With this weeks release of vSphere 4.1 from VMware the operating system requirements have been raised to 64 bit. What this means is that all management consoles and related tools have moved or will be moving soon to 64 bit only systems. Most importantly is that vCenter server 4.1 is now dependent on a 64 bit OS to run. This means that before you rush to upgrade you will need to make sure if your running on a physical server that it is 64 bit capable. If not then you will require a new server or you could elect to move it to a 64 bit virtual machine.
Currently only the operating systems listed below are the only 64 bit options support by the new vCenter 4.1 server.
- Windows XP Pro SP2 (SP2 required, 64 bit )
- Windows Server 2003 (SP1 required, 64 bit )
- Windows Server 2008 (64 bit )
Something new with this release is the vCenter Server Data Migration Tool. This new tool will help to migrate some of your data and settings over to a new server depending on what your configuration was. There are some very rigid rules on what it will and wont move across. The list below is the only options that it will migrate. Judging from that list every production setup I’ve ever seen is going to require the usual manual steps to be done. Since I don’t think anyone out there is using SQL express as their DB in anything other than maybe a small lab environment. Your gonna need to configure 64 bit DSN’s for your vCenter and Update Manger Databases on the new server yourself.
You can use the vCenter Data Migration Tool to automatically migrate the following to a new server:
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vCenter Server Software and its configuration
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vCenter Update Manager Software and its configuration
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VMware Orchestrator Software and its configuration
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The default SQL Express 2005 database that comes installed with vCenter Server.
To see the full details from VMware on this process refer to this article.
About Brian
Brian is a Technical Architect for a VMware partner and owner of this website. He is active in the VMware community and is helps lead the Chicago VMUG group. This blog Virtualize Tips was started to document and remember things that I come across while working with tech.
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