Browse Month

October 2021

vROPS 8.6 Administration – Where is it now?

During VMworld 2021 we announced vRealize Operations 8.6 which now provides allot of new features and capabilities. You can see an Whats New overview here as well as a feature walk through here.

I this blog we will be focusing specifically on the Administration menu and how it maps to the new 8.6 release. I covered the UI Navigation on my blog other here.

As you might be aware the Administration has now been redesigned to make it easier to navigate and find items. Lets jump in to it.

The first item on the list is Data Sources. To make it easier to get started the Data Sources can now be found on the home page as we get started. The accounts are now grouped together by account type ex: vCenter servers, AWS, Azure and so on. The Other Accounts sub-menu has been consolidated under the same menu. Because we combined the Cloud Accounts with Other Accounts we renamed the menu as Integrations.

The repository is now another tab under the Data Sources -> Integrations -> Repository

The Inventory menu has been moved under the Environment -> Inventory

The Policies have been moved to Configure -> Policies

The Access Control and Authentication Sources can now be found under the Administration menu

Custom Profiles has been renamed to Custom VM Profiles and it can be found under Configure -> Custom VM Profile

End Point Operations functionality is now included part of the telegraf agent via the cloud proxy and this menu item has been retired as its no longer in use.

The Group Types can now be found with the Custom Groups under Environment -> Custom Groups -> Group Types

Icons is considered an Administration item and it can be found under Administration -> Icons

Maintenance Schedules are considered a Non Administration Option that an non vROPS admin should be able to configure so its been relocated to the Configure sub menu

Configuration Files are locate under Configure -> Configuration Files

The object Relationships has been removed from the UI however it can be accessed by going directly to https://vrops_instance/ui/index.action#configure/object-relationships. The URL is the same for the SaaS as well as on premise

Optimizations Schedules has been moved under the Workload Optimization. It can be found by navigating to Optimize -> Workload Placement -> Optimization Schedules

Super Metrics are under Configure -> Super Metrics

Cost Settings are found under Configure -> Cost Settings

As described earlier in this post the Integrations have been combined with Other accounts and Other Accounts under Data Sources -> Integrations

Certificates, Cluster Management, Collector Groups and Collection Status have all been moved under Administration

The credentials have been consolidated under Data Sources -> Integrations -> Credentials

Global Settings, Licensing, Log Forwarding, Content Management can all be found under Administration

Outbound Settings are found now under Configure -> Alerts -> Outbound Settings

The rest of the items like Audit, Recent Tasks, Dynamic Thresholds, Logs, Redescribe, Cost Reference Database and Support Bundles can all be found under the administration menu

For more information visit us at https://www.vmware.com/products/vrealize-operations.html

vROPS 8.6 UI Navigation – Where is it now?

During VMworld 2021 we announced vRealize Operations 8.6 which provides a lot of new features and capabilities. You can see an Whats New overview here as well as a feature walk through here.

With the new UI release some of the content might not be where were used to find it in the previous versions. In this post we will navigate through some of the changes and point to “Where is it now”. I also covered the UI overview on my blog here

Lets jump in to it. As shown in the screenshot below in the old UI we used to have navigation items up top as well as on the side. Many of the menu options across the top were duplicated in the left-hand navigation menu and were consolidated in this release.

As we can see in the new UI we still have the 4 pillars that were used too however the top menu bar was removed in order to be more consistent with the rest of the products in our SaaS platform. The sidebar is also collapsible allowing us to use the space for other purposes.

The Home button can be easily be found as the first item in the menu

The Dashboards are now conveniently located under the Visualize menu. This allows us now to go directly to dashboards, views as well as reports.

The Alerts tab has been relocated under Troubleshooting. We can now easily navigate between different troubleshooting options like Alerts, the troubleshooting Workbench and log analysis all under the same menu.

The environment tab can be easily be spotted on the side menu. Once we click on it we will notice a number of additional items like the new Object Browser which allows us to navigate through the environment more easily as well as the older Inventory browser. Some of the other options that are included are the new Business Applications, the previously Applications, Custom Groups, Custom Datacenters as well as Cloud Zones

Lastly the Administration menu. The administration menu has been broken into 2 different menus. The first one is under Configure where we can make configuration changes for our monitoring options things like defining Policies, Alerts configuration, Super Metrics, Application Discovery, Application Monitoring, Cost Settings, Custom VM Profiles, Configuration Files as well as Maintenance Schedules

The second administration menu goes specifically in to overall product administration like Access Control, Certificates, Licensing, Collector Groups, Content Management, Orphaned Content, Global Settings, Icons, Audit, Recent Tasks, Dynamic Thresholds and Cost Calculation

Now that we have the top menu out of the way lets take a look at where the side Menu items are in the new UI.

The quick Start menu item is now our default Home page

The operations overview is now conveniently placed as another tab on the home screen

Workload optimization is now conveniently placed with other optimization items under the optimize menu and it has been renamed to Workload Placement

From a rightsizing perspective we can see that rightsizing is right under Workload Placement in the Optimize sub menu and it has been renamed to Rightsize

The Recommended Actions menu item has been deprecated however i did create the menu item as a dashboard and it can be downloaded from the Sample Exchange on code.vmware.com or by clicking here

The Optimize Capacity Overview page can be found under Capacity in the Optimize Menu

The Reclaim menu can be found under the Optimize Menu

What-If Analysis has been renamed as Capacity and it can be found under the Plan Menu

We can find the Troubleshooting Workbench under the Troubleshoot menu

The Virtual Machine menu was pointing to the VM Contention Dashboard which can now be found under Visualize -> All -> Performance -> Consumer -> VM Contention. The Dashboard can also be found by performing a search in the dashboard menu

The vSAN menu was pointing to the vSAN Contention Dashboard which can now be found under Visualize -> All -> Performance -> Provider -> vSAN Contention. The Dashboard can also be found by performing a search in the dashboard menu

Using Logs can now be found under Troubleshoot -> Log Analysis

The compliance menu has been moved under Optimize -> Compliance

Discover Services has been renamed to Application Discovery and it can be found under Configure -> Application Discovery

Monitor Applications was renamed to Application Monitoring and it can be found under the Configure menu

Automation Central can still be found as a separate item on the side menu

For more information visit us at https://www.vmware.com/products/vrealize-operations.html

Upgrading vRNI (vRealize Network Insight) to 6.4.0 via vRSLCM

In this post i will go over upgrading my 6.x vRNI appliance to 6.4.0 using vRSLCM (vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager). As a pre requirement we do need to have vRSLCM (vRealize Lifecycle Manager) upgraded to 8.6. 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 vRealize Lifecycle Manager -> 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 vRLI

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 6.4.0 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. 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 6.4

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

Upgrading vIDM (VMware Identity Manager ) to 3.3.5 via vRSLCM

In this post i will go over upgrading my 3.3.3 vIDM appliance to 3.3.5 using vRSLCM (vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager). If you want to upgrade to LCM 8.6 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 vRealize Lifecycle Manager -> 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 vIDM

Click on Upgrade

An Inventory sync is required when performing vIDM upgrades. We trigger the sync from the UI and click on Proceed once completed to continue

Select product Version 3.3.5 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.

There`s a list of Manual Validations. Once verified click on I took care of the manual steps above and am ready to proceed check box 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 3.3.5

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

Upgrading vRLI (vRealize Log Insight) to 8.6 via vRSLCM

In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x vRLI appliance to 8.6 using vRSLCM (vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager). As a pre requirement we do need to have vRSLCM (vRealize Lifecycle Manager) upgraded to 8.6. 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 vRealize Lifecycle Manager -> 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 vRLI

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 8.6.0 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. 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 8.6

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

Downgrading the ESXi version to a different build

During one of the recent upgrades in my VCF environment i accidentally upgraded the ESXi 7.x build number to a later build that was not in the validated design which caused all kinds of issues and errors in my sddc manager. In order to address this i wanted to see i could actually downgrade the packages to a lower build number. It goes without saying that this procedure should not be done in a production environment and you should contact VMware customer support for an supported downgrade method. We will be working in the ESXi cli on this guide

The following command brings all of the version currently available in the depot

esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

I was specifically looking for build 18426014 so i leveraged grep to get the proper version

esxcli software sources profile list -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml | grep 18426014

The command above returned 2 versions for me. One with VMware tools and one without

ESXi-7.0U2c-18426014-standard     VMware, Inc.  PartnerSupported  2021-08-24T00:00:00  2021-08-24T00:00:00
ESXi-7.0U2c-18426014-no-tools     VMware, Inc.  PartnerSupported  2021-08-24T00:00:00  2021-08-04T11:40:25

We are specifically interested in the first part of each line 

ESXi-7.0U2c-18426014-standard and ESXi-7.0U2c-18426014-no-tools

First i tried to install it using 

esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0U2c-18426014-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

However that only works if were actually upgrading to a later build. In order to downgrade i found an option –allow-downgrades that allows us to install a lower build. In the end i ended up with 

esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0U2c-18426014-standard -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml --allow-downgrades

This actually installed the lower versions of the packages associated with that build number and removed the later packages. The output in my case was

Update Result
   Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
   Reboot Required: true
   VIBs Installed: VMware_bootbank_clusterstore_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_cpu-microcode_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_crx_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_esx-base_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_esx-dvfilter-generic-fastpath_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_esx-update_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_esx-xserver_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_gc_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_loadesx_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_native-misc-drivers_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_vdfs_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_vsan_7.0.2-0.20.18426014, VMware_bootbank_vsanhealth_7.0.2-0.20.18426014
   VIBs Removed: VMware_bootbank_clusterstore_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_cpu-microcode_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_crx_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_esx-base_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_esx-dvfilter-generic-fastpath_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_esx-update_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_esx-xserver_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_gc_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_loadesx_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_native-misc-drivers_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_vdfs_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_vsan_7.0.2-0.25.18538813, VMware_bootbank_vsanhealth_7.0.2-0.25.18538813
   VIBs Skipped: VMW_bootbank_atlantic_1.0.3.0-8vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_bnxtnet_216.0.50.0-34vmw.702.0.20.18426014, VMW_bootbank_bnxtroce_216.0.58.0-20vmw.702.0.20.18426014, VMW_bootbank_brcmfcoe_12.0.1500.1-2vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_brcmnvmefc_12.8.298.1-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_elxiscsi_12.0.1200.0-8vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_elxnet_12.0.1250.0-5vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_i40enu_1.8.1.137-1vmw.702.0.20.18426014, VMW_bootbank_iavmd_2.0.0.1152-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_icen_1.0.0.10-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_igbn_1.4.11.2-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_irdman_1.3.1.19-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_iser_1.1.0.1-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_ixgben_1.7.1.35-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_lpfc_12.8.298.3-2vmw.702.0.20.18426014, VMW_bootbank_lpnic_11.4.62.0-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_lsi-mr3_7.716.03.00-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_lsi-msgpt2_20.00.06.00-3vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_lsi-msgpt35_17.00.02.00-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_lsi-msgpt3_17.00.10.00-2vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_mtip32xx-native_3.9.8-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_ne1000_0.8.4-11vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nenic_1.0.33.0-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nfnic_4.0.0.63-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nhpsa_70.0051.0.100-2vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nmlx4-core_3.19.16.8-2vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nmlx4-en_3.19.16.8-2vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nmlx4-rdma_3.19.16.8-2vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nmlx5-core_4.19.16.10-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nmlx5-rdma_4.19.16.10-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_ntg3_4.1.5.0-0vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nvme-pcie_1.2.3.11-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nvmerdma_1.0.2.1-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nvmxnet3-ens_2.0.0.22-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_nvmxnet3_2.0.0.30-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_pvscsi_0.1-2vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_qcnic_1.0.15.0-11vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_qedentv_3.40.5.53-20vmw.702.0.20.18426014, VMW_bootbank_qedrntv_3.40.5.53-17vmw.702.0.20.18426014, VMW_bootbank_qfle3_1.0.67.0-14vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_qfle3f_1.0.51.0-19vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_qfle3i_1.0.15.0-12vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_qflge_1.1.0.11-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_rste_2.0.2.0088-7vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_sfvmk_2.4.0.2010-4vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_smartpqi_70.4000.0.100-6vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_vmkata_0.1-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_vmkfcoe_1.0.0.2-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMW_bootbank_vmkusb_0.1-4vmw.702.0.20.18426014, VMW_bootbank_vmw-ahci_2.0.9-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_elx-esx-libelxima.so_12.0.1200.0-4vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_esx-ui_1.34.8-17417756, VMware_bootbank_lsuv2-hpv2-hpsa-plugin_1.0.0-3vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_lsuv2-intelv2-nvme-vmd-plugin_2.0.0-2vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_lsuv2-lsiv2-drivers-plugin_1.0.0-5vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_lsuv2-nvme-pcie-plugin_1.0.0-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_lsuv2-oem-dell-plugin_1.0.0-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_lsuv2-oem-hp-plugin_1.0.0-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_lsuv2-oem-lenovo-plugin_1.0.0-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_lsuv2-smartpqiv2-plugin_1.0.0-6vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_qlnativefc_4.1.14.0-5vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_bootbank_vmware-esx-esxcli-nvme-plugin_1.2.0.42-1vmw.702.0.0.17867351, VMware_locker_tools-light_11.2.6.17901274-18295176

And with that all i had to do was reboot the server and it came back at the version i needed.

Upgrading vROPS (vRealize Operations Manager) to 8.6 via the .pak file

In this guide we will go over upgrading vROPS (vRealize Operations Manager) to the latest 8.6 releases using the .pak file. If you you vRSLCM (vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager) i would strongly recommend upgrading using the vRSLCM method found here as it does additional checks of the environment like compatibility with the rest of the vRealize Products we might have installed. The release notes for vROPS 8.6 can be found here

To get started we need to download the .pak file from the new customerconnect portal (previously known as my vmware). The direct link to the product download page can be found here. Make sure we have 8.6 selected under the Select Version and click on any of the Go To Downloads links

Once were at the Product Download Page we can download the .pak file under vRealize Operations Manager – Virtual Appliance upgrade .pak file with Cloud Proxy. I also strongly recommend to download the vRealize Operations 8.6.0 – Upgrade Assessment Tool in order to make sure that everything is in order to get a successful upgrade. The Upgrade assessment tool checks for a number of items like dashboards, views, reports etc which can be impacted by metric changes (if any), however it is optional.

Once we click on the download link if were not logged on we will get asked for the login information. This login information is the same as the login to open tickets. Accept the EULA and the download should start

Once we have the downloads completed we can go to https://vrops_url/admin and log in with the admin username\password. Make sure the System Status shows Online and everything is running.

On the left side menu click on Software Update -> Install a software update button

Next we can upload the Upgrade assessment tool in order to run the upgrade assessment (optional) by clicking browse -> select the downloaded .pak file in my case APUAT-8.6.0.18696447.pak and click on Upload

The upload button will stage the package on the vROPS server. We can review the details and click on Next

Accept the terms of agreement and click Next

Review the important notes and click Next

Click Install

We can now follow the installation progress

Once the install is complete we will see the status as completed.

Next lets go and review the tool`s output by going to Support -> Support bundles -> Select the bundle that was just generated and click on the download button

Extract the content of the zip file and go to the apuat-data\report folder and open the index.html. Here we can review Removed\Discontinued Metrics, Dashboards that might be effected as well as a number of system validation checks.

If everything looks good we can return to the admin UI and upload the product upgrade package under Software Update -> Install a software update -> Brose to the downloaded .pak file -> Click on Upload to stage the package -> Click on Next. Follow the rest of the screens till we click submit.

Once the the system is finished the server will get rebooted on the new 8.6 version

Upgrading vROPS (vRealize Operations Manager) to 8.6 via vRSLCM

In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x vROPS appliance to 8.6 using vRSLCM (vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager). As a pre requirement we do need to have vRSLCM (vRealize Lifecycle Manager) upgraded to 8.6. 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 vRealize Lifecycle Manager -> 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 vROPS

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 8.6.0 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. 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 8.6

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

Upgrading vRA (vRealize Automation) to 8.6

In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x vRA appliance to 8.6. As a pre requirement we do need to have vRSLCM (vRealize Lifecycle Manager) upgraded to 8.6. 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 vRealize Lifecycle Manager -> 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. 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 8.6.0 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

Anew 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 8.6

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

Skip-Level Upgrading VCF 4.1.0.1 to 4.3.1.0 Step by Step

With the release of of VCF 4.3.1 i wanted to get my lab upgraded. The release blog can be found here and the release notes are here

In order to get to 4.3.1.0 in the past we had to upgrade to each version incrementally. As per the documentation found here we can now upgrade from any release past 4.1.0.1 directly to 4.3.1 skipping the releases in between. We can do so by going to Repository -> Bundle management -> Download now. Download the Configuration drift bundle as well as the Update package.

The next step is to upgrade VCF by going to Inventory -> Workload Domains -> Select the workload domain -> Update/Patches -> Update Now for the VMware Cloud Foundation Update 4.3.1.0.

Next we are taken to the Upgrade page where we can follow the upgrade for each one of the components

Once the upgrade is complete we can click Finish to be returned back to the main screen

Because we are changing the SDDC-Manager versions i would strongly recommend to clear cache and log back in before going forward.

Next step is to upgrade NSX-T installation to NSX-T 3.1.3.1. The release notes can be found here. We can go to inventory -> Workload Domains -> Select the workload domain -> Update/Patches -> Under Available updates click on the drop down and select Cloud Foundation 4.3.1.0 -> Download now.

Once the download is complete we can proceed with updating the NSX component by clicking on the update now

The upgrade will go thought upgrading the NSX managers as well as the edges. We can view the upgrade status by clicking on view status

Once the upgrade is complete we can proceed with the vCenter Upgrade. VCF 4.3.1.0 comes with vCenter Server 7.0 Updated 2d. The release notes can be found here. We can go to inventory -> Workload Domains -> Select the workload domain -> Update/Patches -> Under Available updates click on the drop down and select Cloud Foundation 4.3.1.0 -> Download now.

Once the download is complete we can click on Update now

We can follow the status of the upgrade by clicking on the view status tab

Here we can see the different components that are getting upgraded

Once the upgrade is complete we are taken back to the previous page where we can see that the ESXi servers are next. The release notes can be found here. Click on Download Now

Once the download is complete we can click on Update now

If we have multiple clusters we can enable Cluster-level selection and select the specific cluster(s) we want to upgrade.

We can also enable sequential cluster upgrade as well as quick boot

We get to review the options once again before we click finish to to submit the task

Once submitted we can view the status by clicking on View Status

And with that we are finished with the workload domain. We can get back to the Update/Patches page

  • 1
  • 2