Upgrade the VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1 Management Domain to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2

Upgrading your management domain to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 is a crucial step to ensure you can leverage the latest features, security enhancements, and performance improvements. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you navigate the process smoothly.

Prerequisites

Before starting the upgrade to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2, ensure that your management domain is at VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5 or higher. If your environment is running a version lower than 4.5, you'll need to upgrade to 4.5 or later before proceeding to 5.2.

Upgrade Order

The upgrade should follow a specific sequence to ensure all components function correctly post-upgrade. Here’s the recommended order:

1. SDDC Manager and VMware Cloud Foundation Services
• The first step is upgrading the SDDC Manager. This ensures that the management plane is ready for subsequent upgrades.
2. VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle
• Next, upgrade the VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle, which is essential for managing the lifecycle of your VMware applications.
3. NSX Manager and NSX Global Managers (if applicable)
• Upgrade NSX components to ensure network virtualization services are up-to-date and compatible with VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.
4. vCenter Server
• Upgrade the vCenter Server to manage your vSphere environments efficiently with the latest features and improvements.
5. ESXi
• Finally, upgrade the ESXi hosts to complete the upgrade process for the management domain.

Post-Upgrade Steps

After completing the upgrades, follow these post-upgrade steps to ensure your environment is stable and backed up:

1. Remove VM Snapshots
• Remove any VM snapshots you took before starting the upgrade. These snapshots are no longer needed and can consume valuable storage space.
2. Take a Backup
• Perform a backup of all newly installed components to safeguard your environment. This backup will be crucial in case any issues arise in the future.

Additional Considerations

• Upgrade Sequence for Workload Domains:
• Until SDDC Manager is upgraded to version 5.2, you must upgrade the management domain before upgrading VI workload domains. Once SDDC Manager is at version 5.2 or later, you have the flexibility to upgrade VI workload domains either before or after upgrading the management domain, as long as all components in the workload domain are compatible.

By following this guide, you'll ensure a smooth and efficient upgrade to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2, paving the way for a robust, secure, and high-performing cloud infrastructure.

 

Perform Update Precheck - Versions Prior to SDDC Manager 5.0

Before applying any update or upgrade bundle, it's essential to perform a precheck to ensure your environment is ready. This is especially important if you have not yet upgraded to SDDC Manager 5.0. The precheck process helps identify potential issues that could cause the update to fail.

Precheck for ESXi Bundle

When running a precheck for an ESXi bundle, the system performs both a bundle-level precheck and an environment precheck. For VI workload domains using vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines, the ESXi bundle precheck validates the following:

• Custom ISO Compatibility: Ensures the custom ISO is compatible with your environment.
• Custom ISO Size: Verifies that the custom ISO size is smaller than the boot partition size.
• Third-Party VIBs Compatibility: Checks that third-party VIBs are compatible with the environment.

Silencing vSAN Skyline Health Alerts

• If a vSAN Skyline Health alert is silenced in the vSphere Client, SDDC Manager skips the related precheck and indicates which precheck it skipped. To include the silenced precheck, click Restore Precheck.
• You can silence failed vSAN prechecks in the SDDC Manager UI by clicking Silence Precheck. Silenced prechecks do not trigger warnings or block upgrades.
• Important: Only silence alerts if you are sure they are incorrect. Do not silence alerts for real issues that require remediation.

Procedure

1. Navigate to Workload Domains:
• In the navigation pane, click Inventory > Workload Domains.
2. Select Workload Domain:
• On the Workload Domains page, click the workload domain where you want to run the precheck.
3. Access Updates/Patches Tab:
• On the domain summary page, click the Updates/Patches tab.
• Click Precheck to validate that the environment is ready to be upgraded.
4. Monitor Precheck Status:
• Once the precheck begins, a message appears indicating the start time.
• Click View Status to see detailed tasks and their status.
• To see details for a task, click the Expand arrow.
5. Address Precheck Failures:
• If a precheck task fails, fix the issue and click Retry Precheck to run the task again. You can also click Precheck Failed Resources to retry all failed tasks.
6. Handle Driver Incompatibility:
• If ESXi hosts display a driver incompatibility issue, identify the controller with the HCL issue.
• Determine the supported driver and firmware versions on the source and target ESXi versions.
• Upgrade the firmware and manually upgrade the driver on the ESXi host. Retry the failed task.
7. Suppress Maintenance Mode Check:
• If the precheck fails at the Enter Maintenance Mode step due to pinned VMs, suppress this check by logging into SDDC Manager using SSH with the username vcf and the specified password.
• Open the /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties file.
• Add the following lines to the end of the file:

lcm.nsxt.suppress.dry.run.emm.check=true

lcm.esx.suppress.dry.run.emm.check.failures=true

• Restart Lifecycle Management:

systemctl restart lcm

• After restarting, run the precheck again.

Results

The precheck result is displayed at the top of the Upgrade Precheck Details window. If you click Exit Details, the result is shown at the top of the Precheck section in the Updates/Patches tab. Ensure that the precheck results are green before proceeding, as a failed precheck may cause the update to fail.

Perform Update Precheck in SDDC Manager

Performing a precheck in SDDC Manager before applying an update bundle is essential to ensure your environment is ready for the update. This guide outlines the necessary steps to perform the precheck.

Key Points

• Bundle-Level Prechecks for vCenter: Available in VMware Cloud Foundation.
• ESXi Bundle-Level Prechecks: Only work for minor-version upgrades (e.g., ESXi 7.x to 7.y). These prechecks do not run in VMware Cloud Foundation.

Silencing vSAN Skyline Health Alerts

• If you silence a vSAN Skyline Health alert in the vSphere Client, SDDC Manager skips the related precheck and indicates which precheck it skipped. Click RESTORE PRECHECK to include the silenced precheck.
• You can also silence failed vSAN prechecks in the SDDC Manager UI by clicking Silence Precheck.
• Important: Only silence alerts if you are sure they are incorrect. Do not silence alerts for real issues that require remediation.

Procedure

1. Navigate to Workload Domains:
• In the navigation pane, click Inventory > Workload Domains.
2. Select Workload Domain:
• On the Workload Domains page, click the workload domain where you want to run the precheck.
3. Access Updates Tab:
• On the domain summary page, click the Updates tab.
• Click RUN PRECHECK to select the components in the workload domain you want to precheck.
4. Select Components to Precheck:
• You can choose to run a precheck only on vCenter or the vSphere cluster. All components in the workload domain are selected by default. For specific components, choose Custom selection.
5. Target Version Selection:
• If there are pending upgrade bundles, the "Target Version" dropdown contains "General Upgrade Readiness" and the available VMware Cloud Foundation versions to upgrade to. Extra checks (bundle-level prechecks) are available for hosts, vCenter Server, etc.
6. Monitor Precheck Progress:
• When the precheck begins, a progress message appears indicating the time the precheck started and its progress.
7. Parallel Precheck Workflows:
• If you want to precheck multiple domains, you can repeat steps 1-5 for each domain without waiting for the first precheck to finish.
8. Review Precheck Report:
• Once the precheck is complete, the report appears. Click through ALL, ERRORS, WARNINGS, and SILENCED to filter and browse the results.
• To see details for a task, click the expander arrow.
9. Address Precheck Failures:
• If a precheck task failed, fix the issue and click Retry Precheck to run the task again. You can also click RETRY ALL FAILED RESOURCES to retry all failed tasks.
10. Handle Driver Incompatibility:
• If ESXi hosts display a driver incompatibility issue:
• Identify the controller with the HCL issue.
• Determine the supported driver and firmware versions on the source and target ESXi versions.
• Upgrade the firmware if required.
• Manually upgrade the driver on the ESXi host and retry the failed task.
11. Suppress Maintenance Mode Check:
• If the precheck fails at the Enter Maintenance Mode step due to pinned VMs:
• Log in to SDDC Manager using SSH with the username vcf and specified password.
• Open the /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties file.
• Add the following lines:

lcm.nsxt.suppress.dry.run.emm.check=true

lcm.esx.suppress.dry.run.emm.check.failures=true

• Restart Lifecycle Management:

systemctl restart lcm

• After restarting, run the precheck again.

Results

• The precheck result is displayed at the top of the Upgrade Precheck Details window. If you click Exit Details, the result is shown at the top of the Precheck section in the Updates tab.
Ensure that the precheck results are green before proceeding. A failed precheck will not prevent the upgrade but may cause it to fail.

Apply the VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 Upgrade Bundle

Upgrading to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 involves several key steps to ensure a smooth transition and the availability of new functionalities. This guide will walk you through the process of applying the upgrade bundle to your SDDC Manager appliance and VMware Cloud Foundation services.

Prerequisites

Before starting the upgrade, make sure you have completed the following:

Download the VMware Cloud Foundation Update Bundle:

• See the Downloading VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Bundles.

Backup SDDC Manager:

• Ensure you have a recent successful backup of SDDC Manager using an external SFTP server.

Snapshot the SDDC Manager Appliance:

• Take a snapshot of the SDDC Manager appliance.

Backup Managed Components:

• Ensure you have recent successful backups of the components managed by SDDC Manager.

Perform Update Precheck:

• Run the update precheck in SDDC Manager and resolve any issues.

Procedure

Navigate to Workload Domains:
In the navigation pane, click Inventory > Workload Domains.

Select Management Domain:
On the Workload Domains page, click the management domain and then click the Updates tab.

Select Target VMware Cloud Foundation Release:
In the Available Updates section, select the target VMware Cloud Foundation release or click Plan Upgrade.

For VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5.x, select the target version.

For VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x, click Plan Upgrade, select a target version, and click Confirm.

Initiate the Upgrade:
Click Update Now or Schedule Update next to the VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade bundle.
If you selected Schedule Update, select the date and time for the bundle to be applied and click Schedule.

If you clicked Update Now, the VMware Cloud Foundation Update Status window displays the components that will be upgraded and the upgrade status. Click View Update Activity to view the detailed tasks. After the upgrade is completed, a green bar with a check mark is displayed.

Complete the Upgrade:
Click Finish.

When the update completes successfully, you are logged out of the SDDC Manager UI and must log in again.

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Independent SDDC Manager Upgrade

After upgrading SDDC Manager to 5.2, you can independently upgrade SDDC Manager without upgrading the entire VMware Cloud Foundation Bill of Materials (BOM). This new functionality allows for more flexibility in managing your updates.

For more details on the independent SDDC Manager upgrade, refer to the VMware Cloud Foundation documentation.

Share Your Experience

Feel free to share your upgrade experiences and any tips you might have for others undergoing the same process. You can connect with the community on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

For detailed documentation, refer to the VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 Lifecycle Management guide.