Upgrade options for vCenter Server on Windows depend on your existing deployment type and version.
You can upgrade the following deployments:
Before Upgrade | After Upgrade |
---|---|
vCenter Server 5.5 with an embedded vCenter Single Sign-On on Windows | vCenter Server 6.5 with an embedded Platform Services Controller on Windows |
vCenter Server 6.0 with an embedded Platform Services Controller instance on Windows | |
vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 on Windows | Platform Services Controller 6.5 on Windows |
Platform Services Controller 6.0 on Windows | |
vCenter Server 5.5 on Windows | vCenter Server 6.5 on Windows |
vCenter Server 6.0 on Windows |
For upgrade steps for a vCenter Server 5.5 deployment, see Upgrading vCenter Server 5.5 on Windows. For upgrade steps for a vCenter Server 5.5 deployment, see Upgrading vCenter Server 6.0 on Windows.
Important: You cannot change your deployment type during upgrade.
You cannot uninstall or reinstall individual services during the upgrade process. For example, vSphere Auto Deploy can no longer be deployed separately as it was in
vCenter Server 5.5. It is part of the
vCenter Server group of services for
vCenter Server 6.5. For details on upgrading from 5.5 with distributed services, see
Distributed vCenter Server 5.5 for Windows Services Relocation During Upgrade or Migration.
Note: Starting with vSphere 6.5, the
vCenter Server services are not standalone services under Windows SCM, instead they run as child processes of the VMware Service Lifecycle Manager service.