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.

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 Settings.
  4. Under Version, next to Product version click Check for updates.
  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 then click Next.
      • If the appliance has Internet access, enter the following URL and specify the target version https://packages-prod.broadcom.com/vcav/4.6/.
      • 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 then click Next.
    4. On the Release notes page, read the notes for this version then click Next.
    5. On the Compatibility Check page, check the paired on-premises appliances compatibility with the upgrade version and click Next.
      If you powered off the Tunnel Appliance and all Replicator Appliance instances before starting the upgrade of the Cloud Director Replication Management Appliance, the following expected error message shows for each paired site:

      Generic Network Error occurred on client side.

      If you did not power them off until now, once these compatibility checks pass, power them off.
    6. On the EULA Review page, to accept the end-user license agreement click Next.
    7. On the Ready for update page, confirm creating a backup by selecting the I have created a backup archive of the appliance. checkbox then click Finish.
    The upgrade process starts. Wait for the installation process to finish.
    Note: If you see either of the following messages, wait a few minutes before attempting to log back in:

    Timeout has occurred or Operation aborted due to an unexpected error.

  6. After the appliance restarts, verify that 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. When upgrading to version 4.6.x, verify that the upgrade log contains the following log entry near the end.
      'Postupgrade to 4.6.x complete.'
      Once the following tailing lines are logged at the end of the log file, the appliance automatically reboots in 15 seconds: [date-timestamp] # set -o pipefail; /usr/bin/systemd-run --on-active=15 /usr/sbin/reboot 2>&1 | /usr/bin/gawk '{ print strftime("[%Y-%m-%d %T %Z]"), $0 }' | tee -a /var/log/upgrade.log 1>&2 [date-timestamp] Running timer as unit: run-re595c8a07fe845bbb87e6c36f866caf2.timer [date-timestamp] Will run service as unit: run-re595c8a07fe845bbb87e6c36f866caf2.service
      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 Director site.