currently I have esxi host running with old hardware and would like to techfresh esxi host hardware which is running 5.5 to new hardware with esxi 6.0. Can you please advise what is the best practice the to do so?
Build your new ESXi server, join it to the cluster and mount shared storage. Install a VRA on the new host. vMotion your VM’s onto new host. When complete, uninstall the VRA from old host. Zerto won’t even miss a beat. I’ve done this multiple times.
Doesn’t matter the version of ESXi. As long as they are in the same vCenter, and you keep the VM’s registered, Zerto won’t have an issue. I’ve done this many times. If your old and new hosts are not vmotion compatible, you’ll just need to shut down the VM first, then vmotion it, then power it back on. Zerto will still work fine.
Oh you’re moving to a new vCenter? You didn’t mention that in your initial question. I assumed you were keeping the same vCenter, and just creating a new cluster. This changes everything. With a new vCenter, you’re going to have to turn up an entirely new Zerto instance. You’ll need a new ZVM and you’ll have to recreate all your VPG’s once you move the VM’s to the new vCenter. This is considerably more work, but not challenging, you just need to move through all the pieces. You should keep the files at the remote site when you delete the VPG’s so you can use them as seed files when you recreate the VPG on the new vCenter.
Krishnan S.
