Each month we deliver a free webcast on the latest tools and tips from our expert instructors and content developers. In November Ali Ahmad, a Sr. Technical Training Specialist with VMware Technical Support University, delivered vSphere 6.5 Install & Upgrade Troubleshooting and the questions were great as always. We pulled a few of them below, but you can read the entire list and listen to the recording on your schedule. NEED LINKS
What if the installation of 6.5 fails, would it fall back to 6.0? How about install and upgrade a vCenter Server appliance?
You must take full backup of your vCenter server to restore to 6.0. If the upgrade fails at early stages it will revert to 6.0 automatically, but after uninstall phase you will have to manually restore the vCenter server. For VCSA appliance migration details please see this upgrade guide.
Do we have any health check script for vCenter 6.5 servers?
The vCenter installer will do the required health check. There is no specific health check script.
If I perform VCSA 6.5 backup using the built-in backup feature, in the event the VCSA dies, what are the steps to perform a restore? Can I restore the VCSA to a different IP address or host name different from the original?
For details on this please see the upgrade guide.
Can VCSA HA run from different geographical sites? If yes, if I have only two sites instead of 3 can the witness VCSA be in the same site as one of the other VCSA? Can I change which VCSA will be the active or passive node freely by myself after implementation?
Please see this doc for more information on this topic.
Which option is better, upgrade VCSA 5.5 to 6.5 or download and install a new installation of VCSA 6.5?
It is the customer’s preference. Upgrading preserves existing config, whereas new install would require rebuilding config, distributed switches being the most important.
For an upgrade from VCSA 6.0U3 to VCSA 6.5U1, Can I just run the pre-install-check to get results and then not proceed further with the upgrade?
The precheck report you saw here is for Windows to Windows VC upgrades. The VCSA to VCSA upgrade will perform some prechecks also and you can choose not to proceed.
What step is VUM updated if running on same windows server?
VUM would need to be upgraded after vCenter. It is its own application in the Windows version.
Do we have some kind of End to End Checklist for the migration from version vSphere 5.5 to 6.5U3b ?
For information on migration I would start here . The information is still applicable for 6.5 (note 6.5 U1 is the latest release – U3 has not been released).
How can I check if vcenter service accounts being used or not?
Using services.msc check what account is running the VMware vCenter Services
