Update ESX 7.0 P05 to P08

[TTT196]

Hello all,

I was planning to update the vCenter from 7.0.3.00800 to 7.0.3.01800.

But I wonder I should do the update of the ESXi at the same time or not?

Since the Pre-check of the update on the vCenter shows that it took 300+ minutes downtime, it is quite unexpectedly long. And I wonder if I have three hosts of ESXi, it could be painful.

Regards,

Timothy

[markey165 · Accepted solution]

@TTT196 - As long as vCenter is always the same version or higher than the ESXi hosts being managed, you can upgrade the ESXi hosts whenever you like really. VMware's guidance on this can be found here:

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/88265

You can almost certainly ignore the ETA for vCenter patching. I've performed numerous patch cycles on vCenter 7, and see similar estimates, yet in reality it never takes more than 35-45 minutes. If its the first time you've patched it though, you may want to plan for worse case scenario just in case, so run the upgrade outside production hours, to be on the safe side. 

HTH 😊

[TTT196]

It's a great help!

And true that I will need to go through the change management but if it takes 6 hours, it could be another story.

Here it brings me another question, I know there is an option to update the vCenter, according to your experience, 35-45 minutes is quite standard. Do you install the update by pre-load the iso file, attach to the vCenter appliance and then update from there? 

thanks again.

Cheers,

Tim

[markey165]

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Do you install the update by pre-load the iso file, attach to the vCenter appliance and then update from there? 

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That depends on whether or not your vCenter has Internet access, or at least sufficient access to connect to VMware and download the patches. Provided it has outbound access, you can simply use the VAMI → Update feature to patch vCenter. No messing about with ISOs required. See this KB which outlines the process https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/84322

I would also recommend you stage the patch a day or two before the actual upgrade, and run the pre-update Healthcheck reports. Also make absolutely sure your vCenter backups are working. Then on the day, power off vCenter, take a snapshot via the ESXi host, then power vCenter back on, wait for all services to restart, then log into the VAMI and install the update.

Note: if you are running multiple vCenters in Enhanced Linked Mode, VMware advises that ALL vcenters should be powered off and a snapshot taken of all vCenters whilst powered off, before any are patched. The snapshot only takes a few seconds so total downtime for all vCenters should  only be about 10 mins, and allows all vCenters in an ELM configuration to be rolled back in sync in the event a rollback is required.

HTH