Upgrading from a Previous Version of ESX Server

VMware ESX Server 1.5
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Before You Install ESX Server 1.5

There are a few steps you should take before you install ESX Server 1.5 to ensure the best possible upgrade experience.

Resume and Shut Down Suspended Virtual Machines

If you plan to use virtual machines created under a previous version of ESX Server, be sure they have been shut down completely before you upgrade.

If the virtual machine is suspended, resume it in the earlier release, shut down the guest operating system, then power off the virtual machine.

Note: If you attempt to resume a virtual machine that was suspended under a different VMware product or a different version of ESX Server, a message gives you the choice of discarding or keeping the file that stores the suspended state. To recover the suspended state, you must click Keep, then resume the virtual machine under the correct VMware product. If you click Discard, you can power on normally, but the suspended state is lost.

Commit or Discard Changes to Undoable Disks

If you plan to use existing virtual machines that have undoable disks, commit or discard any changes to the virtual disks before you remove the release you used to create them.

Resume or power on the virtual machine in the earlier release, shut down the guest operating system, power off the virtual machine and either commit or discard changes to the undoable disk when prompted.

Back Up Virtual Machines

As a precaution, back up the virtual machine files - including the .dsk and .cfg files - for any existing virtual machines you plan to migrate to ESX Server 1.5.

Caution: The upgrade script used to upgrade from ESX Server 1.0 and ESX Server 1.1 to ESX Server 1.5 overwrites information related to sharing an Ethernet adapter between virtual machines and the console operating system. If you are using this functionality, you must set it up again after you upgrade. For details, see Sharing the Console Operating System's Network Adapter with Virtual Machines.

Upgrading from ESX Server 1.1 to ESX Server 1.5

To upgrade from ESX Server 1.1 to ESX Server 1.5, use the installation CD-ROM.

Insert the installation CD into the server's CD-ROM drive.
Reboot the computer and log in as root.
At the first installer screen, choose Upgrade from ESX Server 1.0/1.1.
You are asked if you have a driver disk provided by VMware for a device that is not handled by drivers in this release of ESX Server.
If you do not have a driver disk, choose No and continue with the installation.
If you have a driver disk from VMware, put the driver disk into the floppy drive and choose Yes.
If you do not have enough swap space for the new console operating system, the installer asks you where to place a new swap file. Accept the default location unless you have a specific reason for using a different one.
The installer upgrades your ESX Server installation.
When the upgrade completes and displays the final screen, reboot. The machine keeps the device allocations that you previously set up.
After the server reboots, from your management workstation use a supported Web browser and go to:
http://<hostname>/vmware/config
Log in as root, then go to the Network Configuration (Configure System > Network Configuration) and Security Settings (Configure System > Security Settings) pages to ensure that the current settings are appropriate. The Network Configuration page is new in ESX Server 1.5.
Go to the Boot Configuration page (Configure System > Update Boot Configuration > Edit) and adjust the amount of memory allocated to the console operating system. Change the number to 128MB for managing up to three or four virtual machines. Increase this to 192MB for eight virtual machines, 272MB for 16 virtual machines, 384MB for 32 virtual machines or 512MB for more than 32 virtual machines. For background, see Sizing Memory on the Server.

Upgrading from ESX Server 1.0 to ESX Server 1.5

To upgrade from ESX Server 1.0 to ESX Server 1.5, use the installation CD-ROM.

Insert the installation CD into the server's CD-ROM drive.
Reboot the computer and log in as root.
At the first installer screen, choose Upgrade from ESX Server 1.0/1.1.
You are asked if you have a driver disk provided by VMware for a device that is not handled by drivers in this release of ESX Server.
If you do not have a driver disk, choose No and continue with the installation.
If you have a driver disk from VMware, put the driver disk into the floppy drive and choose Yes.
If you do not have enough swap space for the new console operating system, the installer asks you where to place a new swap file. Accept the default location unless you have a specific reason for using a different one.
The installer upgrades your ESX Server installation.
When the upgrade completes and displays the final screen, reboot.
After the server reboots, from your management workstation use a supported Web browser and go to:
http://<hostname>/
Log in as root, then start the ESX Server Setup Wizard by clicking the Setup Wizard link at the top of the page. Each page of the wizard includes instructions for the actions you need to take there.
On the Boot Configuration page, adjust the amount of memory allocated to the console operating system. Change the number to 128MB for managing up to three or four virtual machines. Increase this to 192MB for eight virtual machines, 272MB for 16 virtual machines, 384MB for 32 virtual machines or 512MB for more than 32 virtual machines. For background, see Sizing Memory on the Server.
Be sure to enter your new serial number at the appropriate page.

Setting File Permissions on Existing Virtual Disk Files

If you are upgrading to ESX Server 1.5 on a computer that has virtual machines created under ESX Server 1.0 or 1.1, be sure to set permissions appropriately on all virtual disk files stored on a VMFS partition. Support for permissions on VMFS files is a new feature in version 1.5.

All your VMFS files will initially be owned by root and have permissions of 000. You must at least change the permissions of the files so they are readable and writable by root. You may wish to change the owner as well. You can use the file manager of the management interface to change the owner and permissions.

Alternatively, on the console operating system, you can use the vmkfstools command, or you can change the permissions and owner directly on the files in
/vmfs using the Linux chmod and chown commands.

Updating Virtual Machine Configurations

After you upgrade from ESX Server 1.0 or ESX Server 1.1 to ESX Server 1.5, you may want to update one setting in each virtual machine's configuration file to take advantage of new virtual hardware features supported by ESX Server 1.5. The key new feature is support for up to 3.6GB of memory inside the virtual machine.

Note: If you are using virtual disks in nonpersistent mode, you must temporarily switch to persistent mode to make these changes. If you are using repeatable resume, you must then recreate your resume point as described in Enabling Repeatable Resumes.

To take advantage of the new virtual hardware features, follow these steps:

Log in to the VMware Management Interface as a user with proper permissions to manage the virtual machines.
On the overview page, point to the terminal icon for each virtual machine in turn and choose Edit Configuration. On the Configure VM page, click Use Text Editor.
Find the line that begins with config.version. Change it to
config.version = 6
Click Save Changes.
Click VMs on <hostname> to return to the Overview page.
Repeat the process for each virtual machine.
Launch the remote console and power on each virtual machine in turn.
As the virtual machine starts, you see a dialog box with the message "The CMOS of this virtual machine is incompatible with the current version of VMware ESX Server. A new CMOS with default values will be used instead."
Click OK.
The guest operating system may detect new virtual hardware and install drivers for it. Respond to any messages as you would if upgrading the hardware on a physical computer.
When the guest operating system is running, install the new version of VMware Tools, following the instructions in Installing VMware Tools and the Network Driver in the Guest Operating System.

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