Before beginning the upgrade, it is important to test the NSX working state. Otherwise, it might be difficult to determine if any post-upgrade issues are caused by the upgrade or if they existed before the upgrade process started.

Do not assume that everything is working before you begin to upgrade the NSX Data Center for vSphere infrastructure. Make sure to check it first.

Procedure

  1. Note the current versions of NSX Manager, vCenter Server, ESXi, and NSX Edges.
  2. Identify administrative user IDs and passwords.
  3. Verify you can log into the following components:
    • vCenter Server
    • NSX Manager Web UI
    • Edge services gateway appliances
    • Distributed logical router appliances
    • NSX Controller appliances
  4. Verify that VXLAN segments are functional.
    Make sure to set the packet size correctly and include the "Don't Fragment" bit.

    • Ping between two VMs that are on the same logical switch but on two different hosts.

      • From a Windows VM: ping -l 1472 –f <dest VM>
      • From a Linux VM: ping -s 1472 –M do <dest VM>
    • Ping between two hosts' VTEP interfaces.
      • ping ++netstack=vxlan -d -s 1572 <dest VTEP IP>
        Note: To get a host's VTEP IP, look up the vmknicPG IP address on the host. In the Navigator, click a host, and navigate to Configure > Networking > Virtual Switches.
  5. Validate North-South connectivity by pinging out from a VM.
  6. Visually inspect the NSX environment to make sure that all status indicators are green/normal/deployed.
    • Verify overall system status in the Dashboard: Dashboard > Overview.
    • Verify NSX Manager and NSX Controller status: Installation and Upgrade > Management.
    • Verify host preparation status: Installation and Upgrade > Host Preparation.
    • Verify VXLAN transport status: Installation and Upgrade > Logical Network Preparation > VXLAN Transport.
    • Verify Service Deployment status: Installation and Upgrade > Service Deployments.
    • Verify logical switch status: Logical Switches.
    • Verify NSX Edge status: NSX Edges.
  7. Record BGP and OSPF states on the NSX Edge devices.
    • show ip ospf neighbor
    • show ip bgp neighbor
    • show ip route
  8. Verify that syslog is configured.
    See Specify a Syslog Server.
  9. If possible, in the pre-upgrade environment, create new components and test their functionality.
    • Create a new logical switch.
    • Create a new edge services gateway and a new distributed logical router.
    • Connect a VM to the new logical switch and test the functionality.
  10. Validate netcpad and vsfwd user-world agent (UWA) connections.
    • On an ESXi host, run esxcli network vswitch dvs vmware vxlan network list --vds-name=<VDS_name> and check the controller connection state.
    • On NSX Manager, run the show tech-support command, and search for "5671" to ensure that all hosts are connected to NSX Manager.
  11. (Optional) If you have a test environment, test the upgrade and post-upgrade functionality before upgrading a production environment.