Hello,
Been searching for documentation on how to physically replace/upgrade my host hardware. Currently have 2 ESXi hosts in our cluster, each with about 2 dozen guests. Some/many guests are business critical, and can not have their availability affected. I purchased some similar servers to use in a test lab to practice a transition, but am at a loss as to a perfect way to do it.
The client/my employer wants to, for one reason or another, have the replacement hardware have the same IP and hostname as the originals.
1) Is there a white paper or FAQ on best practices for replacing host hardware?
2) should it be as easy as doing a vicfg-cfgbackup backup on the original host and a vicfg-cfgbackup restore on the replacement host? If so, I am getting mismatch errors if the servers are not like for like.
3) I considered adding the replacement hardware to the cluster and moving VMs that way, but am maxed on my licenses.
Hardware info:
Original host hardware: HP Proliant DL360 G5's Dual Quadcore, +4 port gigaeth
Replacement hardware HP Proliant DL360 G6's Dual Hexacore, +4 port gigaeth
Thanks for your help. I am new to this and am trying to get up to speed quickly while maintaining service levels (hence why I setup the test lab). Your advice is appreciated,