Upgrade from VMware ESXi to Vsphere on the cheap
Current Setup: 3 existing ESXi servers running 4-6 VMs each. Two old Windows servers (backup and exchange).
Recent Purchase: 1 new (blank) server and 1 copy of Vsphere Essentials ($449)
Goal: To move everything to 3 ESXi/Vsphere servers with one VCenter server and decommission the windows servers.
Step 1. Install ESXi on the new server. ESXi and Vsphere are pretty much the same thing. They differ in only what software license key is installed. Therefore, the free ESXi or the pre-installed one from the vendor is a fine place to start. Usual VMware setup applies. My network is pretty small so i have two nics set for the Management/Virtual Machine VLAN on one physical network and my SAN network is plugged into the remaining two nics. A few clicks to set addresses and namespaces and the server is up.
Step 2. Migrate Virtual Machines on oldest ESXi server to the new host. For each host, I have to manually shutdown and reopen on the new server. (Build in some down time for these reboots) All of your VMs should be up and running from now on. The next steps wont affect the individual VMs and can (mostly) be done during production hours.
Step 3. Install Vsphere Center server on a windows machine. Download and run the ISO, or just mount the file. Be sure to install the Client, Backup, and Update modules as well. Since this is a small install, I also used the MSSQL Express built-in database. I was kind of surprised that Vsphere Center Server runs on Windows, (64bit, 4Gig Ram minimum) but it allows me to run some Windows-based backup and sync software on a physical host. At this time, it will ask for you Vsphere license.
Step 4. Connect the ESXi hosts to the Vsphere Center server. Easiest step so far – just add a data center, then add a host. One of my hosts had multiple networks (1VM, 1 ISCSI, 1VM-ISCSI) and wouldn’t add on the first try. I had to make sure that the licencing options on the networks matched up with the VMware Express licensing options I purchased.
Now you are running VMware professional. You can use the power of centralized controls, update, backups, VMotion and HA (if licensed) on your own little data center. I set up the express version so Vmotion is a bit more manual, but still saves in clicks and complexity.
Step 5. Update all the ESXi hosts, VMtools and VMs during down-time.
http://www.kendrickcoleman.com/index.php?/Tech-Blog/a-list-of-free-vmware-vsphere-tools.html
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