This blog post will give you some hints before you go ahead and upgrade your VMware vCenter 5.x server to 6.0 – and then walk you through the installation step-by-step.  In this guide vCenter services are running on a Windows Server 2008 R2 and the back end database is Oracle.  The steps for a MS SQL back end database will not differ too much.

If you have a vCenter appliance, please see this blog post…

Requirements

A. An installed VMware vCenter Server 5.1 U3 or later
a. FQDN / IP
b. vSphere Domain admin user, administrator@vsphere.local / password
c. Windows user(s) with administrator privileges on the server

B. Downloaded the new VMware vSphere 6 ISO for Windows server.

C. Go through the Preparations below

Preparations

Before proceeding, do the following steps in order to successfully go through the upgrade process – and prepare for rollback if needed.

System requirements

RAM

If you didn’t bother to read the hardware requirements for VMware vCenter 6.0, well, you need to configure it with at least 8GB of RAM – or else your installation will stop!

Storage

The new installation will require at least 13GB of free space on the drive where you want to install it. Make sure you got what’s required or your installation will stop.

Backup

If you don’t have a recent backup you can use, please take a backup before proceeding.

Database

If you are using an external database, please take a backup in case of a rollback.

Snapshot

Assuming you are running your VMware vCenter server as a virtual machine, then take two snapshots:

1. Snapshot 1 = The state you start from. If upgrade failes, you can revert to this state!

2. Snapshot 2 = The one you actually are upgrading. If upgrade went well, delete this snapshot, and then delete snapshot 1.

PS! If your VC database are running on the same machine as vCenter Server services, you don’t need to backup your database, but make sure to tick the checkbox for “Quiesce guest file system (Needs. VMware Tools installed)”

Roles and permissions

vCenter permissions

Take a screenshot or document the roles and permissions within your vCenter. In my experience, in some cases these settings wouldn’t get migrated!

Changes to database persmissions

If you don’t have all permissions on your databases, you may need to adjust this a bit. I hit this issue when upgrading a vCenter with Oracla as back end database.

You need to give your DNS user (database user) the proper permissions, see this KB2115398

SQL Commands:

Licenses

Make sure you have upgraded or purchased licenses for vSphere 6. Licenses for vSphere 5.x wouldn’t work. Anyway, you always have 60 trial days to upgrade your old licenses while migrating/upgrading to vSphere 6. Upgrading vSphere 5.x licenses to vSphere 6 is free of charge if you have a valid SnS (Support & Subscription) agreement.

Assumptions

1. All vCenter server services are running on one Windows server (not a distributed install)

a. SSO Services
b. Inventory Service
c. vCenter Server Service
d. Web Client Service

Installation steps

Assumed that you have mountet the ISO/CD-ROM to your virtual machine, or physical server, we are now ready to walk through the upgrade process.

Browse to the root of your ISO/CD-ROM and you will find “autorun.exe”. Execute this to start your journey of upgrading your vCenter server.

The first screen that appears doesn’t tell you how to upgrade, just choose “vCenter Server for Windows” and click “Install”. The installer will find the previous version of vCenter components (SSO,Inventory,vCenter,Web client) installed.

In this step you will see that the installer have detected the previous version of both SSO and vCenter. Click “Next” to continue

Read and tick “I accept the terms of the license agreement.” And click “Next”

Hey…wait…didn’t you read the VMware requirements and the tip under preparations in this document ? J Now you have to start over!

Fill in the password for administrator@vsphere.local, if not ticked, tick “Use the same credentials for vCenter Server” (normally this is sufficient, unless you are running the services with a dedicated service-user) and click “Next” and wait some minues…

Opps…permission issues could occure while pre-upgrade checks are running!
NOTE! You don’t have to cancel the installation process here. Just fix the permissions to your database and proceed…

Modify the ports used, I recommend to just leave the defaults and click “Next”

Again, I recommend to just leave the defaults and click “Next”
NOTE! Notice the comment under “Export your 5.X data to:” section. The export data will not be removed by the installer. You have to do it yourself when the installation is finished.

Oops…storage issues! Didn’t you read the VMware requirements or the hint in the beginning of this document ?
Please free up or expand the drive where you intend to install VMware vCenter 6.0.

Now you are at the point where the upgrade actually starts.
NOTE! vCenter Server 5.x licenses are not compatible with VMware vCenter 6.0. When your upgrade finshes you have a 60 day trial period to add the new licenses.
Tick “I verify that I have…” and click “Upgrade”

Now, grab a cup of coffee and lean back and watch the progress bar…

Way to go! The installation finished successfully J