The VMware Validated Design Upgrade document provides step-by-step instructions for upgrading VMware software in a Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) that are deployed according to the VMware Validated Design™ for Software-Defined Data Center.
You upgrade the SDDC management components by applying VMware Cloud Foundation bundles from SDDC Manager. During the upgrade of vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager, SDDC Manager replaces the standalone vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager instance with a vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager instance in VMware Cloud Foundation mode. After that, you import the existing cross-region Workspace ONE Access and vRealize Suite environments to the new vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager instance. When in VMware Cloud Foundation mode, vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager retrieves the software bundles from the SDDC Manager inventory, and SDDC Manager configures the load balancer for the cross-region Workspace ONE Access, vRealize Operations Manager, and vRealize Automation.
Before you start an upgrade of your SDDC, make sure that you are familiar with the update or upgrade planning guidance that is part of this guide.
Intended Audience
The VMware Validated Design Upgrade document is intended for infrastructure administrators and cloud administrators who are familiar with and want to keep VMware software up to date with the latest versions available.
Supported VMware Cloud Foundation Version
VMware Validated Design Upgrade is compatible with VMware Cloud Foundation™ 4.1.
Required VMware Software
VMware Validated Design Upgrade is compliant and validated with certain product versions. For more information about supported product versions, see VMware Validated Design Release Notes and VMware Software Versions in the Upgrade.
Before You Apply This Guidance
You apply the instructions in VMware Validated Design Upgrade on an environment with a certain configuration. Following the prescriptive path of VMware Validated Design, you deploy the virtual infrastructure of the management domain and workload domains by using VMware Cloud Foundation, then manually adding a region-specific Workspace ONE® Access™ instance for central user management in VMware NSX-T® Data Center. Then, you use vRealize Suite® Lifecycle Manager™ to deploy the vRealize Suite components. For information on the deployment workflow of the SDDC components, see Deployment of VMware Validated Design in Introducing VMware Validated Design.
VMware Validated Design follows an example naming convention. The naming provides uniqueness of the objects across the SDDC. You can identify managed objects directly if you use many components that are linked together, for example, multiple vCenter Server systems working in Enhanced Linking Mode or management dashboards in vRealize Operations Manager monitoring multiple instances of the same component. For information on the naming convention, see Planning and Preparation Workbook.
Domain |
Management Component |
Deployment Method |
---|---|---|
Management domain |
VMware ESXi™ hosts |
Manual deployment |
VMware vCenter Server® |
Automated deployment by using Cloud Builder |
|
NSX-T Manager and NSX-T Edge nodes with a region-specific and cross-region virtual network segments |
Automated deployment by using Cloud Builder |
|
VMware vSAN™ as principal storage |
Automated deployment by using Cloud Builder |
|
NFS as supplemental storage |
Manual deployment |
|
VMware Cloud Foundation® SDDC Manager™ |
Automated deployment by using Cloud Builder |
|
Region-specific Workspace ONE Access instance connected to NSX-T and vRealize Log Insight |
Manual deployment |
|
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager in VMware Cloud Foundation mode |
Automated deployment by using SDDC Manager |
|
Cross-region Workspace ONE Access instance connected to vRealize Operations Manager, vRealize Log Insight, and vRealize Automation |
Manual deployment by using vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager |
|
VMware vRealize® Operations Manager™ |
Manual deployment by using vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager |
|
VMware vRealize® Log Insight™ |
Manual deployment by using vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager |
|
VMware vRealize® Automation™ |
Manual deployment by using vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager |
|
Virtual infrastructure workload domain |
ESXi hosts |
Manual deployment |
vCenter Server |
Automated deployment by using SDDC Manager |
|
NSX-T Manager and NSX-T Edge nodes |
Automated deployment by using SDDC Manager |
|
Principal storage |
Automated deployment by using SDDC Manager |
|
Supplemental storage |
Manual deployment |
|
vSphere with Tanzu workload domain | Kubernetes control plane node | Validation by using SDDC Manager and manual deployment |
Tanzu Kubernetes cluster control plane node | Manual deployment | |
Tanzu Kubernetes cluster control worker node | Manual deployment |
To use this document, you must be acquainted with the following guidance:
-
Introducing VMware Validated Designs
-
Optionally, the following architecture and design documentation:
-
Architecture and Design for the Management Domain
-
Architecture and Design for a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain or Architecture and Design for a vSphere with with Tanzu Workload Domain
-
Architecture and Design for Cloud Operations and Automation
-
-
Planning and Preparation Workbook
-
Deployment of the Management Domain in the First Region
-
Deployment of a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain in the First Region or Deployment of a vSphere with Tanzu Workload Domain in the First Region
-
Deployment of Cloud Operations and Automation in the First Region
See Documentation Map for VMware Validated Design.
The same requirement applies if you are following the VMware Cloud Foundation documentation to deploy the operations and automation solutions. See the VMware Cloud Foundation documentation.
Update History
This Deployment of Cloud Operations and Automation in the First Region is updated with each release of the product or when necessary.
Revision | Description |
---|---|
16 DEC 2020 | The password for the vcfadmin@local user on the new vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager instance must match the password of the admin@local user on the old vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager instance. See Upgrade the Cross-Region vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager Appliance in Region A. |
13 NOV 2020 | You add the vSphere integration credentials to vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager Locker by using the fully qualified user name, svc-vrslcm-vsphere@rainpole.io . See Configure the vSphere Integration Credentials in the Cross-Region vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager Instance in Region A. |
03 NOV 2020 |
|
20 OCT 2020 | Initial release. |