I started a new job last week and have been assigned the task to migrate a vCenter 4.0.0 instance to 5.0 and to upgrade the vSphere hosts from ESX 4.0 to ESXi 5.0. Please critique the plan below.
Facts:
1. This single vCenter instance has not been updated in some time. The version number is 2xxxxx.
2. This single vCenter instance manages approximately 40 hosts and 730 virtual machines.
3. I THINK The vCenter instance resides in a UNIX realm. I say think, because I am a Windows admin, and after querying the network, I noticed a Linux LDAP/Samba server that is acting as a Windows PDC to Windows clients and the vCenter instance.
4. The vCenter instance is not clustered.
5. The vCenter instance stores its configuration in a remote SQL database (either MS SQL 2005 or 2008), which I do not know how to locate. The previous admin departed months ago.
Plan:
1. Since the organization wants to true Windows Domain Controllers, my first plan is to stand up an Active Directory domain (with a different DNS name).
2. Perform a clean vCenter 5.x installation on a new box.
3. After locating the database, copy it from the 4.0.0 instance to the 5.x instance.
OR
3. Manually configure the 5.x instance to reflect that of the 4.0.0 instance.
4. Remove the hosts from the 4.0.0 instance and add them to the 5.x instance.
5. Install vSphere on new hardware.
6. Select a host and migrate the VMs from the ESX 4.0 host to the ESXi 5.0 host.
7. Repeat Steps 5 and 6.