Technical white paper Upgrading to Dell EMC vSphere and vSAN version 7.0 This technical white paper detail about some of the guidelines Dell EMC provides prior to upgrade to vSphere 7.0 from the previous branches of vSphere and vSAN versions. Abstract This paper detail on the relevant prerequisites the customers should be aware of prior to upgrade to vSphere and vSAN 7.0.
Revisions Revisions Date Description June 2020 Initial release Acknowledgements This paper was produced by the following: Author: DhanaSrihari Kouru, Thiru Navukkarasu, Krishnaprasad K, Hypervisor team Support: Ramya D R, Sherry Keller, IDD team The information in this publication is provided “as is.” Dell Inc.
Table of contents Table of contents Revisions.............................................................................................................................................................................2 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................................................2 Table of contents .................................................................................................
Executive summary Executive summary This guide elaborates the prerequisites to consider before migrating from Dell EMC customized versions of VMware ESXi 5.x or 6.x branches to version 7.0. 4 Upgrading to Dell EMC vSphere and vSAN version 7.
Introduction 1 Introduction This document elaborates the guidelines for the users who plan to upgrade from earlier versions of vSphere and vSAN to 7.0 for Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers. The objective of this document is to take you through the prerequisites, steps to be executed prior invoking upgrade 7.0. The intent of this document is to avoid the obvious problems of an upgrade procedure by improving user awareness of known issues and facilitating better planning by VMware administrators. 1.
Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios 2 Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios This section describes the scenarios the following common upgrade scenarios: • • • • • • • Upgrading from Dell EMC customized revisions of 5.x Upgrading from Dell EMC Customized revisions of 6.0.x Upgrading from Dell EMC Customized revisions of 6.5.x Upgrading from Dell EMC Customized revisions of 6.7.x Upgrading from VMware native 6.
Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios 1. Upgrade to the latest Dell EMC customized version of 6.7.x. For information on Dell EMC customized 6.7.x image, see VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7.x on Dell EMC PowerEdge Systems Image Customization Information details. 2. Follow the Upgrade from Dell EMC Customized revisions of 6.7.x section below to proceed further. Note: If you use Dell EMC customized 7.0 A01 image ,the errors mentioned in section 2.3 and 2.4 will not be encountered.
Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios Below is an example screenshot of the upgrade failure when you attempt to upgrade Dell EMC customized 6.5.x image to 7.0 using VMware Update Manager (VUM). Upgrade failure from 6.5.x to 7.0 using VUM Below is an example screenshot of the upgrade failure when one attempt to upgrade from a Dell EMC customized 6.5.x image to 7.0 using esxcli profile update. Upgrade failure from 6.5.x to 7.
Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios 2.4 Issues encountered when upgrading from Dell EMC customized versions of 6.7.x to version 7.0 This section describes on the errors you might observe when you attempt to upgrade Dell EMC customized vSphere 6.7.x to 7.0. The following driver packages fail when you attempt to upgrade from a Dell EMC customized 6.7.x to 7.0: • • • • qedf qfle3f sfvmk qedi Below is an example screenshot of the upgrade failure when one attempt to upgrade Dell EMC customized 6.7.
Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios Upgrade failure from 6.7.x to 7.0 using VUM Below is an example screenshot of the upgrade failure when one attempt to upgrade from a Dell EMC customized 6.7.x image to 7.0 using esxcli profile update. Upgrade failure from 6.7.x to 7.0 using esxcli Note: In the above all three cases, the failure errors or symptoms are same, it is just that the three different interpretation of the failures using three different methods. 2.4.
Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios 2.5 Upgrading from VMware native 6.x with async drivers installed manually The failed driver scenarios described in the previous sections are not Dell EMC specific as it can be observed for the users who use VMware ESXi native images as well provided, they use async drivers from VMware. Similar errors observed in the above sections are applicable in this case as well. 2.
Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios 2.7 Issues encountered while upgrading to 7.0 using VMware Update Manager (VUM) Upgrading from Dell EMC customized ESXi 6.5.x host to Dell EMC customized ESXi 7.0 A01 using VUM might fail when one of the below Converged Network Card is present in the system with FCoE or iSCSI enabled.
Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios Upgrade error when the standalone utility packages are installed 2.9 Upgrading to Dell EMC customized ESXi 7.0 from VMware native ESXi 7.0 using Dell EMC add-ons A VMware add-on is a collection of components that is not a bootable image on its own, but instead a collection of independent components that can be applied to a base-bootable ESXi image. Components are enhanced bulletins that include new metadata fields for the VIBs incorporated.
Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios Release Type: addon docURL: https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/productsupport/product/vmware-esxi-7.x/docs Components: dell-configuration-component 7.0.0-A00, dellemc-osname-idraccomponent 7.0.0-A00 Removed Component Names: :~] 2.10 Upgrading hosts that have third-party custom VIBs A host can have custom vSphere installation bundles (VIBs) installed. For example, VIBs can be a third-party drivers or management agents.
ESXi host upgrade methods 3 ESXi host upgrade methods VMware provides several ways to upgrade ESXi version 6.5.x and version 6.7.x hosts to ESXi 7.0. 3.1 ISO-based upgrade (manual and automated) There are multiple ways to upgrade your ESXi clusters using an ISO-based upgrade method. Dell EMC provides iDRAC vMedia options to connect an ISO image. You can then boot from it and upgrade manually by following on-screen options.
ESXi host upgrade methods 4. The ESXi 7.0 ISO image will be uploaded and added to the vSphere Update Manager. 5. After uploading the file, select the image, and click New Baseline. The baseline is the actual upgrade template you apply to your ESXi host. 6. When Create Baseline wizard launches, enter a name for the ESXi 7.0 upgrade baseline. Click Next. 7. The image will already be selected. Click Next. 8. After the baseline has been created, attach the baseline to the ESXi 6.5X or 6.
ESXi host upgrade methods • • 3.5 The management VIBs are migrated properly. In this case none of the 6.x based management packages are supported on 7.0 The VMs are powered on after successful upgradation. vSAN Upgrade VMware and Dell EMC support upgrading to vSAN 7.0 from previous branches of vSAN revisions. Follow the steps documented at Upgrading the vSAN Cluster for a successful upgrade. 17 Upgrading to Dell EMC vSphere and vSAN version 7.
Conclusion 4 Conclusion This upgrade guide briefs about the specific prerequisites to be followed for users who want to upgrade from earlier versions of ESXi. This whitepaper provides details about specific upgrade scenarios, the support stances of software packages supported on ESXi 7.0. This paper also provides specific solutions and recommendations to the user with the right and supported steps that must be followed prior to vSphere and vSAN during upgrade use cases.
References 5 References Upgrading ESXi hosts Dell EMC VMware ESXi 7.x documentation OMSA 9.4.0 and earlier versions are unsupported and will not allow install or upgrade to VMware ESXi 7.0 Dell EMC iDRAC Service Module (iSM) supported version for ESXi 7.0 vSphere 7 Upgrade Best Practices - Dell Knowledge Base article 78205 vmkapi Dependency error while Installing/upgrading to ESXi 7.0 – Dell Knowledge Base article 78389 Important information before upgrading to vSphere 7.