upgrade ESXi 5.5 to 6.5

[aneesh.abraham]

Hi Team,

         we have CUCM 11.5 installed on BE6M server, the current ESXi version is 5.5, we are planning to upgrade ESXi to 6.5,  when i check virtualization wiki for the compatibility it shows that 6.5 is supported (Supported Versions of VMware vSphere ESXi= 5.0 U1, 5.1, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 (6.5 - VMFS 5 or 6, minimum OVA file version cucm_11.5_vmv8_v1.1.ova required, fresh install only); HX TRC 6.0 only) 

       Here I have a confusion , whether it says ESXi 6.5 only supports a fresh installation. Our CUCM initially installed as 10.5 and then upgraded to 11.5.

Please advise is it safe to upgrade the ESXi to 6.5 on this environment.

Regards,

Aneesh

[Ramamoorthy Shanmugam · Accepted solution]

Hi,

As per cisco standard CUCM 11.5 will support 5.0 U1, 5.1, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 .

If fresh Installation  for   ESXi 6.5 - VMFS 5 or 6, minimum OVA file version cucm_11.5_vmv8_v1.1.ova required . But in your current  setup version is ESXi  5.5.

You can upgrade to 6.5 . Post upgrade verify the  cucm_11.5_vmv8_v1.1.ova template recommendation . If did not match your current Hardware resources for ESXi  change to cisco recommendation values  .

CUCM 150 user node (BE6K only): Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) configuration that supports up to 150 users per node (BE6K only). Details: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (64-bit) CPU: 2 vCPU with 800 MHz reservation Memory: 4 GB with 4 GB reservation Disk: 1 - 80 GB disk with pre-aligned disk partitions

https://www.cisco.com/web/software/283088407/133457/CUCM_11.5_VirtualServerTemplate8_v1.1_Readme.pdf

based on your Deployment type choose vCPU, RAM ,HDD etc..

ESXi license part I’m not sure form 5.5 to 6.5 . Please check with VMware  team .

Thanks & Regards,

S. Ramamoorthy

[anilkumar.cisco]

Hello Ramam,

Could you pls share the steps for upgrade ESXI 5.5 to 6.5 followed by you..

I have UCS 220 M4 and CUCM 10.5

[Ritesh Desai]

@anilkumar.cisco 

Check this out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXCbt3UO0os

Its very helpfull. I performed the test in my lab and was successfull.

[anilkumar.cisco]

thanks..
Do I need to take care about some update patchs on CUCM..

currently my CUCM is 10.5(2)SU2a version..

[Sanjay Bishnoi]

https://technocollab.com/how-to-upgrade-vsphere-esxi-6-5-to-7-0-on-cisco-ucs-server/

may be this can help you.

[jkilleda]

Hello Aneesh,

Upgrade ESXi 5.5 to 6.5

Supported version of VMWare VSphere ESXI for CUCM 11.5 : 5.0 U1, 5.1, 5.5, and 6.0