Rule – We can not have any downtime on the ESXi hosts or guest VM’s.
Source –
Windows 2012 VM running vCenter 5.5
Cluster of ESXi 5.5 hosts with 4 VMNIC’s.
The management and vmotion VMkernel adapters are connected to their own separate Distributed switch (vDS). No standard vswitches (vSS)
Destination–
Fresh install of VCSA 6.0
- Validate the ESXi root password. (enabled ssh and putty in)
- Validate console access (iDRAC, HP iLo)
- Backup the clusters HA and DRS settings/rules/overrides. Same with SDRS if used. (screen caps or find a powerCLI script)
- Record the management and vmotion VMkernel adapters VLAN # & uplink#:VMNIC# vDS pairing. Ex. VMNIC3 uses uplink 2 for the Backup vDS.
- Record the guest VM’s port groups (RVTools)
- Have https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2032908handy in case you fat finger a VLAN during the management VMK adapter migration to the vSS.
Disable the ESXi hosts Alarms so no emails/SNMP traps are sent to the monitoring team (ex. NOC)
On each ESXi host, remove 1 VMNIC from each vDS
On each ESXi host, create a new vSS using the 2 unused VMNIC’s.
Migrate the management and vmotion VMkernel adapters to the vSS using the correct VLAN #.
Create VM port groups on the vSS. Make sure to enter the correct VLAN #!!
Migrate the guest VM’s to the vSS.
Remove the ESXi hosts from both vDS’s
Export both vDS configs
Remove both ESXi hosts objects from the 5.5 vCenter inventory. Since the hosts can not be placed into maintenance mode, you have to Disconnect and then Remove them.
Import both vDS configs into the 6.0 VCSA.
Do NOT check preserve.
Create a datacenter and cluster object in the 6.0 VCSA.
Add the ESXi hosts to the 6.0 cluster
Add the ESXi hosts to both vDS’s
Migrate the management and vmotion VMkernel adapters from the vSS to the vDS (validating the correct VLAN #).
Run vmkping on each host to validate the vmotion VMkernel IP address/hostname.
vmkping -I vmk1 other_esxi_FQDN
Migrate the VM’s NIC (s) port group from the vSS to vDS’s. Run a ping -t before you start to the VM’s.
Remove vSS from each ESXi host. No VM’s or VMK should be listed on the left hand side.
Add VMNIC’s that were removed from the vSS to each vDS.
Edit the cluster’s HA and DRS settings/rules/overrides to restore what was there in the 5.5 VC. Create a storage cluster if you had one. (yes, i am sure there are powercli scripts to do this)