Multiple vcsa 6.7 to 7.x upgrades...which one first, best way to rename them?

[BHagenSPI]

We have 2 vcsa 6.7 instances: Production and DR.

They run on separate stacks of equivalent hardware; namely, 6x esxi 6.7 hosts in each site.

Each cluster is vsan enabled; each vcsa is a vm on their respective vsan.

The vcsa's used to be v6.0, and had external PCS. I migrated each to 6.7, with no external PCS.

All hosts are capable of being upgraded to the latest 7.x esxi version.

We mainly log into the prod vcsa, and we can see both the prod and dr vcsas in the UI.

So, my questions are:

1. Does it matter which vcsa I upgrade first?

2. I want the upgraded vcsa to be named the same as the current one. Do I rename the current one first, and name the new one correctly during install? I can't really tell from the documentation.

Thanks!

[Lalegre]

Hey BHagenSPI​,

The order of upgrade does not really matter as soon as you start upgrading the second one inmediately after you finished the first one. Regarding with the re-name I am not 100% sure what you mean here as you upgraded the same one that you are currently using so I assume the FQDN did not change during the upgrade unless your "upgrade" means you re-installed the vCenter using Embedded topology.

Could you please confirm this last?

[BHagenSPI]

Since you can't "upgrade" from 6.7 to 7.x, the installer creates a new vcsa altogether and we have to name it something. I'd like to have the new vcsa be named what the current one is named, so people don't have to re-do their shortcuts, scripts, etc...

[BHagenSPI]

It turns out that the answer to "best way to rename" is: don't sweat it!

Just give the "new" vcsa (the one being created) a random name, and set it to a random (un-used) IP in the same subnet as the current vcsa.

After step 2 of the upgrade, the original vcsa will shut down, all the innards will be sucked out of it and implanted into the new one, and the new one will spin up with all the same settings as the now old and lifeless vcsa...same MAC, IP, networking, name, etc.

I haven't found an official answer yet to "which one first", but I'm leaning toward what Lalegre​ said...that it doesn't really matter which one.  But I'll update that if I find an "official" answer.

[Lalegre]

Well, actually that is the upgrade process that they changed when introduced vSphere 6.5 as if I remember well, and now I understand that by rename you mean the virtual machine because the temporary IP that you use for your temporary VCSA will be replaced with the original one after all the information migration.

It is okay if you want to wait for a VMware employee but I almost sure that they will say the same. If it is an only vCenter Server without any other service in it you can do whichever order you want, of course if one of your vCenter holds a DR site, I suggest you to start with that site first which has less demand.