vCenter 4.1 Upgrade

Note: vCenter 4.1 is only available in a 64-bit version. This tutorial is an in place upgrade of a previously installed vCenter 4 64-bit instance which had already been upgraded to Update2. vCenter 4.1 can also be installed as a fresh instance. Don’t forget to upgrade your vSphere Client after completing this tutorial. To migrate from vCenter 4 32-bit version to vCenter 4.1 64-bit version please check the VMware vSphere 4.1 Upgrade Guide in the Resources section under VMware vSphere 4.1

I’am using the following image:

VMware-VIMSetup-all-4.1.0-259021.zip

1. Insert, mount or run the autorun.exe file on the VMware vCenter 4.1 DVD. You will be presented with the screen below. Before we start the installation we want to check each host and make sure they are ready and compatible with version 4.1. Under the Utility menu, click “Agent Pre-Upgrade Check”

2. The welcome screen for the Agent Pre-Upgrade check appears. Click Next.

3. In this screen we are asked for which DSN we would like to use to connect to the database. The default install of vCenter 4 creates the DSN VMware VirtualCenter. If you have installed the full version of SQL and setup your DSN manually, then simply select the DSN in the drop down menu. Select your authentication method, we are using Virtual Center Credentials. Click Next.

4. Do you want to scan all hosts (Standard Mode) or manually select which VMware hosts you would like to scan (Custom Mode) for compatibility. As I currently only have two hosts installed and connected to vCenter. I will select Standard Mode. Click Next.

5. The pre-check is now ready to run. You can see the total amount of hosts that the pre-check will scan. Click Run precheck.

6. The pre-check has completed with no errors. Click Next.

7. You can see in the screen shot below that my VMware hosts (vmcluster1.vmlab.local & vmcluster2.vmlab.local) haave passed the pre-check. You can click on View Report for more information. Click Next.

8. This completes the Pre-Check wizard. Once you click Finish you will return back to the vCenter product installation windows.

9. Now that we have ran the “Agent Pre-upgrade Check” and the results came back successful we can now begin upgrading to vCenter 4.1. Click vCenter Server.

Select your language for the installation and click ok

11. You will be notified that the installation has detected a previous installed version and that it will be upgraded to vCenter 4.1 Click Next.

Note: If you don’t have vCenter installed and this is a first time install, you will not see this notification.

12. Accept the patent agreement and click Next.

13. Accept the license agreement and click Next.

14. The install wizard automatically detects the DSN that is currently in use by vCenter. In this case my DSN is the default “VMware VirtualCenter”

15. You must upgrade the vCenter Server Database to be compatible with vCenter 4.1

Make sure you take a backup of the SQL database and SSL certificates before continuing.

16. Select Automatic to upgrade the vCenter agents on each host to be compatible with vCenter 4.1 If you select Manual you will not see your VMware hosts in vCenter when the upgrade completes and you must re-connect each host individually.

17. I was previously using the SYSTEM account for my services however in the vCenter 4.1 wizard this option is greyed out and the only option I have is to use the Local Administrator account. Enter the password and click Next. You can change the service logon later by going into the Windows services

18. Confirm that all the ports are correct, these are the ports that you currently use in vCenter. However there is a new service called Web Services Change Service Notification Port. Make sure this port is not conflicting on the server.

19. This screen with tune the JVM memory according to how many hosts you currently have or plan to have.

20. Click Install to begin the upgrade.

21. Installation is now complete. Your vCenter server will now be running vCenter 4.1. Click Finish.

Disclaimer:
All the tutorials included on this site are performed in a lab environment to simulate a real world production scenario. As everything is done to provide the most accurate steps to date, we take no responsibility if you implement any of these steps in a production environment.

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