In the cloud appliances management interface, you can upgrade VMware Cloud Director Availability to the latest version by specifying an online or a local repository that contains the upgrade binaries.

Perform this procedure multiple times, to upgrade each VMware Cloud Director Availability appliance. Follow this procedure only when upgrading from VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.1.1 or later. For earlier versions, or alternative upgrade methods, see Upgrading in the Cloud Director Site.

Prerequisites

  • Follow a strict order when upgrading the VMware Cloud Director Availability appliances. For more information, see Appliances Upgrade Sequence and Snapshots.
  • Verify that each VMware Cloud Director Availability appliance has a network access to the specified repository.

Procedure

  1. (Optional) If the network restricts the appliances online Internet access, prepare a local repository with the upgrade files.
    1. To host the upgrade files inside the internal network, install and configure a local Web server.
    2. Download the VMware-Cloud-Director-Availability-release.number.xxxxxxx-build_sha.iso file, that contains the VMware Cloud Director Availability release.number Upgrade Disk Image.
    3. To access the image file contents, mount the downloaded .iso file to a local computer.
    4. Copy the update directory to the local Web server.
      The update directory contains the manifest files and the dnf subdirectory.
  2. Log in to the service management interface of each VMware Cloud Director Availability appliance.
    1. Open a Web browser and according to the upgrade order go to each management interface address.
      Upgrade Order VMware Cloud Director Availability Appliance Management Interface Address
      First Cloud Director Replication Management Appliance https://Appliance-IP-Address/ui/admin
      Repeat for all instances Replicator Appliance https://Replicator-IP-Address/ui/admin
      Last Tunnel Appliance https://Tunnel-IP-Address/ui/admin
    2. Log in by using the root user credentials.
  3. In the left pane, click Configuration.
  4. Under Version, next to Product version click Check for updates.
    Note: Proceed with the upgrade only after taking a snapshot of each cloud appliance.
  5. Upgrade the cloud appliance by completing the Update wizard.
    1. On the Repository page, to specify the repository containing the upgrade files select Use Specified Repository.
    2. On the Repository URL text box, specify the repository URL address and click Next.
      • If the appliance has Internet access, enter the following URL and specify the target version https://packages.vmware.com/vcav/4.4.
      • Alternatively, enter the URL address of the local repository pointing to the update/dnf directory of the local Web server. For example, enter http://local-Web-server-address/update/dnf.
    3. On the Available updates page, select an update and click Next.
    4. On the Release notes page, read the notes for this release and click Next.
    5. On the Compatibility Check page, check the paired on-premises appliances compatibility with the upgrade version and click Next.
    6. On the EULA Review page, to accept the end-user license agreement click Next.
    7. On the Ready for update page, click Finish and wait for the installation process to finish.
    The VMware Cloud Director Availability appliance automatically restarts.
  6. After the appliance restarts, verify that the upgrade is successful.

    When the upgrade process finishes, in the left pane in System Tasks, you might see a red Update task that failed with messages like Operation aborted due to an unexpected error or Task aborted due to service reboot, while the upgrade is successful.

    1. Connect to the appliance console either by using a Secure Shell (SSH) client or by using the vSphere Client and log in as the root user.
    2. Open the upgrade log file. 
      less /var/log/upgrade.log
    3. Verify that the upgrade log finishes with the following log entry.
      The upgrade was successful! Scheduling reboot in 15 seconds.

Results

After validating that the upgrade is successful, repeat this procedure for the next appliance, until you upgrade all cloud appliances in the cloud site, according to the upgrade order in the above table.

What to do next

After you upgrade all the VMware Cloud Director Availability appliances, finish the upgrade with a post-upgrade configuration. For more information, see Post-Upgrade Configuration in the Cloud backed by VMware Cloud Director.