Download All Bundles for VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell EMC VxRail with the Bundle Transfer Utility

LCM polls the VMware depot to access the update bundles. If you do not have internet connectivity in your VMware Cloud Foundation system, you can use the Bundle Transfer utility to manually download the applicable bundles from the depot to your local computer and then upload them to SDDC Manager. The utility identifies applicable bundles based on the current software versions in your environment based on a marker file generated on the SDDC Manager VM.

Prerequisites

A Windows or Linux computer with Java 8 or later and internet connectivity for downloading the bundles.

Note: The Bundle Transfer Utility and Skip Level Upgrade Tool is the only supported method for downloading bundles. Do not use third-party tools or other methods to download bundles.

Procedure

Using SSH, log in to the SDDC Manager VM with the user name vcf and password you specified in the deployment parameter sheet.
Navigate to the /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-tools/bin directory.
Generate a marker file by running the following command.
./lcm-bundle-transfer-util --generateMarker
The marker file (markerFile) is a JSON file that contains information on the current software versions running on SDDC Manager. It also contains the bundles IDs for bundles that were downloaded before this file was generated. The markerFile.md5 contains the checksum for the markerFile.

The output contains the directory where the marker file is generated.
Copy the /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-tools/bin directory, and the markerFile and markerFile.md5 files from the location displayed in the output of step 3 to a computer with internet access.
The /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-tools/bin directory includes the bundle transfer utility required for the next step.

For the VxRail SKU, when you download the NSX or vCenter bundles, provide the additional argument of withCompatibilitySets which will let you download the compatibility sets along with the bundles. On the computer with internet access, run the following command.

./lcm-bundle-transfer-util -download "withCompatibilitySets"
			 -outputDirectory ${absolute-path-output-dir}
			 -depotUser ${depotUser} 
			 -markerFile ${absolute-path-markerFile}
			 -markerMd5File ${absolute-path-markerFile.md5}

where


`absolute-path-output-dir`	Path to the directory where the bundle files are to be downloaded. This directory folder must have 777 permissions. If you do not specify the download directory, bundles are downloaded to the default directory with 777 permissions.
`depotUser`	User name for myVMware depot. You are prompted to enter the depot user password. If there are any special characters in the password, specify the password within single quotes.
`markerFile`	Absolute path to the marker file, as generated in the above step. If you do not specify the path to the marker file, all update bundles on the depot are downloaded.
`markerMd5File`	Absolute path to the marker MD5 checksum file, as generated in the above step.

The utility generates a delta file (deltaFileDownloaded) in the download directory based on the software versions in the marker file and the update bundles available on the depot. The applicable bundles identified in the delta file are downloaded. Download progress for each bundle is displayed.

When you download the VxRail bundles, provide the additional argument downloadPartnerBundle.

./lcm-bundle-transfer-util -download "downloadPartnerBundle"
			 -outputDirectory ${absolute-path-output-dir}
			 -depotUser ${vmwaredepotUser} 
    -depotUserPassword ${vmwareDepotPassword}
    -pdu ${emcdepotuser}:${emcdepotpassword}
			 -markerFile ${absolute-path-markerFile}
			 -markerMd5File ${absolute-path-markerFile.md5}

Copy the downloaded softwareCompatibilitySets.json to /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/bundle/depot/local/softwareCompatibilitySets.json.
Copy the update bundle directory from the external computer to the SDDC Manager VM.
For example:
```
scp -pr /Work/UpdateBundle vcf@SDDC_IP:/home/vcf/vCF372to38Bundle"
```

In the SDDC Manager VM, change the ownership and permissions of the uploaded bundle.

chown vcf_lcm:vcf -R /opt/vmware/vcf/vCF372to38Bundle
chmod -R 0777 /opt/vmware/vcf/vCF372to38Bundle

In the SDDC Manager VM, upload the bundle files to the internal LCM repository.
```
cd /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-tools/bin
./lcm-bundle-transfer-util -upload "withCompatibilitySets" -bundleDirectory 
${absolute-path-output-dir}
```
where absolute-path-output-dir is the directory where the bundle files have been be uploaded, or /opt/vmware/vcf/vCF372to38Bundle as shown in the previous step.

The utility uploads the bundles specified in the deltaFileDownloaded file. The console displays upload status for each bundle.
For the VxRail bundles, perform the following:
1. Copy the partner bundle to /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/bundle/depot/local/bundles.
2. Copy partnerBundleMetadata.json to /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/bundle/depot/local/partnerBundleMetadata.json.
3. Copy softwareCompatibilitySets.json to /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/bundle/depot/local/softwareCompatibilitySets.json
4. In the SDDC Manager VM, upload the bundle files to the internal LCM repository.
```
cd /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-tools/bin
./lcm-bundle-transfer-util -upload "uploadPartnerBundle" -bundleDirectory 
${absolute-path-output-dir}
```