Ensure that your Microsoft SQL Server database meets requirements, that you have the necessary credentials, and that you complete any necessary cleanup or other preparation before upgrading vCenter Server.

For information on setting database permissions, see Database Permission Requirements for vCenter Server and Use a Script to Create and Apply a Microsoft SQL Server Database Schema and Roles

To remove the DBO role and migrate all objects in the DBO schema to a custom schema, see the VMware knowledge base article at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1036331.

Microsoft SQL Server Express is no longer supported for vCenter Server 6.0. The vCenter Server 5.x embedded Microsoft SQL Server Express database is replaced with an embedded PostgreSQL database during the upgrade to vCenter Server 6.0. To upgrade without migrating to the PostgreSQL database, see the VMware knowledge base article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2109321.

To migrate the vCenter Server database from Microsoft SQL Express to Microsoft full SQL Server, see the VMware knowledge base article at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1028601.

Important: You cannot use use Integrate Windows for your authentication method if the vCenter Server service is running under the Microsoft Windows built-in system account.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have confirmed basic upgrade interoperability before preparing your Microsoft SQL Server database for upgrading vCenter Server. See vCenter Server for Windows Database Requirements and vCenter Server Appliance Database Requirements.

Verify that you have backed up your database. For information about backing up the vCenter Server database, see the Microsoft SQL Server documentation. For information about backing up the Inventory Service database, see the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.

Verify that you have set permissions correctly.

Procedure

  1. Verify that your database meets the upgrade requirements. If necessary, upgrade the database to a supported version.
  2. If your database server is not supported by vCenter Server, perform a database upgrade to a supported version or import your database into a supported version.
  3. If your existing database is Microsoft SQL Server, and you want to upgrade to a newly supported Microsoft SQL Server database, such as Microsoft SQL Server 2012, upgrade your Microsoft SQL Server database before upgrading vCenter Server.
    You do not need to install a new vCenter Server instance if your existing database is Microsoft SQL Server.

    For example, you can upgrade a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database to a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2-SP2, 2012, or 2014 database and then upgrade vCenter Server 5.0 or later to vCenter Server 6.0.

    When you migrate the database from Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2-SP2 or later, set the compatibility level of the database to 100.
  4. Verify that permissions are set correctly.
  5. Verify that passwords are current and not set to expire soon.
  6. Verify that JDK 1.6 or later is installed on the vCenter Server machine.
  7. Verify that the sqljdbc4.jar file is added to the CLASSPATH variable on the machine where vCenter Server is to be upgraded.
    If the sqljdbc4.jar file is not installed on your system, the vCenter Server installer installs it.
  8. Verify that your system database source name is using the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10 or 11 driver.
  9. If you choose to remove the DBO role and migrate all objects in the DBO schema to a custom schema, you must grant the required permissions.
    1. Grant the required permissions to the vCenter Server user in the vCenter Server database.
    2. Grant the required permissions to the user in the MSDB database.
  10. Locate the cleanup_orphaned_data_MSSQL.sql script in the ISO image and copy it to the Microsoft SQL server.
  11. Log in to your database.
    1. For Microsoft SQL Server Express, open a command prompt.
    2. For Microsoft SQL Server, log in to a Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio session as the vCenter Server database user.
  12. For Microsoft SQL Server Express, run the cleanup script.
    sqlcmd -E -S localhost\VIM_SQLEXP -d VIM_VCDB -i pathcleanup_orphaned_data_MSSQL.sql
  13. For Microsoft SQL Server, run the cleanup_orphaned_data_MSSQL.sql contents.
    Make sure that you are connected to the database used by vCenter Server.

    The cleanup script cleans any unnecessary data in your vCenter Server database.

  14. Make a full backup of the vCenter Server database and the vCenter Inventory Service database.

Results

Your database is prepared for the vCenter Server upgrade.