This is a followup to my original posting.
Okay, it sounds like what I want to do is feasible. Now, I'm thinking about what exactly to do after I have installed the new Virtual Center Server.
I have four ESX4.1 hosts, that all share some fibre-channel storage. Can I simply disconnect each one from Vcenter 4, and connect it to Vcenter 5? I hope that leaves all the virtual machines running, and that NOTHING gets hurt. That is, all my ESX networking and storage is left 100% intact.
Am I right in thinking that?
Assuming I am right, let's continue: After I move the first ESX 4.1 server to the new Vcenter, that host will see all the storage and therefore all the VMs on that storage. Will I see all the VMs on Vcenter 5, even though only SOME of them are running on the host I just moved over?
Still assuming all is well, I could then move the hosts over to Vcenter 5 one at a time, at whatever pace I wanted, right? And then when they're all on Vcenter 5, shutdown the old Vcenter4, and start upgrading the hosts to ESXi 5.1
Am I on the right track here? I want to be really sure that nothing gets hurt in this process.