Upgrading to ESX 4.0 from ESX 3.5

[Isurfer]

Im in the process of getting ready to upgrade 4 esx hosts from 3.5 to esx 4.0. I have upgraded Virtual Center and will be using update manager to Upgrade my esx hosts. My question is all of my esx hosts are configured to boot from SAN. Do I have to do any additional steps to support this configuration during the upgrade?

[jbruelasdgo · Accepted solution]

just make sure that the hardware is inside the requirements for ESX 4 (see this doc: )

other that that, there is no special requirements

Jose B Ruelas

http://aservir.wordpress.com

[AndreTheGiant]

Do I have to do any additional steps to support this configuration during the upgrade?

Remember to put your COS vmdk on the private LUN of each ESX.

After ESX upgrade, remember to upgrade first VMware Tools and then (if you needed) the virtual hardware.

Andre

[Isurfer]

The private Lun that ESX points to for booting does not have enough space to store the COS vmdk. Is it okay to place the COS on a shared LUN that other ESX servers can see?

[AndreTheGiant]

Is it okay to place the COS on a shared LUN that other ESX servers can see?

Check the installation guide.

As I remember is not recomended (or not supported).

But it works, cause each COS has a unique id.

Andre

[Isurfer]

Hi Andre,

I spoke with VMware yesterday and yes you are correct its not supported but does work. According to the vmware rep it shouldnt casue any issues unless you have multiple admins directly accessing the service console at the same time. Vmware really had a tough time giving me an explanation of why its not supported and I went through multiple engineers to sort of get an answer.

Chad