vmware vsphere - Steps to upgrade vCenter 5.0 to 5.1 with a fresh 5.1 install on a different VM

I'm running vCenter 5.0 on Server 2008 R2 and would like to put vCenter 5.1 on Server 2012. Can someone confirm or deny the following steps?

1. Do in-place upgrade of vCenter 5.0 to 5.1.


2. Install fresh vCenter 5.1 install on new Server 2012 VM.


3. Migrate database from old VM to new VM.

Alternatively, because my environment is small (2 hosts) I'm also considering just installing 5.1 on a new VM and foregoing the existing 5.0 database. The problem is that I don't know what data I would lose (other than historical performance statistics) and need to reconfigure. What would I need to reconfigure if I went that route?

Any feedback is appreciated.

Answer

You wouldn't lose that much in that small an environment. As mentioned, you would lose historical performance/event data. You would also lose any custom HA/DRS rules you might have created.

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe you can install vCenter 5.1 on a new system and, during the install, point it to your previous database and have it upgrade it as part of a fresh install on a new server. This is assuming you aren't using SQL Express but a full SQL Server on the backend. Otherwise, you might be able to install the SQL Express instance first on the new server, detach/reattach (or backup/restore) the database from the old to the new and then run the install and point it to your previous database.