VMware vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1 Released

There have been some rumors but I can now officially share the update release 1 for vSphere vCenter Server 5.1.

vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1 | Build 1064983
vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 Update 1 | Build 1065184

Download from VMware.com

What’s New

This release of VMware vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1 offers the following improvements:

• vCenter Server is now supported on Windows Server 2012
• Additional vCenter Server Database Support: vCenter Server now supports the following databases.
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2
• Additional Guest Operating System Customization Support –vCenter Server now supports customization of the following guest operating systems:
  • Windows 8
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Ubuntu12.04
  • RHEL 5.9
• vCenter Essentials no longer enforces vRAM usage limit of 192 GB
  With vSphere 5.1 Update 1, the Essentials and Essentials Plus licenses no longer restrict virtual machine power-on operations when the vRAM usage limit of 192 GB is met.
• Resolved Issues – This release delivers a number of bug fixes that have been documented in the Resolved Issues section.

Click to review the complete VMware vSphere 5.1 Update 1 release notes

Quick Upgrade Instructions

Single VM vCenter Server

1. Mount ISO
2. Select Simple Install
3. Installer will detect SSO, IS and vCenter and upgrade binaries to Update 1
4. Run individual Installer for vSphere Web Client to upgrade web client

Distributed vCenter Server (Multiple VMs and/or SSO HA configurations)

1. Mount ISO
2. Select individual installer for components installed to upgrade to Update 1
3. Repeat on each VM with a vCenter 5.1 component

vCenter Appliance

1. Login to vCenter appliance with HTTPS://<FQDN or IP Address>:5480/
2. Select Update tab
3. Select Check Updates
4. Select Install Updates
5. Alternatively download the updater disk image for build 1065184
   1. Mount disk image to vCenter appliance VM
   2. Goto Updates
   3. Under Settings select ‘Use CDROM Updates’
   4. Save Settings
   5. Select Status
   6. Select Check Updates
   7. Select Install Updates

vCenter Server Upgrades

vSphere 5.1 Update 1 supports the following upgrade scenarios.

• You can perform in-place upgrades on 64-bit systems from vCenter Server 4.x , vCenter Server 5.0, vCenter Server 5.1 , vCenter Server 5.1.0a and vCenter Server 5.1.0b to vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1 . You cannot upgrade an instance of vCenter Server 4.x that is running on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.
• Customers with VirtualCenter 2.5 update 6 and later with 32-bit operating system will be required to perform a migration upgrade to vCenter Server 5.0 as the first step in the upgrade process due to the 32bit/64bit differences. After this migration upgrade, customers can perform an in-place upgrade from version 5.0 to version 5.1.x. See the version 5.0 vSphere Upgrade documentation.
• vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1 can manage ESXi 5.x hosts in the same cluster with ESX/ESXi 4.x hosts. vCenter Server 5.1 cannot manage ESX 2.x or 3.x hosts.
• Important When upgrading from vCenter Server 5.1.0b to vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1 for non-English locales, the installation of vCenter Single Sign On must be performed through the command line. Use the following command for upgrading:<Exe name> /S /v"/L*v <log location>/ /qn"Example: For vCenter Single Sign On installation use the following command:VMware-SSO-Server.exe /S /v"/L*v "%temp%vim-sso-msi.log" /qn"

Click to review the complete VMware vSphere 5.1 Update 1 release notes