VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5

5.2 5.1 5.0 4.5

Upgrade the Management Domain to VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5.x

You must upgrade the management domain before upgrading VI workload domains in your environment. In order to upgrade to
VMware Cloud Foundation
 4.5.x, the management domain must be at
VMware Cloud Foundation
 4.2.1 or higher. If your environment is at a version lower than 4.2.1, you must upgrade the management domain to 4.2.1 and then upgrade to 4.5.x.
Upgrade the components in the management domain in the following order:
  1. SDDC Manager and
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     services.
  2. vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager, vRealize Suite products, and Workspace ONE Access.
  3. NSX-T Data Center.
  4. vCenter Server.
  5. vSAN Witness host
  6. ESXi.
After all upgrades have completed successfully:
  1. Remove the VM snapshots you took before starting the update.
  2. Take a backup of the newly installed components.

VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Prerequisites

Before you upgrade
VMware Cloud Foundation
, make sure that the following prerequisites are met.
  • Take a backup of the
    SDDC Manager appliance
     using an external SFTP server. See the "Backup and Restore of VMware Cloud Foundation" section in the
    VMware Cloud Foundation Administration Guide
    .
  • Before you upgrade a
    vCenter Server
    , take a file-based backup. See Manually Back Up vCenter Server.
  • No domain operations are in progress. Domain operations include creating VI workload domains, expanding a workload domain (adding a cluster or host), and shrinking a workload domain (removing a cluster or host).
  • Download the relevant bundles. See Downloading VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Bundles.
    If you downloaded the bundles manually, you must download all bundles for the target release and upload them to the
    SDDC Manager appliance
     before starting the upgrade.
  • If you applied an async patch to your current
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     instance you must use the
    Async Patch Tool
     to enable an upgrade to a later version of
    VMware Cloud Foundation
    . For example, if you applied an async
    vCenter Server
     patch to a
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     4.3.1 instance, you must use the
    Async Patch Tool
     to enable upgrade to
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     4.5.x. See Async Patch Tool.
  • Make sure that there are no failed workflows in your system and none of the
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     resources are in activating or error state.
    If any of these conditions are true, contact VMware Support before starting the upgrade.
  • Ensure that passwords for all
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     components are valid.
  • Review the
    Release Notes
     for known issues related to upgrades.

Perform Update Precheck

You must perform a precheck before applying an update or upgrade bundle to ensure that your environment is ready for the update.
For an ESXi bundle, the system performs a bundle level precheck in addition to the environment precheck. For VI workload domains using vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines, the ESXi bundle precheck validates the following.
  • Custom ISO is compatible with your environment.
  • Custom ISO size is smaller than the boot partition size.
  • Third party VIBs are compatible with the environment.
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. For example:
An example of an alert that was silenced in vSAN Skyline Health.
You can also silence failed vSAN prechecks in the
SDDC Manager UI
 by clicking
Silence Precheck
. Silenced prechecks do not trigger warnings or block upgrades.
You should only silence alerts if you know that they are incorrect. Do not silence alerts for real issues that require remediation.
  1. In the navigation pane, click
    Inventory
    Workload Domains
    .
  2. On the Workload Domains page, click the workload domain where you want to run the precheck.
  3. On the domain summary page, click the
    Updates/Patches
     tab. The image below is a sample screenshot and may not reflect the correct product versions.
    This screenshot is of domian summary page, click the Updates/Patches tab.
  4. Click
    Precheck
     to validate that the environment is ready to be upgraded.
    Once the precheck begins, a message appears indicating the time at which the precheck was started.Once the precheck begins, a message appears indicating the time at which the precheck was started on the Precheck page.
  5. Click
    View Status
     to see detailed tasks and their status. The image below is a sample screenshot and may not reflect the correct versions.
    This screenshot is of Upgrade Precheck page. Click View Status to see the detailed tasks and their status.
  6. To see details for a task, click the Expand arrow.
    If a precheck task failed, fix the issue, and click
    Retry Precheck
     to run the task again. You can also click
    Precheck Failed Resources
     to retry all failed tasks.
  7. If ESXi hosts display a driver incompatibility issue when updating a VI workload domain using vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines, perform the following steps:
    1. Identify the controller with the HCL issue.
    2. For the given controller, identify the supported driver and firmware versions on the source and target ESXi versions.
    3. Upgrade the firmware, if required.
    4. Upgrade the driver manually on the ESXi host and retry the task at which the upgrade failed.
  8. If the workload domain contains a host that includes pinned VMs, the precheck fails at the Enter Maintenance Mode step. If the host can enter maintenance mode through vCenter Server UI, you can suppress this check for NSX-T Data Center and ESXi in VMware Cloud Foundation by following the steps below.
    1. Log in to SDDC Manager by using a Secure Shell (SSH) client with the user name vcf and password you specified in the deployment parameter workbook.
    2. Open the
      /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties
       file.
    3. Add the following line to the end of the file:
      lcm.nsxt.suppress.dry.run.emm.check=true
      lcm.esx.suppress.dry.run.emm.check.failures=true
    4. Restart
      Lifecycle Management
       by typing the following command in the console window.
      systemctl restart lcm
    5. After
      Lifecycle Management
       is restarted, run the precheck again.
The precheck result is displayed at the top of the Upgrade Precheck Details window. If you click
Exit Details
, the precheck result is displayed at the top of the Precheck section in the Updates/Patches tab.
Ensure that the precheck results are green before proceeding. A failed precheck may cause the update to fail.

Apply the
VMware Cloud Foundation
 Upgrade Bundle

The
VMware Cloud Foundation
 Upgrade bundle upgrades the SDDC Manager appliance and Lifecycle Management.
  • Download the VMware Cloud Foundation update bundle for your target release. See Downloading VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Bundles.
  • Ensure you have a recent successful backup of SDDC Manager using an external SFTP server.
  • Ensure you have taken a snapshot of the SDDC Manager appliance.
  • Ensure you have recent successful backups of the components managed by SDDC Manager.
  1. In the navigation pane, click
    Inventory
    Workload Domains
    .
  2. On the Workload Domains page, click the management domain and then click the
    Updates/Patches
     tab.
  3. Click
    Precheck
     to run the upgrade precheck.
    Resolve any issues before proceeding with the upgrade.
  4. In the
    Available Updates
     section, select the target release.
  5. Click
    Update Now
     or
    Schedule Update
     next to the VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade bundle.
  6. If you selected
    Schedule Update
    , select the date and time for the bundle to be applied and click
    Schedule
    .
    An image showing the UI for scheduling an update.
    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.
  7. Click
    Finish
    .

Apply the VMware Cloud Foundation Configuration Drift Bundle

The configuration drift bundle applies configuration changes required for 2nd party software components in the
VMware Cloud Foundation
 Bill of Materials for the target release. Configuration changes are applied to the management domain and may also affect VI workload domains in your environment. However, there is no downtime on VI workload domains and they need not be in a maintenance window.
  • Download the configuration drift bundle for your target release. See Downloading VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Bundles.
  • Ensure that you have a recent successful backup of SDDC Manager using an external SFTP server.
  • Ensure that you have taken a snapshot of the SDDC Manager appliance.
  • Ensure that you have recent successful backups of the components managed by SDDC Manager.
  1. In the navigation pane, click
    Inventory
    Workload Domains
    .
  2. On the Workload Domains page, click the management domain and then click the
    Updates/Patches
     tab.
  3. Click
    Precheck
     to run the upgrade precheck.
    Resolve any issues before proceeding with the upgrade.
  4. In the Available Updates section, select the target release.
  5. Click
    Update Now
     or
    Schedule Update
     next to the VMware Cloud Foundation Configuration drift bundle.
  6. If you selected
    Schedule Update
    , select the date and time for the bundle to be applied and then click
    Schedule
    .
    After the upgrade is completed, a green bar with a check mark is displayed.
  7. Click
    Finish
    .

Upgrade vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager for VMware Cloud Foundation

The process for upgrading
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 depends on your current version of
VMware Cloud Foundation
 and
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
.
  • Ensure that you have a recent successful backup of the
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
     appliance.
  • Download the VMware Software Update bundle(s) for
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
    . See Downloading VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Bundles.
    You may have to download and apply multiple bundles, depending on the current product versions in your environment. If your environment is using
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     4.4 or later and
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
     8.6.2 and later, you do not need to download any bundles, since all upgrades are performed from the
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
     UI.
  • If FIPS Mode Compliance is enabled in
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
    , you must manually turn it off on the
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
     UI. You can re-enable FIPS Mode Compliance after the upgrade.
VMware recently renamed the vRealize Suite of products to VMware Aria Suite. See the Aria Naming Updates blog post for more details. During the
VMware Cloud Foundation
 4.5.x upgrade process, you can upgrade directly to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.12 or higher, as long as the path is supported. See the VMware Interoperability Matrix for more information. Even after upgrading all vRealize Suite components to VMware Aria, the
SDDC Manager UI
 will display the old vRealize names.
Starting with
VMware Cloud Foundation
 4.4 and
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 8.6.2, upgrade and deployment of the vRealize Suite products is managed by
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
. You can upgrade vRealize Suite products as new versions become available in your
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
.
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 will only allow upgrades to compatible and supported versions of vRealize Suite products.
If you already have
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 8.6.2, you can upgrade
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 to a supported version using the
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 UI.
See the VMware Interoperability Matrix for information about which versions are supported with your version of
VMware Cloud Foundation
 and KB 88829 for more information about supported upgrade paths using
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
.
VMware Cloud Foundation
 may require a
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 Product Support Pack. Check the release notes to see what Product Support Pack is required for your versions of
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 and
VMware Cloud Foundation
:
If you have an earlier version of
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
, use the process below to upgrade to
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 8.6.2 and then use the
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 UI to upgrade to later supported versions.
The
VMware Cloud Foundation
 4.5.x BOM requires
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 8.8.2 or higher.
  1. In the navigation pane, click
    Inventory
    Workload Domains
    .
  2. On the Workload Domain page, click the management domain.
  3. On the Domain Summary page, click the
    Updates/Patches
     tab.
  4. Click
    Precheck
     to run the upgrade precheck.
    Resolve any issues before proceeding with the upgrade.
  5. In the Available Updates section, select the target release.
  6. Click
    Update Now
     or
    Schedule Update
     next to the vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager upgrade bundle.
  7. If you selected
    Schedule Update
    , click the date and time for the bundle to be applied.
  8. Monitor the upgrade progress. See Monitor VMware Cloud Foundation Updates.
    If the upgrade fails, you can revert to the snapshot created by the upgrade workflow. After you resolve the issue, you can retry the upgrade.
    When
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
     is upgraded successfully, a message with a green background and check mark is displayed.
  9. Click
    Exit Status
    .

Upgrade vRealize Suite Products for VMware Cloud Foundation

If you had
vRealize Log Insight
,
vRealize Automation
,
vRealize Operations
, or
Workspace ONE Access
 in your pre-upgrade environment, you must upgrade them from
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
.
Upgrade to
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 8.6.2 or later.
VMware recently renamed the vRealize Suite of products to VMware Aria Suite. See the Aria Naming Updates blog post for more details. Even after upgrading all vRealize Suite components to VMware Aria, the
SDDC Manager UI
 will display the old vRealize names.
Use
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
 to:
  • Download upgrade binaries
  • Create snapshots of the virtual appliances
  • Run pre-upgrade checks
  • Upgrade vRealize Suite products
  1. Log in to
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
     at
    https://
    <vrealize_suite_lifecycle_manager_fqdn>
     as the administrator.
  2. Upgrade vRealize Suite products.
    See “Upgrading vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager and vRealize Suite Products” in the
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager Installation, Upgrade, and Management Guide
     for your current version of
    vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager
    .

Upgrade NSX-T Data Center for VMware Cloud Foundation

Upgrade NSX-T Data Center in the management domain before you upgrade VI workload domains.
All applicable NSX-T Data Center updates must have been applied to all workload domains for the NSX-T Data Center upgrade bundle to be available for download. Otherwise, the status of the NSX-T Data Center bundle is displayed as Pending instead of Available for all workload domains.
  • Validate that the NSX Manager password is valid.
  • Download the upgrade bundle for NSX-T Data Center. See Downloading VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Bundles.
  • Back up the NSX-T Data Center configuration and download the technical support logs.
  • Ensure that the appropriate communication ports are open between the NSX Edge nodes and NSX Manager. For more information on ports, see https://ports.esp.vmware.com/home/NSX.
  • Review Operational Impacts of NSX-T Data Center Upgrade in
    NSX Upgrade Guide
     to understand the impact that each component upgrade might have on your environment.
  • Ensure there are no active alarms on hosts or vSphere clusters using the vSphere Client.
  • Customers upgrading to NSX-T 3.2.1.2 are strongly encouraged to run the NSX Upgrade Evaluation Tool before starting the upgrade process. The tool is designed to ensure success by checking the health and readiness of your NSX Managers prior to upgrading.
Upgrading NSX-T Data Center involves the following components:
  • Upgrade Coordinator
  • NSX Edge clusters (if deployed)
  • NSX Edge
  • Host clusters
  • NSX Manager cluster
VI workload domains can share the same NSX Manager cluster and NSX Edge clusters. When you upgrade these components for one VI workload domain, they are upgraded for all VI workload domains that share the same NSX Manager or NSX Edge cluster. You cannot perform any operations on the VI workload domains while NSX-T is being upgraded.
The upgrade wizard provides some flexibility when upgrading NSX-T Data Center for workload domains. By default, the process upgrades all NSX Edge clusters in parallel, and then all host clusters in parallel. Parallel upgrades reduce the overall time required to upgrade your environment. You can also choose to upgrade NSX Edge clusters and host clusters sequentially. The ability to select clusters allows for multiple upgrade windows and does not require all clusters to be available at a given time.
The NSX Manager cluster is upgraded only if the
Upgrade all host clusters
 setting is enabled on the Host Clusters tab. NSX Manager is upgraded after all host clusters in the workload domain are upgraded. New features introduced in the upgrade are not configurable until the NSX Manager cluster is upgraded.
  1. In the navigation pane, click
    Inventory
    Workload Domains
    .
  2. On the Workload Domains page, click the domain you are upgrading and then click the
    Updates/Patches
     tab.
    When you upgrade NSX-T components for a selected VI workload domain, those components are upgraded for all VI workload domains that share the NSX Manager cluster.
  3. Click
    Precheck
     to run the upgrade precheck.
    Resolve any issues before proceeding with the upgrade.
    The NSX-T precheck runs on all VI workload domains in your environment that share the NSX Manager cluster.
  4. In the Available Updates section, select the target release.
  5. Click
    Update Now
     or
    Schedule Update
     next to the VMware Software NSX-T bundle.
  6. On the NSX-T Edge Cluster page, select the NSX Edge clusters you want to upgrade and click Next.
    By default, all NSX Edge clusters are upgraded. To select specific NSX Edge clusters, select the
    Upgrade NSX-T edge clusters only
     checkbox and select the
    Enable edge selection
     option. Then select the NSX Edges you want to upgrade.
  7. Click
    Next
    .
  8. By default, all vSphere clusters across all workload domains are upgraded. If you want to select specific vSphere clusters to be upgraded, turn off the
    Upgrade all host clusters
     setting. Host clusters are upgraded after all Edge clusters have been upgraded.
    The NSX-T Manager cluster is upgraded only if the
    Upgrade all host clusters
     setting is enabled.
    • If you have a single cluster in your environment, enable the
      Upgrade all host clusters
       setting.
    • If you have multiple host clusters and choose to upgrade only some of them, you must go through the NSX-T upgrade wizard again until all host clusters have been upgraded. When selecting the final set of clusters to be upgraded, you must enable the
      Upgrade all host clusters
       setting so that NSX-T Manager is upgraded.
    • If you have upgraded all host clusters without enabling the
      Upgrade all host clusters
       setting, run through the NSX-T upgrade wizard again and schedule the upgrade to upgrade NSX-T Manager.
  9. Click
    Next
    .
  10. On the Upgrade Options dialog, select the upgrade optimizations and click
    Next
    .
    By default, Edge clusters and host clusters are upgraded in parallel. You can enable sequential upgrade by selecting the relevant checkbox.
  11. If you selected the
    Schedule Upgrade
     option, specify the date and time for the NSX-T Data Center bundle to be applied.
  12. Click
    Next
    .
  13. On the Review page, review your settings and click
    Finish
    .
    The NSX-T Data Center upgrade begins and the upgrade components are displayed. The upgrade view displayed here pertains to the workload domain where you applied the bundle. Click the link to the associated workload domains to see the components pertaining to those workload domains.
  14. Monitor the upgrade progress. See Monitor VMware Cloud Foundation Updates.
    If a component upgrade fails, the failure is displayed across all associated workload domains. Resolve the issue and retry the failed task.
When all NSX-T Data Center workload components are upgraded successfully, a message with a green background and check mark is displayed.

Upgrade NSX-T Data Center for VMware Cloud Foundation in a Federated Environment

When NSX Federation is configured between two
VMware Cloud Foundation
 instances,
SDDC Manager
 does not manage the lifecycle of the NSX Global Managers. To upgrade the NSX Global Managers, you must first follow the standard lifecycle of each
VMware Cloud Foundation
 instance using
SDDC Manager
, and then manually upgrade the NSX Global Managers for each instance.

Download NSX Global Manager Upgrade Bundle

SDDC Manager
 does not manage the lifecycle of the NSX Global Managers. You must download the NSX-T Data Center upgrade bundle manually to upgrade the NSX Global Managers.
  1. In a web browser, go to VMware Customer Connect and browse to the download page for the version of NSX-T Data Center listed in the
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     Release Notes BOM.
  2. Locate the
    NSX
    version
     Upgrade Bundle
     and click
    Read More
    .
  3. Verify that the upgrade bundle filename extension ends with
    .mub
    .
    The upgrade bundle filename has the following format
    VMware-NSX-upgrade-bundle-
    versionnumber.buildnumber
    .mub
    .
  4. Click
    Download Now
     to download the upgrade bundle to the system where you access the NSX Global Manager UI.

Upgrade the Upgrade Coordinator for NSX Federation

The upgrade coordinator runs in the NSX Manager. It is a self-contained web application that orchestrates the upgrade process of hosts, NSX Edge cluster, NSX Controller cluster, and the management plane.
The upgrade coordinator guides you through the upgrade sequence. You can track the upgrade process and, if necessary, you can pause and resume the upgrade process from the UI.
  1. In a web browser, log in to Global Manager for the domain at https://
    nsxt_gm_vip_fqdn
    /).
  2. Select
    System
    Upgrade
     from the navigation panel.
  3. Click
    Proceed to Upgrade
    .
  4. Navigate to the upgrade bundle .mub file you downloaded or paste the download URL link.
    • Click
      Browse
       to navigate to the location you downloaded the upgrade bundle file.
    • Paste the VMware download portal URL where the upgrade bundle .mub file is located.
  5. Click
    Upload
    .
    When the file is uploaded, the
    Begin Upgrade
     button appears.
  6. Click
    Begin Upgrade
     to upgrade the upgrade coordinator.
    Upgrade one upgrade coordinator at a time.
  7. Read and accept the EULA terms and accept the notification to upgrade the upgrade coordinator..
  8. Click
    Run Pre-Checks
     to verify that all NSX-T Data Center components are ready for upgrade.
    The pre-check checks for component connectivity, version compatibility, and component status.
  9. Resolve any warning notifications to avoid problems during the upgrade.

Upgrade NSX Global Managers for VMware Cloud Foundation

Manually upgrade the NSX Global Managers when NSX Federation is configured between two
VMware Cloud Foundation
 instances.
You can upgrade NSX Local Managers either before or after the NSX Global Managers, using
SDDC Manager
.
  1. In a web browser, log in to Global Manager for the domain at https://
    nsxt_gm_vip_fqdn
    /).
  2. Select
    System
     >
    Upgrade
     from the navigation panel.
  3. Click
    Start
     to upgrade the management plane and then click
    Accept
    .
  4. On the Select Upgrade Plan page, select
    Plan Your Upgrade
     and click
    Next
    .
    The NSX Manager UI, API, and CLI are not accessible until the upgrade finishes and the management plane is restarted.

Upgrade vCenter Server for VMware Cloud Foundation

The upgrade bundle for VMware vCenter Server is used to upgrade the vCenter Servers managed by SDDC Manager. Upgrade vCenter Server in the management domain before upgrading vCenter Server in VI workload domains.
  • Download the VMware vCenter Server upgrade bundle. See Downloading VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Bundles.
  • Take a file-based backup of the vCenter Server appliance before starting the upgrade. See Manually Back Up vCenter Server.
    After taking a backup, do not make any changes to the vCenter Server inventory or settings until the upgrade completes successfully.
  • If your workload domain contains Workload Management (vSphere with Tanzu) enabled clusters, the supported target release depends on the version of Kubernetes (K8s) currently running in the cluster. Older versions of K8s may require a specific upgrade sequence. See KB 88962 for more information.
Parallel upgrades of vCenter Server are not supported. The vCenter Server instance for each workload domain must be upgraded separately.
  1. In the navigation pane, click
    Inventory
    Workload Domains
    .
  2. On the Workload Domains page, click the domain you are upgrading and then click the
    Updates/Patches
     tab.
  3. Click
    Precheck
     to run the upgrade precheck.
    Resolve any issues before proceeding with the upgrade.
  4. In the Available Updates section, select the target release.
  5. Click
    Update Now
     or
    Schedule Update
     next to the vCenter upgrade bundle.
  6. If you selected
    Schedule Update
    , click the date and time for the bundle to be applied and click
    Schedule
    .
  7. Monitor the upgrade progress. See Monitor VMware Cloud Foundation Updates.
    If the upgrade fails, resolve the issue and retry the failed task. If you cannot resolve the issue, restore vCenter Server using the file-based backup. SeeRestore vCenter Server.
Once the upgrade successfully completes, use the vSphere Client to change the vSphere DRS Automation Level setting back to the original value (before you took a file-based backup) for each vSphere cluster that is managed by the vCenter Server. See KB 87631 for information about using VMware PowerCLI to change the vSphere DRS Automation Level.

Upgrade vSAN Witness Host for VMware Cloud Foundation

If your
VMware Cloud Foundation
 environment contains stretched clusters, update and remediate the vSAN witness host.
Download the ESXi ISO that matches the version listed in the the Bill of Materials (BOM) section of the
VMware Cloud Foundation Release Notes
.
  1. In a web browser, log in to vCenter Server at https://
    vcenter_server_fqdn
    /ui.
  2. Upload the ESXi ISO image file to vSphere Lifecycle Manager.
    1. Click
      Menu
      Lifecycle Manager
      .
    2. Click the
      Imported ISOs
       tab.
    3. Click
      Import ISO
       and then click
      Browse
      .
    4. Navigate to the ESXi ISO file you downloaded and click
      Open
      .
    5. After the file is imported, click
      Close
      .
  3. Create a baseline for the ESXi image.
    1. On the Imported ISOs tab, select the ISO file that you imported, and click
      New baseline
      .
    2. Enter a name for the baseline and specify the
      Content Type
       as Upgrade.
    3. Click
      Next
      .
    4. Select the ISO file you had imported and click
      Next
      .
    5. Review the details and click
      Finish
      .
  4. Attach the baseline to the vSAN witness host.
    1. Click
      Menu
      Hosts and Clusters
      .
    2. In the Inventory panel, click
      vCenter
      Datacenter
      .
    3. Select the vSAN witness host and click the
      Updates
       tab.
    4. Under Attached Baselines, click
      Attach
      Attach Baseline or Baseline Group
      .
    5. Select the baseline that you had created in step 3 and click
      Attach
      .
    6. Click
      Check Compliance
      .
      After the compliance check is completed, the
      Status
       column for the baseline is displayed as Non-Compliant.
  5. Remediate the vSAN witness host and update the ESXi hosts that it contains.
    1. Right-click the vSAN witness and click
      Maintenance Mode
      Enter Maintenance Mode
      .
    2. Click
      OK
      .
    3. Click the
      Updates
       tab.
    4. Select the baseline that you had created in step 3 and click
      Remediate
      .
    5. In the End user license agreement dialog box, select the check box and click
      OK
      .
    6. In the Remediate dialog box, select the vSAN witness host, and click
      Remediate
      .
      The remediation process might take several minutes. After the remediation is completed, the
      Status
       column for the baseline is displayed as Compliant.
    7. Right-click the vSAN witness host and click
      Maintenance Mode
      Exit Maintenance Mode
      .
    8. Click
      OK
      .

Upgrade ESXi with vSphere Lifecycle Manager Baselines for VMware Cloud Foundation

The management domain uses vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines for ESXi host upgrades. VI workload domains can use vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines or vSphere Lifecycle Manager images. The following procedure describes upgrading ESXi hosts in workload domains that use vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines.
  • Validate that the ESXi passwords are valid.
  • Ensure that the domain for which you want to perform cluster-level upgrade does not have any hosts or clusters in an error state. Resolve the error state or remove the hosts and clusters with errors before proceeding.
For information about upgrading ESXi in VI workload domains that use vSphere Lifecycle Manager images, see Upgrade ESXi with vSphere Lifecycle Manager Images for VMware Cloud Foundation.
By default, the upgrade process upgrades the ESXi hosts in all clusters in a workload domain in parallel. If you have multiple clusters in the management domain or in a VI workload domain, you can select the clusters to upgrade.
If you want to skip any hosts while applying an ESXi update to the management domain or a VI workload domain, you must add these hosts to the
application-prod.properties
 file before you begin the update. See "Skip Hosts During ESXi Update".
To perform ESXi upgrades with custom ISO images or async drivers see "Upgrade ESXi with Custom ISOs" and "Upgrade ESXi with Stock ISO and Async Drivers".
If you are using external (non-vSAN) storage, the following procedure updates the ESXi hosts attached to the external storage. However, updating and patching the storage software and drivers is a manual task and falls outside of SDDC Manager lifecycle management. To ensure supportability after an ESXi upgrade, consult the vSphere HCL and your storage vendor.
  1. Navigate to the
    Updates/Patches
     tab of the workload domain.
  2. Click
    Precheck
     to run the upgrade precheck.
    Resolve any issues before proceeding with the upgrade.
  3. In the Available Updates section, select the target release.
  4. Click
    Upgrade Now
     or
    Schedule Update
    .
  5. If you selected
    Schedule Update
    , specify the date and time for the bundle to be applied.
  6. Select the clusters to upgrade and click
    Next
    .
    The default setting is to upgrade all clusters. To upgrade specific clusters, click
    Enable cluster-level selection
     and select the clusters to upgrade.
  7. Click
    Next
    .
  8. Select the appropriate upgrade options and click
    Finish
    .
    By default, the selected clusters are upgraded in parallel. If you selected more than five clusters to be upgraded, the first five are upgraded in parallel and the remaining clusters are upgraded sequentially. To upgrade all selected clusters sequentially, select
    Enable sequential cluster upgrade
    .
    Click
    Enable Quick Boot
     if desired. Quick Boot for ESXi hosts is an option that allows Update Manager to reduce the upgrade time by skipping the physical reboot of the host.
  9. Monitor the upgrade progress. See Monitor VMware Cloud Foundation Updates.
Upgrade the vSAN Disk Format for vSAN clusters. The disk format upgrade is optional. Your vSAN cluster continues to run smoothly if you use a previous disk format version. For best results, upgrade the objects to use the latest on-disk format. The latest on-disk format provides the complete feature set of vSAN. See Upgrading vSAN Disk Format Using vSphere Client.

Skip Hosts During ESXi Update

You can skip hosts while applying an ESXi update to the management domain or a VI workload domain. The skipped hosts are not updated.
You cannot skip hosts that are part of a VI workload domain that is using vSphere Lifecycle Manager images, since these hosts are updated at the cluster-level and not the host-level.
  1. Using SSH, log in to the
    SDDC Manager appliance
     with the user name
    vcf
     and password you specified in the deployment parameter sheet.
  2. Type
    su
     to switch to the root account.
  3. Retrieve the host IDs for the hosts you want to skip. 
    curl 'https://
    SDDC_MANAGER_IP
    /v1/hosts' -i -u '
    username
    :password' -X GET -H 'Accept: application/json' |json_pp
    Replace the SDDC Manager IP address, user name, and password with the information for your environment.
  4. Copy the ids for the hosts you want to skip from the output. For example:
    ...
         "fqdn" : "esxi-2.vrack.vsphere.local",
         "esxiVersion" : "6.7.0-16075168",
         "hardwareVendor" : "VMware, Inc.",
         "cpu" : {
            "cpuCores" : [
               {
                  "model" : "intel",
                  "frequencyMHz" : 2394.375,
                  "manufacturer" : "Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8260 CPU @ 2.40GHz                                                "
               },
               {
                  "frequencyMHz" : 2394.375,
                  "manufacturer" : "Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8260 CPU @ 2.40GHz                                                ",
                  "model" : "intel"
               },
               {
                  "model" : "intel",
                  "frequencyMHz" : 2394.375,
                  "manufacturer" : "Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8260 CPU @ 2.40GHz                                                "
               },
               {
                  "model" : "intel",
                  "manufacturer" : "Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8260 CPU @ 2.40GHz                                                ",
                  "frequencyMHz" : 2394.375
               },
               {
                  "model" : "intel",
                  "manufacturer" : "Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8260 CPU @ 2.40GHz                                                ",
                  "frequencyMHz" : 2394.375
               },
               {
                  "frequencyMHz" : 2394.375,
                  "manufacturer" : "Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8260 CPU @ 2.40GHz                                                ",
                  "model" : "intel"
               },
               {
                  "frequencyMHz" : 2394.375,
                  "manufacturer" : "Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8260 CPU @ 2.40GHz                                                ",
                  "model" : "intel"
               },
               {
                  "model" : "intel",
                  "manufacturer" : "Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8260 CPU @ 2.40GHz                                                ",
                  "frequencyMHz" : 2394.375
               }
            ],
            "frequencyMHz" : 19155,
            "usedFrequencyMHz" : 1892,
            "cores" : 8
         },
         "physicalNics" : [
            {
               "deviceName" : "vmnic0",
               "macAddress" : "00:50:56:a1:cf:47"
            },
            {
               "deviceName" : "vmnic1",
               "macAddress" : "00:50:56:a1:8b:71"
            }
         ],
         "bundleRepoDatastore" : "lcm-bundle-repo",
         "hybrid" : false,
         "memory" : {
            "totalCapacityMB" : 79995.421875,
            "usedCapacityMB" : 22571
         },
         "id" : "b318fe37-f9a8-48b6-8815-43aae5131b94",
...
    In this case, the id for
    esxi-2.vrack.vsphere.local
     is
    b318fe37-f9a8-48b6-8815-43aae5131b94
    .
  5. Open the
    /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties
     file.
  6. At the end of the file, add the following line:
    esx.upgrade.skip.host.ids=hostid1,hostid2
    Replace the host ids with the information from step 4. If you are including multiple host ids, do not add any spaces between them. For example:
    esx.upgrade.skip.host.ids=60927f26-8910-4dd3-8435-8bb7aef5f659,6c516864-b6de-4537-90e4-c0d711e5befb65c206aa-2561-420e-8c5c-e51b9843f93d
  7. Save and close the file.
  8. Ensure that the ownership of the
    application-prod.properties
     file is
    vcf_lcm:vcf
    .
  9. Restart the LCM server by typing the following command in the console window:
    systemctl restart lcm
The hosts added to the
application-prod.properties
 are not updated when you update the workload domain.

Upgrade ESXi with Custom ISOs

For clusters in workload domains with vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines, you can upgrade ESXi with a custom ISO from your vendor. VMware Cloud Foundation 4.4.1.1 and later support multiple custom ISOs in a single ESXi upgrade in cases where specific clusters or workload domains require different custom ISOs.
Download the appropriate vendor-specific ISOs on a computer with internet access. If no vendor-specific ISO is available for the required version of ESXi, then you can create one. See Create a Custom ISO Image for ESXi.
  1. Download the VMware Software Update bundle for VMware ESXi. See Download Bundles Using SDDC Manager.
    To use an async patch version of ESXi, enable the patch with the Async Patch Tool before proceeding to the next step. See Async Patch Tool 1.2.
  2. Using SSH, log in to the
    SDDC Manager appliance
    .
  3. Create a directory for the vendor ISO(s) under the
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount
     directory. For example,
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-binaries
    .
  4. Copy the vendor-specific ISO(s) to the directory you created on the
    SDDC Manager appliance
    . For example, you can copy the ISO to the
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-binaries
     directory.
  5. Change permissions on the directory where you copied the ISO(s). For example,
    chmod -R 775 /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-binaries/
  6. Change owner to vcf.
    chown -R vcf_lcm:vcf /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-binaries/
  7. Create an ESX custom image JSON using the following template. 
    {
"esxCustomImageSpecList": [{
"bundleId": "
    bundle ID of the ESXI bundle you downloaded
    ",
"targetEsxVersion": "
    ESXi version for the target VMware Cloud Foundation version
    ",
"useVcfBundle": false,
 
    "domainId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
    ,
 
    "clusterId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
    ,
"customIsoAbsolutePath": "
    Path_to_custom_ISO
    "
}]
}
    where
    Parameter
    Description and Example Value
    bundleId
    ID of the ESXi upgrade bundle you downloaded. You can retrieve the bundle ID by navigating to the
    Lifecycle Management
    Bundle Management
     page and clicking
    View Details
     to view the bundle ID.
    For example,
    8c0de63d-b522-4db8-be6c-f1e0ab7ef554
    .
    If an incorrect bundle ID is provided, the upgrade will proceed with the
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     stock ISO and replace the custom VIBs in your environment with the stock VIBs.
    targetEsxVersion
    Version of the ESXi bundle you downloaded. You can retrieve the target ESXi version by navigating to the
    Lifecycle Management
    Bundle Management
     page and clicking
    View Details
     to view the "Update to Version".
    useVcfBundle
    Specifies whether the
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     ESXi bundle is to be used for the upgrade.
    If you want to upgrade with a custom ISO image, ensure that this is set to
    false
    .
    domainId
     (optional, VCF 4.4.1.1 and later only)
    ID of the specific workload domain for the custom ISO. Use the VMware Cloud Foundation API (
    GET /v1/domains
    ) to get the IDs for your workload domains.
    clusterId
     (optional, VCF 4.4.1.1 and later only)
    ID of the specific cluster within a workload domain to apply the custom ISO. If you do not specify a
    clusterId
    , the custom ISO will be applied to all clusters in the workload domain. Use the VMware Cloud Foundation API (
    GET /v1/clusters
    ) to get the IDs for your clusters.
    customIsoAbsolutePath
    Path to the custom ISO file on the
    SDDC Manager appliance
    . For example,
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-binaries/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.0.0.update01-17325551.x86_64-DellEMC_Customized-A01.iso
    Here is an example of a completed JSON template. 
    {
"esxCustomImageSpecList": [{
"bundleId": "8c0de63d-b522-4db8-be6c-f1e0ab7ef554",
"targetEsxVersion": "6.7.0-10302608",
"useVcfBundle": false,
"customIsoAbsolutePath":
"/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-binaries/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-7.0.0.update01-17325551.x86_64-DellEMC_Customized-A01.iso"
}]
}
    Here is an example of a completed JSON template with multiple ISOs using a single workload domain and specified clusters (VCF 4.4.1.1 and later only). 
    {
   "esxCustomImageSpecList": [
       {
           "bundleId": "aa7b16b1-d719-44b7-9ced-51bb02ca84f4",
           "targetEsxVersion": "7.0.1-18150133",
           "useVcfBundle": false,
           "domainId": "1b7b16b1-d719-44b7-9ced-51bb02ca84b2",
           "clusterId": "c37b16b1-d719-44b7-9ced-51bb02ca84f4",
           "customIsoAbsolutePath": "/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-binaries/VMware-ESXi-7.0.2-17867351-DELL.zip"
       },
       {
           "bundleId": "aa7b16b1-d719-44b7-9ced-51bb02ca84f4",
           "targetEsxVersion": "7.0.1-18150133",
           "useVcfBundle": false,
           "domainId": "1b7b16b1-d719-44b7-9ced-51bb02ca84b2",
           "customIsoAbsolutePath": "/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-binaries/VMware-ESXi-7.0.2-17867351-HP.zip"
       }
   ]
}
  8. Save the JSON file as
    esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
     in the
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount
    .
    If the JSON file is not saved in the correct directory, the stock
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     ISO is used for the upgrade and the custom VIBs are overwritten.
  9. Set the correct permissions on the
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
     file:
    chmod -R 775 /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
    chown -R vcf_lcm:vcf /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
  10. Open the
    /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties
     file.
  11. In the
    lcm.esx.upgrade.custom.image.spec=
     parameter, add the path to the JSON file.
    For example,
    lcm.esx.upgrade.custom.image.spec=/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
  12. In the navigation pane, click
    Inventory
    Workload Domains
    .
  13. On the Workload Domains page, click the domain you are upgrading and then click the
    Updates/Patches
     tab.
  14. Schedule the ESXi upgrade bundle.
  15. Monitor the upgrade progress. See Monitor VMware Cloud Foundation Updates.
  16. After the upgrade is complete, confirm the ESXi version by clicking
    Current Versions
    . The ESXi hosts table displays the current ESXi version.

Upgrade ESXi with
VMware Cloud Foundation
 Stock ISO and Async Drivers

For clusters in workload domains with vLCM baselines, you can apply the stock ESXi upgrade bundle with specified async drivers.
Download the appropriate async drivers for your hardware on a computer with internet access.
  1. Download the
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     ESXi upgrade bundle. See Download Bundles Using SDDC Manager.
  2. Using SSH, log in to the
    SDDC Manager appliance
    .
  3. Create a directory for the vendor provided async drivers under the
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount
     directory. For example,
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers
    .
  4. Copy the async drivers to the directory you created on the
    SDDC Manager appliance
    . For example, you can copy the drivers to the
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers
     directory.
  5. Change permissions on the directory where you copied the drivers. For example,
    chmod -R 775 /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers
  6. Change owner to vcf.
    chown -R vcf_lcm:vcf /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers
  7. Create an ESX custom image JSON using the following template. 
    {
"esxCustomImageSpecList": [{
"bundleId": "
    bundle ID of the ESXI bundle you downloaded
    ",
"targetEsxVersion": "
    ESXi version for the target VMware Cloud Foundation version
    ",
"useVcfBundle": true,
"esxPatchesAbsolutePaths": ["
    Path_to_Drivers
    "]
}]
}
    where
    Parameter
    Description and Example Value
    bundleId
    ID of the ESXi upgrade bundle you downloaded. You can retrieve the bundle ID by navigating to the
    Lifecycle Management
    Bundle Management
     page and clicking
    View Details
     to view the bundle ID.
    For example,
    8c0de63d-b522-4db8-be6c-f1e0ab7ef554
    .
    targetEsxVersion
    Version of the ESXi upgrade bundle you downloaded. You can retrieve the ESXi target version by navigating to the
    Lifecycle Management
    Bundle Management
     page and clicking
    View Details
     to view the "Update to Version".
    useVcfBundle
    Specifies whether the ESXi bundle is to be used for the upgrade. Set this to
    true
    .
    esxPatchesAbsolutePaths
    Path to the async drivers on the
    SDDC Manager appliance
    . For example,
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers/VMW-ESX-6.7.0-smartpqi-1.0.2.1038-offline_bundle-8984687.zip
    Here is an example of a completed JSON template. 
    {
"esxCustomImageSpecList": [{
"bundleId": "411bea6a-b26c-4a15-9443-03f453c68752-apTool",
"targetEsxVersion": "7.0.3-21053776",
"useVcfBundle": true,
"esxPatchesAbsolutePaths": ["/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-upgrade-partner-drivers/drivers/HPE-703.0.0.10.9.5.14-Aug2022-Synergy-Addon-depot.zip"]
}]
}
  8. Save the JSON file as
    esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
     in the
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount
    .
    If the JSON file is not saved in the correct directory, the stock
    VMware Cloud Foundation
     ISO is used for the upgrade and the custom VIBs are overwritten.
  9. Set the correct permissions on the
    /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
     file:
    chmod -R 775 /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
    chown -R vcf_lcm:vcf /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
  10. Open the
    /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties
     file.
  11. In the
    lcm.esx.upgrade.custom.image.spec=
     parameter, add the path to the JSON file.
    For example,
    lcm.esx.upgrade.custom.image.spec=/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/esx-custom-image-upgrade-spec.json
  12. In the navigation pane, click
    Inventory
    Workload Domains
    .
  13. On the Workload Domain page, click the management domain.
  14. On the Domain Summary page, click the
    Updates/Patches
     tab.
  15. In the Available Updates section, click
    Update Now
     or
    Schedule Update
     next to the VMware Software Update bundle for VMware ESXi.
  16. Monitor the upgrade progress. See Monitor VMware Cloud Foundation Updates.
  17. After the upgrade is complete, confirm the ESXi version by clicking
    Current Versions
    . The ESXi hosts table displays the current ESXi version.

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