Prepare Managed ESXi Hosts for Migration

You must prepare the ESXi hosts managed by your vCenter Server installation before migrating it from Windows to vCenter Server 7.0.

Prerequisites

To migrate vCenter Server or an external Platform Services Controller from Windows to vCenter Server 7.0, your source and target ESXi hosts must meet the migration requirements.

• ESXi hosts must be at version 6.5 or greater. For information on ESXi compatibility, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.
• ESXi hosts must not be in lockdown or maintenance mode.

Procedure

1. To keep your current SSL certificates, back up the SSL certificates that are on the vCenter Server system before you upgrade to vCenter Server 7.0.
   The default location of the SSL certificates is %allusersprofile%\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter.
2. If you have Custom or Thumbprint certificates, see Host Upgrades and Certificates to determine your preparatory steps.
3. If you have vSphere HA clusters, SSL certificate checking must be enabled.
   If you have vSphere HA clusters, SSL certificate checking must be enabled.
   1. Select the vCenter Server instance in the vSphere Client inventory tree.
   2. Select the Manage tab and the General subtab.
   3. Verify that vCenter Server requires verified host SSL certificates is selected.

Results

Your ESXi hosts are ready for migration to the vCenter Server appliance.