vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Process

Upgrading is a multistage process in which procedures must be performed in a particular order. Follow the

process outlined in this high-level overview to ensure a smooth upgrade with a minimum of system

downtime.

IMPORTANT Make sure that you understand the entire upgrade process before you attempt to upgrade. If you do not follow the safeguards, you might lose data and access to your servers. Without planning, you might incur more downtime than is necessary.

If you use vCenter Server Heartbeat in your vSphere deployment, use the vSphere Server Heartbeat

installation and upgrade documentation to upgrade vCenter Server.

vCenter Server 5.5 removes support for Windows Server 2003 as a host operating system

vCenter Server 5.5 removes support for Windows Server 2008 SP1 as a host operating system.

You must complete the upgrade process in a specific order because you can lose data and server access.

Order is also important within each upgrade stage.

You can perform the upgrade process for each component in only one direction. For example, after you

upgrade to vCenter Server 5.x, you cannot revert to vCenter Server 4.x. With backups and planning, you can restore your original software records.

You must complete one procedure before you move to the next procedure. Follow the directions within each

procedure regarding the required sequence of minor substeps.

Because certain commands can simultaneously upgrade more than one stage, VMware recommends that

you understand the irreversible changes at each stage before you upgrade your production environments.

To ensure that your datacenter upgrade goes smoothly, you can use vCenter Update Manager to manage

the process for you.

vSphere upgrades proceed in the following sequence of tasks.

1 If your vSphere system includes VMware solutions or plug-ins, make sure they are compatible with the

vCenter Server version that you are upgrading to.

2 If you are upgrading vSphere components that are part of a VMware View environment,

3 Make sure your system meets vSphere hardware and software requirements.

4 Upgrade vCenter Single Sign-On, vCenter Inventory Service, vCenter Server, and the

vSphere Web Client.

5 If you use VMware Update Manager, upgrade VMware Update Manager.

6 Upgrade your ESXi hosts.

a) Use vSphere Update Manager to perform an orchestrated upgrade of your ESXi hosts

b) Upgrade a single host at a time, interactively, from an ESXi ISO installer image stored on a CD,

DVD, or USB flash drive

c) Use a script to perform an unattended upgrade for multiple hosts.

d) If a host was deployed using vSphere Auto Deploy, you can use Auto Deploy to upgrade the host

by reprovisioning it.

e) Upgrade or patch ESXi 5.x hosts by using esxcli commands.

7 Reapply your host license.

8 Upgrade virtual machines and virtual appliances, manually or by using VMware Update Manager to

perform an orchestrated upgrade.

IMPORTANT After you upgrade or migrate your host to ESXi 5.x, you cannot roll back to your version 4.x ESX or ESXi software. Back up your host before you perform an upgrade or migration, so that, if the upgrade or migration fails, you can restore your 4.x host.