Upgrading ESXi from 5.5u1 to 5.5u2
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My server is currently have 5.5u1. I used a custom image from VMWare for my HP Proliant DL380p G8 to install it.
I now want to upgrade it to 5.5u2.
I found VMware-ESXi-5.5.0-Update2-2403361-HP-550.9.2.27-Mar2015.iso
I feel confident that I could use this ISO to install a new 5.5u2 install with the latest drivers, but what I want to know... can upgrade my 5.5u1 to 5.5u2 with this ISO? Or will it blow away my current install and do it from scratch?
The biggest reason I'm asking this question is, when I found the 5.5u2 Driver Update ISO the instruction clearly state that you can NOT do an upgrade with that ISO, if you did it would install do a clean install (even though the installer would offer an upgrade).
I called HP and they told me I have to call VMWare, then pointed me to the driver bundle updates for the HP drivers.
What is your experience?
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I did an upgrade from 5.0 to 5.5 (not sure what release) and it upgraded without issue. I don't see why a minor version difference would not be able to upgrade. That seems silly and would limit how many businesses could use the new version.
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I know I can upgrade..
I'm wondering if I have to use a generic 5.5u2 upgrade disk to do so? Then before or after, manually update all of the drivers?
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@Dashrender said:
I know I can upgrade..
I'm wondering if I have to use a generic 5.5u2 upgrade disk to do so? Then before or after, manually update all of the drivers?
I know when I went from 5.0 to 5.5 my drivers for Realtek? were not included, so I had to build a custom ISO with the right drivers injected. I'd recommend just using the custom ISO with the right drivers built-in instead of chancing it.
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Chancing it is definitely something I don't want - that's why I started with a call to HP, and when I got no real satisfaction I made a post here.
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Well I got the main thing done I wanted, that was updating my tg3 driver. Apparently the old one had known issues causing slowness.. hopefully my Windows 2012 R2 VM will be a bit snappier now.
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Here's the VMWare link to the ISO I am interested in using.. it has all the latest drivers in it.
How do you guys update the drivers? manually? go out and look for what's new and apply them one at a time? or do you know where to get a bundle?
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Then I see posts like this.
Upgrading a host using HP Custom Image VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 1 fails with conflicting vib error for broadcom bnx2x and bnx2 (2082027)
and it makes me think you are supposed to be able to upgrade from one version to the next (including drivers) using the new custom ISO.
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FWIW, I used a generic ESXi 6.0 ISO on my Dell T110 II Test Server (cause Dell and VMWare didn't have one at the time) and it upgraded right over top. I was concerned that the vanilla ISO would not get the NIC and other components working since it might need drivers, but it kept them. I was going from 5.1U1 to 6.0 and it just worked.
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@DenisKelley Yeah I feel completely comfortable that the default VMWare upgrade would work, but it wouldn't update the drivers. Assuming the old drivers already in place are compatible, they would just stay in place.
