Upgrade Prerequisites Checklist

Transcription

1 1. Intrductin This dcument describes the requirements and prerequisites necessary t begin planning fr the upgrade f an existing VMware Infrastructure 3 t VMware vsphere 4. This dcument is intended fr thse invlved in planning, designing, and upgrading an existing VMware Infrastructure t VMware vsphere. The intended audience includes the fllwing rles: Architect and planners respnsible fr driving architecture level decisins IT persnnel and supprting VMware Authrized Cnsultants wh require knwledge fr deplying and upgrading t VMware vsphere infrastructure It is assumed that the audience has knwledge and familiarity with VMware Infrastructure and VMware vsphere and has access t the necessary prduct dcumentatin fr reference. Page 1 f 14

2 2. Upgrade t vsphere Prerequisites This checklist will detail the prerequisites identified either as,, r that shuld be reviewed and cmpleted first, befre starting t wrk n the upgrade frm VMware Infrastructure t VMware vsphere. Unless verified r cmpleted, it can impact the successful utcme f the upgrade r supprtability f the envirnment Depending n yur business and/r technical requirements and cnstraints, yu may chse t verify r cmplete but highly recmmended by VMware Ensure that any existing VMware prducts are cmpatible with VMware vsphere. Refer t the Sftware Cmpatibility Matrix guide in the VMware vsphere Upgrade Center n vmware.cm*. In particular, certain prducts and versins that may nt be cmpatible include: VMware View / VDM VMware Lab Manager VMware Stage Manager VMware Lifecycle Manager VMware Site Recvery Manager * This step shuld be cmpleted prir t any migratin activities in rder t determine eligibility fr upgrade/migratin t vsphere Ensure that the systems, I/O devices, and strage arrays are n the VMware certified cmpatibility list fr VMware vsphere See the Hardware Cmpatibility Guide n the VMware dcumentatin web site Ensure that yur virtual machine perating systems are supprted n VMware vsphere See the Guest Operating System Installatin Guide n the VMware dcumentatin web site Page 2 f 14

3 2.1 VirtualCenter / vcenter Server Ensure that the vcenter Server is versin 2.0 r abve (vcenter 1.x cannt be upgraded and will require a clean installatin f vcenter Server 4.0) Ensure that the hardware and/r virtual machine meets the minimum system requirements fr VMware vcenter 4.0 See the vcenter Server Hardware Requirements in the ESX and vcenter Server Installatin Guide n the VMware dcumentatin web site It may be necessary t increase the memry and CPU f the hardware and/r virtual machine depending n the size f the virtual infrastructure (number f hsts and VMs) being managed by the vcenter Server Ensure that the vcenter Server database is supprted (Oracle 9i, Micrsft SQL Server 2000 are n lnger supprted. The database can be upgraded t the supprted versins first) Existing unsupprted databases must be upgraded t a supprted versin befre upgrading the vcenter Server. Otherwise, a fresh install f vcenter Server must be created See the vcenter Server Database Requirements in the ESX and vcenter Server Installatin Guide n the VMware dcumentatin web site On a 64-bit vcenter Server system, use a 32-bit DSN using the 32-bit ODBC administratr Ensure that the necessary patches required fr database schema upgrade supprt are applied See table 3-3 f the vsphere Upgrade Guide n the VMware dcumentatin web site Recnfirm that yu have the lgin credentials, the database instance name, the database server name (r ODBC system data stre name DSN) that will be used by the vcenter Server database If the database is 64-bit Oracle, make sure that the default installatin path f C:\Prgram Files(x86) is changed t remve the parentheses (). D nt include any special characters in the installatin path Ensure that fr Micrsft SQL database, the system DSN is using SQL Native Client driver Page 3 f 14

4 Ensure that the Oracle and Micrsft SQL databases have the apprpriate permissins See the Database Prerequisites sectin in Chapter 3 f the vsphere Upgrade Guide n the VMware dcumentatin web site Ensure that the installatin path f the existing vcenter Server des NOT have cmmas (,) r perids (.) Cnfirm that yu have READ permissin fr the Netwrk service accunt n the rt f the system disk f the vcenter Server installatin; this is typically yur C:\ drive (NOTE: The installer will prmpt yu if this is nt set) Cnfirm that the vcenter Server system name is n mre than 15 characters Ensure that the fllwing prts are nt used by any existing applicatin n the vcenter Server system and that there are n firewalls preventing these prts frm/t the vcenter Server system HTTP prt 80 HTTPS prt 443 LDAP prt 389 (needed even if nt using linked mde) SSL prt 636 Ensure that yu have taken a cmplete backup f vcenter Server, vcenter database, templates in vcenter repsitry, license files, certificate files befre the install r upgrade Ensure yu have the VMware vcenter Server 4.0 installatin media/files r ISO image 2.2 VMware Infrastructure Client / vsphere Client Ensure that the perating system and hardware supprts vsphere Client See the Cmpatibility Guides n the VMware vsphere dcumentatin web site Ensure that the Internet Explrer (IE) security settings are set t enable Allw scripting f Internet Explrer web brwser cntrl (if the IE security settings are set t High) Page 4 f 14

5 2.3 VMware Update Manager Ensure that yu have taken a cmplete backup f VMware Update Manager and Update Manager database befre the install r upgrade Ensure that the fllwing prts are nt used by any existing applicatin n the VMware Update Manager system and that there are n firewalls preventing these prts frm/t the VMware Update Manager system SOAP prt 8084 Web prt 9084 SSL prt VMware ESX/ESXi Verify the ESX/ESXi versin in rder t determine the upgrade path (inplace upgrade vs. fresh install) (An ESX 2.5.x hst cannt have an in-place upgrade directly t ESX 4.0; VMs n such a hst shuld be evacuated t a new ESX/ESXi 4 hst created thrugh a fresh install. Alternatively, if the ESX 2.5.x hst was cnfigured with a /bt partitin f at least 100MB, the hst can be upgraded t 3.x thrugh an in-place upgrade using the ESX 3.x installatin CD, which in turn can be upgraded t 4.0 using an in-place upgrade using VMware Update Manager r the Hst Update Utility.) Ensure that the hardware meets the minimum system requirements fr VMware ESX/ESXi 4 See the nline Hardware Cmpatibility Guide at and the hardware requirements in the ESX and vcenter Server Installatin Guide frm the VMware dcumentatin web site Ensure that there is either a lcal VMFS vlume with at least 10 GB free space, r an accessible shared VMFS vlume that is masked/zned t the ESX hst, with at least 10 GB free space per ESX COS t stre the ESX 4 COS vmdk Ensure that there is adequate capacity in the cluster t evacuate all the wrklads frm the ESX/ESXi hst being installed r upgraded Ensure that yu have backed up yur ESX hst (service cnsle files,.vmx files, custm scripts, hst cnfiguratin files, lcal VMFS file system) Ensure that yu have backed up yur ESXi hst (using VI CLI and vicfg-cfgbackup cmmand) Page 5 f 14

6 If applicable, check with vendr fr updated and supprted 3 rd party agents/sftware 2.5 Virtual Machines Ensure that there are n suspend files fr a virtual machine in rder t d the VM hardware upgrade Ensure that the virtual machine has a CD-ROM device cnfigured in rder fr VMware Tls t munt the virtual ISO and install/upgrade VMware Tls Ensure that it is OK t upgrade the virtual machine hardware frm v4 t v7. Once upgraded, yu cannt revert back t an earlier virtual machine frmat unless yu have created a snapsht f the virtual machine prir t the changes Ensure that the virtual machines used fr the upgrade are backed up (example: yu can use a backup agent / VMware Cnslidated Backup r clning t anther datastre) 2.6 Licensing Ensure that yu have the necessary licenses fr the required features f VMware vsphere. The evaluatin license is valid fr 60 days after yu pwer n the ESX/ESXi hst Ensure that yu have the necessary VMware stre accunt infrmatin in rder t access and manage the licenses Ensure that yu have a backup cpy f the existing VMware License Server license files Page 6 f 14

7 3. New VMware vsphere Features Prerequisites This checklist will detail prerequisites identified either as,, r that shuld be reviewed and cmpleted in rder t evaluate and implement sme f the new features and functinality f VMware vsphere. 3.1 Linked Mde Ensure that each vcenter Server instance in a Linked Mde grup is part f a dmain and nt a wrkgrup. Each instance can be in a different dmain if the dmains have a tw-way trust relatinship between themselves DNS must be peratinal in rder fr Linked Mde replicatin t wrk DNS name f the vcenter Server system must match the actual machine name Ensure that vcenter Server system is nt a dmain cntrller Ensure that vcenter Server system is nt a terminal server Ensure that the installer is run by a dmain user wh is an administratr f the vcenter Server machine and the target machine f the Linked Mde grup Ensure that the dmain user accunt has the fllwing permissins: Member f the Administratrs grup Act as part f the perating system Lg n as a service Ensure that the vcenter Server instances are running netwrk time synchrnizatin and their time is nt mre than 5 minutes apart Ensure that the Netwrk Service accunt has permissins t write t the vcenter Server installatin flder 3.2 Strage VMtin Ensure that virtual machines d nt have snapshts (VMs with snapshts cannt be migrated using Strage VMtin) Page 7 f 14

8 Ensure that virtual machine disks are either in persistent mde r are raw device maps (RDM). Nn-persistent disks cannt be migrated using Strage VMtin Ensure that the hst n which the virtual machine is running has a VMware VMtin license and is crrectly cnfigured fr VMtin Ensure that the hst n which the virtual machine is running has access t bth the surce and target datastres Validate that there is n requirement t run mre than fur simultaneus migratins using VMware VMtin r VMware Strage VMtin accessing a single datastre. If n ther migratins are ccurring, up t fur cncurrent migratins with VMware Strage VMtin invlving the datastre can ccur simultaneusly 3.3 Thin Prvisining Ensure that virtual machines with thin prvisined disks d nt need t be prtected with VMware FT (since VMware FT requires virtual machines t have thick-eagerzered disks) If using thin prvisining fr an array LUN, cnsult with the array vendr n cmpatibility with VMware vsphere, perfrmance, reprting, and alerting capabilities Ensure that yu understand the time invlved fr prcuring, adding, and cnfiguring additinal strage, s that the apprpriate alarms can be set in rder t send alerts well in advance f running ut f physical strage 3.4 VMware HA Imprvements Ensure that all virtual machines and cnfiguratin files reside n shared strage Ensure that all hsts in a HA cluster are cnfigured t have access t the same virtual machine netwrk and netwrk label names are valid and cnsistent Ensure that DNS is cnfigured (frward, reverse, shrt name, and lng name / FQDN) Page 8 f 14

9 If VM Mnitring is t be used t restart VMs when the VM heartbeat is lst, ensure that the virtual machines have the latest versin f VMware Tls installed in rder t cmmunicate heartbeats If physical switches supprt PrtFast (r equivalent), enable it n the physical netwrk switches that cnnect t the hsts Ensure that the netwrk islatin addresses respnd t ICMP ping requests Ensure that all hsts in a HA cluster are cnfigured with static IP address Ensure that there is a redundant Service Cnsle and VMkernel netwrking Use a team f tw NICs cnnected t separate physical switches t imprve reliability f VMkernel netwrk Add a secnd netwrk islatin address (in additin t the default gateway) fr each netwrk (VMware recmmendatin t set das.islatinaddress2 t secnd islatin address and das.failuredetectintime t value mre than default is 15000) 3.5 Fault Tlerance Cnfiguratin: In rder t determine whether the cnfiguratin f bth sftware and hardware is suitable fr use with VMware FT, dwnlad and run the VMware SiteSurvey utility frm See fr additinal infrmatin n the SiteSurvey utility ESX/ESXi Hardware: Ensure that the prcessrs are supprted. Dwnlad and run the VMware SiteSurvey utility frm ESX/ESXi Hardware: Ensure that HV (Hardware Virtualizatin) is enabled in the BIOS ESX/ESXi Hardware: Ensure that pwer management (als knwn as pwer-capping) is turned OFF in the BIOS (perfrmance implicatins) Strage: Ensure that FT prtected virtual machines are n shared strage (FC, iscsi r NFS) Page 9 f 14

10 Strage: Ensure that the datastre is nt using RDM (Raw Disk Mapping) in physical cmpatibility mde. RDM in virtual cmpatibility mde is supprted Strage: Ensure that there is n requirement t use Strage VMtin while FT is enabled n the VM. Hwever, custmers can disable FT and then use Strage VMtin Strage: Ensure that NPIV (N-Prt ID Virtualizatin) is nt used since NPIV is nt supprted with VMware FT Strage: Ensure that virtual disks n VMFS3 are thick-eagerzered (thin r sparsely allcated will be cnverted t thick-eagerzered when VMware FT is enabled requiring additinal strage space) Strage: Ensure that ISOs used by the VMware FT prtected VMs are n shared strage accessible t bth primary and secndary VMs (else errrs reprted n secndary as if there is n media, which might be acceptable) Strage: If yu are using NFS, increase timeuts and have a dedicated NIC fr NFS traffic Netwrk: Ensure that at least tw NICs are used (NIC teaming) fr ESX management/vmtin and VMware FT lgging. VMware recmmends at least three NICs: ne fr VMware VMtin, ne fr VMware FT, and ne NIC as a shared failver fr bth Netwrk: Ensure that at least gigabit NICs are used (10 Gbit NICs can be used as well as jumb frames enabled fr better perfrmance) Redundancy: Ensure that the envirnment des nt have a single pint f failure (i.e. use NIC teaming, multiple netwrk switches, and strage multipathing) vcenter Server: Ensure that the primary and secndary ESX/ESXi hsts and virtual machines are in an HA cluster vcenter Server: If the HA cluster is cnfigured fr ne ESX/ESXi hst failure, ensure that there are at least three ESX/ESXi hsts in the HA cluster vcenter Server: Ensure that there is n requirement t use DRS t autmatically mve VMware FT prtected virtual machines (althugh manual VMtin is allwed) vcenter Server: Ensure that hst certificate checking is enabled (enabled by default) befre yu add the ESX/ESXi hst t vcenter Server ESX/ESXi: Ensure that the primary and secndary ESX/ESXi hsts are running the same build f VMware ESX/ESXi Page 10 f 14

11 Virtual Machines: Ensure that the virtual machines are NOT using mre than 1 vcpu (SMP is nt supprted) Virtual Machines: Ensure that there is n user requirement t use NPT/EPT (Nested Page Tables/Extended Page Tables) n VMware FT prtected VMs, since VMware FT disables NPT/EPT fr the VMs Virtual Machines: Ensure that there is n user requirement t ht add r remve devices since ht plugging devices cannt be dne with VMware FT Virtual Machines: Ensure that there is n user requirement t use USB (USB must be disabled) and sund devices (must nt be cnfigured) since these are nt supprted fr Recrd/Replay and VMware FT Virtual Machines: Ensure that there is n user requirement t have virtual machine snapshts since these are nt supprted fr VMware FT. Delete snapshts frm existing virtual machines befre prtecting with VMware FT Virtual Machines: Ensure that there is n user requirement t use vstrage API/VCB r VMware Data Recvery t backup the FT VMs. vstrage API/VCB and VMware Data Recvery are nt supprted since there is n way t snapsht FT VMs Virtual Machines: Ensure that virtual machine hardware is upgraded t v7 Virtual Machines: Ensure that there are will be n mre than fur (t eight) VMware FT enabled primary r secndary virtual machines n any single ESX/ESXi hst (suggested general guideline based n ESX/ESXi hst and VM size and wrklads which can vary) Guest OS: Ensure that the virtual machines d nt use a paravirtualized guest OS 3 rd Party: Ensure MSCS clustered virtual machines will have MSCS clustering remved prir t prtecting with VMware FT (and make sure that the virtual machines are nt SMP) 3.6 Hst Prfiles Hst Prfiles requires licensing fr vsphere Enterprise Plus Identify ne hst that will be used t create a baseline hst prfile Ensure that there is at least ne additinal hst f similar hardware, make, mdel, and cnfiguratin that can be used t apply a hst prfile Page 11 f 14

12 Ensure that there is adequate capacity t evacuate the wrklads running n the additinal hst when put in maintenance mde t apply the hst prfile 3.7 vnetwrk Distributed Switch Distributed Switches requires licensing fr vsphere Enterprise Plus If vds is being implemented in rder t supprt PVLANs, ensure that the physical switch is PVLAN aware and is cnfigured apprpriately Ensure that n mre than 16 vnetwrk Distributed Switches are required per vcenter Server (max is 16 per vcenter Server) Ensure existing standard vswitches have multiple physical NICs (NIC teaming) in rder t have zer dwntime t migrate ESX/ESXi hsts frm standard vswitches t vds 3.8 Distributed Pwer Management Ensure that there are at least tw ESX/ESXi hsts are in a vcenter Server cluster. Fr an HA cluster with ne hst failure, ensure that there are at least three ESX/ESXi hsts in the HA cluster Ensure that VMtin is set up and wrking crrectly. The VMtin netwrk shuld be a single IP subnet, nt multiple subnets separated by ruters If using WOL (Wake n LAN), ensure that the VMtin NIC n each ESX/ESXi hst supprts WOL If using WOL, ensure that the switch prt that each WOL supprting VMtin NIC is set t aut-negtiate and NOT set t a fixed speed (because many NICs supprt WOL nly if they can switch t 100Mbps r less when the hst is pwered ff) If using BMC (Basebard Management Cntrller) r IPMI (Intelligent Platfrm Management Interface), ensure that BMC r IPMI settings are cnfigured fr each hst. The steps will vary accrding t manufacturer and mdel If using BMC, ensure that BMC LAN channel is cnfigured t be always available and t allw peratr privileged cmmands Page 12 f 14

13 If using BMC, ensure yu have the user name and passwrd fr the BMC accunt, IP address and MAC address f the NIC assciated with the BMC. The BMC may have a dedicated NIC r it may wrk in-line with ne f the system s nbard adapters If required, ensure that the IP address f the NIC assciated with the BMC has a static IP address (r a DHCP address with an infinite lease) Ensure yu test each ESX/ESXi hst that is using a BMC r WOL befre cnfiguring VMware DPM fr the cluster (hsts that fail a BMC r WOL test shuld be disabled frm using pwer management) 3.9 vcli and vma If using vsphere CLI (Cmmand Line Interface) 4.0, ensure that the target envirnment is ESX/ESXi 3.5U2 r later with vcenter 2.5U2 and later If using vma (vsphere Management Assistant) 4.0, ensure that the target envirnment is ESX/ESXi 3.5U2 r later with vcenter 4.0 and later 3.10 Data Recvery (vdr) Ensure that the envirnment is running vcenter Server 4.0, at least ne ESX/ESXi 4.0, and vsphere Client Virtual machines prtected by VMware Data Recvery must be running n ESX/ESXi 4.0 r later Ensure that there are virtual machines prtected by VMware Data Recvery are nt ne f the fllwing: FT VMs, RDM disks with hardware cmpatibility, VMs with DirectPath I/O. Data Recvery uses snapshts and yu cannt snapsht these VM disks Ensure that there are n user requirements t prtect mre than 100 VMs Ensure that yu have created at least ne datastre with minimum f 10 GB free space fr the deduplicatin stre Ensure that yu d nt need mre than 2 TB fr the deduplicatin stre (1 TB per dedup stre x 2 dedup stres) Page 13 f 14

14 Ensure that there are n user requirements t d file level backups. Ensure that there is n user requirement fr backing up t tape. VMware Data Recvery is a disk backup slutin and cannt backup t tape 3.11 vshield Znes Ensure that the envirnment is running vcenter Server 4.0, at least ne ESX/ESXi 4.0, and vsphere Client Ensure yu have static IP address fr the vshield instance and vshield Manager Ensure yu have cnnectivity t the Internet frm the vshield Manager directly r via prxy Page 14 f 14