What is the best way to prepare for an ESXi 5.0 upgrade to 5.1/5.5?

Question

VMware

All the best!

There is a unit Dell PowerEdge R310 with 6 disks in RAID1. Works with free ESXi 5.0. It runs a mail server, 2008R2 with third-party services, and a small bunch of centos machines for various needs.

Actually, the question arose of upgrading to 5.1 / 5.5 (for example, to support Server2012).
- Can I immediately upgrade to 5.5?
- What problems can occur during / after the update? (I read it on the forums with the problem of falling off network drivers)

The plan is as follows:
- Download the ESXi 5.1 / 5.5 image from the DELL website (there is no UPGRADE image, although it may not be needed)
- Back up backups of backups =)
- Connect the downloaded image via an external drive
- We follow the manual

- We write a letter of resignationWe are waiting for the end of the installation.

Answer 1

you can run the installer with the new version of the hypervisor and it will offer an upgrade

Answer 2

First up to 5.1, performance check, and only then up to 5.5. We updated 3 servers, everything went smoothly. The downloaded image has an Update button.

Answer 3

Easy to update, no issues. Like this for example:
2keep.net/servers/update-vmware-esxi-5-1-to-5-5