Upgrade VCSA 6.0 to VCSA 6.5

How to upgrade VCSA 6.0 to VCSA 6.5

Hi all,

Today we will discuss about how to upgrade a VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 to VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5.

Below screenshot shows vcsa-02.vgyan.local which is running on VCSA 6.0.0.

Before upgrading you should keep a full backup of your vCenter server appliance,better take a clone copy and keep powered-off.

Below screenshot has two administrator users in administrators group, after upgrade we will verify the same.

Open VCSA 6.5 installation media from a jump host.

Select upgrade option:-

Upgrade – Stage 1: Deploy Appliance.

Click Next to continue:-

Accept the licence agreement and click “Next” to continue:-

Connect to Source Appliance 

Appliance FQDN or IP address: vcsa-02.vgyan.local

Appliance HTTPS port: 433

SSO user name: administrator@vgyan.vsphere.local

SSO password: *****

Appliance (OS) root password: *****

ESXi host information

We need to provide the details of esxi host or vCenter Server that manages the source appliance.

ESXi host or vCenter Server name: esxi04.vgyan.local

HTTPS port: 443

User name: root

Password:*****

Click “Next” to continue:-

Accept and click “Yes” for certificate warning.

Appliance deployment target

Provide a target host for new appliance deployment.

ESXi host or vCenter Server name: esxi05.vgyan.local

HTTPS port :443

User name: root

Password: *****

Click “Next” to continue:-

Accept and click “Yes” for certificate warning.

Provide a VM Name and root password for new appliance.

VM name: vcsa-03.vgyan.local

Root password: *****

Confirm root password: *****

Click “Next” to continue:-

I am going with Tiny deployment size because I am in lab environment.

Selecting Storage size as default.

Click “Next” to continue:-

I am Selecting my local datastore with thin disk mode for this upgrade.

Select available datastore and click “Next” to continue:-

We need to configure a temporary network for upgrade, after a successful upgrade VCSA 6.0 IP will be assigned to VCSA 6.5.

Network: VM Network (permanent)

Temporary network configuration:-

IP version: IPv4

IP assignment: 192.168.10.32

Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Default gateway: 192.168.10.1

DNS server: 192.168.10.10

Verify all details and click “Next” to continue:-

Verify all details for stage 1 deployment and click “Finish” to start the deployment.

Deployment started and it taken 10 min in lab environment.

Deployment completed. Click continue for stage 2 upgrade. But here I am going to select “close” this installation and will configure the appliance later.

Below screenshot shows we have a new VCSA 6.5 appliance with temporary IP: 192.168.10.32

Open your browser, access VCSA 6.5 appliance with https://<temp IP>:5480 port.

It will show vCenter Server 6.5 has been successfully installed, but additional steps must be completed before it is available for use.

Here you can select any option according to the requirement. I am going for VCSA 6.0 to 6.5 upgrade so I am selecting upgrade a vCenter Server appliance option.

Log in to vCenter Server appliance with root credentials.

Now we are in stage two upgrade.

Click Next to continue:-

Connect to source vCenter Server, I already provided all the details on stage 1, but I closed that installer so we need to provide all details one more time.

Source vCenter Server

Server name: vcsa-02.vgyan.local

SSO user name: administrator@vgyan.vsphere.local

SSO password: *****

Applance root password: *****

ESXi host information

ESXi host name: esx04.vgyan.local

HTTPS port: 443

User name: root

Password: *****

Click “Next” to continue:-

Select upgrade data, I am selecting only configuration data its around 1.3 GB.

If you want to take the events,tasks and performance data select appropriate option.

Click “Next” to continue:-

I would like to join for VMware’s customer experience improvement program, it will help to improve the product.

Verify all the details and accept “I have backed up the source vCenter Server and all the required data from the database”

Click “Finish” to start upgrade.

Shutdown warning ” The source vCenter Server will be shut down once the network configuration is enabled on destination vCenter Server.

Click “OK” to continue:-

There are three steps are involved in this upgrade.

1. Copy data from source vCenter Server to target Server.
2. Set up target vCenter Server and start services.
3. Import copied data to target vCenter Server.

Its taken around 20 minutes to complete the upgrade.

We have successfully completed the upgrade.

As you can see below, vcsa-02.vgyan.local upgraded to VCSA 6.5.

Version information changed to 6.5.0 in vCenter web client.

Below screenshot shows, after upgrade administrator users are available in the new vCenter Server.

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