In a VMware NSX setup, before an upgrade to ESXi 8.0 and later, make sure that the NSX kernel module is part of the upgrade baseline.

Prerequisites

If your vSphere system includes VMware NSX, before you start an upgrade of your ESXi hosts to 8.0 and later from an earlier version of ESXi, you must ensure that the NSX kernel module is part of the baseline that you use for the upgrade. For this purpose, you can create a custom image profile with an ESXi base image and a newly uploaded NSX kernel module.
  • Download from VMware Customer Connect the NSX Kernel Module for VMware ESXi 8.0 zip file for the version of VMware NSX deployed in your environment. For example, nsx-lcp-4.0.1.0.0.xxx-esx80.zip for VMware NSX 4.0.1.
  • Make sure that Auto Deploy and Image Builder are enabled in your vCenter Server system.

Procedure

  1. Log in to a vCenter Server 8.x system.
  2. Navigate to Home > Autodeploy > Software Depots to import to the vSphere ESXi Image Builder inventory an ESXi 8.x base image, if it is not already available, and the ZIP file for the NSX kernel module.
  3. Create an image profile that combines the VMware NSX Kernel Module and the base image for ESX 8.x. For detailed steps, see Create an Image Profile.
  4. Export the custom image profile to an ISO image.
  5. Import the ISO image to the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot.
    You can now create an upgrade baseline based on the imported ISO image by using the vSphere Lifecycle Manager. For more information on vSphere Lifecycle Manager upgrades workflow with baselines, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle guide.