VMworld 2013
Josh Gray, VMware
Justin King, VMware
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VMworld 2013: vSphere Upgrade Series Part 1: vCenter Server
1. vSphere Upgrade Series Part 1:
vCenter Server
Josh Gray, VMware
Justin King, VMware
VSVC5690
#VSVC5690
2. 2
vSphere Deployment Best Practices – vCenter Server 5.1
Upgrade Overview
Before vCenter and vCenter Single Sign-On
Components of vCenter 5.1
Upgrade Matrix
vCenter Server 5.5 Requirements
Upgrade / Install order
New Install vs In Place Upgrade
Reference Architecture
Linked Mode
vCenter Appliance
VMware Update Manager (VUM)
3. 3
vSphere Upgrade Overview
Upgrading vSphere is a multistage process
• Plan your upgrade
• Order is important
• Always start with vCenter
• Don’t forget about plug-ins
• Rolling ESXi host upgrades are supported
• Know your VM upgrade requirements
• Don’t forget about VMFS and VDS
Step 3
ESXi
Step 4
VMs
Step 5
VMFS
Step 1
vCenter
Step 2
VUM
This session focuses on Steps 1 - 2For Steps 3 – 5
see VSVC4945: vSphere Upgrade Part 2
5. 5
Before vCenter had vCenter Single Sign-On
vCenter Server
vCenter Server
Database
vSphere Web Client
(5.0)
• Server-side setting’s
• VMware Plugins
• Third Party Plugins
• vCenter Data• SSL Certificates
• ADAM
6. 6
Added with vCenter Server 5.1
Single Sign-On Inventory Service
• Identity sources
• Database
• Embedded users /
groups and policies
• xDB file format
(Inventory Cache)
• Tags
No new components added with vCenter Server 5.5
7. 7
Upgrade Matrix
VMware supports in-place upgrades on 64-bit systems from
• vCenter Server 4.x
• vCenter Server 5.0.x
• vCenter Server 5.1.x
*Exception being Windows XP Professional x64
VMware does not support directly migrating an existing, 5.0.x or
earlier vCenter Server to a new machine during an upgrade to
version 5.5
• You can migrate such an existing vCenter Server to a new machine during an
upgrade to version 5.0.x, and then perform an in-place upgrade from version
5.0.x to version 5.5
vCenter Server 5.5 can manage
• ESX 4.x/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.0.x, and 5.1 x hosts
• in the same cluster with ESXi 5.5 hosts
vCenter Server 5.5 cannot manage ESX 2.x or 3.x hosts
8. 8
System Requirements (Hardware)
Simple Install (Minimums)
• 2CPU / 12GB RAM / 100GB Disk /
1Gbps
Custom Install (Minimums)
Single Sign-On
• 1CPU / 3GB RAM / 2GB Disk / 1Gbps
vSphere Web Client
• 1CPU / 2GB RAM / 2GB Disk / 1Gbps**
Inventory Service
• 1CPU / 3GB RAM / 5GB Disk / 1Gbps
vCenter Server
• 2CPU / 4GB RAM / 60GB Disk / 1Gbps
9. 9
System Requirements (Hardware) - Recommended
Simple Install (Recommended)
• 4CPU / 24GB RAM / 200GB Disk / 1Gbps
Custom Install (Recommended)
Single Sign-On
• 2CPU / 4GB RAM / 8GB Disk / 1Gbps
vSphere Web Client
• 2CPU / 4GB RAM / 8GB Disk / 1Gbps**
Inventory Service
• 1CPU / 8GB RAM / 32GB Disk / 1Gbps
vCenter Server
• 4CPU / 8GB RAM / 100GB Disk / 1Gbps
Based on an Inventory Size of 400 hosts or 4000 virtual machines
10. 10
Deprecated Operating Systems
vCenter Server 5.5 removes support for
• Windows Server 2003 as a host operating system
• Windows Server 2008 (no SP) as a host operating system
• Windows Server 2008 SP1 as a host operating system
Upgrade to Windows Server 2008 SP2 before upgrading vCenter
Server to version 5.5
vSphere Documentation Center
https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/
VMware Compatibility Guide
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility
Product Interoperability Matrix
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php
11. 11
New Install vs In Place Upgrade
New Install
Pro’s
Clean Start
Reconfigure Architecture
New Hardware
Con’s
Loss of Historical data
Rebuild of environment
Settings manually
recreated
Time Involved
In place Upgrade
Pro’s
Most Common
All Setting’s Maintained
Slipstreamed Process
Historical data maintained
Con’s
Carry over of old/unused
data
Performance (hardware?)
12. 12
Installation – Then and Now
Download and Install
vCenter
Download and Install
VI Client on desktop
vCenter 4.x / 5.0
vCenter on
Windows
vCenter
Server
Appliance
14. 14
Installer
Simple Install Changes
• Added Web Client
• Installer Order changes
5.1
Single Sign-On
Inventory Service
vCenter
5.5
Single Sign-On
vSphere WebClient
Inventory Service
vCenter
Why?
• In the rare case SSO goes wrong, users can
log into Web Client and configure/edit
Best practice: Simple Install puts all
components in a single server
• VMware’s suggested best practice
15. 15
Custom Install
Why would you run this?
Distribute services across multiple
servers
Customize location
Advanced configurations
• E.g. additional vCenter servers
1 2 3 4
16. 16
Single vCenter Server 5.5 Design Recommendation
VC Database
vCenter Server Host or VM
vCenter
Server
SSO
Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
Use Simple Installer
Installs / Upgrades core
components with a single
virtual machine
1. vCenter Single Sign-On
2. vSphere Web Client
3. vCenter Inventory Service
4. vCenter Server
No change to architecture
All services are local
• Reduces complexity
Supports 1-1000 Hosts / 1-
10,000 Virtual Machines
17. 17
Multiple vCenter Server 5.5 (Remote) Design Recommendation
By Default
Each site is independent
Does not provide a single pane of glass view
SSO automated replication
SSO Users & Groups
SSO Policies
Identity sources
Site awareness
Linked Mode
Maintains single pane of glass
Replicates Licenses, permissions and roles
Availability
vSphere HA
vCenter Heartbeat
vCenter Server
vCenter
Server
New York
vCenter Server
vCenter
Server
Miami
vCenter Server
vCenter
Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
SSO Server – vsphere.local
Los Angeles
Web Client
Inventory Svc
Web Client
Inventory Svc
SSO Site 1 SSO Site 2 SSO Site 3
Single SSO Authentication Domain
18. 18
SSO
Server
Web Client
Multiple vCenter Server 5.5 (Local) Design Recommendations
A Datacenter with 6 or more vCenter Servers
Centralized SSO authentication
• Same Physical location
Single Centralized vSphere Web Client
Availability (Required)
• vSphere HA
• vCenter Heartbeat
• Network Load Balancer
18
vCenter Server 2
vCenter
Server 5.5
Inventory Svc
SSO
Server
Web Client
Database
Server
VCDB1,VCDB2,VCDB3
vCenter Server 3
vCenter
Server 5.5
Inventory Svc
vCenter Server 1
vCenter
Server 5.1
Inventory Svc
Backwards compatible to vCenter Server 5.1
19. 19
Supports Upgrade of all vCenter 5.1 configurations
Previous vCenter Single Sign-On 5.1 deployment models
• Fully Maintained via Upgrade
• Basic
• Single Sign-On High Availability
• Single Sign-On Multisite
New recommendations with vSphere 5.5
• Better use of new technology
• Single virtual machine for all vCenter components**
• Distributed virtual machines add complexity
• Availability
• Backup & Restore
• Easily migrate to new recommendations during upgrade
** Enterprise customers with 6 or more local vCenter servers can use a centralized instance
20. 21
What about 4.0/4.1/5.0 upgrade configurations?
Architecture is unchanged
vSphere 5.5vSphere 4.0 / 4.1 / 5.0
vCenter
Server
VC Database
vCenter Server Host
Web Client
(*5.0)
VC Database
vCenter Server Host
vCenter
Server
SSO
Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
21. 22
What about 5.1 upgrade configurations? (Basic SSO)
Architecture is unchanged
Removal of SSO database
vSphere 5.5vSphere 5.1
VC Database
vCenter Server Host
vCenter
Server
SSO
Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
VC Database
SSO Database
vCenter Server Host
vCenter
Server
SSO Server
(Basic)
Web Client
Inventory Svc
22. 23
What about 5.1 upgrade configurations? (SSO HA)
Shared Database
Host or VM
SSO Server
(Primary)
Load Balancer
Host or VM
SSO Server
(HABackup)
Host or VM
Load Balancer
Host or VM
SSO Server
vSphere 5.1 vSphere 5.5
No SSO Database
23. 24
Multiple Remote vCenter Server Design Recommendations
Local
Databases
vCenter Server
vCenter
Server
vCenter Server
vCenter
Server
Inventory Svc
vCenter Server
vCenter
Server
New York
Los Angeles
Miami
Multi Site
SSO Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
Multi Site
SSO Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
Primary
SSO Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
24. 25
Multiple Remote vCenter Server Design Recommendations
vCenter Server
vCenter
Server
vCenter Server
vCenter
Server
Inventory Svc
vCenter Server
vCenter
Server
New York
Los Angeles
Miami
SSO Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
SSO Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
SSO Server
Web Client
Inventory Svc
Automatic Replication
Identity Sources
SSO Users/Groups/Policies
Registered Solutions
25. 26
vCenter’s in Linked Mode
vCenter Server Linked Mode groups
• does not support different versions of vCenter Server
All vCenters Servers in a Linked Mode group need to be part of the
same Single Sign-On vSphere Authentication Domain
Upgrade Process
• Unjoin vCenter Server from Linked Mode group
• Upgrade vCenter Server to 5.5
• Upgrade other vCenter Servers to 5.5
• Rejoin vCenter Servers to Linked Mode group
• domain user who is an administrator on both the machines
Notes
• DNS
• Network Time synchronization
28. 29
VMware vCenter Server 5.0: Upgrade Process
Host Agent Pre-Upgrade Checker
• Performs checks include
• Host is reachable
• Disk space is sufficient
• Network is functioning
• File system is intact
• Required patches are applied
• Aim is to prevent hosts going disconnected after
• uninstallation of prior agent
• installing the new agent
29. 30
VMware vSphere 5.5 vCenter Appliance
VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA)
• SLES 11 Linux based virtual machine appliance
• Same license as Windows vCenter
Pro’s
• Linux, No windows
• All in one, self contained
• Deploy in minutes
Con’s
• Cannot migrate from Windows to VCSA
• Embedded vPostgres Database, 5 host / 50VMs max
• Limited external database support – only Oracle
• No linked mode, vCenter Heartbeat, IPv6
30. 31
VMware Update Manager
You can upgrade to Update Manager 5.5 from
• Update Manager version 4.x
• Update Manager 5.0
• Update Manager 5.1
that are installed on a 64-bit operating system
If on a 32-bit operating system, use the data migration tool that is
provided with Update Manager 5.0 and in place upgrade from
Update Manager 5.0
Notes
• Upgrades cannot change installation or download path
• use the Update Manager Utility to replace the existing 512-bit key certificate
with 2048-bit key certificate
• Scheduled tasks for scan and remediation are maintained
• Patch Baselines removed
31. 32
Thank You
Stay up to date with vCenter Server
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/
@vCenterGuy @jasper9
32. 33
Other VMware Activities Related to This Session
• vSphere Upgrade Series Part 2: vSphere Hosts and Virtual Machines
• VSVC4945: vSphere Upgrade Series Part 2: vSphere Hosts and Virtual Machines
• Performance
• VSVC5234 Extreme Performance Series: vCenter of the Universe
• vCenter Single Sign-On
• VSVC5635 vSphere vCenter Single Sign-On Best Practices
• vSphere Web Client
• VSVC5436 vSphere Web Client – Technical Walkthrough
• vCenter Deep Dive
• VSVC4830 vCenter Deep Dive
Group Discussions:
VSVC1000-GD vCenter Upgrades with Justin King