Before you embark upon the journey of upgrading all of the various components of your vSphere infrastructure, it is essential to prepare and layout the effects of upgrading the components, which include accounting for any necessary downtime. So, where do we begin? The answer depends on the components/solutions in our environment and the effects of their compatibility once upgraded.
We start by using reference works such as the VMware Product Interoperability Matrices and VMware Compatibility Guides. The same applies to other products/solutions in our environment. For example, if we have a third-party backup solution, then it is critical to ensure that the backup solution is compatible with the version of vSphere we are upgrading to.
Another critical aspect is failure mitigation. What if the upgrade fails? It is essential to include...