Upgrading from 6.5 to the latest version with old hpe servers

[ccoque]

Hello.

We have 2 separate VMware installations in the company:

An ESXi Standalone server running ESXi 6.5 (HPE custom ISO) on an HPE Proliant DL360p Gen 8

And vCenter Essentials manages 3 HPE servers from the same generation running ESXi 6.5 (HPE custom ISO) as well.

We have that segregation because of licensing purposes.

My question applies to all servers because the restriction is the same for all.

I'd like to upgrade all servers to run them in 7.5 version, but if I go HPE website to download custom ISO's I notice that they don't have custom ISO's for that version.

The latest they have is the one I'm currently using.

My question is if it would work if I use the regular version of ESXi downloaded from VMware to upgrade the servers.

I'm afraid of trying that and getting stuck with an error and having to reinstall everything from scratch.

If I'd start with one of the servers, just for "testing", that would be the standalone server because it's the less critical one.

Thanks,

Carlos

[scott28tt]

There is no 7.5, there is 7.0 or 8.0.

https://www.hpe.com/us/en/servers/hpe-esxi.html

[ccoque]

Oh, thanks for the correction @scott28tt.

What happens is that when I check that table, it shows no custom ISO for the model of the server I'm using.

Does that mean I can't install a version higher than those 6.5 ones?

Or it's just that HPE doesn't have a custom image from a higher version for that server model?

Let's say it's you said no and yes to the questions above, how risky it is to install a generic ISO to an HPE server and it doesn't work and I end up getting stuck with a server needing to be fully installed on the version that was working before?

Thanks,

Carlos

[e_espinel]

Hello.
The vmware compatibility matrix indicates that the ProLiant DL360p Gen8 server only supports (or is tested) up to version 6.5 U3.
You should consider if you have a current support contract with VMware when installing an unsupported or untested version (6.7 or 7.0 or 8.0) VMware may not support or may be limited by being on unsupported hardware.

Some customers are able to install unsupported versions on their servers but this depends on the usage and the internal devices of each server.
For your information I attach a link:
https://www.stephenwagner.com/2022/09/04/esxi-7-0-hp-hpe-proliant-dl360p-gen8/

Another factor will be the licenses, if you have your subscription contract and active support you could upgrade your 6 licenses to 7 licenses.

[ccoque]

Hi @e_espinel. thanks for the info.

So, it's basically better to stick with the highest supported version and keep that up-to-date in terms of patches.

For my Center scenario, I'm running Center 6.7 and that is managing 3 servers: one running at 6.5 and the other two at 6.0.

The one running at version 6.5 can go up to version 8.

The other 2, though, are running at version 6.0 but just go up to 6.5 U3.

Do you see any problem if I first upgrade Center from 6.7 to 8, then upgrade the one running at 6.5 to 8 and the other 2 running on 6.0 to 6.5 U3?

Doing that would create an environment with different versions or ESXi running on hosts, do you see any issues with that?

Thanks,

Carlos

[a_p_]

That won't unfortunately work.

vCenter usually supports ESXi hosts with the same, and the last two versions.

Please see the Interoperability Guide for details.

André

[ccoque]

Thanks for the great info @a_p_!

According to the table in the Interoperability Guide, Vcenter 7.0 U3 can manage ESXi from 6.5.0 to 7.0 U3.

That way, I think if I do the upgrades according to the sequence below, it should be fine, correct?

1 - VMware#01 - Managed by Vcenter and running ESXi 6.0.0 (upgrade to 6.5 U3)

2 - VMware#02 - Managed by Vcenter and running ESXi 6.0.0 (upgrade to 6.5 U3)

3 - Vcenter running 6.7 (upgrade to 7.0 U3)

4 - VMware#03 - Managed by Vcenter and running ESXi 6.5.0 (upgrade to 7.0 U3)

Any comments or suggestions?

Thanks,

Carlos

[a_p_]

Although I have to admit that I'm a little bit confused about the hosts you have, and the ESXi versions you are currently running (from your first post I understood, they are all HPE DL380p Gen8 hosts with ESXi 6.5), the steps that you mentioned are in the correct order.

Upgrading your "VMware#03" is certainly possible, but if all the other hosts share the same version, I'd likely run the would cluster with the same ESXi versions to avoid any possible confusion with e.g. virtual hardware versions.

André