Mike Laverick published a notable 108-pages whitepaper for advanced users on how to perform an upgrade from ESX Server 2.x / VirtualCenter 1.x to new Virtual Infrastructure 3:
This guide is designed for people who already know ESX 2.x and VC 1.x very well.
It based on the “delta” two-day training that can be optionally attended for those people with prior experience. It also contains additional information beyond that course. This guide is certainly NOT for novices or new-users!
Although I’ve chosen to call this an upgrade guide, it’s by no means a definitive statement on upgrading. For that you need to read VMware documentation. I also view this guide as upgrade of skills as well as software.
It is not a comprehensive guide to ALL the differences – just the primary ones. I hope to make this guide gradually more comprehensive, and cover all new features. As you might gather there’s a lot marginal GUI like changes which are not included…
Even if it’s based on beta and RC builds no books are yet available on the topic so it’s the best resource out there right now.
Download it here.
Update: The guide has been updated to reflect VMware product final releases and has been expanded in several areas.