I currently have an ESXi 4.1 (FREE VERSION) environment that was installed many years ago by a contractor. It has 4 VM's running on 1 server, local storage. There is no vCenter Server. I have 2 new blades with ESXi 5.5 installed that I want to migrate this existing environment to. I have access to a NAS for this project. I have a partial understanding of what I want/need to do but I have some specific questions in regards to the actual steps I need to take and in the proper order. My thought process is:
Replace current licensing with paid licensing with vCenter (Can I do this without affecting production VM's?)
Introduce NAS as shared storage
Install vCenter and whatever other prerequisites are needed for VDR
Install VDR, start a backup routine and test restore functionality
Migrate VM's to NAS
Now that I have 4.1 VM's on shared storage, what is the process for upgrading them to be compatible with my 5.5 environment?
I know there are many steps missing so I'm focusing mainly on the first steps to get this project rolling...
Thanks in advance for any advice...