The VMware Software Update bundle for VMware vCenter Server is used to upgrade the vCenter Servers managed by SDDC Manager. Upgrade vCenter Server in the management domain before upgrading vCenter Server in any VI workload domains.

Prerequisites

  • Download the VMware vCenter upgrade bundle. See Downloading Bundles.
  • Take a file-based backup of the vCenter Server appliance before starting the upgrade. See Manually Back Up vCenter Server.
    Note: After taking a backup, do not make any changes to the vCenter Server inventory or settings until the upgrade completes successfully.

Procedure

  1. In the navigation pane, click Inventory > Workload Domains.
  2. On the Workload Domains page, click the domain you are upgrading and then click the Updates/Patches tab.
  3. Run the upgrade precheck. See Perform Update Precheck.
  4. In the Available Updates section, select the target release.
    If your VI workload domain contains Workload Management enabled clusters, the target release you should select depends on the version of Workload Management currently running.
    Current Workload Management Version Action Required
    1.19 or 1.20 Select VMware Cloud Foundation 4.4 or 4.4.1 as the target release.
    1.18
    1. Select VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3.1 as the target release.
    2. Upgrade to Workload Management 1.20.
    3. Select VMware Cloud Foundation 4.4 or 4.4.1 as the target release.
    1.17
    1. Upgrade to Workload Management 1.18.
    2. Select VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3.1 as the target release.
    3. Upgrade to Workload Management 1.20.
    4. Select VMware Cloud Foundation 4.4.1 as the target release.
  5. Click Update Now or Schedule Update next to the vCenter upgrade bundle.
  6. If you selected Schedule Update, click the date and time for the bundle to be applied and click Schedule.
  7. Monitor the upgrade progress. See Monitor Updates.
    If the upgrade fails, resolve the issue and retry the failed task. If you cannot resolve the issue, restore vCenter Server using the file-based backup. See Restore vCenter Server.

What to do next

Once the upgrade successfully completes, use the vSphere Client to change the vSphere DRS Automation Level setting back to the original value for each vSphere cluster that is managed by the vCenter Server. See KB 87631 for information about using VMware PowerCLI to change the vSphere DRS Automation Level.