VMware ESX 4.0 - UPGRADE GUIDE UPDATE 1 Update Manual page 77

Direct, in-place upgrade from ESX 2.5.5 to ESX 4.0 is not supported, even if you upgrade to ESX 3.x as an
intermediary step. The default ESX 2.5.5 installation creates a
upgrades to ESX 4.0. As an exception, if you have a non-default ESX 2.5.5 installation on which at least 100MB
of space is available on the
to ESX 4.0 Update.
The upgrade of ESX 2.5.5 to ESX 3.x requires the use of one of the following methods:
Graphical upgrade from CD
n
Text-mode upgrade from CD
n
Tarball upgrade using the service console
n
Scripted upgrade from CD or PXE server using esxupdate
n
Scripted upgrade from CD or PXE server using kickstart commands
n
For information about these upgrade methods, see the VMware Infrastructure 3 documentation.
Upgrading from ESX 3.0.0 and 3.0.1
VMware provides limited support for ESX 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 under certain conditions.
When you upgrade from ESX 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 to ESX 4.0 Update, you can perform a migration upgrade with or
without VMotion. In a migration upgrade, you migrate ESX 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 virtual machines to ESX 4.0 Update
hosts, as follows: Evacuate the virtual machines from the ESX 3.0.0 or 3.0.1 host. Do a fresh install of ESX 4.0
Update. Migrate the virtual machines back to the newly installed ESX 4.0 Update host. See
Moving Virtual Machines Using Upgrade VMotion,"
Direct, in-place upgrade from ESX 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 to ESX 4.0 Update is not supported. You can perform a
standalone host upgrade by upgrading to a later version of ESX 3.x or 4.0 as an intermediary step.
For information about upgrading ESX 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 to a later version of ESX 3.x, see the VMware Infrastructure
3 documentation.
For upgrading ESX 3.x to ESX 4.0, you can use vSphere Host Update Utility or vCenter Update Manager.
VMware, Inc.
partition, you can upgrade ESX 2.5.5 to ESX 3.x (ESX 3.0.2 or higher) and then
/boot
Chapter 10 Preparing for the Upgrade to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0
partition that is too small to enable
/boot
on page 20.
"Upgrading by
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