Importance of VMTools upgrade after migrating guests from ESX4 to ESXi5 hosts?

[greenpride32]

After migrating guests from an ESX4 host to ESXi5 how critical is it to upgrade the VMTools?  Can this be rolled out over weeks/months/years?  Is it something that should be planned in the next service window?   What the most common types of problems encounted with outdated VMTools on ESXi5?

[Troy_Clavell]

it is not critical, but the lastest VMware Tools provide the latest drivers for your guests.  However, it is common practice to upgrade guest tools over time.  As long as you are running a supported version, and vSphere4 tools are supported on vSphere5 guests, you should be ok.

[jeff9565]

As Troy mentioned, it is recommended but not necessary.  If you ever need to upgrade the Virtual Hardware to a virtual machine (for whatever reason) you will need to have the latest VMware tools on your VM.

If you have regular maintenance windows, schedule time to get the tools upgraded then.  You can use VMware Update manager to schedule the upgrades as well.

Jeff

[zXi_Gamer]

What the most common types of problems encounted with outdated VMTools on ESXi5?

- Well, you might as well not configure HA or VM monitoring..