SOLVED Issue. So, if any of you is getting the "Failing to connect to the source vCenter server or ESXi container" - then take note that the newly temporary VM created needs the have the routes add correctly in order to talk to the rest of the environment. This is happening when your vCenter is in a different VLAN than your ESXi hosts. Took me 2 hours to figure it out. you welcome 😁
HI Thanks for this. SO WE actually just run the installer, and select upgrade, then it will set up a Temporary VCenter server, and finally copy the data to the Targeted server? there won't be any changes to VCenter hostname or IP, the Temporary Vcenter server will be deleted after the upgrade is finished? Thanks again.
Hi Grayinhell. You are pretty close with the UPGRADE explanation process. The process involves only setting up a temporary IP and not temp vCenter. This is what actually happens. 1. Run installer and select UPGRADE 2. The installer will setup a brand NEW vCenter server 3. Set a temporary IP for the NEW vCenter server. This completes Step 1 of the Upgrade Process. 4. Step 2 will then copy all the configuration data from the OLD vCenter to the NEW vCenter. Yes, you will keep the original hostname and IP after the upgrade. You can see the post-upgrade information at 5:36 that lists Source (OLD) vCenter and Target (NEW) vCenter. 5. Once complete, the OLD vCenter will still remain in inventory but will be powered off. Hope that helps explain the process a bit more clear. :-)
Hi. After the vCenter was upgraded from 6.5 to 7 the ESXi hosts were still on version 6.5. The next step after the vCenter upgrade is to upgrade the ESXi hosts to 7. That step is listed here: th-cam.com/video/Imv_8lClccU/w-d-xo.html Today both vCenter and ESXi in my lab are on 7. Hope that clears that up.
Hi. That's correct. You can go from 6.5 straight to 7.0U3d. You can view the upgrade matrices here: kb.vmware.com/s/article/67077#vCenterServer6.5to7.0
No it doesn't affect VM/Host communication as vCenter is the control plane. You will want to do this upgrade during an outage window as there will be a period of downtime during the upgrade. If you need the availability, you should look into vCenter HA.
We are trying to upgrade our VCSA from 6.5 to 7.0. After running the update, we get the error that "source appliance fqdn must be the same as the source appliance primary network identifier". I noticed in the video the name you entered for the new VCSA was different from the source name, yet you did not receive the error we are receiving. Is it necessary to use a fqdn that is totally different than the source to avoid this error?
Hi James. Yes the fqdn needs to be the same. If you look at 5:36 in the video, you'll see that my Source vCenter fqdn is the exact same as my Target vCenter fqdn. When you mentioned that my vcsa was different, I think you were referring to 2:14 when I named the vCenter VM. That is just the name for the VM under ESXi. The source and target fqdn dns entries should be the same. Here is the KB details on the error in case you need it. kb.vmware.com/s/article/84355 Hope that helps. 🙂
Hi Kanwal. The iso installer for VCSA can be ran from the workstation you are currently working out of. In this case I was on a mac so I mounted the VCSA installer locally and browsed to the Installer app location. This is shown at 1:03.
@@kanwalsultan5000 You can download and mount the iso from the machine you are using to access vCenter 6.5. No need to create a new VM and mount the ISO.
@@vmscrub ok so I am.accessing through web browser my environment. And my machine is vca where my vcenter 6.5 appliance is running should I mount on that machine?
@@kanwalsultan5000 What type of machine are you using when accessing vCenter 6.5 through your web browser? macOS? Windows 7/10? You can mount to any machine, as you'll just need to run the installer.
SOLVED Issue.
So, if any of you is getting the "Failing to connect to the source vCenter server or ESXi container" - then take note that the newly temporary VM created needs the have the routes add correctly in order to talk to the rest of the environment.
This is happening when your vCenter is in a different VLAN than your ESXi hosts.
Took me 2 hours to figure it out.
you welcome 😁
HI Thanks for this. SO WE actually just run the installer, and select upgrade, then it will set up a Temporary VCenter server, and finally copy the data to the Targeted server? there won't be any changes to VCenter hostname or IP, the Temporary Vcenter server will be deleted after the upgrade is finished? Thanks again.
Hi Grayinhell. You are pretty close with the UPGRADE explanation process. The process involves only setting up a temporary IP and not temp vCenter. This is what actually happens.
1. Run installer and select UPGRADE
2. The installer will setup a brand NEW vCenter server
3. Set a temporary IP for the NEW vCenter server. This completes Step 1 of the Upgrade Process.
4. Step 2 will then copy all the configuration data from the OLD vCenter to the NEW vCenter. Yes, you will keep the original hostname and IP after the upgrade. You can see the post-upgrade information at 5:36 that lists Source (OLD) vCenter and Target (NEW) vCenter.
5. Once complete, the OLD vCenter will still remain in inventory but will be powered off.
Hope that helps explain the process a bit more clear. :-)
The ESXi Hosts listed on your new vCenter... are they 6.5 or 7?
Hi. After the vCenter was upgraded from 6.5 to 7 the ESXi hosts were still on version 6.5. The next step after the vCenter upgrade is to upgrade the ESXi hosts to 7. That step is listed here:
th-cam.com/video/Imv_8lClccU/w-d-xo.html
Today both vCenter and ESXi in my lab are on 7. Hope that clears that up.
No need to upgrade to 6.7 frist ?
Hi. That's correct. You can go from 6.5 straight to 7.0U3d. You can view the upgrade matrices here:
kb.vmware.com/s/article/67077#vCenterServer6.5to7.0
Does this affect VM or Host communication? Does everything remain online during upgrade?
No it doesn't affect VM/Host communication as vCenter is the control plane. You will want to do this upgrade during an outage window as there will be a period of downtime during the upgrade. If you need the availability, you should look into vCenter HA.
We are trying to upgrade our VCSA from 6.5 to 7.0. After running the update, we get the error that "source appliance fqdn must be the same as the source appliance primary network identifier". I noticed in the video the name you entered for the new VCSA was different from the source name, yet you did not receive the error we are receiving. Is it necessary to use a fqdn that is totally different than the source to avoid this error?
Hi James. Yes the fqdn needs to be the same. If you look at 5:36 in the video, you'll see that my Source vCenter fqdn is the exact same as my Target vCenter fqdn. When you mentioned that my vcsa was different, I think you were referring to 2:14 when I named the vCenter VM. That is just the name for the VM under ESXi. The source and target fqdn dns entries should be the same.
Here is the KB details on the error in case you need it.
kb.vmware.com/s/article/84355
Hope that helps. 🙂
My question is where did you mount that iso ? On a new server?
Hi Kanwal. The iso installer for VCSA can be ran from the workstation you are currently working out of. In this case I was on a mac so I mounted the VCSA installer locally and browsed to the Installer app location. This is shown at 1:03.
@@vmscrub so I am in client vcenter which is 6.5 , where should I mount iso.. on 6 5 vcebter iso machine? Or should I create new vm and mount on that?
@@kanwalsultan5000 You can download and mount the iso from the machine you are using to access vCenter 6.5. No need to create a new VM and mount the ISO.
@@vmscrub ok so I am.accessing through web browser my environment. And my machine is vca where my vcenter 6.5 appliance is running should I mount on that machine?
@@kanwalsultan5000 What type of machine are you using when accessing vCenter 6.5 through your web browser? macOS? Windows 7/10? You can mount to any machine, as you'll just need to run the installer.