For upgrades to the vCenter Server Appliance, you can deploy a new version of the appliance and import the network identity of your existing vCenter Server Appliance.
VMware product versions are numbered with two digits, for example, vSphere 5.1. A release that changes either digit, for example, from 4.1 to 5.0, or from 5.0 to 5.1, involves major changes in the software, and requires an upgrade from the previous version. A release that makes a smaller change, requiring only an update, is indicated by an update number, for example, vSphere 5.1 Update 1.
For updates to the vCenter Server Appliance, for example, from version 5.1 to version 5.1 Update 1, see Update the VMware vCenter Server Appliance from a VMware.com Repository, Update the VMware vCenter Server Appliance from a Zipped Update Bundle, and Update the VMware vCenter Server Appliance from the CD-ROM Drive.
Versions 5.0 Update 1 and later and 5.1 of the vCenter Server Appliance use PostgreSQL for the embedded database instead of IBM DB2, which was used in vCenter Server Appliance 5.0. If you use the embedded database with the vCenter Server Appliance, when you upgrade from version 5.0 to version 5.1, the embedded IBM DB2 database is migrated to a PostgreSQL database. The configuration state of your existing database is preserved and the schema is upgraded to be compatible with vCenter Server Appliance 5.1.
vCenter Server 5.1 supports connection between vCenter Server and vCenter Server components by IP address only if the IP address is IPV4-compliant. To connect to a vCenter Server system in an IPv6 environment, you must use the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or host name of the vCenter Server. The best practice is to use the FQDN, which works in all cases, instead of the IP address, which can change if assigned by DHCP.
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Verify that the clocks of all machines on the vSphere network are synchronized. See Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network. |
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