I need to upgrade our current VMware ESX 3.5 cluster to the ESXi 5.1. To sum up the migration, we will be using all new hardware for vsphere 5.1, ESXi 5.1, and new iSCSI SAN.
Current/existing cluster environment (about 44 vms) is as follows - (1) vcenter(version 2.5) and (3) ESX 3.5 dell servers for a total of 4 servers, Fibre Channel EMC CX 300 storage. We’ve gone ahead and bought 4 brand new Dell servers and iSCSI storage, Dell Compellent SAN to replace the current environment. The only difference is that the NEW strorage for the 5.1 cluster will not be fibre channel, but will be iSCSI instead.
I’ve read some post regarding similar upgrades which I’ve summarized, but I’m a little unsure of how to proceed especially on the storage side, (FC-current cluster and iSCSI for new cluster).
1. Install Vcenter 5 on the new vcenter server/hardware
A) Disconnect all ESX 3.5 nodes from vcenter 2.5 and connect it the new Vsphere 5 and configure cluster
B) Connect all the new ESXi 5.1 nodes to the new vsphere 5 so the new Vsphere 5 cluster will contain all the new and old ESX 3.5/ESXi 5.1 servers
---This is where I’m confused. My plan is to have the new 5.1 Vsphere cluster manage both the ESX 3.5 and ESXi 5.1 hosts so I can vmotion the Vm’s from the old ESX 3.5 to the new ESXi 5.1. Do I add the new ESXi 5.1 or ESX 3.5 nodes to the new 5.1 cluster first or does it matter which node I add first? Also, would the new ESXi 5.1 hosts need to have access to the FC storage that the old ESX 3.5 has access to? In other words, both the new and old ESX/ESXi hosts would need to have visibility to the FC SAN to be able to vmotion, right? I’m not even sure if I can add both ESX 3.5 and ESXi 5.1 to the new cluster if not all the hosts has access to the old FC storage???
2. Move virtual machines from ESX 3.5 into ESXi 5 nodes using vmotion
3. Schedule downtime for virtual machines and upgrade the virtual hardware (use snapshot before you upgrade incase upgrade goes bad)
4. Use storage vmotion to move the vm datastores to the new iSCSI SAN
Present the new iSCSI luns to the new cluster and do a storage vmotion to move vm storage from the FC SAN to the iSCSI SAN.
thanks for any advice in advance,