Reduced Downtime Upgrade for vCenter HA

In vSphere 8.0 U3, Reduced Downtime Upgrade is integrated with automatic vCenter HA deployment.

Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU) is migration-based VCSA upgrade with the primary goal of reducing downtime for upgrades. During RDU upgrade VCSA configuration, VCDB database and the network information is copied from the old VCSA to the new VCSA version before shutting down the source VCSA and switching over to the target VCSA. During migration upgrade, in the Staging phase before RDU switchover, VCHA is automatically undeployed. There is no VCHA for the duration of the upgrade. After successful RDU switchover, VCHA is redeployed on the target node.

RDU upgrade is integrated with automatic vCenter HA deployment, including self-managed vCenter and non-self-managed vCenter. You can upgrade vCenter without vCenter credentials if the vCenter is self-managed. You must use service account credentials for the managing vCenter provided by the RDU framework when upgrading a non-self-managed vCenter. You can upgrade vCenter appliance that includes VCHA, without remove or setup vCenter HA before and after the upgrade. If you cancel the upgrade, RDU rollback results in a functional vCenter HA deployment as it existed prior to the upgrade.