Can you upgrade and Upsize your VCSA?
While brainstorming about one of our labs, the question was raised on whether you can upsize your VCSA while upgrading to a newer version. Specifically, from 6.5u2 to 6.7U1 (build 8815520 to 11726888). We wanted to upgrade to the latest version but we also believe we had outgrown the original VCSA size that we deployed. VMware has made this really simple. I did a quick test in my home lab, and that is what this post will be based on.
To start you obtain the VCSA .iso that you are going to upgrade to. After you download it, you go ahead and mount it. Just like you would with a normal install/upgrade, run the appropriate installer. For me it is the Windows one which is located under the \vcsa-ui-installer\win32 directory. The installer.exe launches the following window:
We chose the Upgrade icon here. The next screen lets you know this is a 2-stage process. How it will perform this is:
- It will deploy a new appliance that will be your new vCenter.
- All of your current data and configurations will be moved over from the old VCSA to the new.
After the copy process is complete it will power off the old VCSA but not delete it. Move to the next screen and accept the License Agreement. The third screen looks like this:
You need to put in the information of the source VCSA that you will be migrating from here. Once you click Connect To Source it will ask you for more info. Specifically, what is your source VCSA being hosted on. This could be a single host or it could be another vCenter.
You will be asked to accept the SSL Certificates. The next screen will ask you for where you are going to put the new appliance. This can be either a host or a vCenter instance.
Step 5 is setting up the target appliance VM. This is the new VCSA that you will be deploying. Specifically, what do you want to name it and what the root password is.
Step 6 is where we can change the size of the deployment. I had a tiny in the previous deployment and I decided that was too small. This time I want to go one step up to the “Small” size. You can see the deployment requirements listed below in a table.
Next step is configuring your network settings.
And the last screen to this stage is just to confirm all your settings. This will then deploy the appliance (during which you grab a nice glass of scotch and wait…preferably something nice like my Macallan 12yr)
Once that has been finished, you are off to Part 2 of the process: Moving your information over. The first screen you will be presented with (after running checks) is Select Upgrade Data. You will be given a list of the data you can move over and approximate number of scotches you will need for the wait. (Maybe that last part is made up, but hey you can find out anyway amirite?)
Since my environment that I am moving is relatively pristine, I don’t have much data to move. It is estimating 39 min but it actually took less time. You make your decision (seems pretty straightforward what kind of data you would be interested in) and move to the next screen which is whether you join VMware’s CEIP program or Customer Experience Program. The last screen before the operation kicks off is a quick summary and then a check box at the bottom asking you to make sure you were a decent sysadmin and backed up the source vCenter before you start this process. I personally did not on this, but like I said there was no data on it anyways. So we kick off the operation.
Clicking Finish gives you notification box that the source vCenter will be shutdown once this is complete. Acknowledge that and away we go!
Once completed successfully, you are given the prompt to enter into your new vCenter which I have done here and here is the brand new shiny.
I will also link the video here to the process. The video is about 15 min long (truncated from about 45 min total) Disclaimers include: There are many more things you will need to think about before doing this to a production environment. Among them are, will all the versions of VMware products I have work together. You can find that out by referencing here:
https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php#interop
Interoperability Matrix for VMware products
You also need to make sure you can Upgrade from your current version to the selected version by going to the same page above but on the Upgrade Path
Another really important thing to consider is what order you need to upgrade your products. You can find that for 6.7 here.
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/53710
Update sequence for vSphere 6.7 and its compatible VMware products (53710)