Prerequisites for all vCenter Server databases
- If your database server is not supported by vCenter Server, perform a database upgrade to a supported version or import your database into a supported version. See Supported Database Upgrades.
- Perform a complete backup of the vCenter Server database before you begin the upgrade. To remove the DBO role, you can migrate all objects in the DBO schema to a custom schema. For more information, see Migrate objects from DBO schema to custom schema and add new roles instead of db_owner in MSDB and VCDB (1036331).
- You must have login credentials, the database name, and the database server name that will be used by the vCenter Server database. The database server name is typically the ODBC System database source name (DSN) connection name for the vCenter Server database.
- When you upgrade to vCenter Server 5.5, ensure that the upgraded version supports your database. For a list of the specific database versions supported for the version of vCenter Server that you are upgrading to, see the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix.
Note: vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 uses a PostgreSQL for the embedded database. For external databases, the vCenter Server Appliance supports only Oracle databases, in the same versions shown in the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix for the version of vCenter Server that you are upgrading.
Prerequisites for Microsoft SQL databases
- To use a newly supported Microsoft SQL database, such as Microsoft SQL 2008, you do not need to perform a clean installation of vCenter Server if your existing database is also Microsoft SQL Server. For example, you can upgrade a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and then upgrade vCenter Server 4.0 or higher to vCenter Server 5.5. When you migrate the database from Microsoft SQL Server 2000 to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or higher, set the compatibility level of the database to 90.
- JDK 1.6 must be installed on the vCenter Server machine. In addition, sqljdbc4.jar must be added to the CLASSPATH variable on the machine where vCenter Server is to be upgraded. If it is not installed on your system, the vCenter Server installer installs it. The JDK 1.6 installation might require Internet connectivity.
- Your system DSN must be using the SQL Native Client driver.
- Grant these permissions to the vCenter user in the vCenter Server database: