Upgrade VCenter 'Appliance' without Flash

[fksdfgjkfgdjhdf]

Hi all.

I have been running a standalone host with a VSphere 'appliance' for about, I don't know .. five years.   This is running ESXi 5.5, and I have not done much to upgrade it.  

Now that Flash is on the way out, I find that I cannot connect at all, using any browser.  This is a problem if I want to start up a VM for example, as all of the disks (except /boot) on all of the VMs are encrypted and need a password at boot.  For the moment, everything is running, but if there is a power cut, I'm in trouble.  

I can ssh both to the host and to the appliance. 

I can also get to the management page, but I'm not sure that it allows upgrade other than to 5.5.

Basically, what I need to ask you fine people, is how I can upgrade my appliance to HTML 5.5 version, when I do not currently have any access to the GUI?   

Also, I think I will need a licence key.  I already had one, for the original install, but I don't recall paying for it.  I certainly didn't pirate it, but can you tell me how I can get a new one? 

Thank you all.  

[scott28tt]

@fksdfgjkfgdjhdf 

Moderator: Moved to vSphere Upgrade & Install Discussions

[e_espinel]

Hello.
Attached are details you should consider

The End of General support

VMware vSphere 6.0 March 12,2020

VMware vSphere 6.5 November 15,2021

VMware vSphere 6.7 October 15,2022

About the access in version 5.5 you have the old VMware vSphere client attached link, verify the number of the build you have installed.
http://www.vmwarearena.com/download-link-for-all-versions-of-vmware-vsphere-client/

Another option is the ESXi Embedded Host Client link
https://flings.vmware.com/esxi-embedded-host-client

On my clients with older versions of VMware vSphere 5.X or 6.X I recommend that you use the following browser only for VMware administration. For other tasks a different browser.

Waterfor Classic 2020.12 (based on firefox ESR 56) and AdobeFlash 29.0.0.113

When you acquired version 5.5 you had to register in VMware with a user and password to obtain the license key. If you do not have the respective user and password but you have the purchase invoice or the license document that VMware sent you, you should contact VMware support and present your case. to regain access to your account.

The web is

https://my.vmware.com

As an S&S (Support and Subscription) contract is included with the VMware license that lasts one or three years, it may be that you are entitled to the license update to version 6.

[Ajay1988 · Accepted solution]

There is no HTML version for 5.5 . Its ancient already and not supported. Please upgrade to 6.7 ( 5.5 > 6.5  > 6.7)  version. For licensing ; better to connect with VMware licensing team  . (https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/81665)

[larstr]

fksdfgjkfgdjhd,

5.5 is very old and out of support, but the .Net client should work fine.

html5 support is included in 6.5 and newer.

Lars

[ChasPro]

I was reading through the upgrade manuals through this whole upgrade path, and it struck me that the original v6.5 upgrade documentation said it was still dependent on Flash ... but then I think along the way, at least by v6.5U3, the non-Flash UI had matured and been added to v6.5.

Or maybe it was the first version of 6.7 that didn't have it and U3 there had it?

Is this correct?

[fksdfgjkfgdjhdf]

I have no idea, but the notification for this thread has reminded me of how dangerous the situation in which I find myself, currently is. 

Right now, all is good as all of the VMs are running, but if there is a power cut or something, I am absolutely .. well, insert whichever expletive you like. 

Can encrypted Linux guest disks be unencrypted on the command line?  If the answer is yes, then I'm good.  If the answer is no, then is there anyone out there willing to get into a Zoom session with me or whatever, and help me to fix this?  

[fksdfgjkfgdjhdf]

Thank you for this.  I have managed to get the embedded host working, and can see my VMs.  Can't thank you enough!

Obviously, no remote console available there, so when I go down the page, I see.. 

'Installation of the VMRC VIBs is optional and intended to facilitate downloading VMRC in situations where access to VMware.com is not possible. The VIBs are installed into the /locker partition of your host's locally attached disk. This partition has limited space, and so care should be taken to ensure that sufficient space is available. Each VIB is roughly 20 MB in size'

Unfortunately, the files are 10 bytes, and there is no way I can see, to install them. 

Can you help?

Thank you. 

[ChasPro]

@fksdfgjkfgdjhdf , I don't want to leave you hanging ... but I'm not far enough along to help further at this point.   I would say that I don't know what a VMRC VIB is ... but my plan is to use the downloaded ISO images for the GUI installer to upgrade or possibly side-install the new vCenter Appliance (v6.5U?), then upgrade ESXi again using a bootable ISO CD, then repeat for vCenter Appliance (v6.7U?), then upgrade ESXi again.  I have a small testbed configuration, so if I can't get the upgrade scripts to work, I may just side-install a new appliance and attach to the 3 ESXi hosts from there.  Possibly some configuration steps to perform that the upgrade script may have automated, but hopefully not a lot to do for a simple setup.

I believe the ISO appliance upgrade/installer can be opened directly from any (Windows 10 in my case) client that can see your target host machine, and then execute on that platform to push the appliance onto that target host.  I also have an old Windows 7 machine that still supports Flash in IE, and on that machine I had previously installed the vSphere Client software v5.5 ... so I may have more avenues available to do some things than a person who is without any of these mechanisms at their disposal.

I'm also working through some "DNS dependency" questions over here ...

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/vSphere-Upgrade-Install/Upgrade-vCenter-Appliance-from-5-5-to-6-5-...

I will reply back when I've completed with any pointers.

[fksdfgjkfgdjhdf]

Thank you all.  I have managed to get the 'embedded' client working, and I can at least see my VMs again.  The remote console (VMRC on Mac) doesn't work, throwing an SSL error.  Extensive googling told me that this was due to a timezone issue, so I set my Mac timezone to UTC (I am in London UK and the ESXi host is set to UTC).  This worked, and I could launch the remote console, but it stopped working after a day. 

My wife has managed to get the Windows client working on her Windows laptop, so in that respect, all is good should there be an emergency. 

The longterm solution, of course, is to upgrade VSphere but I have mislaid the link for the upgrade ISO.  Never mind, I'll find it again. 

Again, thanks for all of your help.