Cannot upgrade to vSphere Applicance 6.0 - can't log into 5.5 appliance to correct certificates.

[OVMorat]

Help!

I'm trying to upgrade from 5.5 to 6

I've installed the Client integration plugin and I've started running the upgrade but I'm stuck at

4. Connect to Source Appliance because I get the error:

vCenterServer FQDN leeloo.castlehoward.local does not match DNS servers

I have checked my DNS setup and it looks fine (forward and reverse pointers are in place, IPs resolve) so I'm checking out this link

VMware KB: Upgrading from vCenter Server Appliance 5.x to 6.0 reports error: vCenterServer FQDN does...

which deals with an issue with the default certificates.

However, I can't log into the web interface of my source vSphere Appliance. It just won't accept my credentials, and I'm sure they're right because there are only two sets of credentials on the machine:

Root- which I use all the time

and

administrator@vsphere.local - and I know what this one is because I just altered it to make the previous part of the upgrade complete

I can only see these two accounts listed in Administration\Access Control\Roles for the vSphere Appliance.

So now I'm stuck! Does anyone have any ideas before I open a support request (and probably make myself look even more stupid!)

[jpsider]

‌wwhich version of 6.0?

[OVMorat]

Good Question, sorry!

The new version is:

VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.0.0.20000-3634791 according to version.txt

The older vSphere appliance is Version 5.5.0 Build 1369380

[jpsider]

Hmmmm, well I know the password may not have expired but maybe this can help you get in?

How to recover VCSA 5.5 from an expired administrator account? | virtuallyGhetto

[OVMorat]

Actually I did have to do something similar to that about a month after I first installed 5.5 and the password _did_ expire Those credentials work for the vSphere web client.

It's weird, I've got two accounts and they both work via ssh and vsphere web client. I can manage my vmware installation just fine, but I can't log into the web interface for the appliance.

It's as if there's a different set of credentials for that interface that isn't used elsewhere.

[gajuambi]

My apologies in advance but i am not trying to be condescending but whenever you are upgrading anything in VMware please make sure to take a snapshot of that entity ( in this case vcsa 5.x) before you start the upgrade. In the worst case scenario here I suggest 2 options

1. restore from a working backup of this vcsa 5.x, take snapshot and retry the upgrade

2. install a new vcsa 6.x and add your hosts to the new vcsa 6.x ( i know this is a bit painful if you have a lot of clusters and hosts to add but this is the last option)