Ensure that the prerequisites in each section are met before you begin a VMware software upgrade.
Domain Operations
Verify that no domain operations are running. See Managing Workflows and Tasks.
ESXi Prerequisites
Verify that all ESXi hosts are within a domain cluster in vCenter.
Verify that all ESXi hosts within the cluster are in a healthy state. If a host is not healthy, and therefore in maintenance mode, the upgrade will fail.
NSX Prerequisites
Back up the NSX configuration.
Using the root account, SSH in to the SDDC Manager Controller VM.
Type the following command.
/home/vrack/bin/lookup-password
Note down the values for the following.
IP address for SDDC Manager Utility VM that resides in the management domain vCenter
username
password
Follow the procedure Back Up NSX Manager Data in Upgrading NSX. For the NSX backup files to be accessible by Cloud Foundation, you must specify the settings specified in the table below.
Setting
Value
IP/Hostname
IP address that you noted in step 3.
Transfer Protocol
SFTP
Port
22
Username
Username that you noted in step 3.
Password
Password that you noted in step 3.
Backup Directory
/backup
Filename Prefix
nsx_type_domain-number
For example, type nsx_mgmt_dmn01 when taking a backup of the NSX management domain. Type nsx_vdi_dmn01 when taking a VDI domain backup.
Passphrase
nsxmgr_backup
If you are upgrading a workload domain that contains 3 hosts, disable the anti-affinity rule that separates NSX controllers across hosts.
Login to the vCenter Server of the domain.
In the left navigation pane, right-click the cluster and click Edit Setting.
In the left navigation pane, click Rules.
Un-select the NSX-Controller Anti-Affinity rule.
Click OK.
After the upgrade is complete, enable the rule again.