After reading lots of documentation via the Update Center site and some other posts on this community I wanted to see if the plan I have is ok or is there a better way? I've upgraded 3.5 to 4.1 before but it was using the same hardware...this time around...I'm using new hardware for the new vSphere ESXi & vCenter 5.1 infrastructure.
So, this is what I want to do and hopefully the community's input would help guide me to use the best approach for my needs.
Existing environment consists of:
vCenter 4.1 on a physical Windows Server 2008 R2 server with databases running on a separate physical SQL 2008 R2 cluster. 7 ESX 4.1 host servers. 4 of these hosts are in an EVC compatible cluster, 1 is in a DMZ EVC cluster with another host that will be moved into that cluster after upgrade is completed. 1 is a stand alone ESX 4.1 server that will be decommissioned. VM's on this server are from our TEST/DEV environment and will be cold migrated over to new 5.1 cluster. All shared storage (i.e. - datastores running VMFS-3) for existing environment is running on our SAN.
New environment will consist of:
4 new ESXi 5.1 host servers running in a cluster. 2 existing DMZ host servers (old current hardware) **These will be replaced later with 2 new servers identical to the existing new hardware being used. Migrating vCenter Server to a different host machine following KB 5850444. vCenter 5.1 on a VM running Windows Server 2012 with databases on a separate physical SQL 2008 R2 cluster. All shared storage (i.e. - datastores running VMFS-5) for new environment is running on our SAN.
Here is a summary of my plan:
1 - Install ESXi 5.1 on one of the new host servers
2 - Connect to SAN and Create new VMFS-5 datastores
3 - Create a new vCenter 5.1 VM running on new VMFS-5 using Windows Server 2012 OS pointing to existing databases on my physical SQL 2008 R2 cluster. Use the temporary Eval license option for new vCenter 5.1. **Follow KB article 5850444 instructions minus database movement since databases will stay in its existing location
4 - Remove existing ESX 4 host servers from original vCenter 4.1 into new vCenter 5.1 inventory **Not sure about this one since my new vCenter 5.1 will be pointing at the existing database, so wouldn't the ESX 4.1 host automatically show up?
5 - VM's will be moved using Enhanced vMotion to new ESXi 5.1 hosts & VMFS-5 datastores on SAN
6 - ESX 4.1 host will then be removed/retired from vCenter 5.1
7 - Upgrade all licensing to new 5.1 and apply to vCenter 5.1 & ESXi 5.1 hosts
8 - Upgrade VM's (VMware Tools then Hardware to 9) using Update Manager
That's it, any input would be greatly appreciated...thanks.