When you prepare your JSON configuration files for CLI upgrade, you must set parameters and values to provide input data for the upgrade of a vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance.

Sections and Subsections of Configuration Parameters in the JSON Upgrade Files

The configuration parameters in the JSON configuration files for CLI upgrade are organized in sections and subsections.

Table 1. Sections and Subsections of Configuration Parameters in the JSON Upgrade Files
Section Subsection Description
new.vcsa - describes the new appliance that you want to deploy esxi

Use only if you want to deploy the new appliance directly on an ESXi host.

Contains the configuration parameters that describe the target ESXi host. See Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, esxi Subsection.
Note: You must fill in either this subsection or the vc subsection.
vc

Use only if you want to deploy the new appliance on the inventory of a vCenter Server instance.

Contains the configuration parameters that describe the target ESXi host or DRS cluster from the vCenter Server inventory. See Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, vc Subsection.

Note: You must fill in either this subsection or the esxi subsection.

The target vCenter Server instance cannot be the vCenter Server Appliance that you want to upgrade. In such cases, use the esxi subsection.

appliance Contains the configuration parameters that describe the new appliance. See Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, appliance Subsection
os Contains only the ssh.enable configuration parameter to set the SSH administrator login to the new appliance. See Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, os Subsection
ovftool.arguments Optional. Use this subsection for adding arbitrary arguments and their values to the OVF Tool command that the installer generates.
Important: The vCenter Server Appliance installer does not validate the configuration parameters in the ovftool.arguments subsection. If you set arguments that the OVF Tool does not recognize, the deployment might fail.
sso

Contains only the site-name configuration parameter to set a vCenter Single Sign-On site for the new appliance. See Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, sso Subsection.

Required only if you are upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 with an embedded Platform Services Controller.

temporary.network Contains the configuration parameters that describe the temporary network settings for the new appliance. See Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, temporary.network Subsection
user-options Contains only the vcdb.migrateSet configuration parameter to set the types of data that you want to transfer from the old appliance to the new appliance. See Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, user-options Subsection
source.vc - describes the existing appliance that you want to upgrade esxi Contains the configuration parameters that describe the source ESXi host on which resides the appliance that you want to upgrade. See Configuration Parameters in the source.vc Section, esxi Subsection.
vc.vcsa Contains the configuration parameters that describe the source appliance that you want to upgrade. See Configuration Parameters in the source.vc Section, vc.vcsa Subsection.
source.vum - describes the source VMware Update Manager instance

Use if you want to automatically run the Migration Assistant on the VMware Update Manager instance.

run.migration.assistant

Optional if the source vCenter Server Appliance that you want to upgrade is connected to a VMware Update Manager instance that runs on a Windows virtual machine. Use this subsection if you want to automatically run the Migration Assistant on the source VMware Update Manager instance.

Contains the configuration parameters that describe the source VMware Update Manager instance, which will be migrated to the new upgraded vCenter Server Appliance. See Configuration Parameters in the source.vum Section, run.migration.assistant Subsection.

Note: The Migration Assistant uses port 9123 by default. If port 9123 is used by another service on the your Update Manager machine, the Migration Assistant automatically finds another free port. You cannot set a custom port for the Migration Assistant.
ceip - describes joining the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) settings

Contains only the ceip.enabled configuration parameter to join or not to join the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). See Configuration Parameters in the ceip Section, settings Subsection.

Required only if you are upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller, vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 with an embedded vCenter Single Sign-On, or a Platform Services Controller appliance.

Note: If the ceip.enabled configuration parameter is set to true, you must run the CLI deployment command with the --acknowledge-ceip argument.

For information about the CEIP, see the Configuring Customer Experience Improvement Program section in vCenter Server and Host Management.

Important: The string values, including the passwords, must contain only ASCII characters. Extended ASCII and non-ASCII characters are unsupported.

To set a value that contains a backslash (\) or quotation mark (") character, you must precede the character with the backslash (\) character. For example, "password":"my\"password" sets the password my"password, "image":"G:\\vcsa\\VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.5.0.XXXX-YYYYYYY_OVF10.ova" sets the path G:\vcsa\VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.5.0.XXXX-YYYYYYY_OVF10.ova.

The Boolean values must contain only lowercase characters. Can be either true or false. For example, "ssh.enable":false.

Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section

Table 2. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, esxi Subsection
Name Type Description
hostname string The IP address or FQDN of the target ESXi host on which you want deploy the new appliance.
username string A user name with administrative privileges on the target ESXi host, for example, root.
password string The password of the user with administrative privileges on the target ESXi host.
deployment.network string

The name of the network to which to connect the new appliance.

The network must part of the target ESXi host network configuration.

Note: The network must be accessible from the source ESXi host on which resides the appliance that you want to upgrade. The network must be also accessible from the client machine from which you are performing the upgrade.

Ignored if the target ESXi host has only one network.

datastore string

The name of the datastore on which to store the virtual machine configuration files and virtual disks of the new appliance.

The datastore must be available to the target ESXi host.

Note: The datastore must have at least 25 GB of free space.
port integer

The HTTPS reverse proxy port of the target ESXi host.

The default port is 443. Use only if the target ESXi host uses a custom HTTPS reverse proxy port.

Table 3. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, vc Subsection
Name Type Description
hostname string The IP address or FQDN of the target vCenter Server instance on which you want deploy the new appliance.
username string vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user name on the target vCenter Server instance, for example, [email protected].
password string The password of the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user on the target vCenter Server instance.
deployment.network string

The name of the network to which to connect the new appliance.

The network must part of the target ESXi host or DRS cluster network configuration.

Note: The network must be accessible from the source ESXi host on which resides the appliance that you want to upgrade. The network must be also accessible from the client machine from which you are performing the upgrade.

Ignored if the target ESXi host or DRS cluster has only one network.

datacenter string or array

The vCenter Server datacenter that contains the target ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you want to deploy the new appliance.

If the datacenter is located in a folder or a structure of folders, the value must be either a comma-separated list of strings or a comma-separated list as a single string. For example, 
["parent_folder", "child_folder", "datacenter_name"]
or 
"parent_folder, child_folder, datacenter_name"
Note: The value is case-sensitive.
datastore string

The name of the datastore that you want to store all virtual machine configuration files and virtual disks of the new appliance.

Note: The datastore must be available to the target ESXi host or DRS cluster.

The datastore must have at least 25 GB of free space.

port integer

The HTTPS reverse proxy port of the target vCenter Server instance.

The default port is 443. Use only if the target vCenter Server instance uses a custom HTTPS reverse proxy port.

target string or array

The target ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you want to deploy the new appliance.

Important: You must provide the name that is displayed in the vCenter Server inventory. For example, if the name of the target ESXi host is an IP address in the vCenter Server inventory, you cannot provide an FQDN.
If the target ESXi host or DRS cluster is located in a folder or a structure of folders, the value must be a comma-separated list of strings or a comma-separated list as a single string. For example, 
["parent_folder", "child_folder", "esxi-host.domain.com"]
or 
"parent_folder, child_folder, esxi-host.domain.com"
If the target ESXi host is part of a cluster, use a comma-separated list of strings or a comma-separated list as a single string to provide the path. For example, 
["cluster_name", "esxi-host.domain.com"]
or 
"cluster_name, esxi-host.domain.com"
Note: The value is case-sensitive.
vm.folder string Optional. The name of the VM folder to which to add the new appliance.
Table 4. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, appliance Subsection
Name Type Description
thin.disk.mode Boolean Set to true to deploy the new appliance with thin virtual disks.
deployment.option string The size for the new appliance.
Note: You must consider the database size of the appliance that you want to upgrade. For an external database, see Determine the Oracle Database Size and the Storage Size for the New Appliance.
  • Set to tiny if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 10 GB of memory, and 250 GB of storage.

  • Set to tiny-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 10 GB of memory, and 775 GB of storage.

  • Set to tiny-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 10 GB of memory, and 1650 GB of storage.

  • Set to small if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 290 GB of storage.

  • Set to small-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 820 GB of storage.

  • Set to small-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 1700 GB of storage.

  • Set to medium if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 425 GB of storage.

  • Set to medium-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 925 GB of storage.

  • Set to medium-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 1805 GB of storage.

  • Set to large if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 640 GB of storage.

  • Set to large-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 990 GB of storage.

  • Set to large-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 1870 GB of storage.

  • Set to xlarge if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 24 CPUs, 48 GB of memory, and 980 GB of storage.

  • Set to xlarge-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 24 CPUs, 48 GB of memory, and 1030 GB of storage.

  • Set to xlarge-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 24 CPUs, 48 GB of memory, and 1910 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-tiny if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 10 GB of memory, and 250 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-tiny-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 10 GB of memory, and 775 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-tiny-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 10 GB of memory, and 1650 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-small if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 290 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-small-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 820 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-small-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 100 hosts and 1,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 4 CPUs, 16 GB of memory, and 1700 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-medium if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 425 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-medium-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 925 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-medium-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 400 hosts and 4,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 8 CPUs, 24 GB of memory, and 1805 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-large if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 640 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-large-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 990 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-large-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 1,000 hosts and 10,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 16 CPUs, 32 GB of memory, and 1870 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-xlarge if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the default storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 24 CPUs, 48 GB of memory, and 980 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-xlarge-lstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 24 CPUs, 48 GB of memory, and 1030 GB of storage.

  • Set to management-xlarge-xlstorage if you want to deploy a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller for up to 2,000 hosts and 35,000 virtual machines with the x-large storage size.

    Deploys an appliance with 24 CPUs, 48 GB of memory, and 1910 GB of storage.

  • Set to infrastructureif you want to deploy a Platform Services Controller appliance.

    Deploys an appliance with 2 CPUs, 4 GB of memory, and 60 GB of storage.

image string

Optional. A local file path or URL to the vCenter Server Appliance installation package.

By default the installer uses the installation package that is included in the ISO file, in the vcsa folder.

name string

The VM name for the new appliance.

Must contain only ASCII characters except a percent sign (%), backslash (\), or forward slash (/) and must be no more than 80 characters in length.

ovftool.path string

Optional. A local file path to the OVF Tool executable file.

By default the installer uses the OVF Tool instance that is included in the ISO file, in the vcsa/ovftool folder.

Table 5. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, os Subsection
Name Type Description
ssh.enable Boolean Set to true to enable SSH administrator login to the new appliance.
Table 6. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, sso Subsection
Name Type Description
site-name string

vCenter Single Sign-On site name for the new appliance.

Required only if you are upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 with an embedded vCenter Single Sign-On

Table 7. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, temporary.network Subsection
Name Type Description
ip.family string

IP version for the temporary network of the new appliance.

Set to ipv4 or ipv6.

mode string

IP assignment for the temporary network of the new appliance.

Set to static or dhcp.

ip string

Temporary IP address for the new appliance.

Required only if you use static assignment, that is, if you set the mode parameter to static.

You must set an IPv4 or IPv6 address that corresponds to the temporary network IP version, that is, to the value of the ip.family parameter.

An IPv4 address must comply with the RFC 790 guidelines.

An IPv6 address must comply with the RFC 2373 guidelines.

dns.servers string or array

IP addresses of one or more DNS servers for the temporary network of the new appliance.

To set more than one DNS server, use a comma-separated list of strings or a comma-separated list as a single string to provide the path. For example, 
["x.y.z.a", "x.y.z.b"]
or 
"x.y.z.a, x.y.z.b"

Required only if you use static network mode for the temporary IP address allocation, that is, if you set the mode parameter to static.

prefix string

Network prefix length for the temporary network of the new appliance.

Use only if the mode parameter is set to static. Remove if the mode parameter is set to dhcp.

The network prefix length is the number of bits that are set in the subnet mask. For example, if the subnet mask is 255.255.255.0, there are 24 bits in the binary version of the prefix length, so the network prefix length is 24.

For IPv4 version, the value must be between 0 and 32.

For IPv6 version, the value must be between 0 and 128.

gateway string

IP address of the default gateway for the temporary network of the new appliance.

For IPv6 version, the value can be default.

system.name string

Primary network identity for the temporary network of th new appliance.

Can be an IP address or FQDN, preferably FQDN.

The FQDN and dotted-decimal numbers must comply with the RFC 1123 guidelines.

Table 8. Configuration Parameters in the new.vcsa Section, user-options Subsection
Name Type Description
vcdb.migrateSet string The types of data to transfer from the old appliance to the new appliance.
  • Set to core if you want to transfer only the configuration data.
  • Set to all if you want to transfer the configuration, events, tasks, and performance metrics data.
  • Set to core_events_tasks if you want to transfer the configuration, events, and tasks data.
Note: For minimum upgrade time and storage requirement for the new appliance, use the core value.

Configuration Parameters in the source.vc Section

Table 9. Configuration Parameters in the source.vc Section, esxi Subsection
Name Type Description
hostname string The IP address or FQDN of the source ESXi host on which resides the appliance that you want to upgrade.
username string A user name with administrative privileges on the source ESXi host, for example, root.
password string The password of the user with administrative privileges on the source ESXi host.
port integer

The HTTPS reverse proxy port of the source ESXi host.

The default port is 443. Use only if the source ESXi host uses a custom HTTPS reverse proxy port.

Table 10. Configuration Parameters in the source.vc Section, vc.vcsa Subsection
Name Type Description
hostname string The IP address or FQDN of the source appliance that you want to upgrade.
username string vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user on the source appliance, for example [email protected].
Important: The user must be administrator@ your_domain_name.
password string The password of the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user on the source appliance.
root.password string The password for the root user of the operating system of the source appliance.

Configuration Parameters in the source.vum Section

Table 11. Configuration Parameters in the source.vum Section, run.migration.assistant Subsection
Name Type Description
esxi.hostname string

The IP address or FQDN of the ESXi host on which resides the source VMware Update Manager instance.

If an FQDN is provided, it must be resolvable from the client machine from which you run the upgrade.

esxi.username string A user name with administrative privileges on the ESXi host, for example, root.
esxi.password string The password of the user with administrative privileges on the ESXi host.
esxi.port string

The HTTPS reverse proxy port of the ESXi host.

The default port is 443. Use only if the ESXi host uses a custom HTTPS reverse proxy port.

vum.hostname string

The IP address or FQDN of the Windows virtual machine on which the source VMware Update Manager instance runs.

If an FQDN is provided, it must be resolvable from the client machine from which you run the upgrade.

vum.os.username string The administrator user name of the Windows virtual machine on which the source VMware Update Manager instance runs.
vum.os.password string

The administrator password of the Windows virtual machine on which the source VMware Update Manager instance runs.

If not provided, you are prompted to enter the password at the command console during the template verification.

export.dir string Directory to export source configuration and data.

Configuration Parameters in the ceip Section

Table 12. Configuration Parameters in the ceip Section, settings Subsection
Name Type Description
ceip.enabled Boolean Set to true to join the CEIP for the new upgraded appliance.