It has been over five years since the release of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.0. In just under 3 months (September 30) it will hit the end of it's support lifecycle, and we will retire the 3.x version. At that same time, Red Hat Virtualization 4.0 will have been out for 13 months, and 4.1 for 5 months.

If you have not yet started the upgrade plan and process from version 3 to version 4, now is the time.

To be clear, on October 1 2017, the only supported version of Red Hat Virtualization will be versions 4.0 and 4.1. We want this to be as smooth of a transition as possible. As such, there are several resources available to assist with the upgrade process:

• RHEV Upgrade Helper - This is a workflow based tool. After logging into the customer portal, simply follow the questions about your particular deployment of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization. These particulars include items like version, whether or not you used RHEL hosts or RHEV-H, whether or not you use Hosted Engine, etc. In turn, it will provide you with articles, known issues, and a recommended list of steps to follow for your upgrade
  • https://access.redhat.com/labsinfo/rhevupgradehelper
  • https://access.redhat.com/blogs/759303/posts/968293
• Official Documentation - Do not overlook the official upgrade documentation. Chapter 3 of the 4.0 upgrade guide specifically covers the details of upgrading from RHEV 3.x to 4.0. Read through the documentation before and during the upgrade process.
  
  • https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_virtualization/4.0/html/upgrade_guide/
  • https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_virtualization/4.1/html/upgrade_guide/
• Red Hat Support - Utilize support proactively! Let them know that you’re going to be upgrading and include them in your plans and activities. This means opening tickets before things break. Give them information on where you are and where you want to be in regards to your virtualization environment.
  • Involve Red Hat support in the upgrade plans and architectural reviews
  • Open proactive support cases
  • Include the output from the RHEV Upgrade Helper Tool
• Red Hat Consulting - If the shear size of your environment is holding you back or you simply need assistance in scoping the endeavor and creating the plan, involve Red Hat Consulting. They will assess the entire virtualization environment and provide a plan of action. If you need them to implement that plan, they can perform that as well.

On the other side of the upgrade effort to Red Hat Virtualization 4, there are well over 500 new features and updates including:

• Built completely on RHEL 7
• Cockpit Host Administration Console
• Next Generation Host
• Advanced Live Migration Policies
• On Demand vCPU and Memory
• Ansible Integration
• And much more

If you'd like more information on the retirement or the benefits of upgrading, I provided a webinar in June that is now available on demand for viewing.

Again, if you haven’t started the upgrade process to get from RHEV 3 to RHV 4, the time is now. If you need assistance, please reach out to your Red Hat account team and Red Hat support. We want to help.

Jon Benedict