White Papers

Upgrading prerequisites and scenarios
6 Upgrading to Dell EMC vSphere and vSAN version 7.0 | Technical white paper | 395
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.x with async drivers installed manually
• Upgrading from Dell EMC customized revisions installed with systems management components
• Upgrading hosts with third-party custom VIBs.
The following lists the specific issues encountered during the upgradation:
• When you attempt to upgrade to Dell EMC customized ESXi 7.0 A00 image, the 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6
sections are applicable. The Dell customized ESXi 7.0 A01 image resolve the issues mentioned in
2.3, 2.4, and 2.5 sections.
• However, due to other outstanding issues, Dell EMC do not recommend using A01 image for
customers who intend to upgrade from previous versions of ESXi. This is due to a known issue
mentioned in section 2.7.
• There are workarounds to unblock upgrade if you want to use A00 or A01 image for upgrade. Refer to
the respective sections below.
• Dell EMC strongly recommend customers to use Dell customized ESXi version A02 for upgrades.
Note: The A00 or A01 image can be used as a new install and the limitations mentioned in the below sections
are specific to upgrade.
2.1 Upgrading from Dell EMC customized versions of 5.x
VMware and Dell EMC do not support direct upgrade of vSphere 5.x version to 7.0. Upgrade in stages from
5.x to 6.x and then to 7.0.
For information on which path to follow, see VMware vSphere upgrade path before upgrading to vSphere 7.0.
Also note that support for vSphere 5.5 is no longer supported. See VMware Knowledge Base article 51491.
To upgrade Dell EMC customized vSphere 5.x to vSphere 7.0:
1. Upgrade to latest Dell EMC customized version of the 6.5.x image. For information on Dell EMC
customized 6.5.x image, VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5.x on Dell EMC PowerEdge Systems Image
Customization Information details.
2. Follow the Upgrade from Dell EMC Customized revisions of 6.5.x section proceed further.
2.2 Upgrade from Dell EMC customized versions of 6.0.x
VMware and Dell EMC do not support direct upgrade of vSphere 6.0.x versions to 7.0. Upgrade in stages,
from 6.0.x to 6.5.x or 6.7.x and then to 7.0.
To upgrade Dell EMC customized vSphere 5.x to vSphere 7.0: