Error upgrading VMware Identity Manager from 3.3.4 to 3.3.5

Recently while upgrading my vRealize Suite of products (vRealize Automation, Identity Manager, and Lifecycle Manager) I received an error. I had already updated Lifecycle Manager and downloaded the binaries for IDM and vRA. The error occurred when I tried to upgrade Identity Manager from 3.3.4 to 3.3.5. The pre-check error that I received looked like this:

When you click on “View” it takes you to a KB article where it described how to check to see if you have those environment variables and if you don’t, directs you to the vCenter documentation about vApp properties.

I couldn’t remember those being in there, but since all three products are part of a suite, it views them as a vApp. When you originally install vRealize Automation, it adds these properties to the VM inside vCenter. You can see the results of when I went to the console of the VM itself and checked for those properties here:

Ok, so I have confirmed they aren’t there, how do I add them? So the way to add them is going to the VM and turning it off (via your LCM of course) Then you can add them and change a few settings. First you need to enable vApp options on your VM under the machine then Configure > vApp Options (as seen in my screenshot from another VM)

When you click on “Edit” you will be presented with a new popup dialog box. You should Enable the vApp options by checking the check box and then on the first screen enabling the following:

Under OVF Details you want to have the following setup:

And finally on Details (while this may not be necessary, I like keeping it the same as original):

Once those are set. You will next need to create the properties themselves. The only exception is – I don’t believe you HAVE to have the Time Zone option. The proper way to create these is “Add” them and then after the property is there, you “Set Value” to actually put the value there. One of the issues I find with this is VMware’s naming structure. When you add the property, the value is different than you find inside. I will explain. Here is the full list of options (Still with my homelab values in it as I value you the readerJ )

Now you notice where it says Key, when you are adding it, actually says Key ID. Here is the CEIP property:

The CEIP Type is the only different one among all of the properties. It is a Boolean type, User Configurable and you can put whatever default value you want there. All the rest of the properties are of the type “String”, and you can accept the defaults there. The only thing you will need to input will be on the first screen. Where you will need to put the Category (most will be Networking Properties). After the property is there, click on the “Set Value” and put in the value. Could be an IP address or domain depending on the property you’re inputting. The above table is the full set of properties. Once those are all entered, you can re-run the check and the pre-check should pass with flying colors. I fortunately had no more issues upgrading my vRA stack to 8.6 from there. Till next problem…..