After upgrading my VMware vSphere management infrastructure to latest version 6.5, I decided to upgrade the last part Esxi server in my lab to version 6.5, While Upgradation/installation I didn't find any change or difference, All the steps are same as earlier shown in the article I wrote PART 1 : INSTALLING ESXI ON VMWARE WORKSTATION HOME LAB. As I already written previously how to upgrade Esxi server version using VMware vSphere Update Manager, this time instead VUM, I will update Esxi OS to 6.5 using ISO. I have mounted ISO file on the server and rebooted it, and boot sequence is CD/DVD first.
Note: Before rebooting I have vMotioned migrated all my VMs to another esxi host and shared datastore using vCenter server. Also server has been put into maintenance mode. A host in maintenance mode does not perform any activities on virtual machines, including virtual machine provisioning. The host configuration is still enabled. The Enter maintenance Mode task does not complete until the above state is completed. You might need to either power off or migrate the virtual machines from the host manually. you can cancel the Enter Maintenance mode task at any time.
Right click Esxi Host, click maintenance mode, and Enter Maintenance mode, Icon of server will be changed.
After few checks I have taken only screenshot where human interaction is required while manual installation/upgradation. I have only one Hard disk at current on my Esxi server, First screenshot is where it shows the list of all the detected Hard disk drive, Select it (Where there is already OS exists), It detects and finds existing Esxi and VMFS file system where installation contains. There are three options, I am selecting first one for upgrade.
Upgrade Esxi, Preserve VMFS datastore : Use this option to retain all esxi settings, VMFS data (VMs), Nothing will be removed.
Install Esxi, Preserve VMFS datastore : Use this option to Install fresh Esxi OS, re-setup Esxi, But it will not format or remove any data from the local VMFS datastore, In case if there is any VM, all the data will be preserved, and you will have to re-register virtual machines again.
Install Esxi, overwrite VMFS datastore : If you need start everything from scratch, and clean use this option, it will erase all the data.
Click F11 button to proceed and confirm upgrade, The installer is configured to upgrade my system from older ESXi 5.5.0 to Esxi 6.5 on the first HDD, mpx.vmhba1:c0:t0:l0.
In the last it ask for server reboot after upgrade is completed. The new Esxi 6.5 has ui embedded HTML5 web client has inbuilt installed by default, So no need to install it manually as my earlier written article INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING ESXI EMBEDDED WEB CLIENT, No need to use old vSphere c# client. To access the UI HTML5 embedded web client just type the url https://esxi_ip_or_fqdn, type root as user name and password.
Once login into the ESXi server right click the Esxi host and click Exit maintenance mode, So it will be the part of the infrastructure and VMs can be vmotioned on it or powered on.
Useful Links
PART 1 : VCENTER SQL DATABASE AND ODBC DSN CREATION
PART 2 : VCENTER SERVER 6.0 INSTALLATION ON WINDOWS 2012 R2
PART 3.1 : VMWARE VSPHERE UPDATE MANAGER INSTALLATION ON WINDOWS 2012 R2
PART 3.2 : VMWARE VSPHERE UPDATE MANAGER PLUG-IN INSTALLATION ON VSPHERE CLIENT
ADDING AND ASSIGNING VSPHERE LICENSES IN VCENTER SERVER AND ESXI
ADDING AND CONFIGURING VMWARE VSPHERE VCENTER SSO ACTIVE DIRECTORY AS LDAP SERVER
VMWARE VCENTER 6.5 UPGRADATION ERROR
UPGRADING FROM VMWARE VCENTER 6.0 TO 6.5 PROCEDURE AND VSPHERE HTML5 WEB CLIENT