vSphere 6 Lab Upgrade – Overview

I tested vSphere 6 quite intensively when it was in beta, but I didn’t ever upgrade my lab – basically because I need a stable environment to work on and I wasn’t sure that I could maintain that with the beta.

I will be upgrading

• vCenter Server Appliance – currently 5.5 update 1
• vSphere Update Manager – currently 5.5 update 1
• 3 HP N54L resource hosts
• 1 Intel NUC management host

In my lab I run various VMware software suites listed below, although I typically run them in nested environments to keep my lab install relatively clean.

• vCloud Director
• vRealize Automation
• vRealize Orchestrator
• NSX

Other considerations:

• VSAN – I currently run VSAN 5.5 and will need to upgrade to 6.0
• Update Manager – I’d prefer to update my hosts using Update Manager where possible
• Certificates – I currently use a Microsoft CA, I’d like to move to the VMCA as a subordinate CA
• Drivers – VMware changed the drivers supported in ESXi, some consumer grade drivers are blacklisted
• Backup – I use the excellent Veeam Backup and Replication to protect key lab machines, and I know that it doesn’t yet support vSphere 6. That’s a hit I can take in my lab.

To upgrade I need to first verify everything is compatible using the VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes.

High level plan

Having read a lot of vSphere 6 docs, my upgrade plan is as follows:

1. Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance
2. Upgrade vSphere Update Manager
3. Upgrade ESXi
4. Upgrade VSAN
5. Upgrade nested labs and other software suites