Upgrade vCenter v6.5 to v6.7 with external PSC

Currently, we have deployed a vSphere environment with one vCenter Server appliance v6.5 with external PSC and 3 ESXi 6.5 hosts. VMware has released the latest upgrade for vSphere platform on April 2018. So let’s upgrade our environment to the version 6.7 as well.

In this post we will discuss about the method of upgrading vCenter server and we will upgrade ESXi hosts later in a separate post. You should always upgrade vCenter server before upgrading ESXi hosts as vCenter cannot manage hosts which are higher in version.

Major version upgrades to vCenter appliance can be consider as a migration as well. Since we have to deploy new VCSA and migrate configurations and historical data to the new appliance.

Upgrading VCSA and PSC appliances include 2 steps. During the 1st step we deploy a new appliance VM and then we configure the new appliance in 2nd step.

Since our Platform Service Controller has deployed separately we will first upgrade the PSC and then upgrade the vCenter Server. If your environment has a vCenter with embedded PSC, you can follow the same procedure to upgrade the vCenter.

Before upgrade process I would recommend you to snapshot both vCenter and external PSC so you have a restore point to revert back if anything goes wrong with the process.

Upgrade Platform Service Controller

First we need to download the vCenter Server appliance setup from the my.vmware.com and mount the ISO.

From the mount point launch the appliance installer and then select upgrade.

Read through the introduction and click next to continue.

Read through the EULA and accept the license agreement, then click on next.

Enter the FQDN or the IP address of the source PSC. Click on connect to source.

After connecting to the source appliance complete necessary information, then click next to continue.

You will be get a prompt with certificate warning. Observe the thumbprint to confirm the source and click yes to accept the certificate.

In this window we need to provide a target host to deploy the new appliance. Provide necessary details and click next to continue.

Accept the certificate warning to continue.

Provide a name and a appliance OS password.

Select a datastore for new appliance to be deployed. If you need the thin disk mode to be enabled check on the checkbox. Then click next to continue.

From this windows you need to provide the network and temporary IP for appliance connectivity. If you want to deploy the appliance on a distributed switch you need to have an ephemeral port binding on the portgroup.

If you don’t have one you need to create one in advance. Click next to continue.

Review the configuration and click on finish to start the appliance deployment.

Appliance deployment will take few minutes.

After appliance deployment completes click continue to begin stage 2 of the deployment.

Read through the introduction and click next to continue.

Provide necessary details to connect to the source PSC. Then click next to continue.

The installer will run a pre upgrade checklist. After checking is completed review message for any incompatibilities with the upgrade and correct them if there are any. If there aren’t any issues you can continue the upgrade.

Check the checkbox if you wish to join VMware’s CEIP and click next to continue.

Review the configuration and then tick the checkbox to confirm that you have backed up the existing PSC. Click finish to start the appliance setup.

You will prompt a warning stating that the existing PSC will power off. Accept the warning to continue.

This will take few minutes and you can review the progress from the installer itself.

After setup has completed click the close button to exit the installer.

After upgrading the PSC, now we can proceed to upgrade the vCenter server appliance.

Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance

Launch another appliance installer wizard and click on upgrade to continue.

You can repeat the same steps as before to deploy the vCenter Server Appliance.

When selecting the appliance deployment size make sure you choose a size to match the current environment.

After completing configuration review it before click finish to start the appliance deployment.

Wait few minutes until appliance deployment completes and click continue to begin the stage 2 of the upgrade process.

Read through the introduction and click next to continue.

Provide necessary details to connect to the source vCenter. Then click next to continue, you will see pre upgrade checklist running same as during the PSC upgrade.

After precheck completes you will be prompt to select available data migration options. Pick one most suitable for you and click next to continue.

Review the configuration and then tick the checkbox to confirm that you have backed up the existing vCenter Server. Click finish to start the appliance setup.