vCenter Server Appliance upgrade from 5.5 to 6.0
Hi All,
Today we will discuss about how to upgrade an existing vCenter 5.5 appliance to vCenter 6.0 appliance.
I am using two ESXi servers with 4VPUs and 12GB RAM.
Pre checks:-
- Active snapshot of your vcsa5.5.
- Source ESXi and destination ESXi health status.
- SSL certificate validation.
- Port 22 and 443 should be open in the firewall.
- Sufficient storage.
- Database backup and comparability if you are using external database.
- Network redundancy.
- Client Integration Plug-in in your windows host.
- Refer Upgrading to vCenter Server 6.0 best practices KB2109772
- VCSA 6.0 iso Image.
In the below screen shot you can find my existing vCenter appliance with vcsa5.5 on esxi1.vclass.local host.
I am log-in in to the vcsa5.5 web client.
It shows existing vCenter version 5.5.0.
In my windows server, I already installed VMware Client Integration plug-in 6.0, and it is active in my IE.
Mount the VMware-VCSA iso, and open
Double click on “vcsa-setup” file.
It will redirect to your web browser, ex. IE.
Select “Upgrade” option.
You can upgrade to vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 from following versions:
- vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 U3
- vCenter Server Appliance 5.5
Click “Ok” on supported update pop-up
Accept the EULA and click “Next” to continue..
Connect to your target server,
Provide the following details:-
FQDN or IP Address: esxi2.vclass.local
User name: root
Password: *********
Before Proceeding:
- Make sure ESXi host is not in lock down mode or maintenance mode.
- When deploying to a vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS), the appliance must be deployed to an ephemeral portgroup. After deployment, it can be moved to static or dynamic portgroup.
Click “Next” to continue..
Accept the Certificate Warning, Click “Yes”
Provide the Appliance name: vcac60 (VM name)
If you want the SSH access select the enable SSH option
Click “Next” to continue..
In the Connect source appliance field,
Select the existing appliance version, I am using vCSA 5.5, Selected vCSA 5.5 here
Provide the source vCenter details here:-
vCenter Server IP address/FQDN: vcva55.vclass.local
vCenter administrator user name: administrator@vsphere.local (default)
vCenter administrator Password: ******* (SSO Password)
vCenter HTTP Port: 443 (default)
Appliance (OS) root password: ******** (root password of your vcsa5.5 appliance)
Temporary Upgrade Files Path: /tmp/vmware/cis-export-folder
If you want to migrate the performance & other historical data click on Enable check box.
Provide the Source host details:-
ESXi host IP address/FQDN: esxi1.vclass.local (vcsa55 running on this host)
ESXi host user name: root
ESXi host password: **********
Click “Next” to continue..
It will validate the details, take several minutes…
Refer the warning pop-up:-
- After upgrade postgres user password would be the same as vc user.
- Port 22 will be used during upgrade process to transfer data over ssh if you use firewall between both machines, Please allow communication through port 22. If sshd service is not started on legacy system, the upgrade process will start it automatically on port 22.
Click “Yes” to continue..
Select the appliance size,
I am selecting “Tiny (up to 10 host, 100 VMs)”
Tiny VM configured with 2 vCPUs and 8 GB of memory and require 120 GB disk space.
Small VM configured with 4vCPUs and 16 GB of memory and require 130 GB disk space. (up to 100 hosts, 1000 VMs)
Medium VM configured with 8vCPUs and 24 GB of memory and require 275 GB disk space. (up to 400 hosts, 4000 VMs)
Large VM configured with 16vCPUs and 32 GB of memory and require 325 GB disk space. (up to 1000 hosts, 10,000 VMs)
For more reference on vCenter size: VMware vCenter Server™ 6.0 Deployment Guide
Click “Next” to continue..
Select the detastore:-
Datastore: vclass-lun1 — 138.55 GB free space
I am not using Thin Disk mode here, If you are not having 120 GB free space in your datastore Enable Thin Disk Mode.
Set up temporary network settings for vCSA 6.0
Temporary network: MGT (management network)
IP address family: IPv4 (default)
Network type: static
Network address: 172.20.10.155
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Network gateway: 172.20.10.1
Network DNS Server: 172.20.10.100
Before Proceeding make sure that:
- The network address provided is different than the source appliance’s address.
- The temporary network configuration provides connectivity to the vCenter server you are upgrading.
Click “Next” to continue..
Verify all the settings,
Click “Finish” for the completion.
Check the below screen shot:-
In the background VMware vCenter Server Appliance Deployment in progress…
In esxi1.vclass.local having my vcva 5.5 VM is running and esxi2.vclass.local having my vcac 6.0 VM in power down mode.
In the below screen shot:-
VMware vCenter Server Appliance Deployment wizard is Powering down the legacy system (vCSA 5.5 Appliance VM)
As you can see from the image vcva 5.5 VM is shutting down and vcac 6.0 VM waiting for the Powering down the legacy system.
In this time the total progress of the deployment is ” Overall progress : (220/400)=100″
Now the migration from vCSA 5.5 to vCSA 6.0 is completed.
My vcva 5.5 VM is down and vcac 6.0 VM is up and running in my esxi2.vclass.local host.
If you want to download the support bundle :-
Go to https://FQDN:443/appliance/support-bundle or https://IP address/ (vCSA 5.5 FQDN or IP)
To view the vCenter web client
Go to https://FQDN:9443/vsphere-client/?csp or https://IP address:9443/vsphere-client/?csp (vCSA 5.5 FQDN or IP)
Use the same vCSA 5.5 Administrator user name and password for log-in to web client.
Click “Log-in” to continue..
Now we are on the vcva55.vclass.local web client. Name showing as vcva55 but the version upgraded to 6.0.
So we successfully upgraded vCSA 5.5 to vCSA 6.0!!!
Thanks for reading, If you like the post share to others!!!!
