VMware 7.0u1 upgrade part2: the journey from VMware 6.7

This article now follows up with the VMware 7.0u1 upgrade part2. In the first part the article covered the initial step of preparing and installing the new VMware VCSA appliance. For this step the VMware VCSA install wizard checks for the necessary prerequisites and possible integrations with plugins found on the previous appliance. It is always a good idea to check the interoperability of all components and avoid surprises in the middle of the upgrade. This means also paying attention to the upgrade priority among component. For example with storage integrations.

VMware 7.0u1 upgrade part2

The installer is now ready to resume with the VMware 7.0u1 upgrade part2. In this part the installer verify dependencies, especially for 3rd parties plugins, and import data from the previous VCSA appliance. This includes everything. From SSO credentials, to VCSA object and network configuration and a lot more.

The wizard is now connecting and validating the previous step.

Before proceeding with the step 2 the installer runs a pre-upgrade check. For this environment in fact there are messages about checking if the ESXi host where the appliance is running is not part of a DRS cluster. Additional storage extensions, might not be compatible and require an upgrade or reinstall of the plugin.

Since the introduction of VMware Lifecycle Manager (LCM) existing baselines created on VMware 6.0 might not be compatible. In this case I’m happy to say all the previous configurations have been retained.

At this point the wizard shows the rough amount of data in the configuration and inventory that can be imported in the new appliance and keep history of the previous information. This includes Configuration, Inventory, Tasks, Events and Performance Metrics.

Quick screen to accept the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) and progress with next step.

The installer wizard has now collected all the info to proceed with VMware 7.0u1 upgrade part2.

As part of the upgrade process and switching from the Temporary IP address to the final one the wizard also offer the option to shutdown the existing VMware VCSA appliance.

The installer wizard will in turn:

Copy data from previous VCSA appliance in a temp location
Set up target VCSA appliance
Import data into the target VCSA appliance

A few moments later the process completes and advises on new certificates encryption although TLS 1.2 and higher should be the “new default” in the majority of systems.

At this point everything is ready to start browsing the new VMware VCSA appliance on the usual address.

Before moving on, a recommended step is to remove the cookies from the browser for the previous VCSA appliance. Next is to import the new self signed certificate generated from this install.

The certificate is available in the link from the menu on the right “Download trusted root CA certificate”.

Ideally the certificate should be installed in the “Trusted Root Certification Authorities” folder when accessing the vSphere Client from a Windows machine.