How to: Upgrade to vSphere 4.1

ESX host upgrade

Now, we’re ready to start upgrading the actual ESX(i) hosts.

First we have to import the correct upgrade file, which you downloaded from the VMware site. Depending on your current installation you can download different files.

To upgrade ESXi 4.0 to 4.1 download ‘upgrade-from-ESXi4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip‘

To upgrade ESX 4.0 to 4.1 download ‘pre-upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip‘
and ‘upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip‘

Run the Pre-upgrade package for ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1 before you upgrade from ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1 using esxupdate or vihostupdate.

To upgrade ESX3.5 to 4.1 download ‘upgrade-from-ESXi3.5-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip‘

I’m upgrading vSphere 4.0 to 4.1 so in my case I had to import ‘upgrade-from-ESXi4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip‘

Now we can use this update file to create a new Host Upgrade baseline. I created a new baseline named ‘Upgrade to vSphere 4.1‘.

If you’re upgrading ESX 3.x, you now can select the vmdk file location for the Service Console VM. The recommended action is to place the Service Console VM vmdk files on local storage.
Because I’m upgrading ESXi, which has no Service Console, the option is greyed out.

Next, you can specify optional post-upgrade script to be run. In my case there are none.

When the new baseline is created we can attach this baseline to a Datacenter, Cluster or Host. I attached the baseline at the Datacenter level.
Next action is to scan all hosts for compliance with the new baseline and of course none of the hosts are compliant.

The final action before sitting back and letting Update Manager to do it’s job, is to remediate the hosts, making them compliant with the new attached Host Upgrade baseline you have created.
Select Upgrade baselines and select the ‘Upgrade to vSphere 4.1‘ baseline you have created and select the hosts you want to remediate.
Next, specify if you want to disable VMware HA, FT and/or DPM during the upgrade. In my case none of these features have been enabled yet so I will go for the default settings.

Update Manager will now put the hosts in maintenance mode one by one and automatically upgrade the ESX(i) host to vSphere 4.1 until they are all compliant with the attached baseline.

When finished all host should be compliant/upgraded to vSphere 4.1, showing the new 4.1.0 version and 260247 build number.

The complete upgrade process is now complete. When you go through all these pages and setting it may look like a lengthy process but it’s actually not. The complete upgrade took me no more than one hour! OK, I have only 2 hosts, when you have more it takes a bit longer but the actual work is in the upgrade of vCenter Server and Update Manager and creating the baseline. When that’s completed it doesn’t matter if you have 2 hosts or 200, Upgrade Manager does all the work for you, upgrading all hosts automatically, putting them in maintenance mode and rebooting them. It’s like a walk in the park!

Now you can enjoy all 150 new features VMware has given us/you. Enjoy!

Note: Do not forget to update the VMware Tools in all virtual machines.

______________________________________________________

Page 1 – vCenter server upgrade
Page 2 – vSphere client upgrade
Page 3 – Update Manager upgrade
Page 4 - ESX host upgrade

______________________________________________________

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Tags: upgrade, VMware, vSphere

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 10:13 and is filed under How To, VMware, vSphere. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

About Erik Scholten

Erik Scholten is the founder of VMGuru.nl and works for Imtech ICT as a Solution Architect creating the most ingenious virtual infrastructures. He has over 14 years experience as a system engineer and consultant and now he specializes in virtualization. His current job includes selling, presenting, designing and developing virtual infrastructures for some major companies in the Netherlands. In 2009, 2010 and 2011 VMware awarded him the vExpert award for his virtualization community efforts.

Pingback: Tweets die vermelden How to: Upgrade to vSphere 4.1 | VMGuru.nl - I choose (a virtual) life! -- Topsy.com
Pingback: links for 2010-07-19 : Digirati Dad
donkarnash

HI,

I have vcenter 4.0 update 1 with 3 hosts in cluster & HA installed on windows 2003 32bit server.

I have to upgrade to vcenter 4.1 and installed sql express edition

I have moved all vm's from one host to remaining other two.

I have installed ESXi 4.1 build 260247 on one host.

Then created a vm – windows 2008 R2 64bit – installed vcenter 4.1 & vpshere client build 258902.

I ran the agent pre-upgrade check on the existing vcenter.

Also ran backup.bat under datamigration on the existing vcenter.

I copied the vcenter 4.1 installation files and datamigration folder to new server.

I have different host name and different IP address for this new vcenter.

I can login to the vcenter on new host but obviously it is empty.

Now…I need some guidance here.

I do not know if I need to migrate the existing db to new server ??

if yes — how — what are the steps as I do not have SQL Server Management Studio on win 2003 vcenter server.

if no — do I just run the install.bat on the new vcenter server ????

I know I will have to update the configuration files manually as the host name and IP address are different.

which specific files are these ????

Can you please guide me.

Many thanks
Trupel

Thanks for the info! very helpful
Mr Sarge

wy ist it necessary to install the pre-upgrade package via esxupdate before the upgrade with VUM?
http://www.vmguru.nl Erik Scholten

In my opinion, migration or fresh install depends on the amount of configuration in vCenter. If you have a small scale install with a few hosts, a few resource pools, some HA and DRS config, and don't mind losing the performance history, do a fresh install. If performance history is critical and you have a large scale installation with many hosts and maybe additional tools like SRM, I would perform an upgrade.
http://www.vmguru.nl Erik Scholten

Honestly? I have no idea.Maybe to fix a bug which prohibits the update with VUM but that's just speculation.
Pingback: Tweets die vermelden How to: Upgrade to vSphere 4.1 | VMGuru.nl - I choose (a virtual) life! -- Topsy.com
John Doe

Nice work Erik and posted just one day after 4.1 is out.
Keep the good work.
Patters

@donkarnash I had the same problem as you by the sound of it. I wrote up a workaround here:
http://pcloadletter.co.uk/2010/07/26/upgrading-…
Sascha Berlin/Germany

many thanks for this how to!

It works fine.
FM

Hi

Looking at upgrading vCenter 4.0 update 1 to vCenter 4.1 and have a DSN question.

The 4.1 upgrade guide says it needs a 64bit DSN, whilst the previous versions used a 32bit DSN.

I created an additional 64bit DSN to point to the vCenter DB – the aiming being to get the installer to use this.

When I run the 4.1 installation it reports I have an earlier version of vCenter alredy installed and it will upgrade this version.In the database options window it detects the 32bit DSN – so I cannot specify the 64bit DSN I created earlier. The next window has the upgrade options for the database, however I'm reluctant to continue on as it's using the 32bit DSN.

Any advice?
http://www.vmguru.nl Erik Scholten

@Home I forgot to update my DSN before the upgrade and updated my vSPhere setup without any problems. Afterwards I removed the 32 bit DSN and replaced it with a 64 bit DSN. No problem.
FM

Cheers for the info.

I shall let the installer continue with the upgrade process, and then check the DSN details.
http://twitter.com/mikek70 Mike Kellenberger

thanks for this how-to! works like a charm and my (first-time) upgrade much easier!
Raed

Hi All:
My Name is Raed, Honestly I just finish the course for VSPHERE 4.1 installation & Implementation , Currently i am running ESXI 3.5 on 3 hosts with No VCENTER , Update Manager … ETC, Actually i am not the person who did the installation for the current 3.5 but now i want to do the upgrade for the current to 4.1, bulding a VCenter and Start enjoy using 4.1 features.

any recommendations or guides according to what mentioned ?

Thank you very much …..
Regards

http://www.vmguru.nl Erik Scholten

Just build a vCenter 4.1 with update manager, add the ESX3.5 host to the new vCenter server and upgrade according to the ‘how to’ above