Install and Configure vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager 1.2 part 3

Install and Configure vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager 1.2 part 3

I have described  about vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager 1.2 installation in my Previous blog 

Part 1- https://www.vrcloud24x7.com/2018/08/installing-and-configuring-vrealize.html

Part 2 -https://www.vrcloud24x7.com/2018/08/installing-and-configuring-vrealize_0.html

I will cover below topic in this blog . 

1-  Add a Data Center to vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager

2- Add a vCenter to a Data Center

3-  Creating an Environment

Add a Data Center to vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager

You can add a data center to vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager to back your private cloud environments.

On the left pane, click Data Centers and click Manage Data Centers

Click + Add Data Center

Enter the Data Center Name and provide a Location

Click ADD.

Add a vCenter to a Data Center

Add a vCenter to a Data Center before using that vCenter to create a private cloud environment.

1- On the left pane, click Data Centers and click Manage Data Centers.

2 -On the page, click Manage vCenters. 

3 -Click + Add vCenter 

4- Enter the Host Name in the form of a fully qualified domain name.

Note   You must have administrative privileges to use vCenter.

5 -Enter the User Name and Password for the vCenter server.

 6- Select the vCenter Type.

  Management: All VMware SDDC Suite products are managed by this vCenter type.

  Workload: All the payload or business related VMs are managed by this vCenter type.

 Consolidated Management and Workload: Is a vCenter type, where both VMware SDDC Suite products and payload VMs are managed together. vCenter Type selection is currently used only for classification; the setting has no associated product functionality.

7 Click Submit

Upgrade vRealize Automation 7.3 to 7.4 using vRealize Suite LifeCycle Manager

Upgrade vRealize Automation 7.3 to 7.4 using vRealize Suite LifeCycle Manager

vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager provides a single installation and management platform for all products in the vRealize Suite.

We can use vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager to upgrade vRealize Suite product installations.

I am going to explain the step by step, how to import an existing  vRA 7.3.environment and perform the upgrade to 7.4 using vRSLCM 1.2. 

Prerequisites

Verify that the vRealize Suite product to upgrade is part of a vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager private

cloud environment, and take a snapshot of the product that you can revert to in the event that something goes wrong with the upgrade.  

·  The vRealize Automation management agent and all IaaS Windows nodes are running. 

·  The second member in the vRealize Automation load balancer is disabled 

Now let’s start to upgrade vra7.3 to Vra 7.4 upgrade.

1-     Need Log in to vRSLCM1.2

2-     Select Create Environments

Enter Environment Data

·  Data Center  ( This is Topic cover in my previous document )

·   Environment Type

·   Environment Name

·    Administrator email

·    Default root password

·    Click Next

Create Environment

·   Check the box for vRealize Automation

·   Here we  have an environment that we are going  to import, select the import Radio button.

·   Click Next

EULA

· Scroll down to bottom.

·  Check the box to accept the terms and conditions.

License

Enter vRealize Suite license

Click Next

Infrastructure Details

• Select vCenter Server 
• Select Cluster 
• Select Network 
• Select Datastore 
• Select preferred Disk format

Click Next

Network

• Enter default gateway of vRealize Suite products ( VRA server)
• Enter Domain Name
• Enter search path
• Enter DNS
• Enter Netmask
• Click Next

 Certificates

• Click Next to use the self-signed generated certificate or click the import certificate button to add existing wildcard or SAN certificate.
• Click Next

Import (we selected import option. now get ask questions about our existing environment)

• Enter vRA root password
• Enter vRA Default Administrator password
• Enter Tenant User name.
• Enter vRA Primary Node FQDN
• Enter IaaS Username.
• Enter vRA Tenant password
• Enter IaaS Password for the domain account.
• Select vCenter Server from the drop-down where the vRA server is running on.
• Click Next

Review summary

1. Click on Download configuration to save the JSON file for later use.
2. Click Submit

Monitoring the Vra Import process 

Verify the vRA product environment 

Select Environment tab on the left side

Select View details of the newly created environment

Verify that all the information of your vRA environment is correct. 

Now environment is created successfully and vRA is added. 

Before going to upgarde we have couple of prerequisite has to be check .

Review VMware documentation to prepare for the upgrade here

Take Snapshots of all your vRA and IaaS servers before upgrading your environments

Take a backup of your vRA and IaaS database.

If you upgrade from a distributed vRealize Automation environment that operates in PostgreSQL synchronous replication mode, you must change it to asynchronous before you upgrade. 

Add product Binaries to vRSLCM

We have couple of way to add product Binaries in vRSLCM. I going to describe more below. 

Using My VMware downloads (Already covered in my previous blog )

Using Local

Upgrading vRA

Select Environment tab on the left side.

Select the 3 vertical dots in the environment and select upgrade

Select the Production version

• Click Upgrade.
• Review the progress of your upgrade 

Check  the upgrade is successful ….

Enjoy!!!!!

vRealize Automation 7.3 Postgres Database Automatic Failover Scenarios

vRealize Automation 7.3 Postgres Database Automatic Failover Scenarios

when three appliances are deployed, and synchronous replication is configured for them in vRA 7.3, PostgreSQL database failover is automatic works.
if there is a problem with the vRealize Automation appliance Postgres database in vRA7.2.  you need to do manually fail over to a replica vRealize Automation appliance node in the cluster.
vRealize Automation uses the PostgreSQL master-replica model to support data replication. This means that all the database nodes work in a cluster with one leading node, known as the master, and several replicating nodes, known as replicas. The master node handles all database requests and the replica nodes stream and replay transactions from the master locally.

Three Node ( vRA 7.3 ) Auto Failover Scenarios

Scenario 1: Single Node Failure Scenarios

A- Master Node Fails

Normal Behavior
•The configured sync replica node becomes the master and automatically picks up appliance database functionality.
•The potential sync replica becomes the sync standby node.
•The vRealize Automation deployment functions in read only mode until the automatic failover completes.
Next Step
•When the former master is recovered, it will be reset as replica automatically by the failover agent repair logic. No manual action is required.
•If the former master cannot be recovered, manually set the appliance database to asynchronous mode.

B-The Sync Replica Fails

Normal Behavior
•The vRealize Automation deployment experiences no downtime. There will be a delay of a couple of seconds for database requests until the potential replica becomes the new sync replica. The appliance database performs this action automatically.
Next Step
•When the former synch replica comes online, it will become a potential replica automatically. No manual action is required.
•If the former sync replica cannot be repaired, manually set the appliance database to asynchronous mode.

C-Potential Replica Fails

Normal Behavior
No deployment downtime.
Next Step
•When the former potential replica comes online, it becomes a potential replica automatically. No manual action is required.
•If the former potential replica cannot be repaired, set the appliance database to asynchronous mode.

Scenario 2- Two Node Failure Scenarios

If two out of the three nodes fail same time, vRealize Automation switches to read only mode until a manual repair is performed.

A- Master Node and Potential Replica Fail

Normal Behavior
•The sync replica is not promoted to master automatically. vRealize Automation will switch to read only mode until a manual promotion is performed.
Next Step
•Manual action is required. Set the appliance database to asynchronous mode.
•When the master and potential replica are recovered, manually set them to synchronize against the new master. At that point, you can switch vRealize Automation back to synchronous mode.
•When two out of three nodes are down at the same time, vRealize Automation will switch to read-only mode until you effect a manual repair. If only one database node is available, switch your deployment to asynchronous mode.

B-  Sync and Potential Replicas Fail

Normal Behavior
•The master is unable to process read/write transactions. vRealize Automation functions in read only mode until a manual repair is performed.

Next Step
•Manual promotion is required. Set the appliance database to asynchronous mode.
•When the sync and potential replicas are recovered, they should be manually reset to synchronize against the master. At this point, you can switch vRealize Automation back to synchronous mode.
•When two out of three nodes are down simultaneously, vRealize Automation will switch to read-only mode until you effect a manual repair. If only one database node is available, switch your deployment to asynchronous mode.

Scenario 3 - Link failure happens between NODES

If a link failure occurs among nodes on a distributed deployment, the automatic failover agent attempts to repair the configuration.

A-Link Failure between SITE A and SITE B, but all 3 nodes are UP and ONLINE
Site A: Master and potential replica
Site B: Sync replica
Normal Behavior
•No downtime for the vRealize Automation deployment. The potential replica automatically becomes the sync replica
Next Step
•No manual action is required.

B-Link Failure between SITE A and SITE B, but all 3 nodes are UP and ONLINE

Site A: Master

Site B: Sync and potential replica

Normal Behavior
•Sync replica becomes the master and automatically picks up appliance database functionality. Automatic failover agent promotes the potential replica to become the new sync replica. vRealize Automation deployment operates in read only mode until this promotion completes.

Next Step
•No manual action is required. When the link is recovered, the automatic failover agent resets the former master as replica.