Upgrading to vCenter Server 6.0 best practices
search cancel

Upgrading to vCenter Server 6.0 best practices

book

Article ID: 335998

calendar_today

Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article provides pre-upgrade information for vCenter Server 6.0 and related components.

For more information, see Deployment models in vCenter Server 6.0 (2146174).


Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Resolution

Best practices for upgrading to vCenter Server 6.0

  • Staged upgrade across multiple maintenance windows

If you have a complex vSphere 5.x environment, you may prefer to upgrade your vSphere environment over the course of several maintenance windows. It is possible to upgrade the vSphere environment in stages.
These are the general order of the upgrades:
  1. Upgrade each vCenter Single Sign-On one at a time (only if vCenter Single Sign-On is installed on a separate machine than vCenter Server).
  2. Upgrade each vCenter Server one at a time.
  3. Upgrade each ESXi host one at a time.

For more information about each transition step including diagrams, see the Mixed-Version Transitional Environments in vCenter Server for Windows Upgrades section in the vSphere Upgrade Guide.

  • vCenter Server for Windows Requirements

To install vCenter Server on a Windows virtual machine or physical server, your system must meet specific hardware and software requirements.

For more information, see:

The appliance upgrade process has changed significantly from the previous release. There is now an ISO file containing the appliance that can be downloaded. The ISO contains an installer that deploys the appliance to a host running ESXi 5.1.x or later. The tool runs in a browser on a Microsoft Windows Platform. The tool requires the client integration plugin to function and therefore must meet its requirements.
Before upgrading to vSphere 6.0, ensure to review the:
Notes:
  • The vSphere Web Client 6.0 requires Adobe Flash Player 16 or later. For more information see, the vSphere Web Client Software Requirement section in the vSphere Installation ans Setup Guide.
  • To use the Client Integration Plug-in, verify that you have one of the supported Web browsers.For more information see, the Client Integration Plug-in Software Requirement section in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.
  • The Windows system on which you install the vSphere Client must meet specific hardware and software requirements.For more information see, the vSphere Client Requirements section in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.

  • Certificate migration

  • The SSL certificate that was previously used by vCenter Server is moved into the Machine_SSL on the vCenter Server 6.0 VMware Endpoint Certificate store.
  • The SSL certificate that was previously used by Single Sign-On (ssoserver.crt) is move into the Machine_SSL on the vCenter Server 6.0 VMware Endpoint Certificate store.
  • All other SSL certificates that were previously used are destroyed during the upgrade.
  • New solution user certificates are generated off the VMware Certificate Authority

    Notes:
     
    • In a distributed deployment, the upgrade will use either the vCenter Server or the Single Sign-On certificate, compare that to the response of the DNS/hostname/PNID of the vCenter Server host OS, if the check succeeds the certificate is moved into the Machine_SSL on the vCenter Server 6.0 VMware Endpoint Certificate store.
       
    • In an embedded deployment, the upgrade will use both of the certificates, attempt to find a commonality between the two based off of the response from the DNS/hostname/PNID of the host OS, and if the check succeeds the certificate is moved into the Machine_SSL on the vCenter Server 6.0 VMware Endpoint Certificate store.


Additional Information

For more information, see these sections in the vSphere Upgrade Guide:


Powered by Wolken Software