ESXi 5.5 U1 Upgrade Tip

Hello,

Just came across with the observation when any one is looking to upgrade an existing ESXi 5.5 to ESXi 5.5 U1 then make sure you pick the right ISO file.

Here is the screen shot of the download page

Now as you can see the 1st option is the Roll Up ISO file which you can’t use to do the upgrade.
Downside of using the same you may not see your HBA on the host which you were able to see while the server was running on ESXi 5.5 base image.

So the actual ISO you need to use is titled as “ESXi 5.5 Update 1 ISO image (Includes VMware Tools)” or you can use one of the vendor supplied image on the “Custom ISOs” Tab.

This list under Custom ISOs varies time to time so make sure you get the correct image of the vendor if having a hardware supplied by that vendor.

Hopefully this will help anyone to do the smooth upgrade without getting into any other Gotchas of upgrading the driver/firmware on the Hardware later after the upgrade.
At the same time if you are running Nexus 1000v then you may want to check the compatibility on Cisco’s web page

http://www.cisco.com/web/techdoc/n1kv/upgrade/utility/n1kvmatrix.html

Here are some KB articles of VMware which will help you deciding your upgrade plans so that you can do the upgrade properly by following the recommended sequence


http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2037630

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2059455

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2031331

Hope this helps when dealing with Nexus 1000v and other products upgrade.

@cormachogan has blogged about Software ISCSI issue here so please take a look at that as well.

Thanks for your time.

Please share and care!

Upgrade Videos of vSphere, vCloud, vCenter, VDS, vShield

Hi,


If you want to go through the upgrade process of various VMware products, there are documentation available for them but one of VMware VCDXs, Matthew Meyer @mattdmeyer has developed a whole list of videos which covers the ugprade process and setup of various products which are as follows.


VMware vCloud Director 1.5 to 5.1 Upgrade

http://youtu.be/J6vfnvOS_D8



VMware vShield Manager 1.5 to 5.1 Upgrade

http://youtu.be/qrx8tQxNPIo



VMware vCenter Single Sign-On Installation
http://youtu.be/c1QWNbea3lo



VMware vCenter Server 5.0 to 5.1 Upgrade

http://youtu.be/0ypcu5JYWyo



VMware ESXi 5.0 to 5.1 Upgrade

http://youtu.be/Kvozx6v4m50



vCloud Director 1.5 to 5.1 Agent Upgrade

http://youtu.be/D9CSNOhqfAE



VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) 5.0 to 5.1 Upgrade

http://youtu.be/MVDAwbVZd0I




VMware VXLAN Installation for vCloud Director 5.1

http://youtu.be/LK7N4o8N7ts



This will give you an idea on exactly what to do while upgrading or installing the related products.

Sharing is caring so RT and spread the word.

Thanks !!

Critical Articles Repository for vSphere 5.1

Hi,

As everyone is now familiar about the release of vSphere 5.1 and majority of the community might have started installing/upgrading the environment with the new bits.

Assuming all the necessary Downloads are done and now the planning must have started for setting up the new components.

Here are some of the critical article which will make your install/upgrade process smoother. Go through them if possible to avoid any last minute surprises and stay away from any Gotchas.

Installing/Upgrading (Including SSO) KB Articles:

• Upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1 best practices (2021193)
• Installing vCenter Server 5.1 best practices (2021202)
• Installing or Upgrading to ESXi 5.1 best practices (2032756)
• Methods of Upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1 (2021188)
• Methods of installing vCenter Server 5.1 (2032885)
• Methods of installing ESXi 5.1 (2032782)
• Methods of upgrading to ESXi 5.1 (2032757)
• Overview of upgrading from vCenter Server 5.0 to vCenter Server 5.1 (2032283)

vCenter Single Sign On KB articles:

• Comparing behaviour of vCenter Single Sign On with earlier versions of vCenter Server (2032135)
• vCenter Single Sign On FAQ (2034918)
• Installing vCenter Single Sign On in a multisite deployment (2034074)
• Setting up Apache load balancing software with vCenter Single Sign On (2034157)
• Configuring vCenter Single Sign On for high availability (2033588)

Troubleshooting Single Sign On (SSO) KB articles:

• Troubleshooting Single Sign on (SSO) issues in vCenter Server 5.1(2033137)
• Troubleshooting the configuration of vCenter Single Sign On within the vCenter Server 5.1 Appliance (2033152)
• Troubleshooting VMware Single Sign-On configuration and installation issues in a Windows server (2033880)
• Troubleshooting failed log in attempts to the vSphere Web Client in vSphere 5.1 (2034506)
• Troubleshooting SSL certificate updates and Single Sign On (2033240)
• Troubleshooting vCenter Single Sign On when it does not start (2034517)

vSphere 5.1 Logs related KB articles:

• Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESXi using the Web Client (2032892)
• Location of vCenter Single Sign On (SSO) logs (2033430)
• Using the Log Browser to view, search, and export Logs for troubleshooting (2032888)

Other vSphere 5.1 new features KB articles:

• Understanding Stateless Caching and Stateful Installs with Auto Deploy (2032881)
• Enabling vSphere Distributed Switch Health Check in the vSphere Web Client (2032878)
• Understanding vSphere 5.1 network rollback and recovery (2032908)
• Retaining resource pools when disabling VMware DRS Cluster(2032893)
• Required ports for vCenter 5.1(KB 2031843)

  

Other vSphere 5.1 new Storage/Networking/Fault KB articles:

• Enabling vSphere Distributed Switch Health Check in the vSphere Web Client (2032878)
• Understanding vSphere 5.1 Network Rollback and Recovery - Disabling Network Rollback (2032908)
• Enabling or disabling LACP on an Uplink Port Group using the vSphere Web Client(2034277)
• The impact of VXLAN overlay networks on netqueue behavior(2032810)
• Booting ESXi with Software FCoE(2032363)
• Exporting, importing, and restoring Distributed Switch configurations using the vSphere Web client(2034602)
• ESXi / ESX hosts with visibility to RDM LUNs being used by MSCS nodes with RDMs may take a long time to boot(1016106)
• iSCSI and Jumbo Frames configuration on ESX/ESXi(1007654)
• Troubleshooting the ESXi Dump Collector service in vSphere 5.0(2003042)
• Host warning for ESXi Shell and SSH appear on a ESXi 5.1 host(2034841)
• ESXi / ESX hosts with visibility to RDM LUNs being used by MSCS nodes with RDMs may take a long time to boot(1016106)
• Installing async drivers on ESXi 5.x(2005205)
• Consolidating snapshots(1007849)
  
  VMware Data Protection:
  
  
• VMware Data Protection (VDP) FAQ(2016565)
• Collecting diagnostic information for VMware Data Protection(2033910)
• Required ports for vSphere Data Protection 5.1(2034929)
• Maintenance services status is in stopped state after deploying VMware vSphere Data Protection(2034780)
• Check list for escalating a support request for VMware Data Protection (VDP)(2034087) 
•  
• VMware vCloud Director:
  
  
• Installing vCloud Director 5.1 best practices (2034092)
• Upgrading to vCloud Director 5.1 best practices (2034980)
• Installing vShield 5.1 best practices (2034173)
• Upgrading to vShield 5.1 best practices (2034699)
• Network port requirements for vCloud Director 5.1 (2034426)
• Supported web browsers in vCloud Director 5.1 (2034554)
• Installing and configuring a vCloud Director 5.1 database (2034540)
• Supported guest operating systems in vCloud Director 5.1 (2034491)
• Accessing and using the vShield 5.1 REST API (2034410)
• Hardening vShield 5.1 virtual appliances (2034358)
• Upgrade paths from vSphere editions to VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 (2032390)
• Cannot upload the upgrade bundle while upgrading from vShield Manager 5.0 to 5.1 (2034804)
• Stopping a vApp in vCloud Director fails with the error: InternalServerErrorException: Failed to purge object (2034802)
• VXLAN support in vShield Manager (2034749)
• Duplicate packets or packet loss when using using LACP (2034807)
• Audit logging of vShield Edge does not work correctly in vShield Manager 5.1 (2034801)
• Unable to remove a host from the vCenter Server inventory belonging to a VXLAN prepared cluster (2034808)
• After upgrading to vSphere 5.1 vShield Endpoint stops functioning (2031655)
• Collecting diagnostic information for ESX/ESXi hosts and vCenter Server using the vSphere Web Client http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2032892
• 
  

VCDX Path - for both vSphere versions

Hi,

I was thinking to do this while back but could not get time to do it but today I just put some raw information in a form of Flow chart for both VCDX versions based on vSphere 4 and vSphere 5

This will help people determining and planning for their defenses at either SF or Barcelona.

Please watch this space with updates shortly.

Thanks for your time.