I recently participated in a vSphere 6.5 What’s New Webcast and there was a clear trend in questions being asked.
The questions asked fall into three distinct topics.
- vCenter Server Appliance Migration
- vCenter Server HA
- vSphere Web Client
In this post I’ll aim to address these frequently asked questions.
vCenter Server Appliance Migration
If I migrate to VCSA does it maintain UUIDs of my VMs?
Yes, the migration process will retain all host and VM UUIDs. In addition, all configuration, certificates, vDS, historical performance data, historical tasks and events data is retained and migrated.
Can I change the FQDN of my vCenter during a migration?
No, the migration process must retain the existing FQDN of the source Windows vCenter Server.
Can I change from embedded PSC to external PSC during a migration?
No, you cannot change topology during a migration, but you can convert from embedded PSC to external PSC either before or after the migration process.
I’m running vCenter Server 5.5. Should I migrate to 6.0 and then upgrade to 6.5 or go straight to 6.5?
Unless you have a compatibility or inter-operability reason to go to 6.0, you can go directly to 6.5.
Is Update Manager embedded in the VCSA 6.5?
Yes, Update Manager is now included as an embedded service in VCSA 6.5.
Can I use an external database with VCSA 6.5?
No, VCSA 6.5 only supported the embedded vPostgres Database
Can I upgrade/migrate from vCenter 6.0 U3 to 6.5?
Yes, you can upgrade or migrate from vCenter 6.0 U3 to vCenter 6.5 Update 1. You cannot upgrade from 6.0 U3 to 6.5 GA.
Do I need to migrate vCenter to VCSA 6.5 first or upgrade my ESXi Hosts first?
vCenter Server or VCSA should always be upgraded first, before upgrading the ESXi Hosts.
vCenter HA
Is vCenter HA available on Windows vCenter?
No. VCHA is a VCSA 6.5 only feature
Can I use VCHA with an external PSC?
Yes, VCHA can be enabled when using both an embedded PSC or external PSC. When using an external PSC you should also enable PSC HA.
How many licenses do I need for VCHA?
You only need 1 Standard vCenter Server license for VCHA
vSphere Web Client
When will the Flash Client go away?
VMware has announced the deprecation of the vSphere Web Client and you can read about that here. https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2017/08/goodbye-vsphere-web-client.html
vSphere 6.5 Update 1 has expanded the supported feature set available in the HTML5 vSphere Client and you can see the list of supported features here. http://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/vsphere/65/vsphere-client-65-html5-functionality-support.html
There were additional questions regarding the vSphere Web Client, some with a more colourful choice of language, but they can all be answered with the above.
have you tried reinstalling? 