As of December the 5th, VMware released the latest version of the vCenter appliance. Namely VCSA 6.7 update 3b. This release addresses lots of improvements and new features. To name just one, for example the option to automatically delete backups of the appliance after the specified retention settings. In a previous article, the steps on how to backup the VCSA appliance database using the built-in functionality and pointing to a NAS device. Glad to know it is now resolved with the current version of VCSA 6.7.
A full list of new fixes and updates can be found at the official VMware release note for the VCSA 6.7 update 3b. Here just an excerpt of what to expect:
- Security Issues
- Networking Issues
- Miscellaneous Issues
- Backup Issues
- Installation, Upgrade, and Migration Issues
- vCenter Server, vSphere Web Client, and vSphere Client Issues
- Convergence Issues
- Virtual Machine Management Issues
- CLI Issues
- Server Configuration Issues
- vMotion Issues
- High Availability Issues
The purpose of this article is to quickly show the main steps to upgrade to the latest version. Of course a backup prior any change it is essential to carry on with the procedure. So to save time it is recommended to take a backup before running the update process.
Upgrading to VMware VCSA 6.7 update 3b
The update process to VCSA 6.7 update 3b release is pretty simple and straight forward. Once logged in with root account to and port 5480 to the appliance, in the summary section it is possible to check the current version and the status of services.
In the update section the option to review the information about the latest image available. If upgrading from older versions, the update check might not download the latest information. Should this be the case, chances are the update process is pointing at a different address as covered in this article discussing VCSA update not working.
With the Stage and Install option of course the ability to download the latest image (less than 2 GB) and run an in-place upgrade.
Before proceeding it is mandatory to take a backup of the appliance as covered earlier. The estimated downtime is “over-estimated”. Overall process didn’t take more than 15 mins. But mileage may vary!
At this point the wizard is ready to download (stage) and update the pertinent binaries.
Before starting the installation the wizard will stop all the necessary services on the VCSA appliance.
A few minute later a final message showing the success for the VCSA 6.7 update 3b.
As a final check, browsing the Summary section, it shows the current information. As part of the upgrade, the next step is to move to the vSphere Hosts and update them accordingly. Next article will cover these steps.
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