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I am clearly missing some basic understanding when it comes to the upgrading process for my virtual environment.

When upgrading through the virtual stack, I understand that there are multiple components that need to be upgraded and my understanding is some need to be upgraded in order yet I am having a difficult time finding a clear guide to understand what needs to happen in what order. From my knowledge I should upgrade in the following order:

  1. VM Hardware
  2. Datastores
  3. Network
  4. vSCA
  5. esxi host

Am I missing anything? I was told that for our Dell servers I would need to upload the Dell custom VIB iso but I don't see where that would happen. Am I missing any components that will need to be upgraded? Do I have that order right?

Gerald Schneider
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Zombian
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2 Answers2

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You should be able to find ESXi iso on the VMware website: https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/downloads/details?downloadGroup=OEM-ESXI70GA-DELLEMC&productId=974 You can easily upgrade your ESXi installation using the iso. Just mount it to your Dell server and follow the guide below: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/blog/how-to-upgrade-esxi-6-7-to-7-0-without-vcenter The update sequence is right, I would add one step to make backups before doing the upgrade.

Stuka
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From general to the specific :

  1. Keep in mind to always check if the ESXi version you want to install is allowed on your hardware parts : https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

  2. Have a double check if your ESXi version is compliant with your current vCenter, else you should update your vCenter a different version. Check here : https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php#upgrade

  3. Here's a link to check if you can upgrade from X.X ESXi version Y.Y version https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php#upgrade

Once you're sure about these 3 points, you can update your ESXi safely. Once it's done, upgrade VMTools + VM Compatibility (often forgotten..) + VMFS version from your datastores (depending from which version you come from)

If you want to gain time when you update your ESXi, avoid to create a usb key then reboot your server. You can download .zip files from your provider (dell custom esxi offline bundle in google for instance) then use this command from SSH command line to update/upgrade and reboot your ESXi : https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2008939

Good luck :)

motorbass
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