VMware vCenter upgrade from 6.7 to 7.0

I would like to share my experience about vCenter upgrade from 6.7 to 7.0. I was part of vSphere private bate tests like last couple of vSphere version. In my Lab environment I have upgraded vCenter.

Upgrades or migrations from vSphere 6.0 or earlier releases to vSphere 7.0 are not supported. Upgrades or migrations from vSphere 6.5 or later releases to vSphere 7.0 are supported.

If you have vSphere 6.0 or earlier, you must upgrade to vSphere 6.5 or vSphere 6.7 before upgrading to vSphere 7.0. vCenter Server 7.0 cannot manage ESXi hosts 6.0 or earlier.

Due to the deprecation of vCenter Server for Windows, vSphere 7.0 can only be deployed using the vCenter Server appliance.

You need the ISO file and moint it. Like previous versions browse the installer and run it on your system.

On the Introduction page you can see a yellow warning message which is warn you no external PSC anymore. If you have external PSC you have to convert it embeded first.

For more information please visit site: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/60229

Start Stage 1

Add your existing / source vCenter server IP and port number. It is necessary becose during in the secund stage data will copy to target vCenter. Click connect to source button.

Type login credentials of ESXi host or vCenter server that manages the source appliance then add an ESXi host to target vCenter. Version of ESXi host (where target vCenter will deploy) need to be 6.5 or higher version.

Add the target vCenter server name and root password.

Select deployment size and datastore.

Configure temporary network settings. In stage 2, IP address will be changed automatically. On the target ESXi host have to exist an stanard vSwitch becouse Distributed switch portgroup not supported, installer can’t handle it.

Update1: Dejan have writen to Me that (below in comments) vDSwitch is supported just you need to use it ephemeral type. Thx Dejan! (I didn’t test it.)

Start Stage 2

Check warning messages and fix them if necessary.

In this screen you can choose level of data migration.

During the migration source vCenter will shutdown!!!

…and Done! Click the link and login to fresh new vCenter 7 server.

As you can see picture below, flash disappeared. HTML5 login option only.

Sumary

The whole process was not take more than 1-1,5 hour to me in my home lab. Installer was easy manage and similar like in previous version. Here some advice in bullet point:

If you use external PSC you have to convert it first, check KB article
Your target host have to v. 6.5 or higher
Use stanard vSwitch or vDswitch emphemeral type on the host where you deploy the target vCenter server
Make sure you have an working backup from source vCenter
One point of Stage 2 your source vCenter will shutdown

Posted

2020/03/11

VMware

Tibor Kiss

Tags:

Comments

8 responses to “VMware vCenter upgrade from 6.7 to 7.0”

MatthewB

2020/03/11

Nice write up,
Are you able to do an inplace upgrade once it is public and availible? (either via local ISO mount or via the Update option in vCenter:5480

Reply
1. Tibor Kiss
  
  2020/03/13
  
  Hi MetthewB
  I did’t find other method to upgrade.
  
  Reply
  1. Matthew
    
    2020/03/13
    
    If you log into your vCenter admin URL https://:5480 – you will see the Upgrade option in there, and can choose web / cdrom or both. If you mount the ISO of the appliance to your vCenter it should pickup the ISO and as to upgrade.
    
    https://www.virtualizationhowto.com/2019/07/manually-patch-vmware-vcenter-server-vcsa-with-iso/
  2. Tibor Kiss
    
    2020/03/13
    
    I think this solution concern to patches only? This method of patching is supported in the vSphere 7.0 too.
    VMware distributes the available patches in two forms, one for ISO-based and one for URL-based models of patching.
    – You can download the patch ISO images from https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/patch. VMware publishes a single type of ISO image that contains patches
    – You can configure the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance to use a repository URL as a source of available patches. The appliance is preset with a default VMware repository URL.
Dejan

2020/03/11

Actualy, you should be able to use a Distributed switch portgroup during installation, but it has to be of ephemeral type instead of static or dynamic.

Reply
1. Tibor Kiss
  
  2020/03/13
  
  It is a useful update, thank you Dejan 🙂
  
  Reply
  1. Tibor Kiss
    
    2020/03/13
    
    If you are deploying the appliance directly on an ESXi host, non-ephemeral distributed virtual port groups are not supported and do not appear as options during the upgrade. After the upgrade, you can manually connect the appliance to the original non-ephemeral distributed virtual port group. This process is not a limitation when deploying the appliance through a vCenter Server, and you can deploy to ephemeral or non-ephemeral distributed virtual port groups.
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