Best practices for upgrading to vCenter Server 6.7

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides pre-upgrade information for vCenter Server 6.7 and related components.
For information related to vSphere 7.0, see: vSphere 7 Upgrade Best Practices.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7

Resolution

Caution:

• Though different upgrade paths are possible and may complete successfully, VMware does not recommend some of the resulting topologies.
• If your services are distributed across multiple machines, the upgrades must be done sequentially, not concurrently.
• It is possible to upgrade directly from vSphere 6.0 or vSphere 6.5 to vSphere 6.7, but it is not possible to upgrade directly from vSphere 5.5 to vSphere 6.7.

Upgrades to vSphere 6.7 are only possible from vSphere 6.0 or vSphere 6.5. If you are currently running vSphere 5.5, you must first upgrade to vSphere 6.0 or vSphere 6.5 first before then upgrading to vSphere 6.7.

• Windows 2003 and XP are no longer supported.

Process Upgrading to vCenter Server 6.7:

For Step by Step instructions please check FeatureWalkthrough-6.5 and vSphereCentral document. To upgrade from vSphere 5.5 to vSphere 6.7 follow the steps in the below video:

Deployment Models

To determine the deployment model that you want to upgrade to, see the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Types section of the vCenter Server Installation and Setup guide.

• New: vSphere 6.7 supports repointing a vCenter Server to another external Platform Services Controller in the same SSO site and different SSO site within the same SSO domain. See the Repoint vCenter Server to Another External Platform Services Controller in the Same Domain of the vCenter Server Upgrade
• vSphere 6.7 supports repointing a vCenter Server (Appliance only) to another external Platform Services Controller in a different SSO domain. See the Repoint vCenter Server to External Platform Services Controller in a Different Domain section of the vCenter Server Installation and Setup.

vCenter Server Appliance requirements

Before upgrading to vSphere 6.7, ensure to review the important information in these sections:

• System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance section in the vCenter Server Installation and Setup Guide.
• Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere network section in the vCenter Server and Host Management guide.
• Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance in the vCenter Server Upgrade guide.

Migrating from vCenter Server for Windows to the vCenter Server Appliance

It is possible to migrate a vCenter Server installation on Windows to a vCenter Server Appliance installation while upgrading to version 6.7.

Note: Migrating from Windows vCenter Server 6.7 to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 is not supported. [Migrating VC from lower version to higher is possible but not within the same version like Windows based VC 6.5 cannot be migrated to VCSA 6.5 but can be migrated to VCSA 6.7]

For more information, see:

• System Requirements for Migrating vCenter Server Deployments to vCenter Server Appliance Deployments section in the vCenter Server Upgrade.
• Prerequisites for Migrating vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller section in the vCenter Server Upgrade.
• Known Limitations section in the vCenter Server Upgrade Guide.

Notes:

• The vSphere Web Client 6.7 requires Adobe Flash Player 16 or later. For best performance and the most recent security updates, use the latest release of Adobe Flash Player. For more information, see the vSphere Web Client Software Requirement section in the vCenter Server Upgrade guide.

vCenter Server for Windows requirements

Caution: vCenter Server 6.7 uses the Log on as batch job permission for several local users that are automatically created during installation and are added to the local security policy. If this permission is removed services will fail to start. Ensure that GPO's do not override this permission. For more information, see:

• Error "Logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer"
• The vCenter Server for Windows Requirements section of the vSphere Installation and Setup guide.

To install vCenter Server on a Windows virtual machine or physical server, your system must meet specific hardware and software requirements.
For more information, see:

• vCenter Server for Windows Requirements section in the vCenter Server Upgrade guide.
• Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere network section in the vCenter Server and Host Management guide.
• VMware Solution/Database Interoperability Matrix

Additional Information

For more information, see these sections in the vSphere Upgrade guide:

• vCenter Server Example Upgrade Path
• Example Migration Paths from vCenter Server for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7
• vSphere 6.7 Component Behavior Changes that Affect Upgrade

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Additional Information

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