VMware vCenter Server - 6.7 User Manual

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vCenter Server Upgrade

17 APR 2018 VMware vSphere 6.7 vCenter Server 6.7

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vCenter Server Upgrade

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at:

https://docs.vmware.com/

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to

docfeedback@vmware.com

VMware, Inc.

3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com

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About vCenter Server Upgrade 5

Overview of the vSphere Upgrade Process 6

vSphere 6.7 Component Behavior Changes that Affect Upgrade 11

Deployment Topologies with External Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability 21

Moving from a Deprecated to a Supported vCenter Server Deployment Topology Before Upgrade

or Migration 23

Example Upgrade Paths from vCenter Server version 6.x to version 6.7 25

Example Migration Paths from vCenter Server for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 26

Upgrading vCenter Server for Windows 29

About the vCenter Server for Windows Upgrade Process 29

vCenter Server for Windows Requirements 30

Before Upgrading vCenter Server 41

Required Information for Upgrading vCenter Server on Windows 57

Upgrading vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows 58

Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller

Appliance 67

About the Upgrade Process of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller

Appliance 69

System Requirements for the New vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller

Appliance 71

Preparing to Upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance 80

Prerequisites for Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller

Appliance 90

GUI Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance 91

CLI Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance 118

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Migrating vCenter Server for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance 137

Overview of Migration from vCenter Server on Windows to an Appliance 137

System Requirements for Migrating vCenter Server Deployments to vCenter Server Appliance

Deployments 141

Pre-migration Checks 142

Known Limitations 143

Preparing for Migration 143

Prerequisites for Migrating vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller 155

Required Information for Migrating vCenter Server from Windows to an Appliance 157

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vCenter Server Upgrade

GUI Migration of vCenter Server with an Embedded vCenter Single Sign-On or

Platform Services Controller to an Appliance 161

GUI Migration of vCenter Server with an External vCenter Single Sign-On or

Platform Services Controller to an Appliance 168

CLI Migration of a vCenter Server Installation from Windows to an Appliance 179

After Upgrading or Migrating vCenter Server 197

Verify Your vCenter Server Appliance Upgrade or Migration Is Successful 198

Install the VMware Enhanced Authentication Plug-in 199

Uninstall the TLS Configuration Utility on Windows 200

Collect vCenter Server Log Files 201

Identity Sources for vCenter Server with vCenter Single Sign-On 201

Reregister Solution in vCenter Server after Upgrade or Migration 202

Roll Back a vCenter Server Appliance Upgrade or vCenter Server on Windows Migration 203

Monitor and Manage Historical Data Migration 203

Changing a vCenter Server Deployment Type After Upgrade or Migration 205

Repoint vCenter Server to Another External Platform Services Controller in the Same Domain 205

Patching and Updating vCenter Server 6.7 Deployments 207

Patching the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance 207

Update the Java Components and vCenter Server tc Server with VIMPatch 220

Troubleshooting a vSphere Upgrade 222

Collecting Logs for Troubleshooting a vCenter Server Installation or Upgrade 222

Errors and Warnings Returned by the Installation and Upgrade Precheck Script 225

Upgrade Issues with vCenter Server Containing Host Profiles 227

Roll Back a vCenter Server Instance on Windows When vCenter Server Upgrade Fails 228

Microsoft SQL Database Set to Unsupported Compatibility Mode Causes vCenter Server

Installation or Upgrade to Fail 229

Collect Logs to Troubleshoot ESXi Hosts 229

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About vCenter Server Upgrade 1

vCenter Server 6.7 provides many options for upgrading your vCenter Server deployment. For a successful vCenter Server upgrade, you must understand the upgrade options, the configuration details that impact the upgrade process, and the sequence of tasks.

The two core components of vSphere are VMware ESXi™ and VMware vCenter Server™. ESXi is the virtualization platform on which you can create and run virtual machines and virtual appliances. vCenter Server is a service that acts as a central administrator for ESXi hosts connected in a network. You use the vCenter Server system to pool and manage the resources of multiple hosts. vCenter Server Appliance is a preconfigured Linux OS-based virtual machine optimized for running the vCenter Server system and the vCenter Server components.

Starting with vSphere 6.0, important required services for running vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components are included in the Platform Services Controller.

Based on your existing vCenter Server configuration details, you can upgrade to one of the following deployment types:

vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller.

vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller.

Important You cannot change your vCenter Server deployment type during upgrade.

This chapter includes the following topics:

Overview of the vSphere Upgrade Process

vSphere 6.7 Component Behavior Changes that Affect Upgrade

Deployment Topologies with External Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability

Moving from a Deprecated to a Supported vCenter Server Deployment Topology Before Upgrade or Migration

Example Upgrade Paths from vCenter Server version 6.x to version 6.7

Example Migration Paths from vCenter Server for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7

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Start vSphere upgrade

Upgrade to vSphere 6.7 complete

Back up your configuration

Upgrade vCenter Server

Upgrade ESXi hosts

Upgrade virtual machines

and virtual appliances

vCenter Server Upgrade

Overview of the vSphere Upgrade Process

vSphere is a sophisticated product with multiple components to upgrade. Understanding the required sequence of tasks is vital for a successful vSphere upgrade.

Figure 1‑1. Overview of High-Level vSphere Upgrade Tasks

Upgrading vSphere includes the following tasks:

1 Read the vSphere release notes.

2 Verify that you have backed up your configuration.

3 If your vSphere system includes VMware solutions or plug-ins, verify that they are compatible with the

vCenter Server or vCenter Server Appliance version to which you are upgrading. See VMware Product Interoperability Matrix at

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php.

4 If your vSphere system includes Platform Services Controller, upgrade Platform Services Controller

appliance 6.0 to version 6.7.

5 Upgrade vCenter Server.

See Overview of the vCenter Server Upgrade Process.

6 If you are using vSphere Update Manager, upgrade it. Refer to the

VMware vSphere Update Manager documentation.

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7 To ensure sufficient disk storage for log files, consider setting up a syslog server for remote logging.

Setting up logging on a remote host is especially important for hosts with limited local storage.

For detailed instructions, see ESXi Upgrade.

8 Upgrade your VMs and virtual appliances, manually or by using vSphere Update Manager, to perform

an orchestrated upgrade.

For detailed instructions, see ESXi Upgrade.

When you upgrade vSphere, you must perform all procedures in sequence to avoid possible data loss and to minimize downtime. You can perform the upgrade process for each component in only one direction. For example, after you upgrade to vCenter Server 6.7, you cannot revert to vCenter Server version 6.0 or version 6.5. With backups and some planning, however, you can restore your original software records.

Overview of the vCenter Server Upgrade Process

VMware provides many options to upgrade to vCenter Server 6.7.

You can upgrade or migrate your vCenter Server version 6.0 or version 6.5 installation to version 6.7 using the method that best addresses your deployment goals and requirements.

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Choose

your

upgrade

method

Start vCenter Server upgrade

Verify you meet the

upgrade requirements

Prepare the

upgrade environment

Upgrade vCenter

Server on Windows

Migrate vCenter Server on Windows to vCenter

Server Appliance

Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance

Complete post-upgrade

tasks

Upgrade to vCenter

Server 6.7 is complete

vCenter Server Upgrade

Figure 1‑2. vCenter Server High-level Upgrade Tasks

High-level steps for upgrading or migrating vCenter Server:

1 Select your upgrade goal.

Chapter 3 Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

Chapter 2 Upgrading vCenter Server for Windows

Chapter 4 Migrating vCenter Server for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance

2 Verify that your system meets the hardware and software requirements.

3 Prepare your environment for the upgrade or migration.

4 Upgrade or migrate your vCenter Server for Windows or vCenter Server Appliance deployment.

5 Complete any required post-upgrade or post-migration tasks.

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You can connect vCenter Server instances with external Platform Services Controller instances in an Enhanced Linked Mode configuration.

Important Although you can choose to join a vCenter Single Sign-On domain, you should consider

vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller as a standalone installation and do not use it for replication of infrastructure data.

Concurrent upgrades are not supported and upgrade order matters. For information on upgrade order for transitional environments, see Upgrade or Migration Order and Mixed-Version Transitional Behavior for

Multiple vCenter Server Instance Deployments.

vCenter Server Supported Upgrade Methods

Graphical User Interface (GUI) Installer

Command Line Interface (CLI) Installer

Migration Assistant Interface for Migrating vCenter Server on Windows to vCenter Server Appliance

Deprecated vCenter Server Deployment Models

The GUI installer provides a two-step upgrade method using an OVA file that you deploy, and the vCenter Server Appliance Management GUI. The first step deploys an unconfigured Platform Services Controller appliance or vCenter Server Appliance as an OVA file. The second step uses the vCenter Server Appliance Management GUI to configure the new appliance using the source deployment data.

The CLI installer provides advanced users with a CLI method for upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance or migrating vCenter Server on Windows to an appliance. You can upgrade or migrate to vCenter Server Appliance configurations using customized CLI templates.

When you migrate a legacy vCenter Single Sign-On, Platform Services Controller, or vCenter Server on Windows to an appliance using the Migration Assistant interface. You can use either the GUI method or the CLI method to migrate the legacy Windows installation data to a target appliance. See Overview of Migration from vCenter Server

on Windows to an Appliance.

When upgrading or migrating from deprecated deployment models, you must first migrate your deployment to a currently supported deployment model before attempting to upgrade or migrate it to a vCenter Server 6.7 deployment. For more information, see Moving from a Deprecated to a

Supported vCenter Server Deployment Topology Before Upgrade or Migration

Patching and Updating vCenter Server

A patch or update brings the vCenter Server 6.7 software up to the current minor version on the existing physical or virtual machine. You can use the patching process to make minor upgrades to your 6.7 deployment. See

Differences Between vSphere Upgrades, Patches, Updates, and Migrations

and Chapter 7 Patching and Updating vCenter Server 6.7 Deployments.

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vCenter Server Upgrade Compatibility

The upgrade to vCenter Server 6.7 affects other software components of the data center.

Table 1‑1 summarizes how upgrading vCenter Server can affect your data center components.

vCenter Server 6.7 can manage ESXi version 6.0 or 6.5 hosts in the same cluster with ESXi 6.7 hosts vCenter Server 6.7 cannot manage ESXi 5.5 or earlier hosts.

vSphere supports upgrades from vCenter Server 6.0 and later to vCenter Server 6.7. To upgrade from vCenter Server 5.0, 5.1 or 5.5, you must first upgrade the vCenter Server instance to version 6.0 or later releases, and then upgrade to vCenter Server 6.7. For information about upgrading vCenter Server 5.0,

5.1, or 5.5 to version 6.0 or 6.5, see the VMware vSphere 6.0 Documentation or VMware vSphere 6.5

Documentation

Table 1‑1. Upgrading vCenter Server and Related VMware Products and Components

Product or Component Compatibility

vCenter Server Verify support for the upgrade path from your current version of vCenter Server to your planned

upgrade version. See the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix at

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php.

vCenter Server database Verify that your database is supported for the vCenter Server version that you are upgrading to.

Upgrade the database if necessary. See the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix at

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php.

Note vCenter Server Appliance for version 6.7 uses PostgreSQL for the embedded database.

vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 does not support external databases.

vSphere Web Client Verify that your vSphere Web Client works with the vCenter Server version that you are

upgrading to. For best performance and compatibility, upgrade your vSphere Web Client to the same version as your vCenter Server. See the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix at

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php.

ESX and ESXi hosts Verify that your ESX or ESXi host works with the vCenter Server version that you are upgrading

to. vCenter Server 6.7 requires ESXi host version 6.0 or later. Upgrade if necessary. See the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix at

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php.

VMware Host Profiles Host Profiles is a vCenter Server tool for designing and deploying ESX and ESXi hosts. Ensure

that you are using Host Profiles version 6.0 or later. See Knowledge Base article KB 52932.

For more information on upgrade issues related to Host Profiles, see Upgrade Issues with

vCenter Server Containing Host Profiles and the sections on recommended Host Profiles

upgrade workflows in the vSphere Host Profiles documentation.

VMFS-3 volumes ESXi and vCenter Server supports VMFS3, VMFS5, and VMFS6 datastores. You can continue to

use existing VMFS-3 datastores, but you cannot create new VMFS-3 datastores. If you have VMFS-3 datastores, upgrade them to VMFS-6. For more information on VMFS datastores, see the vSphere Storage documentation.

Virtual machines Upgrade options depend on your current version. See the information about upgrading virtual

machines in the ESXi Upgrade documentation.

VMware Tools Upgrade options depend on your current version. See the information about upgrading VMware

Tools in the ESXi Upgrade documentation.

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Table 1‑1. Upgrading vCenter Server and Related VMware Products and Components (Continued)

Product or Component Compatibility

Auto Deploy To ensure compatibility and best performance, when you upgrade to vCenter Server 6.7, use

Auto Deploy to upgrade ESXi hosts to the same version.

vSphere Distributed Virtual Switch (DVS)

vSphere Network I/O Control DVS version 6.0 or later supports only Network I/O Control version 3. If you are using an earlier

vSAN Synchronize versions of vCenter Server and ESXi to avoid potential faults because of differences

vSAN disk version vSAN has several different on-disk format versions available depending on the version and

Legacy Fault Tolerance If the vCenter Server inventory contains a VM on which legacy VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) is in

You must upgrade to DVS version 6.0 or later prior to upgrading to vCenter Server 6.7. See Knowledge Base article KB 52826.

version of Network I/O Control you must upgrade to Network I/O Control version 3. For more information, see the vSphere Networking documentation.

in the vSAN support in vCenter Server and ESXi. For the best integration between vSAN components on vCenter Server and ESXi, deploy the latest version of these two vSphere components. For more information, see the ESXi Installation and Setup, vCenter Server Installation and Setup, ESXi Upgrade, and vCenter Server Upgrade documentation.

upgrade history of the cluster. Some on-disk format versions are transient while others are intended for long-term production. As certain vSAN features are tied to the on-disk format version, the format version must be accounted for when determining interoperability. See Knowledge Base article KB 2145267.

use, upgrade or migration will be blocked until you turn off this feature. For information about legacy FT, see Knowledge Base article KB 2143127. For information on disabling or turning off FT, see Knowledge Base article KB 1008026.

vSphere 6.7 Component Behavior Changes that Aect Upgrade

When upgrading to vSphere 6.7, it is important to understand changes in component behavior for version

6.7 that can affect the upgrade process.

Understanding changes from previous versions of vSphere can assist in your upgrade planning. For a complete list of new features in vSphere 6.7, see the Release Notes for version 6.7 releases.

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vCenter Server Upgrade

vCenter Server Upgrade Methods

vSphere supports multiple methods for upgrading vCenter Server to version 6.7.

Supported Migration Path from vCenter Server for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance

Support for Command Line Interface (CLI) Deployments of vCenter Server Appliance

Auto Deploy Changes You can use a graphical user interface (GUI) for upgrading vCenter Server

VMware Update Manager Changes

Upgrade Order and Mixed Version Environment Behavior

You can migrate from an existing vCenter Server for Windows configuration to a vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 deployment using a graphical user interface-based installer or a command line interface-based installer. See

Differences between Upgrading and Migrating vCenter Server on Windows.

You can upgrade an existing vCenter Server Appliance deployment to version 6.7 using a CLI. See CLI Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance

and Platform Services Controller Appliance.

deployments that were initially set up with Auto Deploy.

You can use a graphical user interface (GUI) when upgrading vCenter Server deployments using VMware Update Manager.

You cannot upgrade multiple vCenter Server instances or Platform Services Controller instances concurrently, and upgrade order matters. See Upgrade or Migration Order and Mixed-Version Transitional

Behavior for Multiple vCenter Server Instance Deployments.

Changes in Supported Deployment Types

Changes from previous versions of vSphere can affect your deployment type.

Topology Changes After Upgrade or Migration

You can change your deployment topology after upgrade or migration to vCenter Server 6.7. You cannot change your deployment type during upgrade or migration. For information on supported topology changes, see

Chapter 6 Changing a vCenter Server Deployment Type After Upgrade or Migration.

Mixed IPv4 and IPv6 Upgrade and Migration

Upgrade and migration from vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 to 6.7 is supported for pure IPv4 or pure IPv6 management networks only.

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Upgrade and migration from a mixed mode IPv4 and IPv6 environment transfers configurations depending on the source deployment configuration.

Table 1‑2. Transfer of networking conﬁguration settings for mixed mode IPv4 and IPv6 deployments

Settings transferred during upgrade

Source configuration

DHCPv6 and AUTOv6 DHCPv6 AUTOv6

DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 DHCPv4 DHCPv6

DHCPv4 and AUTOv6 DHCPv4 AUTOv6

DHCPv4 and Static IPv6 Static IPv6 DHCPv4

Static IPv4 and AUTOv6 Static IPv4 AUTOv6

Static IPv4 and DHCPv6 Static IPv4 DHCPv6

Static IPv4 and Static IPv6 Static IPv4 and Static IPv6 -

or migration

Changes Aecting VMware Services

Changes affecting VMware services may affect your upgrade planning.

Embedded PostgreSQL Database Replaces Embedded Microsoft SQL Server Express Database for vCenter Server 6.0

The vCenter Server 6.0 embedded Microsoft SQL Server Express database is replaced with an embedded PostgreSQL database during the upgrade to vCenter Server 6.7. The maximum inventory size that applied for Microsoft SQL Server Express still applies for PostgreSQL.

Settings not transferred during upgrade or migration

vCenter Inventory Services Removed for vCenter Server 6.7

Using Oracle for vCenter Server External Database

VMware vSphere Syslog Collector

vCenter Inventory Services are no longer needed for vCenter Server 6.7. The upgrade process migrates the data and removes the vCenter Inventory Services.

For information about supported database server versions, see the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix at

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php.

Starting with vCenter Server 6.0 for Windows, vSphere Syslog Collector is included in the vCenter Server group of services. vSphere Syslog Collector continues to function exactly as for vCenter Server 5.5. However, it is no longer used for vCenter Server Appliance.

VMware Syslog Service Starting with vCenter Server Appliance 6.0, vSphere Syslog Service is a

support tool for logging that is included in the vCenter Server group of services.

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Upgrade or Migration Order and Mixed-Version Transitional Behavior for Multiple vCenter Server Instance Deployments

When you upgrade or migrate a deployment with multiple vCenter Server instances, the upgrade or migration order matters.

You upgrade or migrate externally deployedPlatform Services Controller 6.0 and 6.5 instances first. You temporarily leave the vCenter Server instances at version 6.0 or version 6.5 while you complete the upgrade or migration process for thePlatform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 instances.

You must upgrade or migrate your Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 instances sequentially.

For a mixed-platform installation with Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 instances on Windows and vCenter Server Appliance instances, upgrade or migrate all the Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 instances on Windows before upgrading any vCenter Server Appliance instances.

For a mixed-platform installation with Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 appliances and vCenter Server instances on Windows, upgrade all Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 appliances before upgrading or migrating any vCenter Server instances on Windows.

After upgrading or migrating your Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 instances, you can upgrade vCenter Server instances. vCenter Server instances that point to the same Platform Services Controller can be upgraded or migrated concurrently.

When you upgrade an externally deployed Platform Services Controller 6.0 instance to an externally deployed Platform Services Controller 6.7 instance, the legacy vCenter Server instances that were using the component are not affected. The legacy vCenter Server instances continue to operate with the upgraded Platform Services Controller just as they operated before the upgrade without any problems or required reconfiguration. Legacy vCenter Server instances continue to be visible to the legacy vSphere Web Client, though vCenter Server 6.7 instances are not visible to the legacy vSphere Web Clients.

Transitional behavior during a migration from a vCenter Server deployment on Windows to an appliance deployment is the same as for a vCenter Server upgrade on Windows.

Mixed-version transitional behavior is the same for vCenter Single Sign-On instances deployed in vCenter Server vCenter Server Appliance environments.

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Platform Services Controller 6.7

Virtual Machine or Physical Server

vCenter Server 6.0

Virtual Machine or Physical Server

vCenter Server 6.5

Virtual Machine or Physical Server

Transitional Upgrade Environment: Start

Operating System Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5

Operating System

Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5

vCenter Server Upgrade

Figure 1‑3. Mixed-Version 6.0 and 6.7 Transitional Environment

Important Mixed-version environments are not supported for production. Use these environments only

during the period when an environment is in transition between vCenter Server versions.

The transitional order and behavior are the same for vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 environments when upgrading or migrating to vCenter Server 6.7 environments. The vCenter Server 6.0 instances continue operating with the Platform Services Controller 6.7 instance as they did before the upgrade or migration, without any problems or required action.

The only action required for a mixed-version environment after transition is a restart of any legacy vSphere Web Client instances if they will be used to view vCenter Server instances that are not yet upgraded or migrated.

Figure 1‑4. Example vSphere 6.0 or 6.5 Deployment Before Transition Begins

For example, a deployment with three vCenter Server instances and two external vCenter Single Sign-On instances must be upgraded or migrated one instance at a time to version 6.7.

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Transitional Upgrade Environment: Step 1

Operating System

Operating System Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Platform Services Controller 6.7 Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5

Transitional Upgrade Environment: Step 2

Operating System

Operating System Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Platform Services Controller 6.7 Platform Services Controller 6.7

vCenter Server Upgrade

Figure 1‑5. Example vSphere 6.0 or 6.5 Deployment in Transition at Step 1

Upgrading or migrating the first external vCenter Single Sign-On instance or Platform Services Controller instance to an external Platform Services Controller of the current version has no impact on the legacy vCenter Server instances.

Figure 1‑6. Example vSphere 6.0 or 6.5 Deployment in Transition at Step 2

Upgrading or migrating the second external Platform Services Controller instance to the current version has no impact on the behavior of the legacy vCenter Server instances.

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Transitional Upgrade Environment: Step 3

Operating System

Operating System Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.7

Platform Services Controller 6.7 Platform Services Controller 6.7

vCenter Server Upgrade

Figure 1‑7. Example vSphere 6.0 or 6.5 Deployment in Transition at Step 3

After upgrading the first vCenter Server instance to 6.7, changes occur in the connectivity between the vCenter Server instances.

The two remaining legacy vSphere Web Client instances can no longer view the newly upgraded vCenter Server 6.7 instance after it joins the Platform Services Controller instance.

The legacy vSphere Web Client instances can still view the legacy vCenter Server instances after they are restarted.

The vSphere Web Client 6.7 instance that is part of the newly upgraded vCenter Server 6.7 instance can view the legacy vCenter Server instances and 6.7 instances.

After upgrading the second vCenter Server instance to 6.7, further changes occur in the connectivity between the vCenter Server instances:

Linked Mode functionality is replaced by Enhanced Linked Mode functionality between the newly upgraded vCenter Server 6.7 instances after they are joined to the Platform Services Controller.

The remaining legacy vSphere Web Client instance can no longer view the vCenter Server 6.7 instances.

The legacy vSphere Web Client instance can still view the legacy vCenter Server instances after they are restarted.

The vSphere Web Client 6.7 instances that are part of the newly upgraded vCenter Server 6.7 instances can view the legacy vCenter Server instances and 6.7 instances.

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Transitional Upgrade Environment: Step 5

Operating System

Operating System Operating System

vCenter Server 6.7

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.7

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.7

Platform Services Controller 6.7 Platform Services Controller 6.7

vCenter Server Upgrade

Figure 1‑8. Example vSphere 6.0 Deployment After Step 5 with Upgrade Complete

After upgrading the third and final vCenter Server instance to 6.7, all the vCenter Server instances are connected with full vCenter Server 6.7 functionality.

Enhanced Linked Mode functionality replaces Linked Mode functionality between all the legacy vCenter Server instances after they are joined to the Platform Services Controller 6.7 instances.

The vSphere Web Client 6.7 instances can view all the vCenter Server 6.7 instances.

Dierences between Upgrading and Migrating vCenter Server on Windows

You have two choices for moving your vCenter Server deployment on Windows to version 6.7: you can use the upgrade on Windows process or you can use the migration process to convert your deployment to an appliance at the same time that you upgrade the deployment to version 6.7.

It is important to understand the differences and similarities between upgrading and migrating vCenter Server instances on Windows.

Choose the upgrade on Windows process to upgrade a vCenter Server version 6.0 or version 6.5 deployment on Windows to a vCenter Server 6.7 deployment on Windows. For details, see Chapter 2

Upgrading vCenter Server for Windows.

Choose the migration to an appliance process to convert a vCenter Server version 6.0 or version 6.5 deployment on Windows to a vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 deployment. For details, see Chapter 4

Migrating vCenter Server for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance.

You can migrate the following vCenter Server deployment types from Windows to appliances while upgrading to version 6.7:

vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller (version 6.0 or 6.5)

vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller (version 6.0 or 6.5)

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You can migrate with an embedded or external vCenter database. In either case, the database is converted to an embedded PostgreSQL database on the new appliance. For more about the database migration, see Preparing vCenter Server Databases for Migration.

You can migrate a vCenter Server installation to an appliance using either the GUI method or CLI method.

When migrating vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller (version 6.0 or 6.5), the migration is a single workflow.

When migrating vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller (version 6.0 or 6.5), migration order matters. You migrate Platform Services Controller instances before migrating vCenter Server instances. For details, see Chapter 4 Migrating vCenter Server for Windows to

vCenter Server Appliance.

Preparation includes using VMware Migration Assistant to gather the required information on the source vCenter Server instance or Platform Services Controller instance. For details, see Download and Run

VMware Migration Assistant on the Source Windows Machine.

Upgrading or Migrating to vSphere License Service

The License Service is in the Platform Services Controller. The License Service provides common license inventory and management capabilities to the vCenter Server systems that are registered to a Platform Services Controller or multiple Platform Services Controllers that are joined in one vCenter Single Sign-On domain.

During the upgrade of the vCenter Server systems that are connected to a Platform Services Controller, their licensing data is transferred to the License Service. The licensing data includes the available licenses and license assignments for hosts, vCenter Server systems, vSAN clusters, and other products that you use with vSphere.

After the upgrade or migration of the vCenter Server systems completes, the License Services stores the available licenses and manages the license assignments for the entire vSphere environment. If your vSphere environment consists of multiple Platform Services Controllers joined in one vCenter Single Sign-On domain, the License Service in every Platform Services Controller contains a replica of the licensing data for the entire environment.

For more information about the License Service and managing licenses in vSphere, see vCenter Server and Host Management.

Dierences Between vSphere Upgrades, Patches, Updates, and Migrations

vSphere products distinguish between upgrades, which make major changes to the software, patches and updates, which make smaller changes to the software, and migrations, which make changes to the software platform.

VMware product versions are numbered with two digits, for example, vSphere 6.7. A release that changes either digit, for example, from 6.0 to 6.5, or from 6.5 to 6.7, involves major changes in the software, and requires an upgrade from the previous version. A release that makes a smaller change, requiring only a patch or update, is indicated by an update number, for example, vSphere 6.0 Update 1.

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For information about upgrading vCenter Server installations, see Chapter 3 Upgrading the vCenter

Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance or Chapter 2 Upgrading vCenter Server for Windows.

For information about patching or updating vCenter Server, see Chapter 7 Patching and Updating

vCenter Server 6.7 Deployments

When you upgrade an ESXi host, some host configuration information is preserved in the upgraded version, and the upgraded host, after rebooting, can join a vCenter Server instance that has been upgraded to the same level. Because updates and patches do not involve major changes to the software, host configuration is not affected. For more information, see the ESXi Upgrade documentation.

When you upgrade a vCenter Server for Windows instance and at the same time convert it to a vCenter Server Appliance instance, it is a migration.

For information about migrating a vCenter Server installation to an appliance, see Chapter 4 Migrating

vCenter Server for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance.

Support for Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2

vCenter Server 6.7 supports Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2.

FIPS 140-2 is a U.S. and Canadian government standard that specifies security requirements for cryptographic modules. By default, FIPS 140-2 is always enabled after installation or upgrade of vCenter Server 6.7.

To learn more about support for FIPS 140-2 in VMware products, see

https://www.vmware.com/security/certifications/fips.html.

To learn how to enable or disable FIPS 140-2 support, see the vSphere Security documentation.

Support for Transport Security Layer 1.2

By default, vSphere 6.7 supports the Transport Security Layer (TLS) 1.2 encryption protocol. The upgrade or migration to vCenter Server 6.7 disables the TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 encryption protocols, and you may need to reconfigure other VMware products and third-party products to use TLS 1.2.

During both upgrade and migration from vCenter Server 6.0 and 6.5 to vCenter Server 6.7, a notification message informs you that only the TLS 1.2 protocol is enabled. If you need to use the TLS 1.0 and TLS

1.1 protocols to support products or services that do not support TLS 1.2, you can use the TLS Configurator Utility to enable or disable the different TLS protocol versions. You can disable TLS 1.0, or you can disable both TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1.

When upgrading a Platform Services Controller instance that manages one or more vCenter Server 6.0 or

6.0U1 instances which rely on the older protocols, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 remain enabled to avoid a loss of connectivity. After the upgrade or migration to vCenter Server 6.7 is complete, run the TLS Configurator Utility on each Platform Services Controller node to disable the less secure TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 protocols, and use the TLS 1.2 protocol.

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Load Balancer

vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

vCenter Server Upgrade

For a list of VMware products that support disabling TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1, see VMware Knowledge Base article 2145796. To learn how to manage TLS protocol configuration, and use the TLS Configurator Utility, see the VMware Security documentation.

Deployment Topologies with External Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability

To ensure Platform Services Controller high availability in external deployments, you must install or deploy at least two joined Platform Services Controller instances in your vCenter Single Sign-On domain. When you use a third-party load balancer, you can ensure an automatic failover without downtime.

Platform Services Controller with a Load Balancer

Figure 1‑9. Example of a Load Balanced Pair of Platform Services Controller Instances

You can use a third-party load balancer per site to configure Platform Services Controller high availability with automatic failover for this site. For information about the maximum number of Platform Services Controller instances behind a load balancer, see the Configuration Maximums documentation.

Important To configure Platform Services Controller high availability behind a load balancer, the

Platform Services Controller instances must be of the same operating system type. Mixed operating systems Platform Services Controller instances behind a load balancer are unsupported.

The vCenter Server instances are connected to the load balancer. When a Platform Services Controller instance stops responding, the load balancer automatically distributes the load among the other functional Platform Services Controller instances without downtime.

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Load Balancer

vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Site 1

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Load Balancer

vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Site 2

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

vCenter Server vCenter Server vCenter Server vCenter Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

vCenter Server Upgrade

Platform Services Controller with Load Balancers Across vCenter Single Sign-On Sites

Figure 1‑10. Example of Two Load Balanced Pairs of Platform Services Controller Instances Across Two Sites

Your vCenter Single Sign-On domain might span multiple sites. To ensure Platform Services Controller high availability with automatic failover throughout the domain, you must configure a separate load balancer in each site.

Platform Services Controller with No Load Balancer

Figure 1‑11. Example of Two Joined Platform Services Controller Instances with No a Load Balancer

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vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Site 1 Site 2

vCenter Server Upgrade

When you join two or more Platform Services Controller instances in the same site with no load balancer, you configure Platform Services Controller high availability with a manual failover for this site.

Note If your vCenter Single Sign-On domain includes three or more Platform Services Controller

instances, you can manually create a ring topology. A ring topology ensures Platform Services Controller reliability when one of the instances fails. To create a ring topology, run the /usr/lib/vmware- vmdir/bin/vdcrepadmin -f createagreement command against the first and last Platform Services Controller instance that you have deployed.

Platform Services Controller with No Load Balancer Across vCenter Single Sign-On Sites

Figure 1‑12. Example of Two Joined Pairs of Platform Services Controller Instances Across Two Sites with No Load Balancer

Moving from a Deprecated to a Supported vCenter Server Deployment Topology Before Upgrade or Migration

Before you upgrade or migrate your environment to vSphere 6.7, you must move any deprecated deployment topology to a supported deployment topology.

When you first install vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5, your deployment includes either an embedded Platform Services Controller or vCenter Single Single-On, or an external Platform Services Controller or vCenter Single Single-On.

If you upgrade or migrate your deployment later you have two options:

Join a vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller to a Platform Services Controller.

Join an external Platform Services Controller to a Platform Services Controller.

The installer does not validate whether the Platform Services Controller is external or embedded with vCenter Server. Although many types of join operations are possible, not all resulting topologies are supported. Before you upgrade or migrate your environment to vSphere 6.7, you must move any deprecated deployment topology to a supported deployment topology.

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Virtual Machine

or Physical Server

Platform Services

Controller

vCenter Server

Virtual Machine

or Physical Server

Platform Services

Controller

vCenter Server

Virtual Machine

or Physical Server

Platform Services

Controller

vCenter Server

Virtual Machine

or Physical Server

vCenter Server

vCenter Server Upgrade

Moving to a Supported Topology from vCenter Server instances with Embedded Platform Services Controller or vCenter Single Single-On in Replication

Figure 1‑13. Deprecated Topology of vCenter Server instances with Embedded Platform Services Controller or vCenter Single Single-On in Replication

To move a vSphere 6.0 deployment to a supported topology, see the instructions on repointing the connections between vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller in the vSphere Upgrade 6.0 documentation.

Moving to a Supported Topology from a vCenter Server Pointing to an Embedded Platform Services Controller

Figure 1‑14. Deprecated topology of a vCenter Server Pointing to an Embedded Platform Services Controller

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Virtual Machine or

Physical Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine

or Physical Server

Platform Services

Controller

Virtual Machine

or Physical Server

Virtual Machine

or Physical Server

vCenter Server

vCenter Server vCenter Server

vCenter Server Upgrade

Moving to a Supported Topology from an Embedded Platform Services Controller and an External Platform Services Controller in Replication

Figure 1‑15. Deprecated Topology of an Embedded Platform Services Controller and an External Platform Services Controller in Replication

Example Upgrade Paths from vCenter Server version 6.x to version 6.7

Your vCenter Server 6.0.x and 6.5.x deployment type does not change during the upgrade to version 6.7.

The vCenter Server example upgrade paths demonstrate vCenter Server 6.0 upgrade outcomes.

The installer upgrades vCenter Server 6.0 and 6.5 with an embedded Platform Services Controller instance to vCenter Server 6.7 with an embedded Platform Services Controller instance. The software upgrades vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller instance in the correct order to the same version.

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vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Operating System

Platform Services

Controller

Platform Services

Controller

vCenter Server

vCenter Server Appliance 6.7

vCenter Server

Operating System

vCenter Server

Operating System

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 vCenter Server 6.7

Platform Services

Controller

Operating System

vCenter Server

Operating System

Platform Services

Controller

Operating System

vCenter Server Upgrade

Figure 1‑16. vCenter Server 6.0.x with Embedded Platform Services Controller Before and After Upgrade

The installer upgrades an external vCenter Server 6.0 and 6.5 instance to an external vCenter Server 6.7 instance and an external Platform Services Controller 6.0 and 6.5 instance to an external Platform Services Controller 6.7 instance.

Figure 1‑17. vCenter Server 6.0.x with External Platform Services Controller Before and After Upgrade

If you have multiple systems configured for high availability, vCenter Server enables you to incorporate your common services into an external Platform Services Controller configuration as part of your upgrade process.

If you have a multi-site setup configured with replication, you can use vCenter Server to incorporate your common services into an external Platform Services Controller configuration as part of your upgrade process.

For more information on mixed version transitional environments, see Upgrade or Migration Order and

Mixed-Version Transitional Behavior for Multiple vCenter Server Instance Deployments.

Example Migration Paths from vCenter Server for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7

You can migrate a vCenter Server for Windows instance to a vCenter Server Appliance instance.

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vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Windows OS

Platform Services

Controller

Platform Services

Controller

vCenter Server

vCenter Server Appliance 6.7

vCenter Server

Appliance

Windows OS

Platform Services Controller

Appliance

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 vCenter Server Appliance 6.7

Platform Services Controller

Appliance

vCenter Server

Windows OS

vCenter Server

vCenter Server Upgrade

You can migrate a vCenter Server version 6.0 or 6.5 instance on Windows to a vCenter Server Appliance

6.7 deployment on a Linux-based OS.

The vCenter Server example migration paths demonstrate supported migration outcomes.

You can migrate a vCenter Server instance with an embedded Platform Services Controller (version 6.0) to a vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 instance with an embedded Platform Services Controller appliance. In this case the software migrates the vCenter Server instance and the embedded Platform Services Controller instance at the same time.

Figure 1‑18. vCenter Server 6.x with Embedded Platform Services Controller Installation Before and After Migration

You can migrate a vCenter Server instance with an external Platform Services Controller (version 6.0) to a vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 instance with an external Platform Services Controller appliance. In this case you must first migrate the external Platform Services Controller instance and then the vCenter Server instance.

Figure 1‑19. vCenter Server 6.x with External Platform Services Controller Installation Before and After Migration

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vCenter Server Upgrade

For more information on mixed version transitional environments, see Upgrade or Migration Order and

Mixed-Version Transitional Behavior for Multiple vCenter Server Instance Deployments.

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Upgrading vCenter Server for

Windows 2

You can upgrade vCenter Server version 6.0 and version 6.5 deployments for Windows to vCenter Server version 6.7 deployments for Windows.

The vCenter Server upgrade includes a database schema upgrade, upgrade of Platform Services Controller, and upgrade of the vCenter Server software.

This chapter includes the following topics:

About the vCenter Server for Windows Upgrade Process

vCenter Server for Windows Requirements

Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Required Information for Upgrading vCenter Server on Windows

Upgrading vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows

About the vCenter Server for Windows Upgrade Process

Upgrade options for vCenter Server on Windows depend on your existing deployment type and version.

You can upgrade the following deployment types and versions.

Table 2‑1. Supported vSphere Upgrade Paths

Before Upgrade After Upgrade

vCenter Server 6.0 with an embedded Platform Services Controller on Windows

vCenter Server 6.5 with an embedded Platform Services Controller instance on Windows

Platform Services Controller 6.0 on Windows Platform Services Controller 6.7 on Windows

Platform Services Controller 6.5 on Windows

vCenter Server 6.0 on Windows vCenter Server 6.7 on Windows

vCenter Server 6.5 on Windows

vCenter Server 6.7 with an embedded Platform Services Controller on Windows

For upgrade steps for a vCenter Server 6.0 deployment, see Upgrading vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on

Windows.

Important You cannot change your deployment type during upgrade.

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vCenter Server Upgrade

You cannot uninstall or reinstall individual services during the upgrade process.

Note Starting with vSphere 6.5, the vCenter Server services are not standalone services under Windows

SCM, instead they run as child processes of the VMware Service Lifecycle Manager service.

vCenter Server for Windows Requirements

To upgrade vCenter Server on a Windows virtual machine or physical server, your system must meet specific hardware and software requirements.

Synchronize the clocks on all machines running the vCenter Server services. See Synchronizing

Clocks on the vSphere Network.

Verify that the system network name of the machines running vCenter Server services are valid, and are reachable from other machines in the network.

Verify that the host name of the virtual machine or physical server on which you are upgrading vCenter Server complies with RFC 1123 guidelines.

If your vCenter Server service is running in a user account other than the Local System account, verify that the user account in which the vCenter Server service is running has the following permissions:

Member of the Administrators group

Log on as a service

Act as part of the operating system (if the user is a domain user)

Note Starting with vSphere 6.5, the vCenter Server services run as child processes of the VMware

Service Lifecycle Manager service.

Verify that the local policy of the virtual machine or physical server on which you are upgrading vCenter Server allows assigning Log on as a batch job rights to new local users.

Note Starting with vSphere 6.5, some vCenter Server processes use separate local users that are

automatically created and added to the local security policy Log on as a batch job. Such new local users are cm, content-library, eam, imagebuilder, mbcs, netdumper, perfcharts, rbd, vapiEndpoint, vmware-vpostgres, vsan-health, vsm, vsphere-client, and vsphere-ui.

Verify that the LOCAL SERVICE account has read permission on the folder in which vCenter Server is installed and on the HKLM registry.

Verify that the connection between the virtual machine or physical server and the domain controller is working.

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vCenter Server Upgrade

Pre-Upgrade Checks for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

When you upgrade vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows, the installer does a pre-check, for example, to verify that enough space is available on the virtual machine or physical server where you are upgrading vCenter Server, and verifies that the external database, if any, can be successfully accessed.

When you upgrade Platform Services Controller (version 6.0) vCenter Single Sign-On is included as part of Platform Services Controller. During the upgrade of an external Platform Services Controller, the installer provides you with the option to upgrade the existing vCenter Single Sign-On server domain. When you provide the information about the vCenter Single Sign-On service, the installer uses the administrator account to check the host name and password, to verify that the details of the vCenter Single Sign-On server you provided can be authenticated before proceeding with the upgrade process.

The pre-upgrade checker performs checks for the following aspects of the environment:

Windows version

Minimum processor requirements

Minimum memory requirements

Minimum disk space requirements

Permissions on the selected install and data directory

Internal and external port availability

External database version

External database connectivity

Administrator privileges on the Windows machine

Any credentials that you enter

For information about the minimum storage requirements, see Storage Requirements for vCenter Server

and Platform Services Controller on Windows. For information about the minimum hardware

requirements, see Hardware Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on

Windows.

Hardware Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

When you upgrade vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller on a virtual machine or physical server running Microsoft Windows, your system must meet specific hardware requirements.

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vCenter Server Upgrade

You can upgrade vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller on the same virtual machine or physical server or on different virtual machines or physical servers. When you upgrade vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, you upgrade vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller on the same virtual machine or physical server. When you upgrade the vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller, first install the Platform Services Controller that contains all of the required services on one virtual machine or physical server, and then upgrade vCenter Server and the vCenter Server components on another virtual machine or physical server.

Note Upgrading vCenter Server on a network drive or USB flash drive is not supported.

Table 2‑2. Minimum Recommended Hardware Requirements for Installing vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

vCenter

Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server with an Embedded or External Platform Services Controller for a Tiny Environment (up to 10 Hosts, 100 Virtual Machines)

vCenter Server with an Embedded or External Platform Services Controller for a Small Environment (up to 100 Hosts, 1000 Virtual Machines)

vCenter Server with an Embedded or External Platform Services Controller for a Medium Environment (up to 400 Hosts, 4,000 Virtual Machines)

Server with an Embedded or External Platform Services Controller for a Large Environment (up to 1,000 Hosts, 10,000 Virtual Machines)

vCenter Server with an Embedded or External Platform Services Controller for XLarge Environment (up to 2,000 Hosts, 35,000 Virtual Machines)

Number of CPUs

Memory 4 GB RAM 10 GB RAM 16 GB RAM 24 GB RAM 32 GB RAM 48 GB RAM

2 2 4 8 16 24

Note If you want to add an ESXi host with more than 512 LUNs and 2,048 paths to the vCenter Server

inventory, your vCenter Server instance must be suitable for a large or x-large environment.

For the hardware requirements of your database, see the database documentation. The database requirements are in addition to the vCenter Server requirements if the database and vCenter Server run on the same machine.

Storage Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

When you upgrade vCenter Server, your system must meet minimum storage requirements.

The storage requirements per folder depend on the vCenter Server services deployed on the machine, the upgrade deployment model, and the size of your vSphere inventory. The installer dynamically calculates the storage requirement during the upgrade, and verifies that the machine has sufficient free disk space before proceeding with the upgrade.

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vCenter Server Upgrade

During upgrade, you can select a folder other than the default C:\Program Files\VMware folder to upgrade vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller. You can also select a folder other than the default C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\ in which to store data. The following table lists the minimum disk space requirements for the different deployment models. The requirements change depending on the installed vCenter Server services and the vSphere inventory size.

Table 2‑3. vCenter Server Minimum Storage Requirements Depending On the Deployment Model

Default Folder

Program Files

ProgramData

System folder (to cache the MSI installer)

vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller

6 GB 6 GB 1 GB

8 GB 8 GB 2 GB

3 GB 3 GB 1 GB

vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller

External Platform Services Controller

Software Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

Verify that your operating system supports vCenter Server.

vCenter Server requires a 64-bit operating system, and the 64-bit system DSN is required for vCenter Server to connect to the external database.

The earliest Windows Server version that vCenter Server supports is Windows Server 2008 SP2. Your Windows Server must have the latest updates and patches installed. For a full list of supported operating systems, see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2091273.

Prior to upgrading or migrating vCenter Server, you must install the Microsoft Update for Universal C Runtime in Windows. See Update for Universal C Runtime in Windows.

Database Requirements for vCenter Server on Windows

vCenter Server requires a database to store and organize server data.

Each vCenter Server instance must have its own database. For environments with up to 20 hosts and 200 virtual machines, you can use the bundled PostgreSQL database that the vCenter Server installer can install and set up for you during the vCenter Server installation. A larger installation requires a supported external database for the size of the environment.

For information about supported database server versions, see the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php.

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Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller

The vCenter Server system, both on Windows and in the appliance, must be able to send data to every managed host and receive data from the vSphere Web Client and the Platform Services Controller services. To enable migration and provisioning activities between managed hosts, the source and destination hosts must be able to receive data from each other.

If a port is in use or is blacklisted, the vCenter Server installer displays an error message. You must use another port number to proceed with the installation. There are internal ports that are used only for interprocess communication.

VMware uses designated ports for communication. Additionally, the managed hosts monitor designated ports for data from vCenter Server. If a built-in firewall exists between any of these elements, the installer opens the ports during the installation or upgrade process. For custom firewalls, you must manually open the required ports. If you have a firewall between two managed hosts and you want to perform source or target activities, such as migration or cloning, you must configure a means for the managed hosts to receive data.

Note In Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and later, firewall is enabled by default.

Table 2‑4. Ports Required for Communication Between Components

Port Protocol Description Required for

22 TCP System port for SSHD.

Important This port must be open

during the upgrade of the appliance. The upgrade process establishes an SSH connection to transfer the data from the existing to the new appliance.

53 DNS service Windows installations

Appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

Used for Node-to-Node Communication

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Table 2‑4. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

80 TCP vCenter Server requires port 80 for direct

HTTP connections. Port 80 redirects requests to HTTPS port 443. This redirection is useful if you accidentally use http://server instead of https://server.

WS-Management (also requires port 443 to be open).

If you use a Microsoft SQL database that is stored on the same virtual machine or physical server as the vCenter Server, port 80 is used by the SQL Reporting Service. When you install or upgrade vCenter Server, the installer prompts you to change the HTTP port for vCenter Server. Change the vCenter Server HTTP port to a custom value to ensure a successful installation or upgrade.

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows.

88 TCP Active Directory server. This port must be

open for host to join Active Directory. If you use native Active Directory, the port must be open on both vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller.

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

389 TCP/UDP This port must be open on the local and

all remote instances of vCenter Server. This is the LDAP port number for the Directory Services for the vCenter Server group. If another service is running on this port, it might be preferable to remove it or change its port to a different port. You can run the LDAP service on any port from 1025 through 65535.

If this instance is serving as the Microsoft Windows Active Directory, change the port number from 389 to an available port from 1025 through 65535.

Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server to Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller to Platform Services Controller

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Table 2‑4. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

443 TCP The default port that the vCenter Server

system uses to listen for connections from the vSphere Web Client. To enable the vCenter Server system to receive data from the vSphere Web Client, open port 443 in the firewall.

The vCenter Server system also uses port 443 to monitor data transfer from SDK clients.

This port is also used for the following services:

WS-Management (also requires port 80 to be open)

Third-party network management client connections to vCenter Server

Third-party network management clients access to hosts

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows.

514 TCP/UDP vSphere Syslog Collector port for

vCenter Server on Windows and vSphere Syslog Service port for vCenter Server Appliance

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows.

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server to vCenter Server

vCenter Server to Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller to vCenter Server

636 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On LDAPS

For backward compatibility with vSphere

6.0 only.

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Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

During upgrade from vSphere 6.0 only.

vCenter Server 6.0 to Platform Services Controller 6.5

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vCenter Server Upgrade

Table 2‑4. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

902 TCP/UDP The default port that the vCenter Server

system uses to send data to managed hosts. Managed hosts also send a regular heartbeat over UDP port 902 to the vCenter Server system. This port must not be blocked by firewalls between the server and the hosts or between hosts.

Port 902 must not be blocked between the VMware Host Client and the hosts. The VMware Host Client uses this port to display virtual machine consoles

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server installations on Windows.

1514 TCP/UDP vSphere Syslog Collector TLS port for

vCenter Server on Windows and vSphere Syslog Service TLS port for vCenter Server Appliance

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows.

Windows installations and appliance deployments of vCenter Server

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

2012 TCP Control interface RPC for vCenter Single

Sign-On

Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

2014 TCP RPC port for all VMCA (VMware

Certificate Authority) APIs

Important You can change this port

number during the Platform Services Controller installations

Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

on Windows.

2015 TCP DNS management Windows installations

and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server to Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller to vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller to Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server to Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller to vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller to Platform Services Controller

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Table 2‑4. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

2020 TCP/UDP Authentication framework management

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows.

5480 TCP Appliance Management Interface

Open endpoint serving all HTTPS, XMLRPS and JSON-RPC requests over HTTPS.

6500 TCP/UDP ESXi Dump Collector port

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server installations on Windows.

6501 TCP Auto Deploy service

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server installations on Windows.

6502 TCP Auto Deploy management

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server installations on Windows.

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

Appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

Windows installations and appliance deployments of vCenter Server

vCenter Server to Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller to vCenter Server

7080, 12721

TCP Secure Token Service

Note Internal ports

7081 TCP VMware Platform Services Controller

Web Client

Note Internal port

8200, 8201, 8300,

TCP Appliance management

Note Internal ports

8301

8084 TCP vSphere Update Manager SOAP port

The port used by vSphere Update Manager client plug-in to connect to the vSphere Update Manager SOAP server.

Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

Appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

Appliance deployments of vCenter Server

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Table 2‑4. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

9084 TCP vSphere Update Manager Web Server

Port

The HTTP port used by ESXi hosts to access host patch files from vSphere Update Manager server.

9087 TCP vSphere Update Manager Web SSL Port

The HTTPS port used by vSphere Update Manager client plug-in to upload host upgrade files to vSphere Update Manager server.

9123 TCP Migration Assistant port

Only when you run the Migration Assistant on the source Windows installation. The Migration Assistant lets you migrate Windows installations of vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller to appliances.

Appliance deployments of vCenter Server

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

During migration only.

Source vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 to target vCenter Server Appliance 6.5

Source vCenter Single Sign-On 6.0 to target Platform Services Controller appliance

6.5

Source Platform Services Controller 6.0 to target Platform Services Controller appliance

6.5

9443 TCP vSphere Web Client HTTPS Windows installations

and appliance deployments of vCenter Server

To configure the vCenter Server system to use a different port to receive vSphere Web Client data, see the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.

For more information about firewall configuration, see the vSphere Security documentation.

DNS Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

You install or upgrade vCenter Server, like any other network server, on a host machine with a fixed IP address and well-known DNS name, so that clients can reliably access the service.

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Assign a static IP address and host name to the Windows server that will host the vCenter Server system. This IP address must have a valid (internal) domain name system (DNS) registration. When you install vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller, you must provide the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or the static IP of the host machine on which you are performing the install or upgrade. The recommendation is to use the FQDN.

Ensure that DNS reverse lookup returns an FQDN when queried with the IP address of the host machine on which vCenter Server is installed. When you install or upgrade vCenter Server, the installation or upgrade of the Web server component that supports the vSphere Web Client fails if the installer cannot look up the fully qualified domain name of the vCenter Server host machine from its IP address. Reverse lookup is implemented using PTR records.

If you plan to use an FQDN for the virtual machine or physical server, you must verify that the FQDN is resolvable.

You can use the nslookup command to verify that the DNS reverse lookup service returns an FQDN when queried with the IP address and to verify that the FQDN is resolvable.

nslookup -nosearch -nodefname FQDN_or_IP_address

If you use DHCP instead of a static IP address for vCenter Server, make sure that the vCenter Server computer name is updated in the domain name service (DNS). If you can ping the computer name, the name is updated in DNS.

Ensure that the ESXi host management interface has a valid DNS resolution from the vCenter Server and all vSphere Web Client instances. Ensure that the vCenter Server has a valid DNS resolution from all ESXi hosts and all vSphere Web Clients.

vSphere Web Client Software Requirements

Make sure that your browser supports the vSphere Web Client.

The vSphere Web Client 6.7 requires Adobe Flash Player v. 16 to 23. For best performance and the most recent security updates, use Adobe Flash Player 23.

VMware has tested and supports the following guest operating systems and browser versions for the vSphere Web Client. For best performance, use Google Chrome.

Table 2‑5. Supported Guest Operating Systems and Minimum Browser Versions for the vSphere Web Client

Operating system Browser

Windows Microsoft Internet Explorer v. 10.0.19 and later.

Mozilla Firefox v. 39 and later.

Google Chrome v. 34 and later.

Mac OS Mozilla Firefox v. 39 and later.

Google Chrome v. 34 and later.

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Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Ensure that your system is prepared for vCenter Server upgrade by verifying compatibility and completing any necessary database, networking, or other preparation tasks.

Verify Basic Compatibility Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Verify that all components meet basic compatibility requirements before upgrading vCenter Server.

Download the vCenter Server Installer for Windows

Download the .iso installer for vCenter Server for Windows and the associated vCenter Server components and support tools.

Preparing a vCenter Server Database for Upgrade

vCenter Server requires a database to store and organize server data. You can either upgrade your embedded database to the bundled PostgreSQL database, or you can continue to use your external database.

Preparing for Upgrading the Content Library

When upgrading from vCenter Server version 6.0 or earlier, you must prepare your environment before upgrading the Content Library to prevent pre-check errors.

Verify Network Prerequisites Before Upgrading

Verify that your network is set up correctly and meets connectivity prerequisites for upgrading vCenter Server.

Verify Load Balancer Before Upgrading vCenter Server

If you are using a load balancer for high availability for vCenter Single Sign-On or Platform Services Controller, you must verify that it is supported and configured correctly before upgrading to vCenter Server 6.7.

Prepare ESXi Hosts for vCenter Server Upgrade

Before upgrading to vCenter Server 6.7, you must prepare your ESXi hosts.

Verify Preparations Are Complete for Upgrading vCenter Server

Verify that all components of your environment are ready to upgrade vCenter Server.

Verify Basic Compatibility Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Verify that all components meet basic compatibility requirements before upgrading vCenter Server.

Prerequisites

Verify that your system meets the hardware and software requirements. See vCenter Server for Windows

Requirements.

If you have solutions or plug-ins, check the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix. See

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php

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Procedure

1 The installation path of the previous version of vCenter Server must be compatible with the

installation requirements for Microsoft Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM/AD LDS).

The installation path must contain only ASCII characters. Extended ASCII and non-ASCII characters are unsupported.

If your previous version of vCenter Server does not meet this requirement, you must perform a fresh installation of vCenter Server.

2 Verify that the vCenter Server system is not an Active Directory primary or backup domain controller.

3 Update any ESXi 5.0, ESXi 5.1, or ESXi 5.5 hosts to version 6.0 or later.

4 If you have ESXi 5.0, ESXi 5.1, or ESXi 5.5 hosts that you choose not to upgrade, you must remove

them from the vCenter Server inventory.

5 Upgrade VMware Host Profiles to version 6.0 or later.

Host Profiles is a vCenter Server tool for designing and deploying ESX and ESXi hosts. Ensure that you are using Host Profiles version 6.0 or later. See Knowledge Base article KB 52932

6 Upgrade vSphere Distributed Virtual Switch (DVS) version 6.0 or later.

You must upgrade to DVS version 6.0 or later prior to upgrading to vCenter Server 6.7. See Knowledge Base article KB 52826

Note DVS version 6.0 or later supports only Network I/O Control version 3. If you are using an

earlier version of Network I/O Control you must upgrade to Network I/O Control version 3. For more information, see the vSphere Networking documentation.

7 You can not upgrade vCenter Server versions 6.0 or 6.5 which use Enhanced Linked Mode to

vCenter Server 6.7. If you have configured your vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 environment to use Enhanced Linked Mode, you must break the replication agreement between the vCenter Servers before proceeding with the upgrade.

a Log into the first vCenter Server in the Enhanced Linked Mode configuration, and unregister the

vCenter Server. See Knowledge Base article KB 2106736.

b Log in to source vCenter Server and ensure that both vCenter Server instances are no longer

using Enhanced Linked Mode.

Download the vCenter Server Installer for Windows

Download the .iso installer for vCenter Server for Windows and the associated vCenter Server components and support tools.

Prerequisites

Create a My VMware account at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/.

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Procedure

1 Download the vCenter Server installer from the VMware Web site at

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.

vCenter Server is part of VMware vCloud Suite and VMware vSphere, listed under Datacenter & Cloud Infrastructure.

2 VMware provides a sha-1 hash, a sha-256 hash, or an MD5 message digest for software downloads.

To confirm file integrity, use a sha-1, sha-256, and/or a MD5 utility on your computer to calculate your own hash for files downloaded from the VMware web site.

See the VMware Web site topic Using Cryptographic Hashes at

http://www.vmware.com/download/md5.html.

3 Mount the ISO image to the Windows virtual machine or physical server on which you want to install

vCenter Server for Windows.

Preparing a vCenter Server Database for Upgrade

vCenter Server for Windows supports Oracle and Microsoft SQL database as an external database.

Although the database is automatically configured by the installer, you can configure an external database manually or by using a script. In addition, the data source name user must have a specific list of permissions.

For information about setting up and configuring a database, see vSphere Installation and Setup.

The database passwords are stored in clear text on the Windows virtual machine or physical host on which you upgrade vCenter Server and in the vCenter Server Appliance. The files containing the passwords are protected by using the operating system protection, that is, you must be a Windows local administrator or a Linux root user to access and read these files.

vCenter Server instances cannot share the same database schema. Multiple vCenter Server databases can reside on the same database server, or they can be separated across multiple database servers. For Oracle databases, which have the concept of schema objects, you can run multiple vCenter Server instances in a single database server if you have a different schema owner for each vCenter Server instance. You can also use a dedicated Oracle database server for each vCenter Server instance.

You cannot upgrade vCenter Server and point to an older external vCenter Server database. You can upgrade the vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 database to the latest version only by upgrading the vCenter Server instance connected to that database.

Prepare an Oracle Database for Upgrading vCenter Server

Ensure that your Oracle database meets requirements, that you have the necessary credentials, and that you complete any necessary cleanup or other preparation before upgrading vCenter Server.

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Prerequisites

Verify that you have confirmed basic upgrade interoperability before preparing your Oracle database for upgrading vCenter Server. See Database Requirements for vCenter Server on Windows.

Verify that you have backed up your database. For information about backing up the vCenter Server database, see the Oracle documentation.

To set database permissions correctly, see Database Permission Requirements for vCenter Server

Procedure

1 Verify that your database meets the upgrade requirements. If necessary, upgrade the database to a

supported version.

2 If your database server is not supported by vCenter Server, perform a database upgrade to a

supported version or import your database into a supported version.

3 If your existing database is Oracle, and you want to upgrade to a newly supported Oracle database,

such as Oracle 11g, upgrade your Oracle database before upgrading vCenter Server.

You do not need to perform a fresh installation of vCenter Server if your existing database is Oracle.

For example, you can upgrade your existing Oracle 9i database to Oracle 11g or Oracle 12c and upgrade vCenter Server 6.0 to vCenter Server 6.7.

4 Verify that passwords are current and not set to expire soon.

5 Ensure that you have login credentials, the database name, and the database server name that the

vCenter Server database is to use.

Look in the ODBC system for the connection name of the database source name for the vCenter Server database.

6 Use the Oracle SERVICE_NAME instead of SID to verify that your Oracle database instance is

available.

$ORACLE_BASE/diag//rdbms/$instance_name/$INSTANCE_NAME/trace/alert_$ INSTANCE_NAME.log.

If you have the SQL*Plus client installed, you can use tnsping for the vCenter Database instance. If the tnsping command does not work the first time, retry it after waiting a few minutes. If retrying does not work, restart the vCenter Database instance on the Oracle server and then retry tnsping to ensure it is available.

7 Verify that the JDBC driver file is included in the CLASSPATH variable.

8 Verify that permissions are set correctly.

9 Either assign the DBA role or grant the required permissions to the user.

10 Make a full backup of the vCenter Server database.

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Your database is prepared for the vCenter Server upgrade.

What to do next

After the upgrade is complete, you can optionally remove the following permissions from the user profile: create any sequence and create any table.

By default, the RESOURCE role has the CREATE PROCEDURE, CREATE TABLE, and CREATE SEQUENCE privileges assigned. If the RESOURCE role lacks these privileges, grant them to the vCenter Server database user.

Prepare Microsoft SQL Server Database Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Ensure that your Microsoft SQL Server database meets requirements, that you have the necessary credentials, and that you complete any necessary cleanup or other preparation before upgrading vCenter Server.

To remove the DBO role and migrate all objects in the DBO schema to a custom schema, see the VMware knowledge base article at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1036331.

To migrate the vCenter Server database from Microsoft SQL Express to Microsoft full SQL Server, see the VMware knowledge base article at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1028601.

Important You cannot use Integrate Windows for your authentication method if the vCenter Server

service is running under the Microsoft Windows built-in system account.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have confirmed basic upgrade interoperability before preparing your Microsoft SQL Server database for upgrading vCenter Server. See Database Requirements for vCenter Server on Windows.

Verify that you have backed up your database. For information about backing up the vCenter Server database, see the Microsoft SQL Server documentation.

To set database permissions correctly, see Database Permission Requirements for vCenter Server and

Use a Script to Create and Apply a Microsoft SQL Server Database Schema and Roles.

Procedure

1 Verify that your database meets the upgrade requirements. If necessary, upgrade the database to a

supported version.

2 If your database server is not supported by vCenter Server, perform a database upgrade to a

supported version or import your database into a supported version.

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3 If your existing database is Microsoft SQL Server, and you want to upgrade to a newly supported

Microsoft SQL Server database, such as Microsoft SQL Server 2012, upgrade your Microsoft SQL Server database before upgrading vCenter Server.

You do not need to install a new vCenter Server instance if your existing database is Microsoft SQL Server.

When you migrate the database from Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2SP2 or later, set the compatibility level of the database to 100.

4 Verify that permissions are set correctly.

5 Verify that passwords are current and not set to expire soon.

6 Verify that JDK 1.6 or later is installed on the vCenter Server machine.

7 Verify that the sqljdbc4.jar file is added to the CLASSPATH variable on the machine where

vCenter Server is to be upgraded.

If the sqljdbc4.jar file is not installed on your system, the vCenter Server installer installs it.

8 Verify that your system database source name is using the Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 10 or

11 driver.

9 If you choose to remove the DBO role and migrate all objects in the DBO schema to a custom

schema, you must grant the required permissions.

a Grant the required permissions to the vCenter Server user in the vCenter Server database.

b Grant the required permissions to the user in the MSDB database.

10 Make a full backup of the vCenter Server database.

Your database is prepared for the vCenter Server upgrade.

Use a Script to Create and Apply a Microsoft SQL Server Database Schema and Roles

In this method of configuring the SQL database, you create the custom schema VMW, instead of using the existing dbo schema. You must also enable Database Monitoring for a user before you install vCenter Server with an embedded or external Platform Services Controller.

This method requires that you create new database roles and grant them to the database user.

Prerequisites

To make sure you have the proper roles and permissions before upgrading vCenter Server, update the SQL Server database and users for vCenter Server.

Procedure

1 Log in to a Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio session as the sysadmin or a user account with

sysadmin privileges.

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2 Run the following script to create roles and apply privileges.

The script is located in the vCenter Server installation package at /installation directory/vCenter-Server/dbschema/DB_and_schema_creation_scripts_MSSQL.txt .

CREATE SCHEMA [VMW]

ALTER USER [vpxuser] WITH DEFAULT_SCHEMA =[VMW]

if not exists (SELECT name FROM sysusers WHERE issqlrole=1 AND name = 'VC_ADMIN_ROLE')

CREATE ROLE VC_ADMIN_ROLE;

GRANT ALTER ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] to VC_ADMIN_ROLE;

GRANT REFERENCES ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] to VC_ADMIN_ROLE;

GRANT INSERT ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] to VC_ADMIN_ROLE;

GRANT CREATE TABLE to VC_ADMIN_ROLE;

GRANT CREATE VIEW to VC_ADMIN_ROLE;

GRANT CREATE Procedure to VC_ADMIN_ROLE;

if not exists (SELECT name FROM sysusers WHERE issqlrole=1 AND name = 'VC_USER_ROLE')

CREATE ROLE VC_USER_ROLE

GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] to VC_USER_ROLE

GRANT INSERT ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] to VC_USER_ROLE

GRANT DELETE ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] to VC_USER_ROLE

GRANT UPDATE ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] to VC_USER_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] to VC_USER_ROLE

sp_addrolemember VC_USER_ROLE , [vpxuser]

sp_addrolemember VC_ADMIN_ROLE , [vpxuser]

use MSDB

if not exists (SELECT name FROM sysusers WHERE issqlrole=1 AND name = 'VC_ADMIN_ROLE')

CREATE ROLE VC_ADMIN_ROLE;

GRANT SELECT on msdb.dbo.syscategories to VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT SELECT on msdb.dbo.sysjobsteps to VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT SELECT ON msdb.dbo.sysjobs to VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT SELECT ON msdb.dbo.sysjobs_view to VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_job TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_delete_job TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

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GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_update_job TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobschedule TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_category TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

sp_addrolemember VC_ADMIN_ROLE , [vpxuser]

use master

grant VIEW SERVER STATE to [vpxuser]

GRANT VIEW ANY DEFINITION TO [vpxuser]

Prepare PostgreSQL Database Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Ensure that your PostgreSQL database meets requirements, that you have the necessary credentials, and that you complete any necessary cleanup or other preparation before upgrading vCenter Server.

For information about backing up the vCenter Server database, see the PostgreSQL documentation.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have confirmed basic upgrade interoperability before preparing your PostgreSQL database for upgrading vCenter Server.

Procedure

1 Verify that passwords are current and not set to expire soon.

2 Locate the cleanup_orphaned_data_PostgresSQL.sql script in the ISO image and copy it to your

PostgreSQL server.

3 Log in to vCenter Server Appliance as root user.

4 Run the cleanup script.

/opt/vmware/vpostgres/9.4/bin/psql -U postgres -d VCDB -f pathcleanup_orphaned_data_Postgres.sql

The cleanup script cleans and purges any unnecessary or orphaned data in your vCenter Server database that is not used by any vCenter Server component.

5 Make a full backup of the vCenter Server database.

Your database is prepared for the vCenter Server upgrade.

Database Permission Requirements for vCenter Server

vCenter Server requires a database. If you decide to use an external Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server database, when you create the database, you must grant certain permissions to the database user.

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When upgrading a Microsoft SQL database, the permissions must be set correctly.

Table 2‑6. Microsoft SQL Database Permissions for vCenter Server

Permission Description

GRANT ALTER ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE Mandatory when you work with SQL Server custom schema.

GRANT REFERENCES ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT INSERT ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT CREATE TABLE TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE Necessary for creating a table.

GRANT CREATE VIEW TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE Necessary for creating a view.

GRANT CREATE PROCEDURE TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE Necessary for creating a stored procedure.

GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] TO VC_USER_ROLE Permissions that let you run SELECT, INSERT, DELETE,

GRANT INSERT ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] TO VC_USER_ROLE

GRANT DELETE ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] TO VC_USER_ROLE

GRANT UPDATE ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] TO VC_USER_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON SCHEMA :: [VMW] TO VC_USER_ROLE

GRANT SELECT ON msdb.dbo.syscategories TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT SELECT ON msdb.dbo.sysjobsteps TOVC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT SELECT ON msdb.dbo.sysjobs TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

Mandatory when you work with SQL Server custom schema.

UPDATE operations on tables which are part of the VMW schema.

Necessary for running a stored procedure in the db schema.

Necessary for deploying SQL Server jobs.

These permissions are mandatory only during installation and upgrade and not required after deployment.

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_job TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_delete_job TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_update_job TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobschedule TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT EXECUTE ON msdb.dbo.sp_add_category TO VC_ADMIN_ROLE

GRANT VIEW SERVER STATE TO [vpxuser] Provides access to SQL Server DMV views and sp_lock

execution.

GRANT VIEW ANY DEFINITION TO [vpxuser] Necessary for providing the user with the privileges to see

metadata for SQL Server objects.

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When upgrading an Oracle database, the permissions must be set correctly.

Table 2‑7. Oracle Database Permissions for vCenter Server

Permission Description

GRANT CONNECT TO VPXADMIN Necessary for connecting to the Oracle database.

GRANT RESOURCE TO VPXADMIN Necessary for creating a trigger, sequence, type, procedure, and

so on.

GRANT CREATE VIEW TO VPXADMIN Necessary for creating a view.

GRANT CREATE SEQUENCE TO VPXADMIN Necessary for creating a sequence.

GRANT CREATE TABLE TO VPXADMIN Necessary for creating a table.

GRANT CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW TO VPXADMIN Necessary for creating a materialized view.

GRANT EXECUTE ON dbms_lock TO VPXADMIN Necessary for guaranteeing that the vCenter Server database is

used by a single vCenter Server instance.

GRANT EXECUTE ON dbms_job TO VPXADMIN Necessary during installation or upgrade for scheduling and

managing the SQL jobs.

This permission is not required after deployment.

GRANT SELECT ON dba_lock TO VPXADMIN Necessary for determining existing locks on the vCenter Server

database.

GRANT SELECT ON dba_tablespaces TO VPXADMIN Necessary during upgrade for determining the required disk

space.

This permission is not required after deployment.

GRANT SELECT ON dba_temp_files TO VPXADMIN Necessary during upgrade for determining the required disk

space.

This permission is not required after deployment.

GRANT SELECT ON dba_data_files TO VPXADMIN Necessary for monitoring the free space while vCenter Server is

working.

GRANT SELECT ON v_$session TO VPXADMIN View used to determine existing locks on the vCenter Server

database.

GRANT UNLIMITED TABLESPACE TO VPXADMIN Necessary for granting unlimited tablespace permissions to the

vCenter Server database user.

GRANT SELECT ON v_$system_event TO VPXADMIN Necessary for checking log file switches.

GRANT SELECT ON v_$sysmetric_history TO VPXADMIN Necessary for checking the CPU utilization.

GRANT SELECT ON v_$sysstat TO VPXADMIN Necessary for determining the Buffer Cache Hit Ratio.

GRANT SELECT ON dba_data_files TO VPXADMIN Necessary for determining the tablespace utilization.

GRANT SELECT ON v_$loghist TO VPXADMIN Necessary for checking the checkpoint frequency.

The privileges on the master database are used to monitor the vCenter Server database. so that, for example, if a certain threshold is reached, you can see an alert.

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Verify That vCenter Server Can Communicate with the Local Database

If your database is on the same machine on which vCenter Server is to be installed, and you changed the machine name, verify the configuration. Make sure that the vCenter Server DSN is configured to communicate with the new name of the machine.

Changing the vCenter Server computer name impacts database communication if the database server is on the same computer with vCenter Server. If you changed the machine name, you can verify that communication remains intact.

If your database is remote, you can skip this procedure. The name change has no effect on communication with remote databases.

After you rename the server, verify with your database administrator or the database vendor that all components of the database are working.

Prerequisites

Make sure that the database server is running.

Make sure that the vCenter Server computer name is updated in the domain name service (DNS).

Procedure

1 Update the data source information, as needed.

2 To test this condition, ping the computer name.

For example, if the computer name is host-1.company.com, run the following command at the Windows command prompt:

ping host-1.company.com

If you can ping the computer name, the name is updated in DNS.

vCenter Server communication is confirmed. You can continue to prepare other components of your environment.

Preparing for Upgrading the Content Library

When upgrading from vCenter Server version 6.0 or earlier, you must prepare your environment before upgrading the Content Library to prevent pre-check errors.

If you are upgrading from vCenter Server version 6.0, your environment must meet upgrade requirements for the Content Library:

All ESXi hosts from the source vCenter Server inventory must be supported by the destination vCenter Server 6.7.

The source vCenter ServerContent Libraries must be backed by either Remote File System or Datastores. You cannot use libraries backed by local file system of the vCenter Server.

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All the remote file system shares used as library backings must be accessible at the time of the upgrade.

No subscribed libraries are using file based subscription URI.

If you are upgrading from vCenter Server 6.0 Update 1, no actions are necessary.

If your environment does not meet the requirements, you must perform the following actions to prepare for upgrade.

Verify Network Prerequisites Before Upgrading

Verify that your network is set up correctly and meets connectivity prerequisites for upgrading vCenter Server.

For information on creating a PTR record, see the documentation for your vCenter Server host operating system.

For information about configuring Active Directory, see the Microsoft Web site.

Domain users that are part of a Windows Administrators group with vCenter Server Administrator permission cannot be used to authenticate vCenter Server during upgrade and do not have vCenter Server permission after upgrade.

Procedure

1 Verify that the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the system where you will upgrade

vCenter Server is resolvable. To verify that the FQDN is resolvable, type nslookup -nosearch -nodefname your_vCenter_Server_fqdn at a command-line prompt.

If the FQDN is resolvable, the nslookup command returns the IP and name of the domain controller machine.

2 Verify that DNS reverse lookup returns a fully qualified domain name when queried with the IP

address of the vCenter Server.

When you upgrade vCenter Server, the installation of the web server component that supports the vSphere Web Client fails if the installer cannot look up the fully qualified domain name of the vCenter Server from its IP address.

Reverse lookup is implemented by using PTR records.

3 If you use DHCP instead of a manually assigned (static) IP address for vCenter Server, make sure

that the vCenter Server computer name is updated in the domain name service (DNS). Test the update by pinging the computer name.

For example, if the computer name is host-1.company.com, run the following command at the Windows command prompt:

ping host-1.company.com

If you can ping the computer name, the name is updated in DNS.

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4 Ensure that the ESXi host management interface has a valid DNS resolution from the vCenter Server

and all instances of vSphere Web Client. Ensure that the vCenter Server has a valid DNS resolution from all ESXi hosts and all instances of vSphere Web Client.

5 If you intend to use Active Directory as an identity source, verify that it is set up correctly. The DNS of

the vCenter Single Sign-On Server host machine must contain both lookup and reverse lookup entries for the domain controller of the Active Directory.

For example, pinging mycompany.com should return the domain controller IP address for mycompany. Similarly, the ping -a command for that IP address should return the domain controller host name.

Avoid trying to correct name resolution issues by editing the hosts file. Instead, make sure that the DNS server is correctly set up.

6 Before the upgrade, select the domain user to use for upgrading vCenter Server. Give that domain

user exclusive administrator permission for vCenter Server, not as part of a Windows Administrators group.

Your network is ready for vCenter Server upgrade.

What to do next

Prepare other components of your environment.

Verify Load Balancer Before Upgrading vCenter Server

In environments with less than four vCenter Server systems, VMware typically recommends a single Platform Services Controller instance and the associated vCenter Single Sign-On service. In larger environments, consider using multiple Platform Services Controller instances, protected by a network load balancer. The white paper vCenter Server 6.0 Deployment Guide on the VMware website discusses this setup. For current information on maximums, see the Configuration Maximums.

See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2112736 for vCenter Single Sign-On high availability compatibility matrix.

Prerequisites

Procedure

1 Review the vCenter Server 6.0 Deployment Guide documentation for load balancing information.

2 If your load balancer is not supported, replace it with a supported load balancer.

3 Verify that the load balancer is correctly configured based on recommendations in vCenter Server

Deployment Guide.

Prepare ESXi Hosts for vCenter Server Upgrade

Before upgrading to vCenter Server 6.7, you must prepare your ESXi hosts.

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Prerequisites

To upgrade vCenter Server, your ESXi hosts must be at version 6.0. If your ESXi hosts are earlier than

6.0, upgrade them to 6.0. Read and follow all best practices when upgrading your hosts to ESXi 6.0.

Procedure

1 To keep your current SSL certificates, back up the SSL certificates that are on the vCenter Server

system before you upgrade to vCenter Server 6.7.

The default location of the SSL certificates is %allusersprofile%\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter.

2 If you have Custom or Thumbprint certificates, see Host Upgrades and Certificates to determine your

preparatory steps.

3 If you have vSphere HA clusters, SSL certificate checking must be enabled.

If certificate checking is not enabled when you upgrade, vSphere HA fails to configure on the hosts.

a Select the vCenter Server instance in the inventory panel.

b Click the Configure tab, then click General tab.

c Verify that the SSL settings field is set to vCenter Server requires verified host SSL

certificates.

Your ESXi hosts are ready for vCenter Server upgrade.

Verify Preparations Are Complete for Upgrading vCenter Server

Verify that all components of your environment are ready to upgrade vCenter Server.

Your pre-upgrade configuration of vCenter Server services determines your post-upgrade deployment type.

For information on synchronizing clocks, see Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network.

To download the installer, see Download the vCenter Server Installer for Windows

Prerequisites

After you have verified basic compatibility and upgrade readiness for your database, network, local database communication, and ESXi hosts, you are ready to perform the final tasks to assure upgrade readiness of your environment.

Procedure

1 Log in as a member of the Administrators group on the host machine, with a user name that does not

contain non-ASCII characters.

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2 Make sure that your pre-upgrade configuration is correct for the post-upgrade deployment you want

to achieve.

When upgrading from vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5, the software preserves your current deployment during the upgrade to vCenter Server 6.7.

3 Verify that the required services have started.

The vCenter Single Sign-On instance to which you are registering vCenter Server

VMware Certificate Authority

VMware Directory Service

VMware Identity Manager Service

VMware KDC Service

tcruntime-C-ProgramData-VMware-cis-runtime-VMwareSTSService

4 Before you upgrade a vSphere product, synchronize the clocks of all machines on the vSphere

network.

5 If you do not intend to use vCenter Server 6.7 in evaluation mode, make sure that you have valid

license keys for all purchased functionality. License keys from previous versions of vSphere continue to support the previous versions, however they do not support vCenter Server 6.7.

If you do not have the license key, you can install in evaluation mode and use the vSphere Web Client to enter the license key later.

6 Close all instances of the vSphere Web Client.

7 Confirm that no processes conflict.

8 Download the installer.

Your vCenter Server environment is ready for the upgrade. See Upgrading vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on

Windows.

Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network

Verify that all components on the vSphere network have their clocks synchronized. If the clocks on the machines in your vSphere network are not synchronized, SSL certificates, which are time-sensitive, might not be recognized as valid in communications between network machines.

Unsynchronized clocks can result in authentication problems, which can cause the installation to fail or prevent the vCenter Server Appliance vpxd service from starting.

Verify that any Windows host machine on which vCenter Server runs is synchronized with the Network Time Server (NTP) server. See the Knowledge Base article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1318.

To synchronize ESXi clocks with an NTP server, you can use the VMware Host Client. For information about editing the time configuration of an ESXi host, see vSphere Single Host Management.

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Synchronize ESXi Clocks with a Network Time Server

Before you install vCenter Server or deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, make sure all machines on your vSphere network have their clocks synchronized.

This task explains how to set up NTP from the VMware Host Client. You can instead use the vicfg-ntp vCLI command. See the vSphere Command-Line Interface Reference.

Procedure

1 Start the VMware Host Client, and connect to the ESXi host.

2 Click Configure.

3 Under System, click Time Configuration, and click Edit.

4 Select Use Network Time Protocol (Enable NTP client).

5 In the Add NTP Server text box, enter the IP address or fully qualified domain name of one or more

NTP servers to synchronize with.

6 (Optional) Set the startup policy and service status.

7 Click OK.

The host synchronizes with the NTP server.

Downtime During the vCenter Server Upgrade

When you upgrade vCenter Server, downtime is required for vCenter Server.

Expect downtime for vCenter Server as follows:

The upgrade requires vCenter Server to be out of production for a minimum of 40 to 50 minutes, and can take much longer depending on the size of the database. The database schema upgrade takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes of this time. This estimate does not include host reconnection time after the upgrade.

For vCenter Server deployments with an embedded database, the upgrade can require extra time to migrate the data from the legacy vCenter Server database to the new database instance.

If Microsoft .NET Framework is not installed on the machine, a restart is required before starting the vCenter Server installation.

vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) does not work while the upgrade is in progress. vSphere HA does work during the upgrade.

Downtime is not required for the ESXi hosts that vCenter Server is managing, or for virtual machines that are running on the hosts.

Using a User Account for Running vCenter Server

You can use the Microsoft Windows built-in system account or a user account to run vCenter Server. With a user account, you can enable Windows authentication for SQL Server, and it provides more security.

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The user account must be an administrator on the local machine. In the installation wizard, you specify the account name as DomainName\Username. You must configure the SQL Server database to allow the domain account access to SQL Server.

The Microsoft Windows built-in system account has more permissions and rights on the server than the vCenter Server system needs, which can contribute to security problems.

Important If the vCenter Server service is running under the Microsoft Windows built-in system account,

when using Microsoft SQL Server, vCenter Server supports only DSNs with SQL Server authentication.

For SQL Server DSNs configured with Windows authentication, use the same user account for the VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices service and the DSN user.

If you do not plan to use Microsoft Windows authentication for SQL Server or you are using an Oracle database, you might still want to set up a local user account for the vCenter Server system. The only requirement is that the user account is an administrator on the local machine and the account must be granted the Log on as a service privilege.

Note Starting with vSphere 6.5, the vCenter Server services are not standalone services under Windows

SCM, instead they run as child processes of the VMware Service Lifecycle Manager service.

Required Information for Upgrading vCenter Server on Windows

The vCenter Server upgrade wizard prompts you for the upgrade information. It is a best practice to keep a record of the values that you entered in case you must reinstall the product.

Important vSphere supports upgrades from vCenter Server 6.0 and later to vCenter Server 6.7. To

upgrade from vCenter Server 5.0, 5.1 or 5.5, you must first upgrade the vCenter Server instance to version 6.0 or later releases, and then upgrade it to vCenter Server 6.7. For information about upgrading vCenter Server 5.0, 5.1, or 5.5 to version 6.0 or 6.5, see the VMware vSphere 5.5 Documentation or VMware vSphere 6.5 Documentation.

You can use this worksheet to record information that you might need when upgrading vCenter Server for Windows in the future.

You will see the default values in the table below only if you left the default values when you installed the source vCenter Server instance.

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Table 2‑8. Information Required for Upgrading vCenter Server for Windows.

Required Information Default Value Your Entry

vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user name administrator@vsphere

.local

Important The user

must be administrator@your_d omain_name.

vCenter Single Sign-On administrator password

Enable or disable Use the same credentials for vCenter Server Enabled by default

vCenter Server user name administrator@vsphere

.local

Important The user

must be administrator@your_d omain_name.

vCenter Server password

Syslog Service Port 514

Syslog Service TLS Port 1514

Auto Deploy Management Port 6502

Auto Deploy Service Port 6501

You cannot change the default user name during upgrade.

ESXi Dump Collector Port 6500

Destination Directory

The folder paths cannot contain non-ASCII characters, commas (,), periods (.), exclamation points (!), pound signs (#), at signs (@), or percentage signs (%).

Join or do not participate in the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).

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

Directory to install vCenter Server

Directory to store data for vCenter Server

Directory to which to export your old 5.x data

C:\Program

Files\VMware

C:\ProgramData\VMw

are

C:\ProgramData\VMw

are\VMware\vCenter

Server\export

Join the CEIP

Upgrading vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows

You upgrade a vCenter Server instance with an embedded Platform Services Controller in one step. When you upgrade a vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller on Windows, you upgrade the instance in two steps.

1 First you upgrade the Platform Services Controller instance to version 6.7. For upgrade steps, see

Upgrade vCenter Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows.

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vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Windows OS

Platform Services

Controller

Platform Services

Controller

vCenter Server

vCenter Server Appliance 6.7

vCenter Server

Windows OS

vCenter Server

Windows OS

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 vCenter Server 6.7

Platform Services Controller

Windows OS

Platform Services Controller

Windows OS

vCenter Server

vCenter Server Upgrade

2 Next you upgrade the vCenter Server instance to version 6.7. For upgrade steps, see Upgrade

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows.

Figure 2‑1. vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 with Embedded Platform Services Controller Deployment Before and After Ugrade

Figure 2‑2. vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 with External Platform Services Controller Before and After Upgrade

Upgrade Order

When upgrading multiple instances of vCenter Server, upgrade order matters: you upgrade all Platform Services Controller instances before upgrading vCenter Server instances. See Upgrade or

Migration Order and Mixed-Version Transitional Behavior for Multiple vCenter Server Instance Deployments.

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vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5

Windows OS

Platform Services

Controller

Platform Services

Controller

vCenter Server

vCenter Server Appliance 6.7

vCenter Server

Windows OS

vCenter Server Upgrade

Concurrent upgrades of Platform Services Controller instances are not supported. When upgrading multiple instances of vCenter Server that share the same vCenter Single Sign-On or Platform Services Controller, you can upgrade the vCenter Server instances concurrently after first upgrading the vCenter Single Sign-On or Platform Services Controller.

Mixed Platform Upgrades

When upgrading vCenter Server instances on Windows in a mixed platform environment with a Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 appliance, you upgrade the Platform Services Controller appliance to version 6.7 before upgrading the vCenter Server instances. For Platform Services Controller 6.0 appliance upgrade steps, see Upgrade a Platform Services Controller Appliance 6.0 by Using the GUI.

When upgrading vCenter Server Appliance instances in a mixed platform environment with a Platform Services Controller instance on Windows, you upgrade the Platform Services Controller instance before upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance instances to version 6.7. For vCenter Server Appliance

6.0 or 6.5 upgrade steps, see Upgrade a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 or 6.5 with an External vCenter

Single Sign-On or Platform Services Controller Instance by Using the GUI.

Upgrade a vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 Installation with an Embedded Platform Services Controller

When you upgrade a vCenter Server instance with an embedded Platform Services Controller on Windows, you upgrade the entire deployment at the same time.

Figure 2‑3. vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 with Embedded Platform Services Controller Deployment Before and After Upgrade

vCenter Server 6.0 and 6.5 ports that are in use by vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller are preserved. You cannot change ports during the upgrade. For information on required ports, see

Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller.

For information on vCenter Server behavior in mixed version environments, see Upgrade or Migration

Order and Mixed-Version Transitional Behavior for Multiple vCenter Server Instance Deployments.

Prerequisites

Verify that your configuration meets the upgrade requirements. See vCenter Server for Windows

Requirements.

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Complete the preparation to upgrade tasks. See Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Verify that you have made a backup of your vCenter Server configuration and database.

To verify that the VMware Directory Service is in a stable state and can stop, manually restart it. The VMware Directory service must be stopped for the vCenter Server upgrade software to uninstall vCenter Single Sign-On during the upgrade process.

Download the vCenter Server Installer. See Download the vCenter Server Installer for Windows.

Procedure

1 Download the vCenter Server for Windows ISO file. Extract the ISO file locally, or mount the ISO file

as a drive.

2 In the software installer, double-click the autorun.exe file to start the upgrade.

3 Select vCenter Server for Windows and click Install.

The installer runs checks in the background to discover your existing vCenter Single Sign-On settings and notify you of any problems that can affect your upgrade process.

The vCenter Server installer opens to the Welcome page.

4 Review the Welcome page and accept the license agreement.

5 Enter your credentials.

Enter your vCenter Server administrator credentials.

Enter the administrator@vsphere.local user credential and the vCenter Single Sign-On credential. The user must be administrator@your_domain_name.

Click Next.

The installer runs checks in the background to detect any issues that can cause the upgrade to fail. You might receive a warning if the old certificates do not meet current VMware security standards.

6 Configure the ports and click Next.

The ports in use by vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller are preserved during upgrade.

7 Configure install, data, and export data directories and click Next.

The installer runs disk space and permission checks for the selected directories, and displays an error message if the selected directories do not meet the requirements.

8 Review the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) page and choose if you

want to join the program.

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

9 Review the Summary page to verify that the settings are correct. Select the checkbox to verify that

you have made a backup of the vCenter Server machine and the vCenter Server database and click Upgrade.

The installer starts the upgrade process and displays a progress indicator.

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vCenter Server

Windows OS

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 vCenter Server 6.7

Platform Services Controller

Windows OS

Platform Services Controller

Windows OS

vCenter Server

vCenter Server Upgrade

10 Before clicking Finish, take note of the post upgrade steps.

11 Click Finish to complete the upgrade.

Your vCenter Server for Windows upgrade is complete.

What to do next

Verify that your upgrade was successful. For verification steps, see Verify Your vCenter Server Appliance

Upgrade or Migration Is Successful.

For information on post-upgrade steps, see Chapter 5 After Upgrading or Migrating vCenter Server.

Upgrade vCenter Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows

You can upgrade your externally deployed Platform Services Controller 6.0 instance to an externally deployed Platform Services Controller 6.7 instance by using the vCenter Server for Windows installer.

Figure 2‑4. vCenter Server 6.0.x with External Platform Services Controller Before and After Upgrade

In a mixed version environment, any vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 instances continue to operate with the upgraded Platform Services Controller exactly as they did with the vCenter Single Sign-On without any problems or required actions. For information on vCenter Server behavior in mixed version environments, see Upgrade or Migration Order and Mixed-Version Transitional Behavior for Multiple vCenter Server

Instance Deployments.

Prerequisites

Your current Platform Services Controller instance is externally deployed.

Verify your configuration meets the upgrade requirements, see vCenter Server for Windows

Requirements.

Complete the preparation to upgrade tasks. See Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Verify that you have made a backup of your vCenter Server configuration and database.

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Download the vCenter Server Installer. See Download the vCenter Server Installer for Windows

Procedure

1 Download the vCenter Server for Windows ISO file. Extract the ISO file locally, or mount the ISO file

as a drive.

2 In the software installer, double-click the autorun.exe file to start the upgrade.

3 Select vCenter Server for Windows and click Install.

The software runs checks in the background to discover your existing vCenter Single Sign-On settings and notify you of any problems that can affect your upgrade process.

The vCenter Server installer opens to the Welcome page.

4 Verify the detected information and upgrade path.

If you see a dialog box identifying missing requirements instead of a Welcome screen, follow the instructions in the dialog box.

5 Review the Welcome page and accept the license agreement.

6 Enter the credentials for the administrator@vsphere.local. The user must be

administrator@your_domain_name.

The installer runs pre-upgrade checks in the background to detect any issues that can cause the upgrade to fail. You might receive a warning if the old certificates do not meet current VMware security standards.

7 Configure the ports and click Next.

The ports in use by vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller are preserved during upgrade.

8 Configure the install, data, and export directories and click Next.

The installer runs disk space and permission checks for the selected directories and displays an error message if the selected directories do not meet the requirements.

9 Review the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) page and choose if you

want to join the program.

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

10 Verify that the Summary page settings are correct. Verify that you have made a backup of your

system and click Upgrade.

A progress indicator displays as the installer starts the upgrade process.

11 Before clicking Finish, note the post upgrade steps.

12 Click Finish to complete the upgrade.

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What to do next

If you have multiple Platform Services Controller instances, you must upgrade all of them before upgrading any affiliated vCenter Server instances. After upgrading all Platform Services Controller instances to version 6.7, you can upgrade your vCenter Server instances. For information on upgrading vCenter Server instances on Windows, see Upgrade vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows. For information on migrating vCenter Server instances to appliances, see GUI Migration of vCenter Server

with an External vCenter Single Sign-On or Platform Services Controller to an Appliance or CLI Migration of a vCenter Server Installation from Windows to an Appliance.

Verify that your Platform Services Controller instance has upgraded successfully. For verification steps, see Verify Your vCenter Server Appliance Upgrade or Migration Is Successful.

For the upgraded Platform Services Controller instance to replicate infrastructure data with other Platform Services Controller instances, you must migrate or upgrade all joined Platform Services Controller instances within the vCenter Single Sign-On domain to the same version. For information on migrating Platform Services Controller instances on Windows to an appliance, see GUI

Migration of vCenter Server with an External vCenter Single Sign-On or Platform Services Controller to an Appliance or CLI Migration of a vCenter Server Installation from Windows to an Appliance.

After you migrate or upgrade all joined Platform Services Controller instances, you can migrate or upgrade the vCenter Server instances within the vCenter Single Sign-On domain. For information on upgrading vCenter Server instances on Windows, see Upgrade vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows. For information on migrating vCenter Server instances on Windows to appliances, see GUI Migration of

vCenter Server with an External vCenter Single Sign-On or Platform Services Controller to an Appliance

or CLI Migration of a vCenter Server Installation from Windows to an Appliance.

Upgrade vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows

You can upgrade your vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 instance to version 6.7 by using the vCenter Server for Windows installer.

The upgrade process preserves your vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 configuration.

If your Platform Services Controller is embedded, the installer upgrades it as part of the vCenter Server upgrade.

vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 ports that are in use by vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller are preserved. You cannot change ports during the upgrade. For information on required ports, see

Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller.

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vCenter Server appliance 6.5 and 6.7 support only the embedded PostgreSQL database. If you are migrating from avCenter Server 6.0 deployment using an external Oracle database, the upgrade installer automatically migrates the database from the Oracle database to the embedded PostgreSQL database included with vCenter Server.

Note If you are using any external Platform Services Controller instances, you must upgrade them to

Platform Services Controller 6.7 instances before upgrading your vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 instances to

6.7.

For information on the vCenter Server upgrade process, see About the vCenter Server for Windows

Upgrade Process.

For information on vCenter Server behavior in mixed version environments, see Upgrade or Migration

Order and Mixed-Version Transitional Behavior for Multiple vCenter Server Instance Deployments.

For information about upgrading Platform Services Controller 6.0, see Upgrade vCenter Platform

Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows.

For information on post-upgrade steps, see Chapter 5 After Upgrading or Migrating vCenter Server.

Prerequisites

Verify that your configuration meets the upgrade requirements. See vCenter Server for Windows

Requirements.

Complete the preparation to upgrade tasks. See Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Verify that you have made a backup of your vCenter Server configuration and database.

To verify that the VMware Directory Service is in a stable state and can stop, manually restart it. The VMware Directory service must stopped for the vCenter Server upgrade software to uninstall vCenter Single Sign-On during the upgrade process.

Download the vCenter Server Installer. See Download the vCenter Server Installer for Windows.

Procedure

1 Download the vCenter Server for Windows ISO file. Extract the ISO file locally, or mount the ISO file

as a drive.

2 In the software installer, double-click the autorun.exe file to start the installer.

3 Select vCenter Server for Windows and click Install.

The installer runs checks in the background to discover your existing vCenter Single Sign-On settings and notify you of any problems that can affect your upgrade process.

The vCenter Server installer opens to the Welcome page.

4 Review the Welcome page and accept the license agreement.

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5 Enter your credentials.

Enter your vCenter Server administrator credentials.

If vCenter Single Sign-On is present, enter the administrator@vsphere.local user credential and the vCenter Single Sign-On credential. The user must be administrator@your_domain_name.

Click Next.

The installer runs checks in the background to detect any issues that can cause the upgrade to fail. You might receive a warning if the old certificates do not meet current VMware security standards.

6 Configure the ports and click Next.

The ports in use by vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller are preserved during upgrade.

7 Configure install, data, and export data directories and click Next.

The installer runs disk space and permission checks for the selected directories, and displays an error message if the selected directories do not meet the requirements.

8 Review the Summary page to verify that the settings are correct. Select the checkbox to verify that

you have made a backup of the vCenter Server machine and the vCenter Server database and click Upgrade.

The installer starts the upgrade process and displays a progress indicator.

9 Before clicking Finish, take note of the post upgrade steps.

10 Click Finish to complete the upgrade.

Your vCenter Server upgrade is complete. For information on post-upgrade tasks, see Chapter 5 After

Upgrading or Migrating vCenter Server.

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Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller

Appliance 3

You can upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 or 6.5 and the Platform Services Controller appliance

6.0 to version 6.7. All of the installation files that are necessary for the upgrade are included in the vCenter Server Appliance installer, which you can download from the VMware Web site.

The upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance is a migration of the old version to the new version, which includes deploying a new appliance of version 6.7. You can deploy the new appliance on an ESXi host 6.0 or later, or on the inventory of a vCenter Server instance

6.0 or later. You assign a temporary IP address to the new appliance to facilitate the configuration and services data migration from the old appliance to the newly deployed appliance. After the migration, the IP address and host name of the old appliance are applied to the new upgraded appliance of version 6.7. At the end of the upgrade, the temporary IP address is released and the old appliance is powered off.

Version 6.7 of the vCenter Server Appliance uses the embedded PostgreSQL database. If you are upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance that is using an external database, the external database will be migrated to the embedded PostgreSQL database of the new upgraded appliance. During the upgrade, you must select a storage size for the new appliance that is suitable for the database size.

Version 6.7 of the vCenter Server Appliance uses the embedded VMware vSphere Update Manager Extension service. If you are upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance that is using an external VMware Update Manager instance, the external VMware Update Manager instance will be migrated to the embedded VMware vSphere Update Manager Extension of the new upgraded appliance. The embedded VMware vSphere Update Manager Extension uses the embedded PostgreSQL database. Before the upgrade, you must run the Migration Assistant on the source VMware Update Manager instance.

For information about the software included in the vCenter Server Appliance 6.7, see vCenter Server Installation and Setup.

Important For topologies with external Platform Services Controller instances, you must upgrade the

replicating Platform Services Controller instances in a sequence. After the successful upgrade of all Platform Services Controller instances in the domain, you can perform concurrent upgrades of multiple vCenter Server appliances that point to a common external Platform Services Controller instance.

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The vCenter Server Appliance installer contains executable files GUI and CLI upgrades which you can use alternatively.

The GUI upgrade is a two stage process. The first stage is a deployment wizard that deploys the OVA file of the new appliance on the target ESXi host or vCenter Server instance. After the OVA deployment finishes, you are redirected to the second stage of the process that sets up and transfers the services and configuration data from the old appliance to the newly deployed appliance.

The CLI upgrade method involves running a CLI command against a JSON file that you previously prepared. The CLI installer parses the configuration parameters and their values from the JSON file and generates an OVF Tool command that automatically deploys the new appliance and transfers the services and configuration data from the old appliance.

For information about the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance upgrade requirements, see System Requirements for the New vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services

Controller Appliance.

Important If the appliance that you are upgrading is configured in a mixed IPv4 and IPv6 environment,

only the IPv4 settings are preserved.

If the appliance that you are upgrading uses a non-ephemeral distributed virtual port group, the port group is not preserved. After the upgrade, you can manually connect the new appliance to the original nonephemeral distributed virtual port group of the old appliance.

To upgrade vCenter Server Appliance 5.0, 5.1, or 5.5, you must first upgrade to version 6.0 or 6.5 and then upgrade to version 6.7. For information about upgrading vCenter Server Appliance 5.0 or 5.1 to version 5.5, see theVMware vSphere 5.5 documentation. For information about upgrading vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 Update 3 to version 6.0, see the VMware vSphere 6.0 documentation. For information about upgrading vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 to version 6.5, see the VMware vSphere 6.5 documentation.

For information about deploying the vCenter Server Appliance, see vCenter Server Installation and Setup.

For information about configuring the vCenter Server Appliance, see vCenter Server Appliance Configuration.

This chapter includes the following topics:

About the Upgrade Process of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

System Requirements for the New vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

Preparing to Upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

Prerequisites for Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller Appliance

GUI Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

CLI Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

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About the Upgrade Process of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

You can upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance from version 6.0 or 6.5 to version 6.7. You can upgrade the Platform Services Controller appliance from version 6.0 or 6.5 to version 6.7.

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

1 Deploying a new appliance of version 6.7 with temporary network configuration

If you are upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance, 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 Appliance database. If the source vCenter Server Appliance 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 6.0 or 6.5 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 machine, which facilitates the export of the Update Manager configuration and database.

3 Transferring the exported data to the newly deployed appliance

Non-ephemeral distributed virtual port groups are not migrated. After the upgrade, you can manually connect the new appliance to a non-ephemeral distributed virtual port group.

If the source vCenter Server Appliance uses an external database, the database is migrated to the embedded PostgreSQL database of the new appliance.

If you are upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance that uses a Update Manager instance, the Update Manager instance is migrated to the embedded VMware vSphere Update Manager Extension of the new upgraded appliance.

4 Powering off the source appliance. The new upgraded appliance assumes the network configuration

of the source appliance.

If your current appliance version is version 5.5 or earlier, you must upgrade to version 6.0 or 6.5 before upgrading to version 6.7.

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Begin vCenter Server

Appliance Upgrade

Multiple

vCenter Single

Sign-On or Platform

Services Controller

instances?

Yes

Verify the load balancer

is compatible and

correctly configured

vCenter Server Appliance

upgrade is complete

Upgrade the vCenter

Single Sign-On or

Platform Services

Controller instances

in a sequence

Load balancer?

Yes

Upgrade the vCenter

Server Appliance

Upgrade the vCenter

Single Sign-On or

Platform Services

Controller instance

vCenter Server Upgrade

Figure 3‑1. Upgrade Workﬂow for a vCenter Server Appliance with an External Platform Services Controller

For the new appliance requirements, see System Requirements for the New vCenter Server

Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance.

For the appliance upgrade preparation, see Preparing to Upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance and

Platform Services Controller Appliance.

For the appliance upgrade procedures, see Chapter 3 Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance and

Platform Services Controller Appliance.

For the appliance post-upgrade procedures, see Chapter 5 After Upgrading or Migrating vCenter

Server.

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System Requirements for the New vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

The upgrade of the appliance is a migration of the old version to the new version, which includes deploying a new appliance of version 6.7. You can deploy the new vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance on an ESXi host 6.0 or later, or on a vCenter Server instance 6.0 or later. Your system must also meet specific software and hardware requirements.

When you use Fully Qualified Domain Names, verify that the client machine from which you are deploying the appliance and the network on which you are deploying the appliance use the same DNS server.

Before you deploy the new appliance, synchronize the clocks of the target server and all vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller instances on the vSphere network. Unsynchronized clocks might result in authentication problems and can cause the installation to fail or prevent the appliance services from starting. See Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network.

Hardware Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

When you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, you can select to deploy an appliance that is suitable for the size of your vSphere environment. The option that you select determines the number of CPUs and the amount of memory for the appliance. The size of the Platform Services Controller appliance is the same for all environment sizes.

Hardware Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance

The hardware requirements for a vCenter Server Appliance depend on the size of your vSphere inventory.

Table 3‑1. Hardware Requirements for a vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded or External Platform Services Controller

Number of vCPUs Memory

Tiny environment (up to 10 hosts or 100 virtual machines)

Small environment (up to 100 hosts or 1,000 virtual machines)

Medium environment (up to 400 hosts or 4,000 virtual machine)

2 10 GB

4 16 GB

8 24 GB

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Table 3‑1. Hardware Requirements for a vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded or External Platform Services Controller (Continued)

Number of vCPUs Memory

Large environment (up to 1,000 hosts or 10,000 virtual machines)

X-Large environment (up to 2,000 hosts or 35,000 virtual machines)

16 32 GB

24 48 GB

Note If you want to add an ESXi host with more than 512 LUNs and 2,048 paths to the

vCenter Server Appliance inventory, you must deploy a vCenter Server Appliance for a large or x-large environment.

Hardware Requirements for the Platform Services Controller Appliance

The hardware requirements for a Platform Services Controller appliance are 2 vCPUs and 4 GB memory.

Storage Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

When you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance, the ESXi host or DRS cluster on which you deploy the appliance must meet minimum storage requirements. The required storage depends not only on the size of the vSphere environment and the storage size, but also on the disk provisioning mode.

Storage Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance

The storage requirements are different for each vSphere environment size and depend on your database size requirements.

Table 3‑2. Storage Requirements for a vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded or External Platform Services Controller

Default Storage Size Large Storage Size X-Large Storage Size

Tiny environment (up to 10 hosts or 100 virtual machines)

Small environment (up to 100 hosts or 1,000 virtual machines)

Medium environment (up to 400 hosts or 4,000 virtual machine)

250 GB 775 GB 1650 GB

290 GB 820 GB 1700 GB

425 GB 925 GB 1805 GB

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Table 3‑2. Storage Requirements for a vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded or External Platform Services Controller (Continued)

Default Storage Size Large Storage Size X-Large Storage Size

Large environment (up to 1,000 hosts or 10,000 virtual machines)

X-Large environment (up to 2,000 hosts or 35,000 virtual machines)

640 GB 990 GB 1870 GB

980 GB 1030 GB 1910 GB

Note The storage requirements include the requirements for the VMware Update Manager that runs as

a service in the vCenter Server Appliance.

Storage Requirements for the Platform Services Controller Appliance

The storage requirement for a Platform Services Controller appliance is 60 GB.

Software Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

The VMware vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance can be deployed on ESXi 6.0 hosts or later, or on vCenter Server instances 6.0 or later.

You can deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance by using the GUI or CLI installer. You run the installer from a network client machine that you use to connect to the target server and deploy the appliance on the server. You can connect directly to an ESXi 6.x host on which to deploy the appliance. You can also connect to a vCenter Server 6.x instance to deploy the appliance on an ESXi host or DRS cluster that resides in the vCenter Server inventory.

For information about the requirements for network client machine, see System Requirements for the

vCenter Server Appliance Installer.

Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller

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Note In Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and later, firewall is enabled by default.

Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

22 TCP System port for SSHD.

Important This port must be open

during the upgrade of the appliance. The upgrade process establishes an SSH connection to transfer the data from the existing to the new appliance.

53 DNS service Windows installations

80 TCP vCenter Server requires port 80 for direct

HTTP connections. Port 80 redirects requests to HTTPS port 443. This redirection is useful if you accidentally use http://server instead of https://server.

WS-Management (also requires port 443 to be open).

Appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows.

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Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

88 TCP Active Directory server. This port must be

open for host to join Active Directory. If you use native Active Directory, the port must be open on both vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller.

389 TCP/UDP This port must be open on the local and

If this instance is serving as the Microsoft Windows Active Directory, change the port number from 389 to an available port from 1025 through 65535.

443 TCP The default port that the vCenter Server

system uses to listen for connections from the vSphere Web Client. To enable the vCenter Server system to receive data from the vSphere Web Client, open port 443 in the firewall.

The vCenter Server system also uses port 443 to monitor data transfer from SDK clients.

This port is also used for the following services:

WS-Management (also requires port 80 to be open)

Third-party network management client connections to vCenter Server

Third-party network management clients access to hosts

Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server to Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller to Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server to vCenter Server

vCenter Server to Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller to vCenter Server

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows.

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Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

514 TCP/UDP vSphere Syslog Collector port for

vCenter Server on Windows and vSphere Syslog Service port for vCenter Server Appliance

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows.

636 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On LDAPS

For backward compatibility with vSphere

6.0 only.

902 TCP/UDP The default port that the vCenter Server

Port 902 must not be blocked between the VMware Host Client and the hosts. The VMware Host Client uses this port to display virtual machine consoles

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

Windows installations and appliance deployments of vCenter Server

During upgrade from vSphere 6.0 only.

vCenter Server 6.0 to Platform Services Controller 6.5

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server installations on Windows.

1514 TCP/UDP vSphere Syslog Collector TLS port for

vCenter Server on Windows and vSphere Syslog Service TLS port for vCenter Server Appliance

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows.

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

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Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

2012 TCP Control interface RPC for vCenter Single

Sign-On

Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

2014 TCP RPC port for all VMCA (VMware

Certificate Authority) APIs

Important You can change this port

number during the Platform Services Controller installations

Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

on Windows.

2015 TCP DNS management Windows installations

and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

2020 TCP/UDP Authentication framework management

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller installations on Windows.

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server to Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller to vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller to Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server to Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller to vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller to Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server to Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller to vCenter Server

5480 TCP Appliance Management Interface

Open endpoint serving all HTTPS, XMLRPS and JSON-RPC requests over HTTPS.

Appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services

Controller

6500 TCP/UDP ESXi Dump Collector port

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server installations on Windows.

6501 TCP Auto Deploy service

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server installations on Windows.

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Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

6502 TCP Auto Deploy management

Important You can change this port

number during the vCenter Server installations on Windows.

7080, 12721

TCP Secure Token Service

Note Internal ports

7081 TCP VMware Platform Services Controller

Web Client

Note Internal port

8200, 8201, 8300,

TCP Appliance management

Note Internal ports

8301

8084 TCP vSphere Update Manager SOAP port

The port used by vSphere Update Manager client plug-in to connect to the vSphere Update Manager SOAP server.

Windows installations and appliance deployments of vCenter Server

Windows installations and appliance deployments of Platform Services Controller

Appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

Appliance deployments of vCenter Server

9084 TCP vSphere Update Manager Web Server

Port

The HTTP port used by ESXi hosts to access host patch files from vSphere Update Manager server.

9087 TCP vSphere Update Manager Web SSL Port

The HTTPS port used by vSphere Update Manager client plug-in to upload host upgrade files to vSphere Update Manager server.

Appliance deployments of vCenter Server

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Table 3‑3. Ports Required for Communication Between Components (Continued)

Used for Node-to-Node

Port Protocol Description Required for

Communication

9123 TCP Migration Assistant port

9443 TCP vSphere Web Client HTTPS Windows installations

Windows installations and appliance deployments of

vCenter Server

Platform Services Controller

and appliance deployments of vCenter Server

During migration only.

Source vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 to target vCenter Server Appliance 6.5

Source vCenter Single Sign-On 6.0 to target Platform Services Controller appliance

6.5

Source Platform Services Controller 6.0 to target Platform Services Controller appliance

6.5

To configure the vCenter Server system to use a different port to receive vSphere Web Client data, see the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.

For more information about firewall configuration, see the vSphere Security documentation.

DNS Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

When you deploy the new vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance, in the temporary network settings, you can assign a static IP address and an FQDN that is resolvable by a DNS server. After the upgrade, the appliance frees this static IP address and assumes the network settings of the old appliance.

When you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance with a static IP address, you ensure that in case of system restart, the IP address of the appliance remains the same.

Before you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance with a static IP address, you must verify that this IP address has a valid internal domain name system (DNS) registration.

When you deploy the vCenter Server Appliance, the installation of the Web server component that supports the vSphere Web Client fails if the installer cannot look up the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the appliance from its IP address. Reverse lookup is implemented using PTR records.

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If you plan to use an FQDN for the appliance system name, you must verify that the FQDN is resolvable by a DNS server.

You can use the nslookup command to verify that the DNS reverse lookup service returns an FQDN when queried with the IP address and to verify that the FQDN is resolvable.

nslookup -nosearch -nodefname FQDN_or_IP_address

If you use DHCP instead of a static IP address for the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance, verify that the appliance name is updated in the domain name service (DNS). If you can ping the appliance name, the name is updated in DNS.

vSphere Web Client Software Requirements

Make sure that your browser supports the vSphere Web Client.

The vSphere Web Client 6.7 requires Adobe Flash Player v. 16 to 23. For best performance and the most recent security updates, use Adobe Flash Player 23.

VMware has tested and supports the following guest operating systems and browser versions for the vSphere Web Client. For best performance, use Google Chrome.

Table 3‑4. Supported Guest Operating Systems and Minimum Browser Versions for the vSphere Web Client

Operating system Browser

Windows Microsoft Internet Explorer v. 10.0.19 and later.

Mozilla Firefox v. 39 and later.

Google Chrome v. 34 and later.

Mac OS Mozilla Firefox v. 39 and later.

Google Chrome v. 34 and later.

Preparing to Upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

Before you upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance, you must download the vCenter Server Appliance installer ISO file and mount it to a network virtual machine or physical server from which you want to perform the upgrade.

The machine from which you upgrade the appliance must run on a Windows, Linux, or Mac operating system that meets the operating system requirements. See System Requirements for the vCenter Server

Appliance Installer.

Before upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance, you must prepare the ESXi hosts in the inventory.

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If the vCenter Server Appliance uses an external Oracle database, you must determine the size of the existing database.

If vCenter Server Appliance uses an external Update Manager instance, you must run the Migration Assistant on the Update Manager machine.

System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

You can run the vCenter Server Appliance GUI or CLI installer from a network client machine that is running on a Windows, Linux, or Mac operating system of a supported version.

To ensure optimal performance of the GUI and CLI installers, use a client machine that meets the minimum hardware requirements.

Table 3‑5. System Requirements for the GUI and CLI Installers

Operating System Supported Versions Minimum Hardware Configuration for Optimal Performance

Windows

Linux

Mac

Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10

Windows 2012 x64 bit

Windows 2012 R2 x64 bit

Windows 2016 x64 bit

SUSE 12

Ubuntu 14.04

macOS v10.9, 10,10,

10.11

macOS Sierra

4 GB RAM, 2 CPU having 4 cores with 2.3 GHz, 32 GB hard disk, 1 NIC

4 GB RAM, 1 CPU having 2 cores with 2.3 GHz, 16 GB hard disk, 1 NIC

Note The CLI installer requires 64-bit OS.

8 GB RAM, 1 CPU having 4 cores with 2.4 GHz, 150 GB hard disk, 1 NIC

Note For client machines that run on Mac 10.11, concurrent GUI deployments of multiple appliances are

unsupported. You must deploy the appliances in a sequence.

Download and Mount the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

VMware releases the vCenter Server Appliance ISO image, which contains GUI and CLI installers for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance.

With the GUI and CLI executable files that are included in the vCenter Server Appliance installer, you can:

Deploy the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance.

Upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance.

Migrate Windows installations of vCenter Server, vCenter Single Sign-On, and Platform Services Controller to the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance.

Restore a vCenter Server Appliance from a file-based backup.

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Prerequisites

Create a My VMware account at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/.

Verify that your client machine meets the system requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance installer. See System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance Installer.

Procedure

1 From the VMware Web site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads, download the

vCenter Server Appliance ISO image.

VMware-VCSA-all-version_number-build_number.iso

2 Confirm that the md5sum is correct.

See the VMware Web site topic Using MD5 Checksums at

http://www.vmware.com/download/md5.html.

3 Mount or extract the ISO image to the client machine from which you want to deploy, upgrade,

migrate, or restore the appliance.

Note ISO mounting or extracting software that does not allow more than eight directory levels, for

example, MagicISO Maker on Windows, is unsupported.

For Linux OS and Mac OS, Archive Manager is unsupported.

For Mac OS, you can use DiskImageMounter.

For Ubuntu 14.04, you can use Disk Image Mounter.

For SUSE 12 OS, you can use the terminal.

$ sudo mkdir mount_dir

$ sudo mount -o loop VMware-vCSA-all-version_number-build_number.iso mount_dir

What to do next

Open the readme.txt file and review the information about the other files and directories in the vCenter Server Appliance ISO image.

Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network

Unsynchronized clocks can result in authentication problems, which can cause the installation to fail or prevent the vCenter Server Appliance vpxd service from starting.

Verify that any Windows host machine on which vCenter Server runs is synchronized with the Network Time Server (NTP) server. See the Knowledge Base article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1318.

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To synchronize ESXi clocks with an NTP server, you can use the VMware Host Client. For information about editing the time configuration of an ESXi host, see vSphere Single Host Management.

Transferring Data from an Existing vCenter Server Appliance

You can transfer data from an existing vCenter Server Appliance external database to the embedded PostgreSQL database in use by version 6.7 of the vCenter Server Appliance.

Both the Windows-based vCenter Server upgrade and vCenter Server Appliance migration procedures let you copy the minimum amount of data needed to be operational, minimizing downtime. You can then copy the remaining data from the external database to the embedded PostgreSQL database in the background, preserving your deployment's historical event and performance data.

You can migrate the following types of data from an external database to the embedded PostgreSQL database in use by version 6.7 of the vCenter Server Appliance.

Configuration data This is the minimum type of data you must transfer from your existing

vCenter Server Appliance external database to upgrade or migrate to a functioning vCenter Server Appliance. This data can be transferred in a reasonably short amount of time, minimizing downtime during the upgrade to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.

Configuration and historical data

In addition to the configuration data, you can choose to transfer historical data such as usage statistics, events, and tasks. The vCenter Server Appliance installer gives you the option to copy both the configuration and historical data at once, or to copy only the configuration data during the upgrade process. You can then choose to copy the historical data in the background after you start your new vCenter Server.

Attention If you choose to copy all data and once, you cannot start

vCenter Server until all of the data has been transferred to the embedded PostgreSQL database within vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.

Configuration, historical, and performance metrics data

This is the largest amount of data you can choose to transfer to vCenter Server Appliance. As with the configuration and historical data, you can choose to copy only the configuration data during the upgrade process, and then copy the historical and performance data in the background after the upgrade or migration to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 is complete.

You can transfer historical data after the upgrade or migration from the following vCenter Server versions and external databases to the embedded PostgreSQL database within vCenter Server Appliance.

Table 3‑6. vCenter Server database support for data transfer after upgrade or migration

vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 Support

vCenter Server Versions Databases

External Oracle database Supported

vCenter Server Appliance 6.0

Embedded PostgreSQL database Not supported

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Table 3‑6. vCenter Server database support for data transfer after upgrade or migration (Continued)

vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 Support

vCenter Server Versions Databases

for Data Transfer

vCenter Server for Windows 6.0

vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 Embedded PostgreSQL database Not supported

vCenter Server for Windows 6.5

External Oracle or MS SQL database Supported

Embedded PostgreSQL database Not supported

External Oracle or MS SQL database Supported

Embedded PostgreSQL database Not supported

Monitor and Manage Historical Data Migration

You can monitor and mange the background migration of historical data using the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface. You can perform the following data management tasks:

Monitor the progress of the data migration.

Pause the data import.

Cancel the data import.

Important If you cancel the data import, the historical data will not be imported to the embedded

PostgreSQL database. You cannot recover the data once you cancel the operation. If you do cancel the import, and wish to import the historical data at a later time, you must restart the upgrade or migration process from Stage 1 of the GUI installer.

See Monitor and Manage Historical Data Migration.

Prepare ESXi Hosts for vCenter Server Appliance Upgrade

Before upgrading to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7, you must prepare your ESXi hosts.

Prerequisites

To upgrade vCenter Server Appliance, your ESXi hosts must meet the requirements for upgrade.

ESXi hosts must be at version 6.0 or later. Read and follow all best practices when upgrading your hosts to ESXi 6.0 or later.

Your target host must be running ESXi 6.0 or later.

Your source and target ESXi hosts must not be in lockdown or maintenance mode, and not part of fully automated DRS clusters.

Procedure

1 To keep your current SSL certificates, back up the SSL certificates that are on the

vCenter Server Appliance system before you upgrade to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.

The default location of the SSL certificates is /etc/vmware/ssl.

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2 If you have Custom or Thumbprint certificates, see Host Upgrades and Certificates to determine your

preparatory steps.

3 If you have vSphere HA clusters, SSL certificate checking must be enabled.

If certificate checking is not enabled when you upgrade, vSphere HA fails to configure on the hosts.

a Select the vCenter Server Appliance instance in the inventory panel.

b Select the Manage tab and then the General tab.

c Verify that the SSL settings field is set to vCenter Server requires verified host SSL

certificates.

Your ESXi hosts are ready for vCenter Server Appliance upgrade.

Host Upgrades and Certiﬁcates

If you upgrade an ESXi host to ESXi 6.0 or later, the upgrade process replaces the self-signed (thumbprint) certificates with VMCA-signed certificates. If the ESXi host uses custom certificates, the upgrade process retains those certificates even if those certificates are expired or invalid.

If you decide not to upgrade your hosts to ESXi 6.0 or later, the hosts retain the certificates that they are currently using even if the host is managed by a vCenter Server system that uses VMCA certificates.

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The recommended upgrade workflow depends on the current certificates.

Host Provisioned with Thumbprint Certificates

Host Provisioned with Custom Certificates

Hosts Provisioned with Auto Deploy

If your host is currently using thumbprint certificates, it is automatically assigned VMCA certificates as part of the upgrade process.

Note You cannot provision legacy hosts with VMCA certificates. You must

upgrade those hosts to ESXi 6.0 later.

If your host is provisioned with custom certificates, usually third-party CAsigned certificates, those certificates remain in place during upgrade. Change the certificate mode to Custom to ensure that the certificates are not replaced accidentally during a certificate refresh later.

Note If your environment is in VMCA mode, and you refresh the

certificates from the vSphere Web Client, any existing certificates are replaced with certificates that are signed by VMCA.

Going forward, vCenter Server monitors the certificates and displays information, for example, about certificate expiration, in the vSphere Web Client.

Hosts that are being provisioned by Auto Deploy are always assigned new certificates when they are first booted with ESXi 6.0 or later software. When you upgrade a host that is provisioned by Auto Deploy, the Auto Deploy server generates a certificate signing request (CSR) for the host and submits it to VMCA. VMCA stores the signed certificate for the host. When the Auto Deploy server provisions the host, it retrieves the certificate from VMCA and includes it as part of the provisioning process.

You can use Auto Deploy with custom certificates.

Change the Certiﬁcate Mode

Use VMCA to provision the ESXi hosts in your environment unless corporate policy requires that you use custom certificates. To use custom certificates with a different root CA, you can edit the vCenter Server vpxd.certmgmt.mode advanced option. After the change, the hosts are no longer automatically provisioned with VMCA certificates when you refresh certificates. You are responsible for the certificate management in your environment.

You can use the vCenter Server advanced settings to change to thumbprint mode or to custom CA mode. Use thumbprint mode only as a fallback option.

Procedure

1 Select the vCenter Server that manages the hosts and click Configure.

2 Click Advanced Settings, and click Edit.

3 In the Filter box, enter certmgmt to display only certificate management keys.

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4 Change the value of vpxd.certmgmt.mode to custom if you intend to manage your own certificates,

and to thumbprint if you temporarily want to use thumbprint mode, and click OK.

5 Restart the vCenter Server service.

Determine the Oracle Database Size and the Storage Size for the New Appliance

Before upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance or migrating a vCenter Server on Windows that uses an external Oracle database, you must determine the size of the existing database. Based on the size of the existing database, you can calculate the minimum storage size for the new appliance so that the embedded PostgreSQL database can successfully assume the data from the old database with enough free disk space after the upgrade.

You run scripts to determine the Oracle core table size, the events and tasks table size, and the statistics table size. The Oracle core table corresponds to the database (/storage/db) partition of the PostgreSQL database. The Oracle events and tasks and statistics tables correspond to the statistics, events, alarms, and tasks (/storage/seat) partition of the PostgreSQL database.

During the upgrade of the appliance, you must select a storage size for the new appliance that is at least twice the size of the Oracle tables size.

During the upgrade of the appliance, you can select the types of data to transfer to the new appliance. For minimum upgrade time and storage requirement for the new appliance, you can select to transfer only the configuration data.

Prerequisites

You must have the vCenter Server database login credentials.

Procedure

1 Log in to a SQL*Plus session with the vCenter Server database user.

2 Determine the core table size by running the following script.

SELECT ROUND(SUM(s.bytes)/(1024*1024)) SIZE_MB

FROM user_segments s

WHERE (s.segment_name,s.segment_type)

IN (SELECT seg_name, seg_type FROM

(SELECT t.table_name seg_name, t.table_name tname,

'TABLE' seg_type

FROM user_tables t

UNION

SELECT i.index_name, i.table_name,

'INDEX'

FROM user_indexes i

) ti

WHERE (ti.tname LIKE 'VPX_%'

OR ti.tname LIKE 'CL_%'

OR ti.tname LIKE 'VDC_%')

AND ti.tname NOT LIKE 'VPX_SAMPLE_TIME%'

AND ti.tname NOT LIKE 'VPX_HIST_STAT%'

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AND ti.tname NOT LIKE 'VPX_TOPN%'

AND ti.tname NOT LIKE 'VPX_SDRS_STATS_VM%'

AND ti.tname NOT LIKE 'VPX_SDRS_STATS_DATASTORE%'

AND ti.tname NOT LIKE 'VPX_TASK%'

AND ti.tname NOT LIKE 'VPX_EVENT%'

AND ti.tname NOT LIKE 'VPX_PROPERTY_BULLETIN%');

The script returns the database storage size in MB.

3 Determine the events and tasks table size by running the following script.

SELECT ROUND(SUM(s.bytes)/(1024*1024)) SIZE_MB

FROM user_segments s

WHERE (s.segment_name,s.segment_type)

IN (SELECT seg_name, seg_type FROM

(SELECT t.table_name seg_name, t.table_name tname,

'TABLE' seg_type

FROM user_tables t

UNION

SELECT i.index_name, i.table_name,

'INDEX'

FROM user_indexes i

) ti

WHERE

ti.tname LIKE 'VPX_TASK%'

OR ti.tname LIKE 'VPX_EVENT%');

The script returns the events and tasks storage size in MB.

4 Determine the statistics table size by running the following script.

SELECT ROUND(SUM(s.bytes)/(1024*1024)) SIZE_MB

FROM user_segments s

WHERE (s.segment_name,s.segment_type)

IN (SELECT seg_name, seg_type FROM

(SELECT t.table_name seg_name, t.table_name tname,

'TABLE' seg_type

FROM user_tables t

UNION

SELECT i.index_name, i.table_name,

'INDEX'

FROM user_indexes i

) ti

WHERE

ti.tname LIKE 'VPX_SAMPLE_TIME%'

OR ti.tname LIKE 'VPX_TOPN%'

OR ti.tname LIKE 'VPX_TASK%'

OR ti.tname LIKE 'VPX_EVENT%'

OR ti.tname LIKE 'VPX_HIST_STAT%');

The script returns the statistics storage size in MB.

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5 Calculate the minimum storage size for the new appliance that you are going to deploy during the

upgrade.

a The size of the database (/storage/db) partition of the embedded PostgreSQL database must

be at least twice the size of the Oracle core table returned in Step 2.

b The size of the statistics, events, alarms, and tasks (/storage/seat) partition of the embedded

PostgreSQL database must be at least twice the sum of the sizes of the Oracle events and tasks and statistics tables returned in Step 3 and Step 4.

For example, if the Oracle core table is 100 MB, the events and tasks table is 1,000 MB, and the statistics table is 2,000 MB, then the Postgres /storage/db partition must be at least 200 MB and the /storage/seat partition must be at least 6,000 MB.

Download and Run VMware Migration Assistant on the Source Update Manager Machine

During the upgrade of a vCenter Server Appliance that uses an external Update Manager, the Migration Assistant must be running on the source Update Manager machine. This procedure describes how to download and run the Migration Assistant manually before the upgrade.

The Migration Assistant facilitates the migration of the Update Manager server and database to the new upgraded vCenter Server Appliance. The Migration Assistant uses port 9123 by default. If port 9123 is used by another service on your Update Manager machine, the Migration Assistant automatically finds a different free port to use.

Alternatively, if you plan to upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance by using the CLI installer, you can add the source.vum section section and run.migration.assistant subsection to your JSON template. For information about the CLI upgrade configuration parameters, see Upgrade Configuration Parameters.

Prerequisites

Download and Mount the vCenter Server Appliance Installer.

Procedure

1 From the vCenter Server Appliance installer package, copy the migration-assistant directory to

the source Update Manager machine.

2 From the migration-assistant directory, double-click VMware-Migration-Assistant.exe and

the provide the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator password.

3 Leave the Migration Assistant window open until the upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance

finishes.

When the pre-checks are finished and any errors are addressed, your source Update Manager system is ready for the upgrade.

Caution Closing the Migration Assistant window causes the upgrade process to stop.

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Prerequisites for Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller Appliance

To ensure successful upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance, you must preform some required tasks and pre-checks before running the upgrade.

General Prerequisites

Download and Mount the vCenter Server Appliance Installer.

Verify that the clocks of all machines on the vSphere network are synchronized. See Synchronizing

Clocks on the vSphere Network.

Target System Prerequisites

Verify that your system meets the minimum software and hardware requirements. See System

Requirements for the New vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance.

If you plan to deploy the new appliance on an ESXi host, verify that the target ESXi host is not in lockdown or maintenance mode.

If you plan to deploy the new appliance on an ESXi host, verify that the target ESXi host is not part of a fully automated DRS cluster.

If you plan to deploy the new appliance on a DRS cluster of the inventory of a vCenter Server instance, verify that the cluster contains at least one ESXi host that is not in lockdown or maintenance mode.

If you plan to deploy the new appliance on a DRS cluster of the inventory of a vCenter Server instance, verify that the cluster is not fully automated.

Source System Prerequisites

Ensure that DRS is set to manual for the cluster temporarily so that the VMs for the Source and Target do not get moved during the upgrade.

Verify that port 22 is open on the appliance that you want to upgrade. The upgrade process establishes an inbound SSH connection to download the exported data from source appliance.

If you are upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance that is configured with Update Manager, run the Migration Assistant on the source Update Manager machine.

For GUI upgrade, you must run the Migration Assistant manually. See Download and Run VMware

Migration Assistant on the Source Update Manager Machine.

For CLI upgrade, you can run the Migration assistant either manually or automatically. To run the Migration Assistant automatically, add the source.vum section section and run.migration.assistant subsection to your JSON template. See Upgrade Configuration

Parameters.

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Verify that port 443 is open on the source ESXi host on which the appliance that you want to upgrade resides. The upgrade process establishes an HTTPS connection to the source ESXi host to verify that the source appliance is ready for upgrade and to set up an SSH connection between the new and the existing appliance.

Verify that you have sufficient free disk space on the appliance that you want to upgrade so that you can accommodate the data for the upgrade.

Create a snapshot of the appliance you want to upgrade as a precaution in case of failure during the upgrade process. If you are upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller, take a snapshot of the Platform Services Controller appliance as well.

If you use an external database, determine the database size and the minimum storage size for the new appliance. See Determine the Oracle Database Size and the Storage Size for the New

Appliance.

If you use an external database, back up the vCenter Server Appliance database.

Network Prerequisites

Verify that the new appliance can connect to the source ESXi host or vCenter Server instance on which resides the appliance that you want to upgrade.

If you plan to assign a static IP address and an FQDN as a system name in the temporary network settings of the appliance, verify that you have configured the forward and reverse DNS records for the IP address.

If you plan to assign a DHCP IP address in the temporary network settings of the new appliance, verify that the ESXi host on which you want to deploy the new appliance is in the same network as the ESXi host on which the existing vCenter Server Appliance runs.

If you plan to assign a DHCP IPv4 address in the temporary network settings of the new appliance, verify that the ESXi host on which you want to deploy the new appliance is connected to at least one network that is associated with a port group which accepts MAC address changes. Consider the default security policy of a distributed virtual switch, which is to reject MAC address changes. For information about how to configure the security policy for a switch or port group, see vSphere Networking.

GUI Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

You can use the GUI installer to perform an interactive upgrade of a vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance.

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When you perform the GUI upgrade, you download the vCenter Server Appliance installer on a network client machine, run the upgrade wizard from the client machine, and provide the inputs that are required for the deployment and setup of the new upgraded appliance.

Important For topologies with external Platform Services Controller instances, you must upgrade the

The GUI upgrade process includes a series of two stages.

Figure 3‑2. Stage 1 - OVA Deployment

The first stage walks you through the deployment wizard to get the deployment type of the source appliance that you want to upgrade and configure the new appliance settings. During this stage, you deploy the new appliance with temporary network settings. This stage completes the deployment of the OVA file on the target server with the same deployment type as the source appliance and the appliance settings that you provide.

As an alternative to performing the first stage of the upgrade with the GUI installer, you can deploy the OVA file of the new vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller appliance by using the vSphere Web Client or VMware Host Client. To deploy the OVA file on an ESXi host or vCenter Server instance 6.0 or later, you can also use the vSphere Client. After the OVA deployment, you must log in to the appliance management interface of the newly deployed appliance to proceed with the second stage of the upgrade process.

Figure 3‑3. Stage 2 - Appliance Setup

The second stage walks you through the setup wizard to choose the data types to transfer from the old to the new appliance. The new appliance uses the temporary network settings until the data transfer finishes. After the data transfer finishes, the new appliance assumes the network settings of the old appliance. This stage completes the data transfer, starts the services of the new upgraded appliance, and powers off the old appliance.

As an alternative to performing the second stage of the upgrade with the GUI installer, you can log in to the Appliance Management Interface of the newly deployed appliance, https://FQDN_or_IP_address:

5480.

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Required Information for Upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance

6.0 or 6.5 or Platform Services Controller Appliance 6.0 or 6.5

The GUI upgrade wizard prompts you for information about the vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 or 6.5, or Platform Services Controller appliance 6.0 or 6.5 that you want to upgrade, deployment information for the new 6.7 appliance, and the types of data that you want to transfer from the old to the new appliance. It is a best practice to keep a record of the values that you entered.

You can use this worksheet to record the information that you need for upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 or 6.5 with an embedded Platform Services Controller, a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 or 6.5 with an external Platform Services Controller, or a Platform Services Controller appliance 6.0 or 6.5.

Table 3‑7. Required Information During Stage 1 of the Upgrade

Required for Upgrade of Required Information Default Your Entry

All deployment types FQDN or IP address of the source appliance that

you want to upgrade

HTTPS port of the source appliance 443

vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user name of the source appliance

Important The user must be

administrator@your_domain_name.

Password of the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user

Password of the root user of the source appliance -

All deployment types FQDN or IP address of the source server on which

resides that appliance that you want to upgrade

The source server can be either an ESXi host or a vCenter Server instance.

Note The source server cannot be the

vCenter Server Appliance that you want to upgrade. In such cases, use the source ESXi host.

HTTPS port of the source server 443

User name with administrative privileges on the source server

If your source server is an ESXi host, use root.

If your source server is a vCenter Server instance, use user_name@your_domain_name, for example, administrator@vsphere.local.

administrator@vsph ere.local

Password of the user with administrative privileges on the source server

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Table 3‑7. Required Information During Stage 1 of the Upgrade (Continued)

Required for Upgrade of Required Information Default Your Entry

All deployment types FQDN or IP address of the target server on which

you want to deploy the new appliance.

The target server can be either an ESXi host or a vCenter Server instance.

Note The target server cannot be the

vCenter Server Appliance that you want to upgrade. In such cases, use an ESXi host as a target server.

HTTPS port of the target server 443

User name with administrative privileges on the target server

If your target server is an ESXi host, use root.

If your target server is a vCenter Server instance, use user_name@your_domain_name, for example, administrator@vsphere.local.

Password of the user with administrative privileges on the target server

All deployment types

Only if your target server is a vCenter Server instance

Data center from the vCenter Server inventory on which you want to deploy the new appliance

Optionally you can provide a data center folder.

ESXi host or DRS cluster from the data center inventory on which you want to deploy the new appliance

All deployment types VM name for the new appliance

Must not contain a percent sign (%), backslash (\), or forward slash (/)

Must be no more than 80 characters in length

All deployment types Password for the root user of the appliance

operating system

Must contain only lower ASCII characters without spaces.

Must be at least 8 characters, but no more than 20 characters in length

Must contain at least one uppercase letter

Must contain at least one lowercase letter

Must contain at least one number

Must contain at least one special character, for example, a dollar sign ($), hash key (#), at sign (@), period (.), or exclamation mark (!)

VMware vCenter Server Appliance

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Table 3‑7. Required Information During Stage 1 of the Upgrade (Continued)

Required for Upgrade of Required Information Default Your Entry

vCenter Server Appliance

6.0 with an embedded Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server Appliance

6.0 with an external Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server Appliance

6.5 with an embedded Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server Appliance

6.5 with an external Platform Services Controller

Deployment size of the new vCenter Server Appliance for your vSphere environment

Tiny

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

Suitable for environments with up to 10 hosts or 100 virtual machines.

Small

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

Suitable for environments with up to 100 hosts or 1,000 virtual machines.

Medium

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

Tiny

Suitable for environments with up to 400 hosts or 4,000 virtual machines.

Large

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

Suitable for environments with up to 1,000 hosts or 10,000 virtual machines.

X-Large

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

Suitable for environments with up to 2,000 hosts or 35,000 virtual machines.

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Table 3‑7. Required Information During Stage 1 of the Upgrade (Continued)

Required for Upgrade of Required Information Default Your Entry

vCenter Server Appliance

6.0 with an external Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server Appliance

6.5 with an external Platform Services Controller

Storage size of the new vCenter Server Appliance for your vSphere environment

Note Consider the database size of the appliance

that you want to upgrade and the types of the data that you want transfer to the new appliance. For an external database, see Determine the Oracle

Database Size and the Storage Size for the New Appliance.

Default

For tiny deployment size, deploys the appliance with 250 GB of storage.

For small deployment size, deploys the appliance with 290 GB of storage.

For medium deployment size, deploys the appliance with 425 GB of storage.

Default

For large deployment size, deploys the appliance with 640 GB of storage.

For x-large deployment size, deploys the appliance with 980 GB of storage.

Large

For tiny deployment size, deploys the appliance with 775 GB of storage.

For small deployment size, deploys the appliance with 820 GB of storage.

For medium deployment size, deploys the appliance with 925 GB of storage.

For large deployment size, deploys the appliance with 990 GB of storage.

For x-large deployment size, deploys the appliance with 1030 GB of storage.

X-Large

For tiny deployment size, deploys the appliance with 1650 GB of storage.

For small deployment size, deploys the appliance with 1700 GB of storage.

For medium deployment size, deploys the appliance with 1805 GB of storage.

For large deployment size, deploys the appliance with 1870 GB of storage.

For x-large deployment size, deploys the appliance with 1910 GB of storage.

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Table 3‑7. Required Information During Stage 1 of the Upgrade (Continued)

Required for Upgrade of Required Information Default Your Entry

All deployment types Name of the datastore on which you want to store

the configuration files and virtual disks of the new appliance

Note The installer displays a list of datastores

that are accessible from your target server.

Enable or disable Thin Disk Mode Disabled

All deployment types Name of the network to which to connect the new

appliance

Note The installer displays a drop-down menu

with networks that depend on the network settings of your target server. If you are deploying the appliance directly on an ESXi host, non-ephemeral distributed virtual port groups are not supported and are not displayed in the drop-down menu.

The network must be accessible from the source server on which resides that appliance that you want to upgrade.

The network must be accessible from the client machine from which you perform the deployment.

IP version for the appliance temporary address

Can be either IPv4 or IPv6.

IPv4

All deployment types

Only if you use a static assignment for the temporary IP address

All deployment types

Only if you use a DHCP assignment with IPv4 version for the temporary IP address and a DDNS server is available in your environment.

IP assignment for the appliance temporary address

Can be either static or DHCP.

Temporary system name (FQDN or IP address)

The system name is used for managing the local system. The system name must be FQDN. If a DNS server is not available, provide a static IP address.

Temporary IP address -

For IPv4 version, a subnet mask as a dot decimal notation or a network prefix as an integer between 0 and 32

For IPv6 version, a network prefix as an integer between 0 and 128

Default gateway -

DNS servers separated by commas -

Temporary system name (FQDN) -

static

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Table 3‑8. Required Information During Stage 2 of the Upgrade

Required for Required Information Default Your Entry

vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 with an embedded or external Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 with an embedded or external Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 with an embedded Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller 6.0 appliance

vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 with an embedded Platform Services Controller

Platform Services Controller 6.5 appliance

Data types to transfer from the old appliance to the new appliance

In addition to the configuration data, you can transfer the events, tasks, and, performance metrics.

Note For minimum upgrade time and

storage requirement for the new appliance, select to transfer only the configuration data.

Join or do not participate in the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).

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

Join the CEIP

Upgrade a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 or 6.5 with an Embedded vCenter Single Sign-On or Platform Services Controller by Using the GUI

You can use the GUI installer to perform an interactive upgrade of a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 or 6.5 that uses an embedded vCenter Single Sign-On or Platform Services Controller to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 with an embedded Platform Services Controller. You must run the GUI upgrade from a Windows, Linux, or Mac machine that is in the same network as the appliance that you want to upgrade.

You can deploy version 6.7of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller appliance on hosts that are running ESXi 6.0 or later and on vCenter Server instances 6.0 or later.

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Start the upgrade

End of the upgrade

Stage 1 - Deploy the OVA file of

the new vCenter Server Appliance

with an embedded Platform

Services Controller

Stage 2 - Transfer the data and set

up the newly deployed vCenter

Server Appliance with an embedded

Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server Upgrade

Figure 3‑4. Upgrade Workﬂow of a vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded Platform Services Controller

Prerequisites

See Prerequisites for Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller

Appliance.

See Required Information for Upgrading a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 or 6.5 or Platform Services

Controller Appliance 6.0 or 6.5.

Procedure

1 Stage 1 - Deploy the OVA File of the New vCenter Server Appliance With an Embedded Platform

Services Controller

With stage 1 of the upgrade process, you deploy the OVA file, which is included in the vCenter Server Appliance installer, for the new vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller.

2 Stage 2 - Transfer the Data and Set up the Newly Deployed vCenter Server Appliance With an

Embedded Platform Services Controller

When the OVA deployment finishes, you are redirected to stage 2 of the upgrade process to transfer the data from the old appliance and start the services of the newly deployed vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 with an embedded Platform Services Controller.

Stage 1 - Deploy the OVA File of the New vCenter Server Appliance With an Embedded Platform Services Controller

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Procedure

1 In the vCenter Server Appliance installer, navigate to the vcsa-ui-installer directory, go to the

subdirectory for your operating system, and run the installer executable file.

For Windows OS, go to the win32 subdirectory, and run the installer.exe file.

For Linux OS, go to the lin64 subdirectory, and run the installer file.

For Mac OS, go to the mac subdirectory, and run the Installer.app file.

2 On the Home page, click Upgrade.

3 Review the Introduction page to understand the upgrade process and click Next.

4 Read and accept the license agreement, and click Next.

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VMware vCenter Server - 6.7 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

About vCenter Server Upgrade 1

Overview of the vSphere Upgrade Process

Overview of the vCenter Server Upgrade Process

vCenter Server Upgrade Compatibility

Upgrade or Migration Order and Mixed-Version Transitional Behavior for Multiple vCenter Server Instance Deployments

Upgrading or Migrating to vSphere License Service

Support for Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2

Support for Transport Security Layer 1.2

Deployment Topologies with External Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability

Moving from a Deprecated to a Supported vCenter Server Deployment Topology Before Upgrade or Migration

Example Upgrade Paths from vCenter Server version 6.x to version 6.7

Example Migration Paths from vCenter Server for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7

About the vCenter Server for Windows Upgrade Process

vCenter Server for Windows Requirements

Pre-Upgrade Checks for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

Hardware Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

Storage Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

Software Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

Database Requirements for vCenter Server on Windows

Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller

DNS Requirements for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller on Windows

vSphere Web Client Software Requirements

Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Verify Basic Compatibility Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Download the vCenter Server Installer for Windows

Preparing a vCenter Server Database for Upgrade

Prepare an Oracle Database for Upgrading vCenter Server

Prepare Microsoft SQL Server Database Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Use a Script to Create and Apply a Microsoft SQL Server Database Schema and Roles

Prepare PostgreSQL Database Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Database Permission Requirements for vCenter Server

Verify That vCenter Server Can Communicate with the Local Database

Preparing for Upgrading the Content Library

Verify Network Prerequisites Before Upgrading

Verify Load Balancer Before Upgrading vCenter Server

Prepare ESXi Hosts for vCenter Server Upgrade

Verify Preparations Are Complete for Upgrading vCenter Server

Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network

Synchronize ESXi Clocks with a Network Time Server

Downtime During the vCenter Server Upgrade

Using a User Account for Running vCenter Server

Required Information for Upgrading vCenter Server on Windows

Upgrading vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows

Upgrade a vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 Installation with an Embedded Platform Services Controller

Upgrade vCenter Platform Services Controller 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows

Upgrade vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 on Windows

About the Upgrade Process of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

System Requirements for the New vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

Hardware Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

Storage Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

Software Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

Required Ports for vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller

DNS Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

vSphere Web Client Software Requirements

Preparing to Upgrade the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

System Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

Download and Mount the vCenter Server Appliance Installer

Synchronizing Clocks on the vSphere Network

Transferring Data from an Existing vCenter Server Appliance

Prepare ESXi Hosts for vCenter Server Appliance Upgrade

2 If you have Custom or Thumbprint certificates, see Host Upgrades and Certificates to determine your

Determine the Oracle Database Size and the Storage Size for the New Appliance

Download and Run VMware Migration Assistant on the Source Update Manager Machine

Prerequisites for Upgrading the vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller Appliance

GUI Upgrade of the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller Appliance

Upgrade a vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 or 6.5 with an Embedded vCenter Single Sign-On or Platform Services Controller by Using the GUI

Stage 1 - Deploy the OVA File of the New vCenter Server Appliance With an Embedded Platform Services Controller