1 to
version 5.5, see theVMware vSphere 5.5 Documentation. For information about upgrading the
vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 Update 3 to version 6.0, see theVMware vSphere 6.0 Documentation.
For information about deploying the vCenter Server Appliance, see vSphere Installation and Setup.
For information about configuring the vCenter Server Appliance, see vCenter Server Appliance
Configuration.
This section includes the following topics:
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About the Upgrade Process of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller
Appliance
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System Requirements for the New vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller
Appliance
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Preparing to Upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
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Prerequisites for Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller Appliance
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GUI Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
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CLI Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance
vSphere Upgrade
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