Upgrading VMware Aria Automation to 8.14.1

In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x vRA appliance to 8.14.1. As a pre requirement we do need to have VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.14. Instructions can be found here. The upgrade does not include the latest PSPACK that contains the 8.14.1 VMware Aria Automation release. Instructions to get the PSPACK can be found on my other blog post here.

To get started we can go to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> Binary Mapping. (If you haven’t added your My VMware credentials you will need to do that first by going to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> My VMware)

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Select My VMware and click on Discover

We can see a list of binaries that have been discovered. We can select what we need and click on Add

This will create a request and start downloading the package. To view the progress we can click on the Click Here hyperlink

Click on the in Progress button to view the details

We now have to wait for the download to complete

After the download is complete we can go to Environments -> View Details on the environment that includes vRA

Click on Upgrade

An Inventory sync is recommended if the environment has changed since LCM performed the last sync. We trigger the sync from the UI or click on Proceed to continue

Select product Version 8.14.1 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

A new feature that was added was the capability to automatically create a snapshot prior to the upgrade and remove it after the upgrade. On this screen we also have the ability to chose if we want to keep the snapshots post upgrade for validation testing for example. Click next

Run the Precheck to make sure there are no errors

The next screen remind us of hardware requirements for vRA and vIDM which can be checked here for vRA and vIDM which can be checked here. As far as i can tell they haven’t changed since the 8.3 release. Check the I took care of the manual steps above and am ready to proceed check mark and click on Run Precheck

Once the check is complete we can review the checks that were performed and we can continue by clicking Next.

Review the upgrade details and click on Next. We are taken to the progress screen where we can follow the progress.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up we will be on 8.14.1

Since we are doing a major upgrade i strongly recommend to clean the cache before using the new vRA version.

Upgrading Aria Operations for Logs to 8.14.1 via VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle

In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x vRLI appliance to Aria Operations for Logs 8.14.1 using VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle. As a pre requirement we do need to have VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.14. Instructions can be found here. The upgrade does not include the latest PSPACK that contains the 8.14.1 Aria Automation Config release. Instructions to get the PSPACK can be found on my other blog post here.

To get started we can go to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> Binary Mapping. (If you haven’t added your My VMware credentials you will need to do that first by going to vRealize Lifecycle Manager -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> My VMware)

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Select My VMware and click on Discover

We can see a list of binaries that have been discovered. Make sure we select the upgrade package not the install package. We can select what we need and click on Add

This will create a request and start downloading the package. To view the progress we can click on the Click Here hyperlink

Click on the in Progress button to view the details

We now have to wait for the download to complete

After the download is complete we can go to Environments -> View Details on the environment that includes Logs

Click on Upgrade

An Inventory sync is recommended if the environment has changed since LCM performed the last sync. We trigger the sync from the UI or click on Proceed to continue

Select product Version 8.14.1 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

A new feature that was added was the capability to automatically create a snapshot prior to the upgrade and remove it after the upgrade. On this screen we also have the ability to chose if we want to keep the snapshots post upgrade for validation testing for example. Click next

Run the Precheck to make sure there are no errors or issues.

Once the check is complete we can review the checks that were performed and we can continue by clicking Next.

Review the upgrade details and click on Next then Finish. We are taken to the progress screen where we can follow the progress.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up we will be on 8.14.1

Since we are doing a major upgrade i strongly recommend to clean the cache before using the new Aria Operations for Logs version.

Upgrading VMware Aria Automation Config to 8.14.1

In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x SSC appliance to 8.14.1. As a pre requirement we do need to have VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.14. Instructions can be found here. The upgrade does not include the latest PSPACK that contains the 8.14.1 Aria Automation Config release. Instructions to get the PSPACK can be found on my other blog post here.

To get started we can go to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> Binary Mapping. (If you haven’t added your My VMware credentials you will need to do that first by going to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> My VMware)

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Select My VMware and click on Discover

We can see a list of binaries that have been discovered. We can select what we need and click on Add

This will create a request and start downloading the package. To view the progress we can click on the Click Here hyperlink

Click on the in Progress button to view the details

We now have to wait for the download to complete

After the download is complete we can go to Environments -> View Details on the environment that includes the VMware Aria Automation Config

Under VMware Automation Config tab Click on Upgrade

An Inventory sync is recommended if the environment has changed since Aria Suite Lifecycle performed the last sync. We trigger the sync from the UI or click on Proceed to continue

Select product Version 8.14.1 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

We can automatically create and delete a snapshot part of the upgrade process

Run the Precheck to make sure there are no errors

Once the check is complete, click on Next. Review the upgrade details and click on Next. We are taken to the progress screen where we can follow the progress.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up we will be on 8.14.1

Here are a few additional blogs that might be useful post upgrade:

Error Code: LCMVSSC10018

SSC 8.8 sseapi_rpc_queue: could not connect to SSE server

SSC 8.8 urllib3 (1.25.11) or chardet (4.0.0) doesn’t match a supported version

Authentication failed: no Authorization header

VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle Product Support Pack (PSPAK) Upgrade

In this guide i will go over the steps of getting an existing 8.x VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle (formerly vRSLCM vRealize Lifecycle Manager) appliance to support the latest product releases available. Here is a great blog that goes in to the details about what the Product Support Pack is https://blogs.vmware.com/management/2019/01/vrslcm-pspak.html. Typically the newer Product Support Pack is included part of the upgrade for LCM, however sometimes there are product releases in between releases where product support packs come in handy.

The first step is to log in to vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager under the Lifecycle Operations section

Go to settings -> Product Support Pack

We can see that i recently upgraded to 8.14.0.0 however a new update is available 8.14.0.3. Based on what we can see in the details the new support pack adds support for the Aria 8.14.1 products. If an update is not available click on the Check Support Packs Online button and refresh the screen within a few minutes

Click on Apply Version

Verify that a snapshot or a backup exists and click Submit

We can view the progress by clicking on the Click Here link after submitting the request

Once the process is complete the system will most likely reboot. To check the status we can go back to settings -> Product Support Pack. As we can see we are now at the updated patch level

If you get the below error clear the browser cache and try again

Upgrading VMware Aria Automation to 8.14

In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x vRA appliance to 8.14. As a pre requirement we do need to have VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.14. Instructions can be found here. The upgrade already includes the latest Product Support Pack so an update to the Product Support Pack is not required.

To get started we can go to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> Binary Mapping. (If you haven’t added your My VMware credentials you will need to do that first by going to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> My VMware)

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Select My VMware and click on Discover

We can see a list of binaries that have been discovered. We can select what we need and click on Add

This will create a request and start downloading the package. To view the progress we can click on the Click Here hyperlink

Click on the in Progress button to view the details

We now have to wait for the download to complete

After the download is complete we can go to Environments -> View Details on the environment that includes vRA

Click on Upgrade

An Inventory sync is recommended if the environment has changed since LCM performed the last sync. We trigger the sync from the UI or click on Proceed to continue

Select product Version 8.14 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

A new feature that was added was the capability to automatically create a snapshot prior to the upgrade and remove it after the upgrade. On this screen we also have the ability to chose if we want to keep the snapshots post upgrade for validation testing for example. Click next

Run the Precheck to make sure there are no errors

The next screen remind us of hardware requirements for vRA and vIDM which can be checked here for vRA and vIDM which can be checked here. As far as i can tell they haven’t changed since the 8.3 release. Check the I took care of the manual steps above and am ready to proceed check mark and click on Run Precheck

Once the check is complete we can review the checks that were performed and we can continue by clicking Next.

Review the upgrade details and click on Next. We are taken to the progress screen where we can follow the progress.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up we will be on 8.14

Since we are doing a major upgrade i strongly recommend to clean the cache before using the new vRA version.

Upgrading VMware Aria Automation Config to 8.14

In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x SSC appliance to 8.14. As a pre requirement we do need to have VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.14. Instructions can be found here. The upgrade already includes the latest Product Support Pack so an update to the Product Support Pack is not required.

To get started we can go to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> Binary Mapping. (If you haven’t added your My VMware credentials you will need to do that first by going to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> My VMware)

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Select My VMware and click on Discover

We can see a list of binaries that have been discovered. We can select what we need and click on Add

This will create a request and start downloading the package. To view the progress we can click on the Click Here hyperlink

Click on the in Progress button to view the details

We now have to wait for the download to complete

After the download is complete we can go to Environments -> View Details on the environment that includes the VMware Aria Automation Config

Under VMware Automation Config tab Click on Upgrade

An Inventory sync is recommended if the environment has changed since Aria Suite Lifecycle performed the last sync. We trigger the sync from the UI or click on Proceed to continue

Select product Version 8.14 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

We can automatically create and delete a snapshot part of the upgrade process

Run the Precheck to make sure there are no errors

Once the check is complete, click on Next. Review the upgrade details and click on Next. We are taken to the progress screen where we can follow the progress.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up we will be on 8.14

Here are a few additional blogs that might be useful post upgrade:

Error Code: LCMVSSC10018

SSC 8.8 sseapi_rpc_queue: could not connect to SSE server

SSC 8.8 urllib3 (1.25.11) or chardet (4.0.0) doesn’t match a supported version

Authentication failed: no Authorization header

Upgrading VMware Aria Operations to 8.14 via VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle

In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x vROPS appliance to 8.14 using VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle. As a pre requirement we do need to have vRSLCM (vRealize Lifecycle Manager) upgraded to 8.14 Instructions can be found here. The upgrade already includes the latest Product Support Pack so an update to the Product Support Pack is not required.

To get started we can go to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> Binary Mapping. (If you haven’t added your My VMware credentials you will need to do that first by going to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> My VMware)

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Select My VMware and click on Discover

We can see a list of binaries that have been discovered. Make sure we select the upgrade package not the install package. We can select what we need and click on Add

This will create a request and start downloading the package. To view the progress we can click on the Click Here hyperlink

Click on the in Progress button to view the details

We now have to wait for the download to complete

After the download is complete we can go to Environments -> View Details on the environment that includes VMware Aria Operations

Click on Upgrade

An Inventory sync is recommended if the environment has changed since LCM performed the last sync. We trigger the sync from the UI or click on Proceed to continue

Select product Version 8.14 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

Run the Upgrade Assessment tool to make sure the currently used dashboards, reports, metrics etc are still compatible with the new version

Once the report has finished running we can either Download or view the report. Once everything has been reviewing we can click on the I have viewed the report and agree to proceed box and click next to proceed to the next step.

A new feature that was added was the capability to automatically create a snapshot prior to the upgrade and remove it after the upgrade. On this screen we also have the ability to chose if we want to keep the snapshots post upgrade for validation testing for example. Click next

Run the Precheck to make sure there are no errors or issues.

Once the check is complete we can review the checks that were performed and we can continue by clicking Next.

Review the upgrade details and click on Next and the Submit. We are taken to the progress screen where we can follow the progress.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up we will be on 8.14

Since we are doing a major upgrade i strongly recommend to clean the cache before using the new VMware Aria Operations environment.

Upgrading Aria Operations for Logs to 8.14 via VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle

In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x vRLI appliance to Aria Operations for Logs 8.14 using VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle. As a pre requirement we do need to have VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.14. Instructions can be found here. The upgrade already includes the latest Product Support Pack so an update to the Product Support Pack is not required.

To get started we can go to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> Binary Mapping. (If you haven’t added your My VMware credentials you will need to do that first by going to vRealize Lifecycle Manager -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> My VMware)

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Select My VMware and click on Discover

We can see a list of binaries that have been discovered. Make sure we select the upgrade package not the install package. We can select what we need and click on Add

This will create a request and start downloading the package. To view the progress we can click on the Click Here hyperlink

Click on the in Progress button to view the details

We now have to wait for the download to complete

After the download is complete we can go to Environments -> View Details on the environment that includes Logs

Click on Upgrade

An Inventory sync is recommended if the environment has changed since LCM performed the last sync. We trigger the sync from the UI or click on Proceed to continue

Select product Version 8.14 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

A new feature that was added was the capability to automatically create a snapshot prior to the upgrade and remove it after the upgrade. On this screen we also have the ability to chose if we want to keep the snapshots post upgrade for validation testing for example. Click next

Run the Precheck to make sure there are no errors or issues.

Once the check is complete we can review the checks that were performed and we can continue by clicking Next.

Review the upgrade details and click on Next then Finish. We are taken to the progress screen where we can follow the progress.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up we will be on 8.14

Since we are doing a major upgrade i strongly recommend to clean the cache before using the new Aria Operations for Logs version.

Upgrading VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle to 8.14

In this guide i will go over the steps of getting an existing 8.x vRSLCM appliance upgraded to the latest 8.14 release. The release notes can be found here. We can upgrade from vRealize Lifecycle Manager to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle.

The first step is to log in to vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager under the Lifecycle Operations section

Go to settings -> System Upgrade

Click on Check for Upgrade

We can see that the check found a new version available for 8.14

Click on Upgrade

Verify that a snapshot or backup exists in case the process fails. Check the check mark for I took a snapshot of the vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager before I performed this operation. Click Next

Click on Run Precheck

Verify that all check have passed and click on upgrade

This will fire up the upgrade process and start upgrading packages. The system will automatically reboot on 8.14 once completed. We can check the version by going to Settings -> System Details

If you get the below error clear the browser cache and try again

Replacing the idps reporting Corfu certificate in NSX

In this blog we will go over replacing the idps reporting Corfu certificate in NSX Corfu certificate in NSX. In this example I will be using the UI to generate the self signed certificate and then an API call to replace the certificate.

In my case the cluster manager Corfu certificate has already expired

In the top menu bar I went to Generate -> Generate Self Signed Certificate

Next I had to grab the new certificate ID

The next step is to replace the old certificate with the new certificate via an API call. For this I used Postman but any other tool could potentially be used.

The URL for the post call would go against https://nsx-vip-01a.corp.local/api/v1/trust-management/certificates/cert_id?action=apply_certificate&service_type=CBM_IDPS_REPORTING&node_id=node_id

The node ID can be found under Appliances -> View details on node, the value to the right for UUID ex

For authentication I used basic, per best practices we should be using a token.

For headers had to add Content-Type application\json ex

In the body I picket raw and added the following in

{ "cert_id": "0cc2f4f0-f409-4849-bf01-cfe454349a12",
"service_type": "CBM_IDPS_REPORTING" }

The cert ID is from the certificate I generated earlier. ex

Once I clicked send I was presented back with a 200 OK

Going in the web browser I can also see that the new certificate is now used and the old one doesn’t have anything assigned to it ex

The final step I did was removing the old certificate by clicking on the 3 dots to left and picking delete from the menu