Upgrading ESXi 6.7 to 7.0 Advice?

[supra21]

I will be looking to carry out the upgrade of 6.7 to 7.0 over the summer break this year. We have x2 HP DL360 Gen 10 hosts and a MSA2062 SAN. We have vCenter appliance as a VM on one of the hosts. So far as I understand I will need to upgrade vCenter first then the hosts. In terms of the version can I go straight to 7.0U3?

I've never carried out a VMware ESXi upgrade before so just posting on here to get any tips or advice.

 

Thanks.

[Davit2005]

https://interopmatrix.vmware.com/Upgrade?productId=1&isHidePatch=true

 

Depends what update level of 6.7 you are running. Don't forget to check the compatibility or firmware of your hardware either.

 

But yes you are right, upgrade the vcentre and then upgrade the hosts, in your case upgrade the vcentre, upgrade the other host, migrate the vcenter and upgrade the remaining host. Take a backup of vcenter configuration before you start of course.

 

I used to do this quite a bit but changed roles and don't do server side stuff anymore.

Edited March 27, 2023 by Davit2005

[RobD]

Double check its supported first:

https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

 

Then I would download the ISO from HP direct so you ensure you have the correct drivers installed (go u3):

https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/downloads/details?downloadGroup=OEM-ESXI70U3-HPE&productId=974

 

Then download the iso and either mount it from the ilo or physically plug a usb in, boot from it and run through the install process.

 

Hopefully that should be it.

[computer_expert]

Check that your HBA/RAID cards, NICs and any other add in cards are supported on the VMware HCL posted above. Also check BIOS and firmware revisions of the servers and SAN are not too old as well.

 

Make sure you have good backups of vCenter (as @Davit2005 mentions). Due to complications with our VCSA 6.7 to 7 upgrade we had to deploy a new VCSA 7 system which worked out better as it allowed me to cut out years of rubbish and slim down the size of the appliance.

 

Once you have updated VCSA to 7, and the hosts to 7.0U3, make sure you update both the appliance and the hosts so they have the latest security baseline (like the monthly windows patches as a similar comparison). For the ESXi hosts, you can use the Update Manager tab in vCenter to apply the latest ESXi security baseline.

 

Don't upgrade the VMware Virtual machine hardware version until you are absolutely certain that all your esx hosts are running the same version (and that you won't be downgrading to an earlier release of ESXi)

[CHiLL]

I did this recently on our DL360 Gen9 hosts and MSA2040 SAN. I downloaded the HP VMware 7.0U3 image from HP's website and uploaded it directly to our ISO folder on the 2040. I was able then to add that ISO into our vSphere environment and created an update baseline for it. After that, I updated vCenter using it's built in updater, which put it on the latest version. Once vCenter was back, I migrated all the VMs from the first host to the second host (so they were still running - they're compute only, since the actual VM files live on the MSA and not the host) and put the first host into maintenance mode. Once in maintenance mode, I was able to apply the update baseline that I created with 7.0U3. Once the update completed and the server had rebooted, I verified that the server was as expected, took it out of maintenance mode and migrated the VMs back. Once I was happy with the situation, I repeated the process with the second host.

[EagleEye99]

Before upgrading to ESXi 7.0, you should make sure that your hardware is compatible with the new version. You can check the VMware Compatibility Guide to see if your server hardware is listed as supported for ESXi 7.0. You should also check the compatibility of any third-party software that you may be using with ESXi 7.0.To upgrade vCenter, you should follow the VMware documentation for upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance. You will need to download the upgrade ISO file from the VMware website and mount it to the vCenter Server Appliance. From there, you can follow the upgrade wizard to upgrade vCenter.Once you have upgraded vCenter, you can then upgrade your ESXi hosts. It's recommended that you use VMware Update Manager (VUM) to perform the upgrade. You can create an upgrade baseline in VUM and apply it to your hosts. The upgrade process will involve putting your hosts into maintenance mode and rebooting them.In terms of the version, you can go straight to ESXi 7.0U3 from 6.7. However, you should always check the release notes for the version you are upgrading to and make sure you follow any specific upgrade instructions.Here are some additional tips for upgrading ESXi:* Take a backup of your vCenter and ESXi hosts before starting the upgrade process.* Make sure you have enough free space on your ESXi hosts to accommodate the new version.* Check that your network and storage settings are configured correctly before starting the upgrade.* Check for any known issues or compatibility problems that may affect your upgrade.* Consider upgrading any VMware tools installed on your virtual machines after upgrading ESXi.

Overall, it's important to plan the upgrade carefully and thoroughly test the new version before putting it into production. You might find solutions here.

[supra21]

Great information, thanks to all that replied. The bios version of the hosts are pretty old and I need to update iLO5 for both as well. Will look to do that at some point prior to upgrade. We use Veeam as our backup solution, which I will be upgrading to v12 over the Easter break.