Sunday 4 December 2016

VMware VCSA 6 to VCSA 6.5 Upgrade Guide

VMware recently announced the GA - general available of vSphere 6.5 and I have been meaning to upgrade my homelab management cluster vCenter - VCSA 6 to 6.5 since then. Finally got the change request approval from my missus. :)

If you would like to read more on the GA announcement check out the link below.

VMware has done a great job with VCSA installer and making it easier to install even from my Linux Mint laptop or Apple macOS if you have one. The process is similar to fresh install and it is pretty straight forward with two stages of installation. The first stage is to deploy new VCSA on the network with temporary IP address in the same subnet as the existing VCSA. The second stage copy the data from old VCSA to newly deployed VCSA 6.5.

Stage 1 of the deployment


    1. Download VCSA 6.5 ISO file from VMware from the link below. https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=VC650&productId=614&rPId=13348
      If you are deploying it in production or test/dev environment at your work, it is worth checking VMware Interoperability Matrix before any upgrade.

    1. Mount the ISO (I use Linux Mint on my laptop) and run the installer file from 'vcsa-ui-installer/lin64' folder or type "./installer" from the terminal.

lin64 Help File Edit View Go Bookmarks Back Location: 'media/mOmO/CDROM,'Vcsa-ui-installer/lin64 Name resources content_shell.pak icudtl.dat Installer libffmpegso libnodeso LICENSE o LICENSES chromium.... v Size 54 items 3 items 9.9 MB 10.1 MB 67.6 MB 2.6 MB 21.1 MB 1.1kB 2.0kB Type folder folder PAK archive program executa ble shared library shared library Date Modified sat 05 Nov 2016 AEDT sat 05 Nov 2016 AEDT Tue 11 oct2016 AEDT Tue 11 oct2016 AEDT Tue 11 oct2016 AEDT Tue 11 oct2016 AEDT Tue 11 oct2016 AEDT plaintextdocument Tue 11 HTML document Tue 11 oct2016 AEDT

    1. Start the upgrade by clicking Upgrade button and follow the upgrade wizard.

vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer vm vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 Installer Install @ English Install a new vCenter Server Appliance or Platform Services Controller Appliance Upgrade upgra an existing vCenter Server Appliance Migrate Migrate from an existing vCenter Server for Windows to a vCenter Server Appliance Restore Restore from a previously created vCenter Server Appliance backup


vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy appliance Introduction 1 Introduction This installer allows to upgrade vCenter Server Appliance (5.5 or 6.0), or Platform Sewices Controller 2 End user license agreement 3 Connect to source appliance 4 Appliance deployment target 5 Set up target appliance VM 6 Select deployment size 7 Select datastore 8 Configure network settings 9 Ready to complete stage 1 Appliance 6.0 to version 6.5. Stage 1 Deploy appliance upgrade source appliance upgrading the appliance is a stage process. The first stage involves deploying a new appliance to the target vCenter server or ESXi host. The second stage completes the upgrade process by copying data from the source appliance to the deployed appliance. Make sure you have backed up all data on the source appliance before starting with the upgrade process. Click Next, to proceed with stage 1. sack Nex• Cancel

    1. Accept the license agreement and Next.
       
vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy appliance 1 Introduction 2 End user license agreement 3 Connect to source appliance 4 Appliance deployment target 5 Set up target appliance VM 6 Select deployment size 7 Select datastore 8 Configure network settings 9 Ready to complete stage 1 End user license agreement Read and accept the following license agreement. VMWARE END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT PLEASE NOTE THAT THE TERMS OF THIS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT SHALL GOVERN YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF ANY TERMS THAT MAY APPEAR DURING THE INSTALLATION OF THE SOFTWARE. IMPORTANT-READ CAREFULLY: ay DOWNLOADING. INSTALLING, OR USING THE SOFTWARE. YOU (THE INDIVIDUAL OR LEGAL ENTITY) AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT CECJLA')_ IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS EULA. YOU MUST NOT DOWNLOAD. INSTALL, OR USE THE SOFTWARE, AND YOU MUST DELETE OR RETURN THE UNUSED SOFMARE TO THE VENDOR FROM WHICH YOU ACQUIRED IT WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS AND REQUEST A REFUND OF THE LICENSE FEE, IF ANY, THAT YOU PAID FOR THE SOFnVARE. EVALUATION LICENSE. If You are licensing the Software for evaluation purposes, Your use ot the Software is only permitted in a non-production environment and for the period limited by the License Key. Notwithstanding any other provision in this EULA. an Evaluation License of the Software is provided "AS-IS" without indemnification. support or warranty of any kind, expressed or implied. 1. DEFINITIONS. I accept the terms of the license agreement. Next Cancel

    1. Enter the FQDN/IP and account details of your existing VCSA and ESXi host.
       
vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy appliance 1 Introduction 2 End user license agreement 3 Connect to source appliance 4 Appliance deployment target 5 Set up target appliance VM 6 Select deployment size 7 Select datastore 8 Configure network settings 9 Ready to complete stage 1 Source appliance Appliance FQDN or IP address Appliance HTTPS port SSO user name SSO password Appliance (OS) root password bc-vcsa.ad.burmesecloud.com administrator@vsphere.local ESXi host or vCenter Server that manages the source appliance ESXi host or vCenter Server HTTPS port user name Password bc-esx2.ad. burmesecloud com root Back Next O) O) O) Cancel

    1. Accept the security certificate warning if you trust it.

Installer Upgrade Stage vCenter Server Appliance Installer Deploy applianc Certificate Warning If an untrusted SSI_ certificate is installed on bc-vcsa.ad.burmesecloud.com or bc-esx2.ad.burmesecloud.com. secure communication cannot be guaranteed. Depending on your security policy, this issue might not represent a security concem. The SHAI thumbprints of the certificates are: To accept and continue, click Yes

    1. Enter ESXi host details to run new VCSA on it.
Installer 1 Introduction 2 End user license agreement 3 Connect to source appliance 4 Appliance deployment target 5 Set up target appliance VM 6 Select deployment size 7 Select datastore 8 Configure network settings 9 Ready to complete stage 1 vCenter Server Appliance Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Contr. Appliance deployment target Specify the appliance deployment target settings. The target is the ESXi host or vCenter Server instance on v,nch the appliance will be deployed. ESXi host or vCenter Server name HTTPS port user name Password bc-esx2.ad. burmesecloud com root Next O) O) Cancel

    1. Enter the VM name of new VCSA which must be unique from the existing one if hosting in the same cluster.

Installer 1 Introduction vCenter Server Appliance Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Contr. Set up target appliance VM Specify the VM settings tor the appliance to be deployed. 2 End user license agreement VM name 3 Connect to source appliance Root password 4 Appliance deployment target Confirm root password 5 Set up target appliance VM 6 Select deployment size 7 Select datastore 8 Configure network settings 9 Ready to complete stage 1 BC-VCSAOI O) O) Cancel


    1. Select the deployment size of VCSA that matches your requirement. I went with Tiny as I have less than 10 host and 100 VMs in my lab.

Installer 1 Introduction 2 End user license agreement 3 Connect to source appliance 4 Appliance deployment target 5 Set up target appliance VM 6 Select deployment size 7 Select datastore 8 Configure network settings 9 Ready to complete stage 1 vCenter Server Appliance Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Contr. Select deployment size Select the deployment size tor this vCenter Server vith an Embedded Platform Services Controller. For more information on deployment sizes, refer to the vSphere 6.5 documentation. Deployment size Storage size Small Medium Large Resources required tor di X-I_arge O) nt sizes Deployment Size vCPUs Memory (GB) Storage (GB) Hosts (up to) VMS (up to) Tiny Small Medium Large X-I_arge 10000 35000 Cancel

    1. Pick the datastore for new VCSA. Tick "Enable Thin Disk Mode" if you have storage capacity constraint.

vCenter Server Appliance Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller Installer 1 Introduction 2 End user license agreement 3 Connect to source appliance 4 Appliance deployment target 5 Set up target appliance VM 6 Select deployment size 7 Select datastore 8 Configure network settings 9 Ready to complete stage 1 Select datastore Select the storage location tor this vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller. Name xpeno-nfs-iso Local-DSL vsanDatastore xpeno-iscsi-luno Type NFS VMFS VMFS Y Capacity Free provisi.. Y Thin Provisioning 1.59 -ra 931.25 G8 922.19 499.75 1.46 -ra 887.24 G8 741.39 322.71 Back 130.91 44.01 GB 180.8 GB 177.04 true true true true 4.1 Enable Thin Disk Mode @ 4 items Cancel

    1. Select the network portgroup and assign temporary IP address to new VCSA. It is recommended to put in the same subnet as the existing VCSA.

Installer 1 Introduction 2 End user license agreement 3 Connect to source appliance 4 Appliance deployment target 5 Set up target appliance VM 6 Select deployment size 7 Select datastore 8 Configure network settings 9 Ready to complete stage 1 vCenter Server Appliance Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Se. Configure network settings The appliance requires a temporary network identity so that it can copy data from the source appliance. After the data has been copied. the network identity of the source appliance is also copied to the appliance, and then the source appliance is shut down. Network Temporary network settings IP version IP assignment Temporary IP address Subnet mask or prefix length Default gateway DNS servers Ipv4 192.168.10.g 255.255-255.0 192.168-10.254 192.168.10.1,192.168.10.254 Next O) Cancel

    1. Review the config summary and click Finish.

Installer 1 Introduction 2 End user license agreement 3 Connect to source appliance 4 Appliance deployment target 5 Set up target appliance VM 6 Select deployment size 7 Select datastore 8 Configure netvnrk settings 9 Ready to complete stage 1 vCenter Server Appliance Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Se. Review your settings before starting the appliance deployment. Deployment Details Source vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller Target ESXi host VM name Deployment type Deployment size Datastore Details Datastore, Disk mode Network Details IP settings IP address Subnet mask or prefix length Default gateway DNS servers Back bc-vcsa.ad.burmesecloud.com bc-esx2.ad burmesecloud.com ac-VCSA01 vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller Tiny Local-DSI, thin Lab VM VLANIO IPv4 , static 192.168.10.g 255.255.2550 192.168.10.254 192.168.10.1,192.168.10.254 Cancel

    1. The deployment of new VCSA will commence and you will see the following screen once its completed to continue with the stage 2.

vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server with an Embedded Plat.. Deploying the appliance Cancel

vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Upgrade - Stage 1: Deploy vCenter Server with an Embedded Platfor... You have successfully deployed the vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller. 100% Deployment complete To proceed with stage 2 ot the deployment process, appliance setup, click Continue. If you exit, you can continue with the appliance setup at any time by logging in to the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface https:,'\192.168.10.g:5480/ Continue Close


Stage 2 of deployment


    1. Click Next to continue with the upgrade
       
vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Upgrade - Stage 2: vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded PSC 1 Introduction 2 Connect to source vCenter Server 3 Select upgrade data 4 configure cap 5 Ready to complete Introduction This vizard allows you to upgrade a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller (5.5 or 6.0). Deploy new 'Center Server Appliance Stage 2 Upgrade source vCenter Server Appliance upgrading the appliance is a two stage process. The first stage has been completed. The second stage copies data trom the source vCenter Server Appliance to the deployed appliance. Make sure you have backed up all data on the source appliance before progressing with the upgrade process. Click Next, to proceed with stage 2 sack Next Cancel

    1. You will see the warning regarding Pre-Upgrade check result and ensure the upgrade conditions are met.

vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Upgrade Stage vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded Pre-upgrade check result Warning Resolution This ESXi host [bc-esx2.ad.burmesecloud.coml is managed by vcenter server [192.168.10.101. Make sure the cluster where this ESXi host resides is not set to Fully Automated DRS for the duration of the upgrade process. Close

    1. Ensure DRS Automation is set to manual or DRS is off before proceeding. I set VCSA VM not to participate in DRS as I have it running on local storage of host 2.

Prod-VSAN-Cluster Actions Summary Monitor Manage Related Objects ngs Scheduled Tasks Alarm Definitions Tags VM Overrides General Disk Management Fault Domains & Stretc Cluster Health and Performance Configuration General Licensing VMware EVC VM/Host Groups VM/Host Rules VM Overrides ac-vcsA Permissions vSphere DRS Automation Level I Disabled Host bc-esx2.ad.burmesecloud


    1. Select the data you want to migrate to new VCSA. Since this my home lab I am copying only configuration data and not concerned about historical data.

vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Upgrade - Stage 2: vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded PSC 1 Introduction 2 Connect to source vCenter Server 3 Select upgrade data 4 configure cap 5 Ready to complete Select upgrade data Select the data that you wish to copy from the source vCenter Server. The data sizes shown below represent ony the data that will be copied to the target server. It does not correspond to the actual size of your data on the source server. The identity of the server will also be copied and the source server will remain unchanged. @ configuration (1.3 GB) O Configuration, events, and tasks (1.4 GB) O Configuration, events, tasks, and performance metrics (1.4 GB) Back Cancel

    1. Uncheck the checkbox if you do not wish to join VMware CEP to improve their product.

vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Upgrade - Stage 2: vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded PSC 1 Introduction 2 Connect to source vCenter Server 3 Select upgrade data 4 configure CEP 5 Ready to complete configure cap Join the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program VMware's Customer Experience Improvement Program CCEIP") provides VMware with information that enables VMware to improve its products and services, to fix problems, and to advise you on how best to deploy and use our products. As part ofthe CEIP, VMware collects technical information about your organization's use ot VMware products and services on a regular basis in association with your organization's VMware license key(s). This information does not personally identify any individual. Additional information regarding the data collected through CEIP and the purposes for which it is used by VMware is set forth in the Trust & Assurance Center at http:/twwn.v.vmware.commustvmware/ceip html If you prefer not to participate in VMware's CEIP for this product. you should uncheck the box below. You may join or leave VMware's CEIP for this product at any time. Join the VMware's Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) Back Cancel

    1. Review the summary and acknowledge that you have backup of the source vCenter server and database.

vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Upgrade - Stage 2: vCenter Server Appliance with an Embedded PSC 1 Introduction 2 Connect to source vCenter Server 3 Select upgrade data 4 configure CEP 5 Ready to complete Ready to complete Review settings before completing the wizard. Source vCenter Server Appliance with embedded PSC FQDN or IP address Version bc-vcsa.ad.burmesecloud.com Target vCenter Server Appliance with embedded PSC FQDN or IP address (temporary) FQDN or IP address (post-upgrade) Version Upgrade Data Data to copy Customer Experience Improvement Program CEP setting 192.168.10.g bc-vcsa.ad.burmesecloud.com 6.5.0.5100 Configuration only 1.3 Opted in •J I have backed up the source vCenter Server and all the required data trom the database. Back Finish Cancel

    1. As mention, the source vCenter will be shutdown once the network configurations are copied over to the new vCenter. It is good that Upgrade process does not delete the source VM and you can always bring it back online if the upgrade gone sideway.

    1. Click OK to continue with the migration.
Shutdown Warning The source vCenter will be shut down o ethe netuork configuration is enabled on destination vCenter Server. Click OK to continue, or Cancel to stop the upgrade. Cancel

    1. Now go get a coffee or do something while the migration is in progress.

vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Data transfer and appliance setup is in progress 1. Copy data from source vCenter Server to target vCenter Server Exporting VMware vCenter Server Database data... 2. Set up target vCenter Server and start services 3. Import copied data to target vCenter Server Close


    1. If everything goes well you will see the following screen and upgrade is completed. Enjoy!!

vCenter Server Appliance Installer Installer Complete 1. copy aala Trom source vcemer server to targel vcenær server 2. Set up target vCenter Server and start services 3. Import copied data to target vCenter Server 100% Complete Data transfer and appliance setup has been completed successfully. Click on one of the links below, to manage the appliance. Press close to exit. vSphere Web Client h Wbc-vcsa.ad.burmesecloud.com:443/vs here-client/ Close

Check out the vSphere 6.5 release note if you would like to get more details on the product.
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Sunday 20 November 2016

Nutanix CE nested on VMware ESXi 6.5 - VLAN Tagging



Controller VM VLAN: 10 etho VMI VLAN: 101 VM2 VLAN: 102 etho Acropolis Hypervisor VLAN: 10 etho - --7--1-----J-----J--— — — tapO bro ondO v net bro tapl eth Physical Switch 1 Switch Trunk Ports VLAN: 10, 101, 102 eth Physical Switch 2
Figure 1 - Nutanix Open vSwitch


 Configure VLAN tags on br0 on every AHV host in the cluster. Repeat this config on all hosts using vSphere Console by logging in as root. 
  
ovs-vsctl set port br0 tag=10 
ovs-vsctl list port br0 

Configure VLAN tags for the CVM on every CVM in the Nutanix cluster. Repeat on all hosts. SSH from host using nutanix account. 


ssh nutanix@192.168.5.2 
nutanix@CVM$ change_cvm_vlan 10 

Update DNS server setting on all nested hosts.

vi /etc/resolv.conf 

Install open-vm-tools package on nested host 

yum install –y open-vm-tools 

For better network performance and less dropped packets in nested environment, install esxi mac learning dvfilter as mentioned by William Lam - virtuallyGhetto. Check out his blog for more info on dvfilter.

esxcli software vib install -v http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmw-tools/esxi-mac-learning-dvfilter/vmware-esx-dvfilter-maclearn-1.0.vib -f 


Confirm the install. No reboot required. 

/sbin/summarize-dvfilter 

For the dvFilter to work, you will need to add two Advanced Virtual Machine Settings to each of your Nested AHV VMs. This setting is on a per vNIC basis, which means you will need to add N-entries if you have N-vNICs on your Nested AHV VM. 

ethernet0.filter4.name 
dvfilter-maclearn 
ethernet0.filter4.onFailure 
failOpen
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