The Service Mesh appliances are upgraded independently of the HCX Managers: HCX Connector and HCX Cloud Manager. Service Mesh appliances are flagged for available updates anytime the HCX Manager has newer software available.

HCX has both system manager and Service Mesh appliances. You deploy HCX Connector and HCX Cloud manager in the vCenter. When creating the Service Mesh, the HCX manager deploys the Service Mesh appliances based on the site entitlements and Compute Profile configuration. The Service Mesh initiates a secure pipeline and activates the mobility and Network Extension operations between sites.

When upgrading Service Mesh appliances, consider the following best practices:
  • Upgrade the HCX managers prior to upgrading the Service Mesh appliances.
  • Service Mesh appliances (IX and NE) should be upgraded to the same version as HCX Managers.
  • If mobility operations are in progress using IX appliances, or networks are extended using NE appliances, you can delay upgrading Service Mesh appliances until the operations have been completed, and plan the appliance upgrade during a separate maintenance window.
Note: If Service Mesh appliances are running a lower version than the HCX manager, review the release notes for each HCX release to identify resolved or known issues associated with mobility or network extension operations and update the appliances accordingly. Also, review any Knowledge Base (KB) articles posted by VMware for HCX. For more information about Network Extension appliance versions, refer to KB 90115, 90117, 91086, 93726, and 96352.
Note: Starting with HCX 4.4, HCX Connector and HCX Cloud Manager run VMware PhotonOS. If the HCX version of the Service Mesh appliances (IX, NE) is less than 4.4, you must upgrade the Service Mesh appliances to ensure they are also running PhotonOS.

Prerequisites

  • You have upgraded site-paired HCX Managers to the same version on both the source and the destination site in a site pair.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the HCX Manager at the vSphere-based HCX source site.

    You initiate Service Mesh appliance updates only from the HCX source site. For non-vSphere site pairs, you log in to whichever HCX Manager is paired with the non-vSphere site.

  2. Navigate to Interconnect > Service Mesh > View Appliances.
    Interconnect appliances show a green flag in the Available Versions column if there is an update available.
    Note: If you are running OSAM in your environment, the upgrade notification does not appear for the Sentinel Gateway (SGW), Sentinel Data Receiver (SDR), and Sentinel Resource Gateway (SRG) appliances. Continue to follow the steps in this procedure to upgrade Sentinel appliances .
  3. Select each HCX Service Mesh appliance that must be upgraded.
  4. Click Update Appliance.

    The Update Appliance option is not displayed when there are no available updates.

    Note: Network Extension appliances are available for in-service upgrades. For more information, see In-Service Upgrade for Network Extension Appliances.
  5. Verify the Current and Available versions are valid.
  6. To confirm the operation, click Update.
    The selected component and any peer component at the paired site are upgraded at the same time. Click the Tasks tab to view the upgrade progress details.
  7. (Optional) If you are running OSAM in your environment, redeploy the Sentinel appliances:
    1. Navigate to Service Mesh > View Appliances.
    2. Select the SGW or SRG appliance.
    3. Click Redeploy.
      Redeploying the SGW appliance automatically updates both the SGW and the SDR appliances at the source and destination sites.

Results

When the Service Mesh appliances converge to a Tunnel Up state, the upgrade is complete.

The Service Mesh appliances apply the updates, reboot, and become operational in less than two minutes after rebooting.