You can upgrade the vCenter Server appliance from version 6.7 or 7.0 to version 8.0.

Important: If your current vCenter Server appliance is version 6.5 or earlier, you must upgrade to version 6.7 or 7.0 before upgrading to version 8.0.
Important: In environments with multiple instances of vCenter Server appliance, you cannot perform parallel upgrades. Each vCenter Server instance must be upgraded separately. The reason for this is that VMware Directory Services ( vmdird) encounters replication problems with single-sign on and certificate information.

When you run the GUI or CLI upgrade, the process includes:

  1. Deploying a new vCenter Server 8.0 with a temporary network configuration.

    If you are upgrading a vCenter Server, you must select a deployment size for the new appliance that is suitable for your vSphere environment size. You must also select a storage size for the new appliance that is suitable for the vCenter Server database. If the source vCenter Server uses an external database, see Determine the Oracle Database Size and the Storage Size for the New Appliance.

  2. Exporting the services and configuration data from the source appliance of version 6.7 or 7.0 that you want to upgrade.

    You must select the data types that you want to transfer to the new appliance.

    If you are upgrading a vCenter Server appliance that uses an external Update Manager instance, you must ensure that the Migration Assistant is running on the Update Manager computer. Migration Assistant facilitates the export of the Update Manager configuration and database.

  3. Transferring the exported data to the newly deployed appliance

    If you are deploying the appliance directly on an ESXi host, non-ephemeral distributed virtual port groups are not supported and do not appear as options during the upgrade. After the upgrade, you can manually connect the appliance to the original non-ephemeral distributed virtual port group. This process is not a limitation when deploying the appliance through a vCenter Server, and you can deploy to ephemeral or non-ephemeral distributed virtual port groups.

    If you are upgrading a vCenter Server appliance that uses a Update Manager instance, the Update Manager instance is migrated to the vSphere Lifecycle Manager of the new upgraded appliance. To learn more about vSphere Lifecycle Manager, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.

  4. If you are upgrading a vCenter Server appliance that uses an external Platform Services Controller, it is converted to a vCenter Server instance with those services embedded in the appliance.

    The new vCenter Server appliance contains all Platform Services Controller services, preserving the functionality and workflows, including authentication, certificate management, and licensing. It is no longer necessary nor possible to deploy and use an external Platform Services Controller. All Platform Services Controller services are consolidated into vCenter Server during the upgrade.

  5. Powering off the source appliance. The new upgraded vCenter Server appliance assumes the network configuration of the source appliance.