Planning Considerations for Upgrading to VMM in System Center 2012 SP1
Updated: May 13, 2016
Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager
The following are some important considerations when you are planning an upgrade to Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) in System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
Common Planning Considerations
| Item | Planning considerations |
|---|---|
| VMware ESX and certain versions of VMware vCenter Server | - If you upgrade with these hosts and their managed objects, they are removed from the VMM database. - If you do not want these hosts to be removed automatically, remove the hosts manually before upgrading. - For more information about which versions of VMware are supported, see System Requirements: VMware ESX Hosts in System Center 2012 and in System Center 2012 SP1. |
| Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) | - PRO configurations are not maintained during this upgrade. - If you have an existing connection to Operations Manager, the connection is removed during the upgrade process. - If you do not want the connection to be removed automatically, remove the connection manually before upgrading. - After the upgrade process completes, you can reconfigure your connection to Operations Manager. - For information about using Operations Manager with VMM, see Configuring Operations Manager Integration with VMM. |
| Library server | - If you want to use the library server in VMM for System Center 2012 SP1, click Cancel to exit the upgrade, and then move the library server to a computer that is running a supported operating system. - For information about VMM library server requirements, see System Requirements: VMM Library Server in System Center 2012 and in System Center 2012 SP1. |
| Service account | For more information, see Choosing Service Account and Distributed Key Management Settings During an Upgrade. |
| Distributed key management | For more information, see Choosing Service Account and Distributed Key Management Settings During an Upgrade. |
Highly Available Planning Considerations
The following are some important considerations when you are planning an upgrade to a highly available VMM management server.
| Item | Planning considerations |
|---|---|
| Failover cluster | - You must create and configure a failover cluster before upgrading. |
| VMM database | - We recommend that the VMM database reside on a highly available installation of Microsoft SQL Server. We also recommend that the highly available installation of SQL Server be installed on a separate failover cluster from the failover cluster on which you are installing the highly available VMM management server. - For information about moving a VMM database to another computer, see How to Move a VMM Database to Another Computer as Part of a VMM Upgrade. |
| Library server | - We recommend that the library server be installed on a highly available file server. - After you upgrade to a highly available VMM management server, we recommended that you relocate your VMM library to a highly available file server. - For more information about relocating your VMM library after the upgrade, see Relocating the VMM Library. |
| Service account | - You must configure the System Center Virtual Machine Manager service to use a domain account for a highly available VMM management server. - For more information, see Choosing Service Account and Distributed Key Management Settings During an Upgrade. |
| Distributed key management | - You must use distributed key management to store encryption keys in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) for a highly available VMM management server. - For more information, see Choosing Service Account and Distributed Key Management Settings During an Upgrade. |
For additional guidance for configuring a highly available VMM management server, see Installing a Highly Available VMM Management Server.
Note
VMM provides automatic rollback functionality if a failure occurs during the upgrade process. When a failure is detected during the upgrade, the upgrade automatically reverts to the original configuration.