Prev   Contents   Last   Next 

To upgrade from ESX Server 1.5.x or 2.0.x to ESX Server 2.1, use the installation CD-ROM.

Caution: Upgrading directly from ESX Server 1.0 or 1.1 to ESX Server 2.1 is not supported.

1. Insert the installation CD into the server's CD-ROM drive.
2. Boot the computer. The system begins booting from the CD-ROM. If it does not boot, change the BIOS setting to allow the system to boot from CD-ROM.
3. At the first installer screen, choose Upgrade.
4. You are asked if you have a driver disk provided by VMware for a device that is not handled by drivers in this release of ESX Server.

   If you do not have a driver disk, choose No and continue with the installation.

   If you have a driver disk from VMware, put the driver disk into the floppy drive and choose Yes.

5. If you do not have enough swap space for the new service console, the installer asks you where to place a new swap partition. Accept the default location unless you have a specific reason for using a different one.
6. At the End User License Agreement screen, accept the terms of the agreement.
7. The installer upgrades your ESX Server installation.
8. When the upgrade completes and displays the final screen, reboot. The machine keeps the device allocations that you previously set up.
9. After the server reboots, the System Configuration Wizard launches. For information on configuring the server, see Using the System Configuration Wizard to Configure Your Server. As you step through the wizard, ensure that the wizard's settings are appropriate. Note the following:
   • On the Licensing and Serial Numbers screen, enter your ESX Server 2.1 license and, if you have one, your VMware Virtual SMP for ESX Server license.
   • On the Startup Profiles screen, adjust the amount of memory allocated to the service console. If your ESX Server 1.5.2 installation had 128MB allocated to the service console, you must upgrade this amount to 192MB, which is sufficient for managing up to eight virtual machines. Change the number to 272MB for managing up to 16 virtual machines, 384MB for 32 virtual machines or 512MB for more than 32 virtual machines. Choose 800MB for the maximum number of virtual machines.
   • Check device allocation for the SCSI controller. If there is only one SCSI adapter, you need to make sure it is shared between the virtual machines and the service console. For the SCSI controller, in the Dedicated To list, select Virtual Machines, then check Shared with console operating system.
   • FTP and Telnet services are automatically disabled during the server upgrade. If you had FTP and Telnet services enabled on your ESX Server machine before performing the upgrade, you need to reset these services. To reset these services, log in to the Vmware Management Interface, select the Options tab, and use the Security Settings control panel to reset the settings.
10. If you want, you can improve virtual machine performance by upgrading the VMFS volume from VMFS-1 to VMFS-2. See Configuring Storage: Disk Partitions and File Systems.