VMware Cloud Community
billdossett
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

VAMI Upgrade

Hi,

 

I am upgrading vcenter appliance 6.7 with ext PSC U1 to U3 latest.  I was going to use the VAMI to do this (in steps - I know I can't do this upgrade direct from u1 to u3).... when you use the VAMI does it create the new PSC and vcenter and copy all the data over to it... like when you run an upgrade from the installer?  or is it upgrading the actual appliance in place.  Just asking as I have issues with the current appliance and consolidation of disks that will not complete... so if its just going to create a new vcenter and then copy the database and all data over to it... I don't need to worry about the current state of the VCSA... hopefully, thanks.

Bill

 

Bill Dossett
Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
Ank_S
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Hello @billdossett 

 

Using the VAMI , it will be an in-place upgrade (existing appliance update) only and no new appliance will be deployed.

New appliance will be deployed in case you are performing a major upgrade i.e. upgrading from 6.7 to 7.0

May i know what sort of issues you have with the existing PSC or VC ??

View solution in original post

5 Replies
Ank_S
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Hello @billdossett 

 

Using the VAMI , it will be an in-place upgrade (existing appliance update) only and no new appliance will be deployed.

New appliance will be deployed in case you are performing a major upgrade i.e. upgrading from 6.7 to 7.0

May i know what sort of issues you have with the existing PSC or VC ??

billdossett
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

it says the vcsa is in need of consolidation - however I am unable to consolidate it as it says file is locked.  In the log it says the first disk file vmdk is locked.  There are two locks on the file, one owned by the esxi host it is running on, which is normal and another by a random esxi host.  I have evacuated the random esxi host and put to maint mode and rebooted, but still the second lock persists after the reboot or it move so another host - I have spent over two days solid trying to remove the locks and am still unable to consolidate.

I have also tried cloning the vcsa as that normally works to consolidate disks, however, when I do that, none of the services start on the new vcsa.  I found a doc saying that the vmmon service may be masked, and it is and I have unmasked it and then a few services, pgsql, and about 4 others start, but the rest of them do not come online and I have to go back to the original vcsa...

So at this point I am unable to upgrade as I do not want to do an in place upgrade of a vcsa that needs to be consolidated.  At this point about all I can think to do is do a backup from vami and restore to get rid of the consolidation problem.

Bill Dossett
Reply
0 Kudos
Ank_S
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Hello @billdossett 


I would agree with your point to backup from vami and restore to get rid of the consolidation problem.

 

However there are 2 more things you can consider :


1) Reboot :

    a) Power-off the VC and the external PSC.
    b) Reboot both the ESXI hosts.
    c) Try the consolidation while the appliances are in powered-off state.


2) Upgrade to VCSA 7.0

    a) This will deploy a new VCSA VM with embedded PSC.
    b) Data will be copied/migrated to the new VCSA.
    c) Once completed, you can delete the old vCenter/PSC.

billdossett
Hot Shot
Hot Shot
Jump to solution

thanks, I finally figured out where the locks were coming from and why they were moving from one host to another... our wonderful NetVault backup system had run a job to back them up and still had locks on the 3 of the disks 😞  just love that backup solution.  A source of constant joy.  The jobs had been deleted on it as well and still it had the disks attached to the proxy vm.  And thats why it move from host to host as I migrated the vms off the host that showed it was holding the locks and the lock then moved to the host that the vm had been migrated to... so consolidation finally completed. 

Your suggestions are appreciated anyway, that was my thinking on both of them, however I don't think we have a license for 7 and also we have some other things that are probably not compatible with 7... like that gem of a program NetVault backup for one!  

It all turned out ok in the end anyway, thanks!

Bill Dossett
Reply
0 Kudos
Ank_S
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Glad to hear issue is sorted.