F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S — F O R V M W A R E S A L E S A N D P A R T N E R S O N LY
UPGRADING TO VMWARE vSPHERE 6.5
This document contains the compiled questions and
answers from a series of webcasts on upgrading to VMware
vSphere® 6.5.
Terms used in this FAQ
TERM DESCRIPTION
PSC Platform Services Controller
VCHA VMware vCenter Server® High Availability
(VMware vSphere 6.5 feature)
General Upgrade Questions
Q. When is vSphere 6.5 U1 available?
A. vSphere 6.5 U1 is now generally available. For more
information, you can go here: http://blogs.vmware.com/
vsphere/2017/07/vmware-announces-general-availability-
of-vsphere-6-5-update-1.html
Q. Can you change topology during upgrade from
vSphere 6.0 to vSphere 6.5?
A. No. However, topology changes can be made before or
after the upgrade. It’s a step-by-step process described in
the example upgrade guide at: pubs.vmware.com/
vsphere-65/topic/com.vmware.vsphere.upgrade.doc/
GUID-78B9F91E-36BE-4B76-B214-BF8229576C30.html
Q. Can I upgrade from vSphere 5.5 directly to vSphere 6.5?
A. Yes, see the documentation here: https://pubs.vmware.
com/vsphere-65/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.
vsphere.upgrade.doc%2FGUID-78B9F91E-36BE-4B76-
B214-BF8229576C30.html
Q. How can you get on VMware vSAN™ 6.5 before the
upgrade to vCenter Server 6.5?
A. vSAN 6.5 can run without vCenter Server present at all.
It’s based in the kernel of each ESXi host. That being said,
you will want to upgrade the vCenter Server first if it is
managing the ESXi hosts in question. The hosts cannot
be a higher rev than the vCenter Server.
Q. Will VIN (VMware Infrastructure Navigator) be
upgraded eventually?
A. VIN is supported on vSphere editions prior to vSphere 6.5.
For vSphere 6.5 and above we are migrating the VIN
functionality to vRealize Operations through the
vRealize Operation Service Discovery Management
Pack 1.0 which was released on March 31st 2017.
Q. Will upgrading vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 U2 to
vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 automatically move the
vSphere Update Manager (VUM) instance onto the
appliance or is there some additional cleanup required?
A. During the upgrade and migration, VUM will be integrated
into the 6.5 vCenter Server Appliance. The only cleanup is
the old servers for vCenter Server, VUM, and their
databases. You may also need to adjust firewall rules to
allow the vCenter Server Appliance to be able to
download VUM updates from the Internet.
Q. How many hosts / VM’s are supported per appliance?
A. Configuration maximums can be found at: https://www.
vmware.com/pdf/vsphere6/r65/vsphere-65-
configuration-maximums.pdf
Architecture
vCenter Server
Q. We have two Windows vCenter Server 5.5 with
embedded SSO using linked mode. How do you move
to vCenter Server 6.5 Windows or vCenter Server
Appliance with linked mode?
A. The first step would be to reconfigure your environment
to use external v5.5 SSO instances and then use KB
2033620 to reregister your vCenter Servers to those new
instances. Once that is complete, you’ll upgrade/migrate
the external SSO instances to v6.5 PSCs followed by
upgrading/migrating the vCenter Servers to v6.5 vCenter
Server Appliances. A detailed explanation can be found in
this video: https://youtu.be/t2p5iZVrxlo
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Q. Does the migration tool allow renaming the target
system at the end of the process? Or is this something
that can be easily done within the vCenter Server
Appliance after the upgrade?
A. No. The hostname (and thus Fully Qualified Domain
Name) of vCenter Server is used within the vCenter Server
application as the Primary Network Identifier (PNID).
There is no method currently available to change the PNID
and therefore no way to change the hostname of vCenter
Server (or PSCs) once running 6.0 or 6.5.
Q. Can we use the migration tool to migrate data from two
vCenter Servers into one vCenter Server?
A. Unfortunately no. We do not currently support vCenter
Server consolidation so you will need to upgrade one
vCenter Server and manually migrate hosts from the
second vCenter Server into the upgraded instance.
Q. If our MS-SQL database is on a different server from
our vCenter Server 5.5 will the migration wizard handle
a move to the appliance or should we stick to the
MS-SQL database and Windows vCenter Server?
A. Yes, an external MS SQL is supported and can be migrated.
See: https://featurewalkthrough.vmware.com/#!/vsphere-
6-5/vcenter-server-6-0-embedded-migration-to-
appliance/2
PSCs/ SSO Domains
Q. What is the link for the decision tree to choose PSC
topologies?
A. Visit: https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2016/04/
platform-services-controller-topology-decision-tree.html
Q. What is the current limit for vCenter Server mappings
to single PSC?
A. 10 vCenter Servers to a single PSC max in vSphere 6.5.
Q. Is having three PSCs and three vCenter Servers with
each vCenter Server pointing to its own PSC supported?
A. Yes, 100% supported up to 10 PSCs and 10 vCenter
Servers total pointing in any combination you want. If you
want enhanced-linked mode, the PSCs will have to be
external and in a ring topology.
Q. Do you need an external PSC if using products such as
VMware Site Recovery Manager™?
A. The only reason an external PSC is needed in vSphere 6.5
is to use Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM).
Q. Can you have one site using an embedded PSC and
another site using an external PSC and join them
together through enhanced-link mode?
A. This topology is deprecated in vSphere 6.x and not
recommended. You can see the full list of supported and
deprecated topologies here: https://kb.vmware.com/
kb/2147672
Q. If you are upgrading from vSphere 6.0 to vSphere 6.5
with multiple OSC and vCenter Server Appliance on
same SSO domain across two sites, can you upgrade
PSCs over multiple days/weeks & then vCenter Server
Appliances over days/weeks? Or does it all need to be
done in one window?
A. Mixed-version environments are not supported for
production. Use these environments only during the
period when an environment is in transition between
vCenter Server versions. The recommended procedure is
to first upgrade all PSCs within the SSO Domain and then
all vCenter Servers. More information can be found in the
documentation.
Q. Is it true that you cannot repoint vCenter Servers to
alternate PSCs in the same SSO domain beginning
with vSphere 6.5?
https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.
do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&external
Id=2131191
A. In vSphere 6.0 you could repoint to a different SSO Site.
In vSphere 6.5 you can only repoint within the same SSO
Site. For example, if you have Site1 and Site2 and your
PSCs fail at site1 you cannot repoint a vCenter Server at
Site1 to a PSC in Site2. You can install new PSCs at Site1 by
installing and replicating from a PSC at Site2 then repoint
vCenter Servers to newly installed PSCs at Site1.
Q. Do you need to upgrade all PSCs at once?
A. Yes. As covered in the upgrade guide, you’ll have to
upgrade all of your SSO / PSCs within a domain to the
highest version before you can upgrade the vCenter
Servers.
Q. We have two sites with two vCenter Server 6.0. Can we
upgrade these two to be in an enhanced link mode
version vCenter Server 6.5?
A. It depends on whether the vCenter Servers have external
PSCs and are part of the same SSO Domain. If they are
not part of the same SSO Domain there is no currently
supported method to combine, merge, or move PSCs
and vCenter Servers between SSO Domains. In vSphere
6.5, Enhanced Linked Mode requires external PSCs so,
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UPGRADING TO VMWARE v SPHERE 6.5
even if all of the components are within the same SSO
Domains, you will need to reconfigure your topology to
use external PSCs in the case where you are using
embedded PSCs currently.
Q. Is there any way to change SSO domain in vSphere 6.5
after initial installation?
A. Unfortunately no. If you need to change your SSO domain,
you must do it in vSphere 5.5 before you upgrade (also
not possible in vSphere 6.0).
Q. If we want to move vCenter Server from embedded to
external SSO what is the best path?
A. We recommend you perform your upgrade to the
vCenter Server Appliance using the Migration Wizard
and then perform the reconfiguration to an external PSC
post-upgrade. More information can be found in the
documentation.
Q. What happens if the PSC is down? What functionality
do you lose?
A. If a PSC is down or not functioning, any vCenter Server
instance that is registered to that specific PSC will become
unavailable. Since the PSC handles all authentication, logins
will fail to those vCenter Servers. Other vCenter Servers in
the SSO Domain who use other PSCs will be unaffected.
Q. Does the embedded backup tool for the PSC and
vCenter Server also work for backing up VMs to a
remote file system?
A. No, the native backup & restore tool is only for the vCenter
Server and PSC appliances and does not back up any
other VMs. You should continue to use your existing
backup tools to backup your VMs.
vCenter Server Appliance
Q. Is vCenter Server Appliance is a separate solution?
A. vCenter Server Appliance is an evolution of vCenter
Server to a Linux based appliance. It is not considered a
separate solution as much as it is an evolution of the
platform. You have the option to run vCenter Server on
Windows or as an appliance. The vCenter Server
Appliance has many advantages over its Windows-based
counterpart including new features and performance. It
is recommended that all customers begin adopting the
appliance model as soon as possible.
Q. Is there still a native client for Windows OS?
A. The legacy C# client is no longer shipping as of vSphere
6.5. We have shipped the new HTML5 vSphere Client
with vSphere 6.5 and are still rapidly developing
features. The latest features can be seen in the Fling
(https://labs.vmware.com/flings/vsphere-html5-web-
client) and those features will be included in future
updates for vCenter Server.
Q. Why should we use the vCenter Server Appliance on
vSphere 6.5 instead of Windows?
A. There are a number of features only available to
the appliance including: native VCHA, native backup
and restore, single click upgrade, and simplified
support models.
Q. Is there a path (i.e. KB) for moving from a single
vCenter Server 6.0 server on Windows to a vCenter
Server 6.5 appliance?
A. Yes. The vCenter Server Migration Wizard will directly
migrate an existing Windows vCenter Server v5.5 or v6 to
the appliance v6.5. This works regardless of the database
used on Windows or the PSC architecture.
Q. Is the HTML5 management easy to set up?
A. Yes, a fully supported version of the HTML5 client
was included with vSphere 6.5 when the upgrade
was completed. A link to access it can be found on
the homepace of your vCenter Server, for example,
https://vcenter.corp.local.
Q. Is it possible to perform Linux clustering in vCenter
Server?
A. vCenter Server Appliance provides native HA capabilities
so you do not have to worry about configuring Linux. See
https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2016/12/new-
walkthroughs-vcenter-high-availability.html
Q. We currently have VMware Horizon® View Composer
installed on our vCenter Server 6.0 Windows server.
What options are there when migrating to the vCenter
Server Appliance v6.5 other than reinstalling Horizon
View Composer on a new Windows servers?
A. Currently you have to move any Windows only
components like the View Composer to a separate
Windows server. After that you can use the migration
tool to upgrade from the Windows server to the v6.5
vCenter Server Appliance.
Q. Is there a vCenter Server 5.5 appliance migration to
vCenter Server 6.5 instead of a direct upgrade?
A. When you upgrade from vSphere 5.5 to vSphere 6.5, it is
a side-by-side upgrade. This means you deploy a new 6.5
vCenter Server Appliance and when the migration tool
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UPGRADING TO VMWARE v SPHERE 6.5
runs it copies data from the original vCenter Server
Appliance to the new 6.5 vCenter Server Appliance. Then
the original is shut down and the new vCenter Server
Appliance takes the identity of the original vCenter Server
Appliance including IP address, host name etc. Should
anything go wrong, the rollback is to power off and
destroy the new vCenter Server Appliance and power
back up the old one.
Q. Do we have vCenter Server 6.0 Windows with MSSQL
to Appliance 6.5 Converter?
A. The migration tool from 6.0 Windows vCenter Server to
6.5 vCenter Server Appliance is included as part of the
vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 ISO.
Q. Is there any way to migrate to vCenter Server appliance
with zero downtime?
A. No, there is not currently a way to have both the old and
new vCenter Servers online at the same time. In order to
ensure data integrity we must disable the vCenter Server
instance while transferring the configuration and database.
Q. What happens if you lose the active and passive nodes
in VCHA?
A. In this case you should restore from a backup then rebuild
VCHA using the GUI.
Q. If you lose the active and passive nodes of VCHA, can
you run on the witness node?
A. No, you cannot. Witness node does not contain a replica
of the data. Recovery can be done via the native backup
or via traditional methods.
Q. When using VCHA how many vCenter Server licenses
are required for the three machines?
A. A single vCenter Server Standard license is required for a
VCHA setup of three machines. vCenter Server Essentials
is not licensed to use VCHA.
Q. To allow VCHA to work does the passive node have to
be on a virtual standard switch in order to work during
a failure?
A. No. The passive node is a powered on virtual machine
connected to the allocated switch including distributed
switch. During a failure the passive node takes over the
active IP address on the already connected network
interface.
Q. Can the vCenter Server Appliance backups be
scheduled to run on a regular basis?
A. There is no scheduler today but you can easily script the
backup and use cron directly on the appliance or use
something external like PowerCLI and Windows Task
Scheduler or a third-party backup product to run the
backup job. The new backup and restore is also exposed
via the new RESTful API which makes it simple to
orchestrate with a number of products and tools.
Q. What happens if you lose your witness node or witness
and active nodes together?
A. VCHA is a majority node set cluster. If you lose any two of
the three appliances vCenter Server will go offline. If you
lose your witness node OR your passive node you simply
no longer have automated failover capabilities. Failover
can be forced with manual intervention, however, in this
degraded state.
Q. What is the advantage of having multiple vCenter
Servers? Why not have one vCenter Server with
multiple data centers?
A. This choice is completely up to the customer and
environment and depends on the goals and requirements.
Both options are possible. Common reasons for multiple
vCenter Servers are scalability, regulatory compliance,
and site distance.
Q. Is the VMware NSX® load balancer supported for VCHA?
A. Yes.
Q. Does the new vCenter Server Appliance do vMotion?
A. The vCenter Server Appliance supports all of VMware’s
rich feature set including vMotion.
Q. Does the migration tool migrate the vSAN 6.x
configuration and storage profiles to vCenter Server
Appliance 6.5?
A. Yes, the entire configuration and personality of the
vCenter Server is transferred.
Content Library
Q. Is there a way to use a customization when you clone
a VM in a content library?
A. Yes, this is a new feature added to Content Library in
vCenter Server 6.5.
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UPGRADING TO VMWARE v SPHERE 6.5

Q. Do templates in a Content Library subscriber appear as DRS

normal templates to that VC for use in scripts or other
automation tools? Q. Does VMware vRealize® Operations™ take CPU Ready
A. Not quite. When you sync with a content library, those into account with DRS?
scripts / ISOs VMs appear in your Content Library. You A. Yes. As of vSphere 6.0, vCenter Server takes CPU Ready
can then access them as templates or tools specifically into consideration for DRS: http://www.vmware.com/
from that content library. content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/
techpaper/vsphere6-drs-perf.pdf
Other Architectural Components
Security
Q. Can ESXi™ 5.0 Servers work with vCenter Server 6.5?
How about VDS Switches version 5.0? Q. Is there a hardening guide for vSphere 6.5?
A. No. The earliest version of ESXi interoperable with vCenter A. Yes, the Security Configuration Guide for vSphere 6.5 is
Server 6.5 is ESXi 5.5. Note: ESXi 5.0 is end of support as located at http://www.vmware.com/security/hardening-
of August 2016. guides.html.

Q. Does vSphere 6.5 support standard switches or just Q. Can you still encrypt VMs with third-party vendors?
distributed switches? A. Yes, those APIs are still available to those vendors.
A. vSphere 6.5 supports both Standard and Distributed
Switches. Q. How does the VM encryption overhead scale as you
increase the number of VMs being encrypted?
Q. Are you able to export a Distributed Switch from A. The VM encryption leverages AES-NI (Advanced
vCenter Server 5.5 and import it into vCenter Server 6.5 Encryption Standard Instruction Set) if the underlying CPU
without any issues? supports it to offload encryption. The following
A. Unfortunately we do not support exporting/importing whitepaper provides more details: https://www.vmware.
vDS configurations across vCenter Server versions. com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/
techpaper/vm-encryption-vsphere65-perf.pdf.
Q. Can the vSphere upgrade or migration work with
distributed switches? Q. What KMS servers are supported?
A. Yes, it fully supported and there are no special steps. A. We support any KMIP 1.1 compliant key management server.

Availability Q. Where are the keys stored for VM encryption?

A. Encryption keys are stored in whatever KMIP 1.1 compliant
vMotion KMS you decide to deploy. The keys never persist in
vCenter Server and simply pass-through to the cluster
Q. A VM can be vMotioned across vCenter Servers. What hosting the workload. The actual key encrypting the VM is
about Storage vMotion? Does it work the same? stored encrypted using the KMIP key inside the vmx file.
A. Yes, since vSphere 6.0 we’ve been able to vMotion VMs Should you lose your vCenter Server, you would simply
across both compute and storage. re-connect with your KMS infrastructure.

Q. Is VMware NSX® mandatory for Cross vCenter Server Q. Does the upgrade from vSphere 6.0 to vSphere 6.5
migration? keep your root certificate store?
A. No, you can perform cross vCenter Server live migrations A. Yes it does - the upgrade does not affect your
without NSX. certificate store.

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