Once SDDC Manager is upgraded to 5.2 or later, new functionality is introduced that allows you to get the latest SDDC Manager features and security fixes without having to upgrade the entire VMware Cloud Foundation BOM. This procedure describes using the Bundle Transfer Utility to download an SDDC Manager bundle released independently of the VMware Cloud Foundation BOM when SDDC Manager is not connected to an online depot..

An independent SDDC Manager release includes a fourth digit in its version number, for example SDDC Manager 5.2.0.1.

  • On a computer with access to the internet, use the Bundle Transfer Utility to download the independent SDDC Manager bundle and other required files.
  • Copy the bundle and other required files to the SDDC Manager appliance.
  • On the SDDC Manager appliance, use the Bundle Transfer Utility to upload the bundle and other required files to the internal LCM repository.
If the computer with internet access can only access the internet using a proxy server, use the following options when downloading:
Option Description
--proxyServer, --ps Provide the proxy server FQDN and port.

For example: --proxyServer proxy.example.com:3128.
--proxyHttps Add this option if the proxy server uses HTTPs.
--proxyUser For a proxy server that requires authentication, enter the user name.
--proxyPasswordFile For a proxy server that requires authentication, enter the path to a file where the password for proxy authentication is stored. The file content is used as the proxy password.

For example, --proxyPasswordFile ../../password.txt.
Example that combines the options: 
./lcm-bundle-transfer-util --download --manifestDownload --depotUser Username --proxyServer proxy.example.com:3128 --proxyUser vmwuser --proxyPasswordFile ../../password.txt --proxyHttps

Prerequisites

  • A Windows or Linux computer with internet connectivity (either directly or through a proxy) for downloading the bundles and other required files.
  • Configure TCP keepalive in your SSH client to prevent socket connection timeouts when using the Bundle Transfer Utility for long-running operations.
  • The computer with internet connectivity and the SDDC Manager appliance must have the latest version of the Bundle Transfer Utility installed and configured. See Offline Download of VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.x Upgrade Bundles for more information.

Procedure

  1. Download bundles and other artifacts to the computer with internet access.
    1. Download the manifest file.
      This is a structured metadata file that contains information about the VMware product versions included in the release Bill of Materials. 
      ./lcm-bundle-transfer-util --download --manifestDownload --depotUser Username
      For --depotUser, enter your Broadcom Support Portal user name.
    2. Download the compatibility data. 
      ./lcm-bundle-transfer-util --download --compatibilityMatrix --depotUser Username --pdu dell_depot_email
      To specify a download location, use --outputDirectory followed by the path to the directory.
    3. Download the independent SDDC Manager upgrade bundle. 
      ./lcm-bundle-transfer-util --download --sddcMgrVersion four-digit-sddc-version --depotUser Username --outputDirectory absolute-path-output-dir
      where
      depotUser User name for the Broadcom Support Portal. You will be prompted to enter the user password. If there are any special characters in the password, specify the password within single quotes.
      four-digit-sddc-version Target version of SDDC Manager. For example, 5.2.0.1.
      absolute-path-output-dir Path to the directory where the bundle files should 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.

      Follow the prompts in the Bundle Transfer Utility.
  2. Copy the following files/directories to the SDDC Manager appliance.
    • Manifest file
    • Compatibility data files (VmwareCompatibilityData.json and VxrailCompatibilityData.json)
    • Entire bundle output directory
    You can select any location on the SDDC Manager appliance that has enough free space available. For example, /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/.
  3. From the SDDC Manager appliance, use the Bundle Transfer Utility to upload the bundles and artifacts.
    1. Upload the manifest file. 
      ./lcm-bundle-transfer-util --update --sourceManifestDirectory Manifest-Directory --sddcMgrFqdn FQDN --sddcMgrUser Username
      Use your vSphere SSO credentials for the --sddcMgrUser parameter.
    2. Upload the compatibility files. 
      ./lcm-bundle-transfer-util --update --compatibilityMatrix --inputDirectory compatibility-file-directory --sddcMgrFqdn FQDN --sddcMgrUser Username
    3. Upload the bundle directory. 
      ./lcm-bundle-transfer-util --upload --bundleDirectory absolute-path-bundle-dir

What to do next

After the upload completes successfully, you can use the SDDC Manager UI to upgrade SDDC Manager. See Independent SDDC Manager Upgrade using the SDDC Manager UI.