Remotely Updating VMware - Best Means to Do This?
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So I've done VMware updates before but I've never done a VMware ESXi update remotely before. Got a ticket assigned to me I'm just trying to make sure I've got figured out in my head before I do anything first, so while this may seem like a noobish question, and one of those "if you have to ask the question", bear with me.
The system is currently on ESXi 5.5.0, 1331820. There is only one server, so no cluster or anything. Licensing is Essentials Plus. I was looking at ways this can be done on VMware's site: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=2058352
It's looking like the Update Manager is going to be ideal but I'm not sure if that is how everyone else has found it the best way to do this.
I'm reading through the documentation (http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/index.jsp#com.vmware.vsphere.upgrade.doc/GUID-FE668788-1F32-4CB2-845C-5547DD59EB48.html) but if someone could just provide some general guidelines for things to make sure of, etc. I'd appreciate it. One thing I know for sure is that I'm going to need a workstation to work from, as we generally connect to the servers but those are all VMs on this host, so they'll be offline when this upgrade happens.
Last question is, assuming the upgrade goes smooth and everything works, when I go to bring the VMs back online, what would be the best order? I would assume that DC1 followed by DC2 followed by the rest of the VMs is a general good idea, right? Like I said, just trying to make sure I have everything worked out in my head before I go ahead with this.
Thanks,
A.J. -
Correct, without any additional information, directory servers should be online first.
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Depending on the hardware, you can upgrade enterprise servers via out of band management like DRAC and ILO.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Depending on the hardware, you can upgrade enterprise servers via out of band management like DRAC and ILO.
It's a Dell Poweredge R720xd, so I am guessing the DRAC option would be available, but I can't say for sure.
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Hopefully the client intends to give you some access
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You'll want to find out what you are updating too. Is it a PXE boot, local hard drives, individual USB sticks, etc. There are several different options and not all are visible remotely.
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@scottalanmiller said:
You'll want to find out what you are updating too. Is it a PXE boot, local hard drives, individual USB sticks, etc. There are several different options and not all are visible remotely.
I highly doubt it's PXE boot, there is only one datastore on this server with a total capacity of 3.59TB, and I'd guess that ESXi is probably installed on a flash drive or SD card, but I don't know that for sure. Is there any way to find this out remotely, or do I need to ask?
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I would ask. Because even if you know that it is USB boot, you can't detect if there is a second USB "mirror" that you can't see that is there in case of failover. That is how NTG's is set up. One USB stick and one SD card. You have to update both, manually. But you update one, test, then update the other. That way you have a rapid fallback in case there is a problem.
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@scottalanmiller said:
I would ask. Because even if you know that it is USB boot, you can't detect if there is a second USB "mirror" that you can't see that is there in case of failover. That is how NTG's is set up. One USB stick and one SD card. You have to update both, manually. But you update one, test, then update the other. That way you have a rapid fallback in case there is a problem.
Ok, I can check on this. I need to call this client for another ticket anyways, so that works out.
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Also make sure DC1 points to itself for DNS otherwise it might take a LONG time to come back up.
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Ok, so good news and bad news (maybe). Good news is that his system is already up-to-date. He is running the vCenter Server Appliance as a VM on the ESXi host itself, which has a "Check for Updates" option you can just click, and it was up-to-date. Last patched near the end of October with the 5.5 Update 2b update. However, it seems strange to me that the vCenter Server Appliance VM is running on this host. The ESXi host itself is .9 but the management VM is .8. It just seems like a weird setup to me. Oh, and @scottalanmiller , I was unable to find out where his ESXi install is. He says he doesn't know of any SD card or flash drive, but I would have a hard time believing it would be any other way. Then again, anything is possible.
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In a setup like this without in house, experience virtualization people, you would expect them to have installed on the drive array. Not because it is best practice, but because it is what happens by default if you don't do anything special and just start installing.
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vCenter would be expected to be on the host as it is the only one. There is nowhere else to run it.
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@scottalanmiller said:
vCenter would be expected to be on the host as it is the only one. There is nowhere else to run it.
Yeah, that's true. It just felt weird. The guy seemed to have no concept that the .8 he connects to with the client was not actually the hypervisor, but a management tool for it. He also seemed to not know what a hypervisor was...
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Very few people do. Even in IT it is not well understood.
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