Upgrade NSX-T Data Center if your VMware Cloud Foundation environment includes NSX-T workload domains.

Upgrading NSX-T Data Center involves the following components:
  • Upgrade Coordinator
  • Edge clusters (if deployed)
  • Host clusters
  • NSX Manager cluster

All NSX-T VI workload domains share the same NSX Manager cluster and NSX Edge clusters. When you upgrade these components for one NSX-T VI workload domain, they are upgraded for all NSX-T VI workload domains. You cannot perform any operations on the NSX-T workload domains while NSX-T is being upgraded.

The upgrade wizard provides some flexibility when upgrading NSX-T Data Center. By default, the process upgrades all Edge clusters in parallel, and then all host clusters in parallel. Parallel upgrades reduce the overall time required to upgrade your environment. You can also choose to upgrade Edge clusters and host clusters sequentially.
Note: Up to 5 Edge or Host clusters can be upgraded in parallel. The additional clusters are added to upgrade queue.

If you have multiple Edge or host clusters in an NSX-T VI workload domain, you can select which clusters to upgrade. The ability to select clusters allows for multiple upgrade windows and does not require all clusters to be available at a given time.

Prerequisites

  • All applicable updates must have been applied to all NSX-T workload domains for the NSX-T upgrade bundle to be available for download. Otherwise, the status of the NSX-T bundle is displayed as Pending instead of Available for all workload domains.
  • Download the NSX-T Data Center upgrade bundle. See Downloading Bundles.
  • If you are upgrading from a version earlier than NSX-T Data Center 3.0, provision a secondary disk of exactly 100GB capacity on all NSX Manager appliances.
    • For an ESXi host, login to vCenter Server, navigate to the NSX Manager VM and add a disk of exactly 100GB capacity.
    • For a KVM host:
      1. Create a disk of 100GB capacity:
        qemu-img create -f qcow2 nsx-unified-appliance-secondary.qcow2 100G
      2. Create an xml file ( /<download folder>/<nsx_manger_vm_name_storage_file.xml>) for the additional storage:
        <disk type='file' device='disk'>
 <driver name='qemu' type='qcow2' cache='none'/>
 <source file='/<diskPath>/nsx-unified-appliance-secondary.qcow2'/>
 <target dev='vdb' bus='virtio' />
</disk>
      3. Make the VM persistent using the following commands:
        virsh dumpxml <NSX Manager VM> > /<download folder>/<nsx_manager_vm_name.xml>
virsh define /<download folder>/<nsx_manager_vm_name.xml>
virsh list –all
      4. Attach the secondary disk to the NSX Manager appliance:
        virsh attach-device --config  <NSX Manager VM> /<download folder>/<nsx_manger_vm_name_storage_file.xml>
      5. Shutdown and start the NSX Manager appliance:
        virsh shutdown <NSX Manager VM>
virsh start <NSX Manager VM>
      6. Repeat the process for the other NSX Manager appliances in the cluster.
      Note: Reboot the appliance if the secondary disk is not detected by the Upgrade Coordinator. Run the pre-check to ensure that the secondary disk is detected and proceed with other NSX Manager appliances.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the Updates/Patches tab of an NSX-T VI workload domain.
    When you upgrade NSX-T components for a selected workload domain, those components are upgraded for all NSX-T workload domains, since the components are shared.
  2. Run the upgrade precheck. See Perform Upgrade Precheck.
    The NSX-T precheck is run on all NSX-T workload domains in your environment.
  3. In the Available Updates section, click Update Now or Schedule Update for the NSX-T bundle and select the date and time for the bundle to be applied.

    The NSX-T Upgrade Confirmation dialog box appears.

  4. Click Confirm.
  5. Select the NSX-T Edge clusters.
    By default, all Edge clusters are upgraded. To select specific Edge clusters, click Enable edge selection. To upgrade only the Edge clusters, select Upgrade NSX-T Edge clusters only.
  6. Select the NSX-T host clusters.
    By default, all host clusters are upgraded. To select specific host clusters, turn off the Upgrade all hosts clusters setting.
    Note: You cannot upgrade any host clusters until you have upgraded all Edge clusters.
  7. Select the upgrade options.
    Option Description
    Enable sequential upgrade of NSX-T Edge clusters Upgrades Edge clusters sequentially, instead of in parallel.
    Enable sequential upgrade of NSX-T hosts clusters Upgrades host clusters sequentially, instead of in parallel.
  8. Review the settings and click Finish.

    The NSX-T upgrade begins and the upgrade components are displayed. The upgrade view displayed here pertains to the workload domain where you applied the bundle. Click the link to the associated workload domains to see the components pertaining to those workload domains.

  9. Monitor the upgrade progress. See Monitor Updates.
    If a component upgrade fails, the failure is displayed across all associated workload domains. Resolve the issue and retry the failed task.

Results

When all NSX-T components are upgraded successfully, a message with a green background and check mark is displayed.

What to do next