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Upgrading VMware ESX 3.5 to ESX 4.0 (vSphere)

Yesterday we did an upgrade from an ESX 3.5 host to ESX 4.0 using the VMware Upgrade Manager. I must say it’s cool to see how you can upgrade your ESX hosts and after that you can schedule the updates for your virtual machines with a virtual hardware upgrade version 7 and new VMware Tools.

There are some prerequisites for upgrading ESX 3.5 hosts to ESX 4.0 by using the VMware Upgrade Manager. Make sure you upgrade your vCenter server to vCenter Server 4.0 and make sure you have updated vCenter Update Manager 1.0 to version 4.0 before attempting to upgrade your ESX hosts.

Steps you should take are:

  • create an ESX 4.0 upgrade baseline
  • select the host to upgrade and attach the baseline to your ESX host or the datacenter.
  • scan your host for updates and remediate your entity.

When following the process in vCenter Server you will see the following tasks in the lower pane:

  • Remediate entity
  • Enter Maintenance mode
  • Exit Maintenance mode

Through an iLO connection with the host in the US we could follow the upgrade process on the console.

On the status bar in vCenter Server in the tasks pane you will see a percentage and underwater you will see the following processes are running:

  • 33% Putting ESX host in Maintenance mode
  • 38% Copying installation files to the ESX server from an ISO or ZIP file.
  • 56% Unpacking and installing files

After unpacking and installing the files the host will reboot and after a 10 min reboot cycle you will see 100% host upgrade successful.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 07:15 and is filed under vCenter Server, VMware, VMware Update Manager, vSphere. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

About

Edwin Weijdema works as an Enterprise Architect at Imtech ICT in the Netherlands. His job is to build bridges between management and the technicians and vice verse. He has many different roles including working as a speaker, trainer, writer, pre-sales consultant, enterprise architect as well as providing risk analysis and responding to concerns and questions posed by his clients. In 2010, 2011 and 2012 VMware awarded him the VMware vExpert award for blogging and community efforts. In his spare time he likes to relax in a good online game with friends.

  • http://www.sdsone.com/ rudy

    Thanks so much , this helped allot

    Rudy

  • http://www.sdsone.com rudy

    Thanks so much , this helped allot

    Rudy

  • http://www.netisinc.com/ Scott

    how long would it take to upgrade 2 esx 3.5 servers to 4.0? thank you

  • http://www.netisinc.com Scott

    how long would it take to upgrade 2 esx 3.5 servers to 4.0? thank you

  • http://www.vmguru.nl/ Erik Scholten

    Assuming it’s a cluster with vCenter/VMotion, 2-4 hours, depending on your experience with the product and (reboot) speed of your hosts.

    First, upgrade vCenter to version 4 = 30 min
    Second, upgrade Update Manager = 30 min
    Third, import the ISO and create a new baseline and attach it to your 2 hosts = 15 min
    Fourth, scan and remediate your cluster = 30-45 min per host.

    I a classroom environment this took us 1,5 hours because everything was already prepared. This is the easiest and fastest ESX upgrade process I’ve seen so far. Upgrading ESX 2 to 3 was more of a hassle.

  • http://www.vmguru.nl Erik Scholten

    Assuming it’s a cluster with vCenter/VMotion, 2-4 hours, depending on your experience with the product and (reboot) speed of your hosts.

    First, upgrade vCenter to version 4 = 30 min
    Second, upgrade Update Manager = 30 min
    Third, import the ISO and create a new baseline and attach it to your 2 hosts = 15 min
    Fourth, scan and remediate your cluster = 30-45 min per host.

    I a classroom environment this took us 1,5 hours because everything was already prepared. This is the easiest and fastest ESX upgrade process I’ve seen so far. Upgrading ESX 2 to 3 was more of a hassle.

  • Saybash

    Can you give me a good website to show how to upgrade a VMware Esx server 3.5 to a 4.1 please, if you can email me some documents to saybash@hotmail.com

    please and thank you

  • rizwan shaikh

    if my esx host are having database on ip-san,and i upgrade one of host from 3.5 to 4.1 , will other host will be able to see datastore of host 4.1 as due to upgrade it has changed file system from vmfs 3.0 to next version.

  • Rizwan421306

    Thanks a lot for your answer,but i wanted to know during upgrade process do i need to take back-up of existing file on vmfs 3 as after upgrading this volume will get Reformated.
    Or else there is no need to worry about existing data on vmfs3 so should i proceed with upgradation without back-up

    • http://www.vmguru.nl Erik Scholten

      Proceed with the upgrade. When your finished, you can do a storage vMotion to free up your datastores and reformat them.

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