If you are using vSphere Replication 8.4.x, or 8.5.x you can directly upgrade to version 8.6.

Prerequisites

  • Download the VMware-vSphere_Replication-8.6.x.x-build_number.iso image from the vSphere Downloads page. Copy the ISO image file to a datastore that is accessible from the vCenter Server instance that you use with vSphere Replication.
  • Verify that you are currently running a version, which allows you to upgrade directly to vSphere Replication 8.6.
    • You can directly upgrade to vSphere Replication 8.6, only if the version of vSphere Replication you currently run is 8.4.x or 8.5.x.
    • If you run an earlier than 8.4 version of vSphere Replication, you must upgrade your vSphere Replication instance to version 8.5 first, and then upgrade 8.5 to 8.6.
Important: If you currently run vSphere Replication 8.4 and want to upgrade to vSphere Replication 8.6, please follow the vSphere Replication 8.5 upgrade process. See Upgrade vSphere Replication Appliance.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, right-click the vSphere Replication virtual machine and select Edit Settings.
  2. On the Virtual Hardware tab, select CD/DVD Drive > Datastore ISO File.
  3. Navigate to the ISO image in the datastore.
  4. For File Type, select ISO Image and click OK.
  5. Follow the prompts to add the CD/DVD drive to the vSphere Replication virtual machine.
  6. In a Web browser, log in to the VRMS Appliance Management Interface.
    The URL for the VRMS Appliance Management Interface is https:// vr_appliance_address:5480.
  7. Click the Update tab, and click Edit.
  8. Select Use CD-ROM and click OK.
    The appliance version appears in the list of available updates.
  9. In the Available updates pane, click Install.
  10. Accept the End-User License Agreement and click Install.
    After the update is complete, the appliance restarts.
  11. Login to the VRMS Appliance Management Interface as admin and verify that the version is 8.6.0.
  12. Click Reconfigure.
  13. Follow the prompts, provide the required information, and click Finish.

What to do next

  • You might need to re-enable the SSH connections. See Unable to Establish an SSH Connection to the vSphere Replication Appliance.
  • If your infrastructure uses more than one vSphere Replication Server, you must upgrade all vSphere Replication Server instances to version 8.6 on the on-premises site.
  • If you plan to upgrade the vCenter Server next, you must restart the HMS service after you upgrade the vCenter Server components.
Important: As of vSphere Replication 8.3, external databases are no longer supported. If you were using an external database in the previous version of vSphere Replication that you were running, all your data will be migrated to the embedded database. You must apply additional configuration to enable the support of up to 4000 replications in the embedded database. See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2102463.