After you upgrade UMDS, you can proceed with upgrading the management ESXi hosts in Region A to the version used in VMware Validated Design 4.1. You use vSphere Update Manager for automated host upgrade across the management cluster.

About this task

Use different baseline types аccording to the storage type, vSAN or traditional, that you use in the management cluster for Region A.

Table 1. Management ESXi Hosts In Region A

IP Address

Fully Qualified Domain Name

Cluster Name

vSAN Datastore

172.16.11.101

sfo01m01esx01.sfo01.rainpole.local

sfo01-m01-mgmt01

sfo01-m01-vsan01

172.16.11.102

sfo01m01esx02.sfo01.rainpole.local

172.16.11.103

sfo01m01esx03.sfo01.rainpole.local

172.16.11.104

sfo01m01esx04.sfo01.rainpole.local

172.16.11.1xx

sfo01m01esxxx.sfo01.rainpole.local

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the system hardware complies with the ESXi requirements. See VMware Compatibility Guide. Check for the following compatibility areas:

    • System compatibility

    • I/O compatibility with network and host bus adapter (HBA) cards

    • Storage compatibility

    • Backup software compatibility

    • Compatibility of the firmware for the network and host bus adapter (HBA) cards. Upgrade the firmware accordingly.

    • BIOS compatibility. Upgrade the BIOS on the ESXi hosts accordingly.

  • Allocate sufficient disk space on the host for the upgrade.

  • Verify that vSphere DRS on the management cluster is set to Fully Automated for the duration of the upgrade operations to have management workloads automatically migrated from hosts while they are being upgraded.

  • If using vSAN in the management cluster, verify the following health properties on the Monitor tab for the cluster in the vSphere Web Client:

    • The vSAN > Health report indicates that the checks for the cluster, network, physical disk, data, limits, hardware compatibility, performance service, and online health are passed.

    • The vSAN > Resyncing Components report shows no Resyncing Components and Bytes left to resync.

    • The vSAN > Physical Disks report shows that the disks on all hosts in the cluster are in mounted state and their vSAN health status is healthy.

What to do next

  • Verify that the management ESXi hosts are operational after the upgrade. See Validate the ESXi Hosts in the VMware Validated Design Operational Verification documentation.