A rolling upgrade is a deployment strategy in which a cluster of App Volumes Manager server instances is upgraded by taking one App Volumes Manager offline at a time. Such a strategy reduces the overall downtime.

As only one App Volumes Manager server is taken offline at a time, the App Volumes Manager service is available and end users can continue to have the Applications and Writable Volumes attached to their virtual machines during the upgrade process.

The rolling upgrade process is finished when you perform the procedure described in this section for all App Volumes Manager instances in the cluster.

Prerequisites

  • If you are in the Administrators role, ensure that users in other administrator roles do not make any configuration or assignment changes from the App Volumes Manager admin UI.

    For other user roles, see Assigning and Managing Roles and Privileges in the VMware App Volumes Administration Guide at VMware Docs.

  • Back up the App Volumes database using SQL Server tools.
  • Be aware of the Considerations for Performing Rolling Upgrades.
  • Download the latest App Volumes installer from the VMware Downloads page.

Procedure

  1. In the load balancer, remove the App Volumes Manager server that you intend to upgrade first.
  2. In the vCenter Server, take a VM Snapshot of the App Volumes Manager server by selecting the Snapshot the virtual machine's memory option.
  3. Make a note of the current time on the App Volumes Manager server.
    This timestamp is necessary when reviewing the App Volumes Manager log files which must be done for verifying that the rolling upgrade is successful.
  4. In the Administrator role, log into the App Volumes Manager server and run the App Volumes installer.
  5. Follow the prompts to install the App Volumes Manager.
  6. After the installation is complete, perform the following steps:
    1. Ensure that App Volumes Manager is reachable and you can access the App Volumes Manager admin UI.
    2. Navigate to the App Volumes Manager Log folder, locate the svmanager_setup.log file, and ensure that exceptions or database errors are not present in the log file.
  7. In the load balancer, add the App Volumes Manager server back which was removed in an earlier step.
  8. Repeat the steps in this procedure for all the App Volumes Manager server instances in the cluster.
  9. Verify the upgrade in the App Volumes Manager console by navigating to ACTIVITY > System Messages and ensure that there are no error messages from the upgrade.