Mastering vSphere 7: A Guide to Upgrading ESXi 6.7 to 7 Update 3

[@jigim8472]

Hi Tech, thanks for sharing upogrades procedure. I appreciate your help. you would have mentioned the below two important commands. vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/sync_config vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/backup_config

[@supriyochatterjee4095]

Amazing information, waiting for more frequent videos related to latest scenarios for Windows Server troubleshooting and administration, VMWARE ADMINISTRATION, Citrix Administration, SDWAN etc etc

[@sysadmintutorials]

Thank you Supriyo

[@zebmaxwell7979]

Just upgraded our 2 production machines, really appreciate the video!

[@sysadmintutorials]

Well done on the upgrade. I'm working on some vSphere 8 videos and I'll be including and upgrade guide from 7 to 8 as well.

[@leonelsalah8950]

awesome, very detail and funny. it helps many people get out of confusion when searching by Google. Tks!

[@sysadmintutorials]

Thank you for your kind words, and I'm happy you easily found my video in Google :)

[@kevinkirk529]

Amazing content. Extremely clear

[@sysadmintutorials]

Thanks Kevin for stopping by, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@bridgetnee4870]

Thanks for the tutorial, I need to do this at work and it was very helpful.

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Bridget, you're welcome, glad I was able to help you out :)

[@kevinkirk529]

I need to do this for work as well, did you encounter any problems? Im going from 6.7->7

[@harisingh1983]

1 Ans . lie cycle manager 2.Baseline 3. offline bundle iso image 4.Via ssh putty run the command to upgrade

[@nobamaeveragain2012]

Thank you for this great video!

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi nobamaeveragain2012, you're most welcome :)

[@munirajrr]

Thanks for your Video Bro

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi MunirajRR, you're welcome :)

[@jmuld]

Have you a video in the event you need to change from SD to SSD and apply host profile. - Thought on following: little messy on the phone - Offline upgrade of the esxi host using a custom lenovo iso and choosing the required ssd boot device and then build a new hypervisor on that ssd onces its up apply the host profile (4 out 5 are licensed) from vc or apply config backup (post a sd upgrade to 7) license issue with one of thr vcs no host profiles the rest all good, any known issues or advice . Only issue is that the original sd image 6.7 and need to go to 7.x

[@techexpert3710]

Thank you so much for posting the video. Your lecture was very clear and simple, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Most importantly, it must be understandable. I sincerely appreciate you and the time you took to assist me in my search for knowledge and experience. Looking for more interesting videos from you

[@sysadmintutorials]

Thank you so much TechExpert, really appreciate it :)

[@euphoricjunkie190]

Awesome video, I plan to upgrade my own soon. Do you know whether this works with same with Custom ISO's from the VMware website ( installed using their Dell Custom ISO but only running ESXi and not vCenter? Also do you know whether you can boot with the custom ISO and just upgrade it like that? Thank you.

[@zackliao4443]

hi The esxcli software vib update and esxcli software vib install commands are not supported for upgrade operations. See Upgrade or Update a Host with Image Profiles. I saw this message on the official website, but why is your method effective?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Zack, are you using a custom esxi image as opposed to the standard one ? i.e. are you use Dell customer image or another vendor ?

[@zackliao4443]

Hi @@sysadmintutorials Yes, the HP server is being upgraded recently, but is it related to this?

[@sysadmintutorials]

You have some options here, either remove the vib files using esxcli, they will prevent you from upgrading anyway, use the vsphere 7 HP custom ISO and try a direct upgrade on the host (I haven't tried with HP so not sure if this will resolve it), or lastly download vsphere 7 HP custom ISO and rebuilt the esxi host.

[@GabrielMontenegro-k5n]

Is this the same as the Update Manager > ESXi Images > Import > Enter Filename or URL of Image? We have VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Essentials Edit: I wish you would tell your viewers that the Update Manager is for version below 7.0, where as Lifecycle Manager was introduced in 7.0 replacing the Update Manager. Less confusion that way.

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Gabriel, this is great feedback thank you. Yes you are correct update manager was below vSphere 7 and Lifecycle manager is from vSphere 7 and above.

[@jorgerojas498]

muchas gracias, saludos desde Chile

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hola Jorge, thank you for your nice comment. I'm glad my content was able to help you. Have a Merry Christmas :)

[@kafkakos3618]

Great video, just about to do this, what is the offline bundle? I'm installing on a disconnected network so not internet connected directly.

[@sysadmintutorials]

Thank you, offline bundle you can download from vmware.com, once you have the image you can transfer it across to your other network with usb

[@chanchairattanawijit5058]

Thank you for your video it very good

[@sysadmintutorials]

Thanks for the feedback, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@divipruthvi8775]

Hi , Thanks for this informative video.... can you help clarify the difference between commands stated below and which one to use while upgrading from 6.7 to 7.x esxcli software vib update -d /vmfs/volumes\datastore/zip esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/DATASTORE/ZIP -p Image_Profile -f Also, I would like to use HPE Customized ESXi Image instead of VMware ESXi image... Please help clarifyif we need to install both ESXi bundle and Addon bundle provided by HPE

[@ramkey55www]

Thank u very much well explained

[@sysadmintutorials]

Thank you for the great feedback :)

[@Mj-nc3ub]

You are good. Very nice video.

[@sysadmintutorials]

Thank you for the nice comment :)

[@randomvideochannel5279]

Answers Baseline Life cycle manager CLI and update manager

[@berk4734]

Here we created a baseline from an .iso file. Is it possible to create baseline from an image ?

[@AlejandroHernandezBeltran]

Hello, please, can you tell me what recommendations should be kept in mind when upgrading ESX from 6.7 to version 7, when I have vSAN configured? That is, it is transparent and it automatically upgrades vSAN when the upgrade is done. of the ESX or what other recommendations, processes should be kept in mind for the correct upgrade?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Alejandro, have you performed the upgrade validations on your VSAN ? If you go to cluster - configure - vsan - disk management - pre-check upgrade I'm assuming all your ESXi hosts are on the same 6.7 version and build number ?

[@sriramgce1985]

Can it upgraded from bootable cd during start process from console? if so please post one video on that method. Thanks!

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Sriram, not for 6.7 to 7 update 3 due to some issues.

[@sriramgce1985]

@@sysadmintutorials ok thanks

[@MarcusFixMyPhone]

Thank you 🙏

[@sysadmintutorials]

You're welcome Marcus :)

[@fefmi8229]

Did I miss a step? when you updated the "build" number of the vc8esxi3 host, where does it look for the binaries? Are the iso and baseline still necessary? - thanks for your videos!

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Fe, can you give me a timecode in the video that you are referring to please ?

[@markvigil4284]

Hi, Great video. When you bring the host out of maintenance mode after the upgrade is complete, will vCenter automatically move the VMs back to the 7.0 host? Is there any issue migrating the VMs that were moved from the 6.7 host back into the 7.0 host? Thanks!

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Mark, if you have DRS enabled on the cluster it will. Should not be any issues moving 6.7 vm's to 7 due to vm hardware level being less than 7

[@markvigil4284]

@@sysadmintutorials Thanks!

[@semutreza]

thank you, you so kind

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Semut, you're welcome

[@nxu5107]

Hi, Thanks for this. Don't you have to upgrade the Vcentre server first of all? And the Vsphere GUI you have on the video is 7.0? I am told that Lifecycle manager is only available in Esxi 7.0 onwards?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi nx u, yes that's correct, upgrade vcenter first. Do you have a time reference that you are referring to in the video please ?

[@nxu5107]

@@sysadmintutorials thanks for your response in the first place. Almost at the start, you refer to Lifecycle manager. So I looked up on our 6.xx system and only found Update manager! So I looked it up (google - what else?) and read the Lifecycle Manager was introduced in version 7.00. Now you can correct this if that’s wrong. So your demo system is already on version 7.00 even though your demo is about an upgrade to version 7.00?

[@sirusvirtus5885]

But, why you will not use wmware update manager?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Sirus, update manager is now Lifecycle Manager within vCenter 7

[@sirusvirtus5885]

@@sysadmintutorials Thanks for informing me

[@ZoneVang]

What happens if my other esxi host can't host the rest of the VMs? I'm not able to put host 1 into maintenance mode now.

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi ZoneVang, if that is the case you will need to shutdown some of your vm's until you have enough resources to place the host in maintenance mode.

[@AB-bn3yx]

Thank you for the Video. I have 5 VMware Esxi 6.5 under vCenter 6.7. The Cluster has 90 VMs. Is it possible to upgrade the Esxi to 7 online without downtime?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi AB, you're welcome.Are the 5 hosts in a cluster with HA and DRS ? If so I would upgrade esxi to 6.7 update 3 first, then upgrade your vcenter to 7, then the esxi hosts to 7 Check this link for compatibility between versions: interopmatrix.vmware.com/Interoperability Also note that ESXi 6.5 is out of general support and check that your hardware supports ESXi 7 before upgrading

[@fabianstm8799]

Thank you thank you!

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Fabian, thanks for the kind words, you're welcome

[@RomanyBibawy]

Should I turn off all virtual machines on the host before entering Maintenance Mode?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi RomanyBibawy, no you don't need to, that's the beauty of DRS it can move your vm's live without any downtime :)

[@monmyataung3322]

I have some errors when check compliance show information incompatible

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi, can you list the incompatible info please ?

[@elpatofelizdeayer]

Hello , I have a question, after updating, everything worked fine, the next day I was surprised by this message: "please unlock disk dm crypt-0", at no time did I encrypt it, I use the root password and it does not enter

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Misael, where did you see that message exactly, on a Ubuntu or similar VM ?

[@Jmotorev]

I tried these steps But I am getting an error [DependencyError] how do I bypass these errors?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi there, at what point or stage of the upgrade do you get the error ?

[@bonjoevialimin5014]

I have a question: do i need a new license for version 7 if I upgrade from 6.5?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Bonjoevi, yes you will need to convert your licenses in the myvmware.com portal (Customer Connect)

[@balsakralj]

How many VMs you got on your ESXi host. I have 80-90VMs by host. Is it safe to put host in Maintance mode before you migrate VMs manualy to other hosts?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Balsha, in my lab about 15 per host. The more vm's you add the higher the cpu contention. Just keep an eye on the CPU Ready % counter and try not to let that metric go over 5%. If you have your hosts in a cluster and DRS is turned on, the vm's will migrate by them selves to other hosts. If you don't have DRS turned on you'll need to vmotion them manually. DRS is turned on within the cluster settings.

[@balsakralj]

@@sysadmintutorials thanks for your answer. Its a production enviorment with 3 Esxi host in a cluster and DRS is turned ON. I know that machines wil automaticaly start to move on other hosts, but is it safe to do it that way? Those are high load VMs (Splunk,SQL,Sharepoint,Exchange servers) I have never had balls to test it 😄

[@sysadmintutorials]

The main thing to take into consideration is if you put 1 host in maintenance mode, the other 2 hosts will take on all the vcpu's and ram from that first host. If there is too much contention on the cpu you will see performance degradation, same for RAM if it starts paging to disk you will see bad performance.

[@abdulrehmanabid2245]

Is it possible to update from 6.7 to 8.0 directly? also if 6.7 licence is convertible to 8.0?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Abdul, yes you can from 6.7 to 8. However read the release notes carefully as well as the upgrade documentation specifically from 6.7 to 8 from VMware - docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/8.0/vsphere-vcenter-upgrade/GUID-572E74CE-3FB8-4E67-8C95-470D0B49A27A.html You will need to upgrade your licenses to 8 in the VMware portal

[@mickiolin]

stuck at 11% and returns with "Cannot deploy host upgrade" :(

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Micki, can you send me the whole error please ? By any chance is it "Cannot deploy host upgrade agent. Ensure that vSphere Lifecycle Manager is officially signed" ?

[@BryanKeller724]

what if some hosts in my cluster are set up for HA?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Brian you mean within a cluster with vSphere HA ? If so that's fine, just need to work your way through 1 host at a time. Migrate the vm's off the host automatically if you have DRS enabled on the cluster in Auto mode, or you can manually vmotion the vm's off. Once the host is in maintenance mode you can begin your upgrade.

[@BryanKeller724]

@@sysadmintutorials you don’t have to disable the HA?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Bryan, no don't need to disable HA, leave HA and DRS enabled. The host you wish to upgrade, right click on it and select enter maintenance mode. DRS will move the vm's off that host

[@joyalkumar2674]

Lifecycle manager

[@jmcguire56]

If I'm still running ESXi 6.5 are the upgrade steps the same?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Jim, thanks for your commend and subscribing :) Looking at the upgrade path you need to be on 6.5 update 2 as a minimum, update 3 is better. Then you can upgrade to esxi 7. Here's the link to the upgrade path compatibility: interopmatrix.vmware.com/Upgrade?productId=1&isHidePatch=true

[@jmcguire56]

@@sysadmintutorials Thank you. I'm still on 6.5 GA so I have to go to 6.7 first then 7.

[@sysadmintutorials]

or you can go 6.5 update 3 then esxi 7

[@jmcguire56]

@@sysadmintutorials I ended up going from 6.5 to 6.7 then to 7.0U3 custom ISO image for Dell. All 4 hosts, 2 to a cluster, upgraded with just one glitch due to an out of date BIOS on one of the servers. Thanks for all your information. It made things go very smoothly overall.

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Jim, that's great news well done.

[@tejaswadekar]

will it change boot partition layout after upgrade ?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Tejas, system boot is changed well as boot-bank 0 and boot-bank 1, then there is introduction of the ESX-OS Data (broken up into ROM data and RAM data). During the upgrade your custom vibs are brought across. Have a look at this VMware page for comparison from esx 6.7 to 7 partition layout - docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.esxi.upgrade.doc/GUID-474D003B-C6FB-465D-BC1B-5FD30F8E2209.html

[@tejaswadekar]

@@sysadmintutorials I have a case where boot partition remained sane after upgrade to 7 , is that normal in case inline upgrade unlike fresh installed 7 ?

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Tejas, no I don't believe so. When I perform an upgrade I see the following: ESXI HOST - before upgrade (6.7) 1 x VMFS-6 and 4 vfat partitions - after upgrade (7.0) 1 x VMFS-6, 1 x VMFS-L, 2 x vfat (BOOTBANK1 and BOOTBANK2) The VMFS-6 partition stays the same pre and post upgrade

[@liamprincetech]

Ping monitoring a host updating... whew! We use iDRAC.

[@sysadmintutorials]

iDRAC is a great option to if you wish to see the whole update process on console.

[@kerenbenayoun2394]

Thanks

[@sysadmintutorials]

Hi Karen, you're welcome :)

[@tlourey]

Funny funny man.

[@sushilpatel6579]

Lifecycle mamanger Baseline

[@chimmajhulewala9522]

Thanks