vCenter + PSC -> Upgrade from 6.5 to 6.7

In the series of VMware Component upgrade, Next component we are going to reflect on is “vCenter Server 6.5 (vCSA) with External Platform Service Controller (PSC)”.

vCenter 6.7 onward, the topology of External PSC is depreciated. Hence we will work on convergence in next post. Final Target topology is depicted below:

Current Topology –> Target Topology
6.5 u2 6.7u3

Upgrade path confirmation:

Important notes and prerequisites:

• To efficiently perform the upgrade, disable the vCSA HA feature.
• Upgrade requires temporary IP address for the new VC & PSC VM, to be used before & during convergence.
• PSC VM needs to be upgrade before vCenter
• Ensure the successful backup is performed on both PSC and VC.
• Perform an export of all the vDS switch.

Procedure of upgrade:

Step 1: Download and Mount the vCSA 6.7 appliance ISO to a drive and run the installer.

Step 2: Using the Installer, 1st we will deploy the New PSC VM.
Choose the “Upgrade” path and accept the EULA.

Step 3: Connect to the Source appliance in our case its the PSC by clicking “Connect to Source” which the ask for further credentials to setup connection.

Accept the Certificate warning and confirm the Information shared regarding External PSC depreciation.

Step 4: Connect to target where VM will be created either on ESXi host or vCenter Server.

Step 5: Moving forward, place the VM in the accurate “folder and Compute resource” as per your environment.
Using “Set up the New Appliance” provide the VM name & root password.

Step 6: Place the VM onto a DataStore and configure the same Network as old vCenter VM.At this point we will be assigning the temporary IP to this appliance.

Summary of deployment:

Click on Finish and let the deployment start.

Once the deployment is completed, Stage 2 procedure can be used to migrate the data from HRCPSC01 to HRCPSC02.

Parallel, we should deploy another VM of New vCenter by repeating Steps 1 to 6 again with minor changes
New Step 3,the target to connect is vCenter Server this time.

Step 4 & 5: Same as above

Step 6: This is the right time to resize vCenter in case facing performance problems.
Select the appropriate size based on the sizing factors mentioned in the table.
Selecting Deployment size of vCenter with the Storage Size.

Rest of steps remain same as Selecting DS for this VM and Configuring Network settings

While the New vCenter VM is getting deployed we can move back to Stage 2 of PSC.

Step 7: Connect back to Source PSC so that the data migration can be started. Credential confirmation will be done along with Pre-upgrade checks.

Step 8: Ready to Complete

Following stages will be covered in this phase 2 of PSC upgrade.

At completion, you can notice the old PSC VM is powered off and New PSC VM is Powered On. New PSC VM has the old IP.

Step 9: Stage 2 of vCenter Upgrade. Same way it ask to establish a connection and perform the Pre-Check. In my lab i was having a DNS record based warning.

Step 10: Select upgrade data:
As per your requirement, Choose how much data to move from Old VC to New VC.
In this lab environment Out of 3 options, i am selecting Configuration only.
But interestingly i had another challenge, my “/” was short of space to be used as root.
Easy Solution is take a SSH of VC VM and see which drive has enough space and mention that drive. (I used the easy way)
or We can increase an existing drive or adding an drive as well.

Following stages will be covered in this phase 2 of VC upgrade.

Confirmation:

In the Next post, we will cover the convergence of this External PSC to internal.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Samesh Dhankhar
VCIX – DCV & NV

Source : VMware official documentation