In the cloud appliances management interface, you can upgrade VMware Cloud Director Availability to the latest version by using the default VMware repository.

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.
  • Verify that each VMware Cloud Director Availability appliance has an external Internet access to the VMware repository.

Procedure

  1. 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.
  2. In the left pane, click Settings.
  3. Under Version, next to Product version click Check for updates.
  4. Upgrade the cloud appliance by completing the Update wizard.
    1. On the Repository page, select Use Official Online Repository and click Next.
    2. On the Available updates page, select an update and click Next.
    3. On the Release notes page, read the notes for this release and click Next.
    4. 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.
    5. On the EULA Review page, to accept the end user license agreement click Next.
    6. 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.

  5. 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

Results

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

What to do next

After you upgrade all the VMware Cloud Director Availability appliances, finish the upgrade by completing the post-upgrade configuration.