VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.x Upgrade Overview

This section describes the tasks required to perform an upgrade to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.x.

VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Preparation

Review the VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Prerequisites before starting an upgrade.

Management Domain Upgrade

Table 1. SDDC Manager Upgrade

Task	Applies When	Additional Information
Precheck Update - Versions Prior to SDDC Manager 5.0 Perform Update Precheck in SDDC Manager
Apply the VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Bundle	The initial VMware Cloud Foundation version is 4.5.x or 5.x	If the current version of VMware Cloud Foundation is 4.5.x or 5.x Upgrade SDDC Manager to 5.2.x.
Apply the VMware Cloud Foundation Configuration Updates	Once the SDDC Manager has been upgraded to 5.2.x the Configuration updates can be applied collectively.
Update Compatibility Data with the Bundle Transfer Utility		[Conditional] Required when using offline bundle download

Table 2. Upgrade VMware Aria Suite

Task	Additional Information
Upgrade VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle for VMware Cloud Foundation	[Conditional] If VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle is present
Upgrade VMware Aria Suite products for VMware Cloud Foundation	[Conditional] If VMware Aria Suite products are present

Table 3. Upgrade NSX With Federation

Task	Applies When	Additional Information
Upgrade NSX Global Managers to 4.2	When NSX is deployed in the workload domain with NSX Federation configured.	[Conditional] If NSX Federation is present Upgrade NSX Global Managers to 4.2 using the Global Manager UI Upgrade standby global manager, followed by active global manager [Conditonal] for VI Workload Domain upgrades, If you are upgrading by component rather than by workload domain, upgrade all NSX global managers in your estate now.
Upgrade to NSX 4.2		Upgrade NSX to 4.2 using SDDC Manager [Optional] If you are upgrading by component rather than by workload domain, upgrade NSX across all VI workload domains now. NSX upgrades across VI workload domains can be completed in sequence or up to five in parallel.

Table 4. Upgrade NSX Without Federation

Task	Applies When	Additional Information
Upgrade to NSX 4.2	When NSX is deployed in the workload domain and is not using NSX Federation.	Upgrade NSX to 4.2 using SDDC Manager. [Conditonal] for VI Workload Domain upgrades, If you are upgrading by component rather than by workload domain, upgrade NSX across all VI workload domains now.

Table 5. Upgrade vCenter Server

Task

Additional Information

Upgrade vCenter Server for VMware Cloud Foundation

[Conditional] When upgrading from VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5.x. Requires a temporary IP address in the management subnet [Conditional] When upgrading to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.1 using vCenter Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU). Requires a temporary IP address in the management subnet [Conditonal] for VI Workload Domain upgrades, If you are upgrading by component rather than by workload domain, upgrade vCenter Servers that share a SSO Domain across all VI workload domains now in a serial order. Isolated Workload Domains can be upgraded in parallel

Table 6. Upgrade VxRail Manager and Management Domain vSphere clusters

Task	Additional Information
Upgrade vSAN Witness Host for VMware Cloud Foundation	[Conditional] If the vSphere cluster is a stretched vSAN cluster
Upgrade VxRail Manager and ESXi Hosts	Choose an approach based on your requirements. [Optional] If you are upgrading by component rather than by workload domain, upgrade vSphere clusters across all VI workload domains now.

Table 7. Post Upgrade Tasks

Task	Additional Information
Update Licenses for a Workload Domain	[Conditional] If upgrading from a VMware Cloud Foundation version prior to 5.0 Update licenses for: vSAN 8.x vSphere 8.x
Apply Configuration Updates	[Conditional] If there are configuration updates required
Upgrade vSphere Distributed Switch versions	[Optional] The upgrade lets the distributed switch take advantage of features that are available only in the later versions.
Upgrade vSAN on-disk format versions	The upgrade lets the vSAN Cluster take advantage of features that are available only in the later versions. The upgrade may cause temporary resynchronization traffic and use additional space by moving data or rebuilding object components to a new data structure. These updates can be performed at a time that is most convenient for your organization..

VI Workload Domain Upgrade

Table 8. Upgrade Precheck

Task	Additional Information
Perform an upgrade precheck

Table 9. Upgrade NSX Without Federation

Task	Applies When	Additional Information
Upgrade to NSX 4.2	When NSX is deployed in the workload domain and is not using NSX Federation.	Upgrade NSX to 4.2 using SDDC Manager. [Conditonal] for VI Workload Domain upgrades, If you are upgrading by component rather than by workload domain, upgrade NSX across all VI workload domains now.

Table 10. Upgrade NSX With Federation

Task	Applies When	Additional Information
Upgrade NSX Global Managers to 4.2	When NSX is deployed in the workload domain with NSX Federation configured.	[Conditional] If NSX Federation is present Upgrade NSX Global Managers to 4.2 using the Global Manager UI Upgrade standby global manager, followed by active global manager [Conditonal] for VI Workload Domain upgrades, If you are upgrading by component rather than by workload domain, upgrade all NSX global managers in your estate now.
Upgrade to NSX 4.2		Upgrade NSX to 4.2 using SDDC Manager [Optional] If you are upgrading by component rather than by workload domain, upgrade NSX across all VI workload domains now. NSX upgrades across VI workload domains can be completed in sequence or up to five in parallel.

Table 11. Upgrade vCenter Server

Task

Additional Information

Upgrade vCenter Server for VMware Cloud Foundation

[Conditional] When upgrading from VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5.x. Requires a temporary IP address in the management subnet [Conditional] When upgrading to VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.1 using vCenter Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU). Requires a temporary IP address in the management subnet [Conditonal] for VI Workload Domain upgrades, If you are upgrading by component rather than by workload domain, upgrade vCenter Servers that share a SSO Domain across all VI workload domains now in a serial order. Isolated Workload Domains can be upgraded in parallel

Table 12. Upgrade VxRail Manager and VI Workload Domain vSphere clusters

Task	Additional Information
Upgrade vSAN Witness Host for VMware Cloud Foundation	[Conditional] If the vSphere cluster is a stretched vSAN cluster
Upgrade VxRail Manager and ESXi Hosts	Choose an approach based on your requirements. [Optional] If you are upgrading by component rather than by workload domain, upgrade vSphere clusters across all VI workload domains now.

Table 13. Post Upgrade Tasks

Task	Additional Information
Update Licenses for a Workload Domain	[Conditional] If upgrading from a VMware Cloud Foundation version prior to 5.0 Update licenses for: vSAN 8.x vSphere 8.x
Apply Configuration Updates	[Conditional] If there are configuration updates required
Upgrade vSphere Distributed Switch versions	[Optional] The upgrade lets the distributed switch take advantage of features that are available only in the later versions.
Upgrade vSAN on-disk format versions	The upgrade lets the vSAN Cluster take advantage of features that are available only in the later versions. The upgrade may cause temporary resynchronization traffic and use additional space by moving data or rebuilding object components to a new data structure. These updates can be performed at a time that is most convenient for your organization..