How to upgrade your vSphere 8.0U3 to vSphere 9.0.2
Stumbling stones
Ensure, that your cluster uses image based updating – baselines are no longer supported.
Please note that after upgrading to version 9.0.2, your licenses will run in trial mode for 60 days.
Make sure to upgrade to VVF 9.0.2 or VCF 9.0.2 in a timely manner.
Prerequisites:
- Hosts and vCenter are prepared with or running on version 8.0U3
- vCenter ISO version 9.0.2 is downloaded from https://support.broadcom.com to your PC.
It is strongly recommended to take a backup or at least a snapshot from your vCenter appliance prior starting the upgrade process!
Start Upgrade via vCenter UI
Mount the vCenter installer ISO within the vCenter 8 appliance.
- This can be done via e.g. the VMware remote console application.
Within vCenter UI, go to the “Inventory” and select the vCenter object – on the right side select “Updates”
On the upgrade wizard, click “RECHECK” to analyze the currently mounted ISO file. This results in showing the correct target version from the ISO file.
Proceed with “NEXT”
Verify your backups and check “I have backed up the vCenter Server and all the required data using VMware product or a third party utility.”
Now we need to upgrade the “Upgrade Plug-in” so the installer is aware of vCenter 9.0.2 requirements. Select “UPGRADE PLUG-IN”
You can monitor the progress
After successfully upgrading the plug-in, you need to run the pre-checks.
Wait until it is finished.
Proceed with “NEXT”
Configure the vCenter Server target appliance.
In this step, we are configuring the settings for a new and empty vCenter appliance. The installer will deploy the new OVA and then migrate all data from the old to the new one.
Accept the license agreement and click “NEXT”
Opt. in or out the Join the Broadcom’s Customer Experience Improvement Program. Checkbox – proceed with “NEXT”
Specify the target location for the newly installed vCenter appliance.
If you choose “Deploy in the same location as source.” You do not have to specify any details; you can click “NEXT”.
You can use the same parameters for the new appliance or configure aur own set of values
During the upgrade the target Virtual Machine will have suffix ’temp’ added to its name and when the upgrade is over the Virtual Machine will have the same name as the source Virtual Machine.
Specify a temporary root password and click “NEXT”
On the “Network Settings” page, select “Manual” from the “Network configuration” drop down to specify an IP address – choosing “Automatic” will result in a DHCP configuration.
Fill out the form and click “NEXT”
Review your configuration and click “FINISH”
After a view seconds click “NEXT to proceed.
Upgrade to new version.
Upgrade happens in two stages, Prepare and Switchover.
In the Prepare stage, a new vCenter Server is deployed and data is replicated.
In the Switchover stage, expect a system downtime of a few minutes during which the configuration is transferred from the source vCenter Server to the newly deployed target appliance.
Click on “START UPGRADE” to begin the process.
Select Switchover Execution “Policy”
You can select
„Manual“ -You must start phase 2 manually.
“Automated” – Phase 2 is starting right after stage 1.
“Scheduled” – Phase 2 is starting at a given point of time.
Now you can monitor progress.
As you can see, there is a new VM which will be the new home of your vCenter data and configuration.
Both VMs are running temporarily side by side until the old one is pored off by the workflow.
You can also monitor what’s going on when navigating to https://<your_temporary_adress>:5480
Don’t panic! It takes some time until the switchover starts!
You can monitor the progress within the “old” vCenter UI.
As you can see, phase 2 started automatically.
Do not go back, refresh, or close this screen till the upgrade completes.
After a few minutes you should see this
As you can see, the vCenter 8.X appliance was renamed to shati-m01-vc01-old-8.0.3.00000 and is powered off, the new one has the original name shati-m01-vc01.
Now it´s time to upgrade our ESX hosts
Navigate to your cluster and select “Updates”, then click “EDIT”
Edit the image and select the correct versions for ESX, Vendor Addon and optionally other components. When finished, click “SAVE”
A cluster compliance check is triggered automatically to determine which hosts need to be upgraded to be compliant.
When finished, click on “REMEDIATE (ALL)” to start upgrading your hosts.
Review the “Review Remediation Impact” Page and click “START REMEDIATION”
Wait until all hosts are upgraded.
