I’m working on a plan to upgrade our existing VMware Stack
and wanted to write a detailed post about all components involved and the order
of upgrade.
Current State –
· Primary and Recovery site with XtremIO Arrays on
both ends with physical RecoverPoint appliances for array based replication.
· vCenter Servers on both sites (with embedded
Platform Services Controller) running on Windows Server 2012 R2 with an
external SQL Database.
·
ESXi 6.0.0, 3825889
·
Site Recovery Manager (SRM) 6.1.1.13825
·
Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) 2.2.0.3
·
XtremIO (XIOS) 4.0.15-24, XMS 4.2.1
·
RecoverPoint (RPA) 4.4.1
·
Avamar 7.3
Future
State –
·
vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 6.5 U1f
·
ESXi 6.5, 7388607
·
SRM 6.5.1, 6014840
·
SRA 2.2.0.3
·
XIOS 6.0.1, XMS 6.0.1
·
RecoverPoint (RPA) 5.1
·
Avamar 7.5
·
Avamar 7.3 is not compatible with vCenter 6.5
·
RPA 4.4.1 is not compatible with ESXi 6.5
·
Upgrading SRM from 6.0.x to 6.5 is not
supported. You have to upgrade to 6.1.x before you upgrade to 6.5 (in my case that’s
not required since already running on 6.1.1.x)
·
Any vCenter upgrade will break SRM until both
sides are on the same level. I have Array replication active in case of a disaster
while upgrading SRM.
Prerequisites –
·
Backup of vCenter Database on primary and
recovery site.
·
Backup of SRM vPostgres Database on primary and
recovery sit. (Explained in detail below)
·
Primary and Recovery Site Platform Services
Controller and vCenter server instances must be running.
Order of Upgrade –
·
Upgrade Avamar to 7.5
·
RPA 4.4.1 is not compatible with ESXi 6.5 hence
upgrade that to RPA 5.1
·
Upgrade vCenter Server to VCSA 6.5 GA at
primary site.
·
Upgrade SRM to 6.5 at primary site. Note: SRM cannot be upgraded from 6.1.1 to 6.5.1
·
Upgrade SRA at primary site – Not required since
running on latest
·
vCenter Server to VCSA 6.5 GA at recovery site.
·
Upgrade SRM to 6.5 at recovery site.
· Upgrade SRA at recovery site – Not required since running on latest.
· Upgrade SRA at recovery site – Not required since running on latest.
·
Upgrade vCenter from 6.5 GA to 6.5U1g at primary site.
·
Upgrade SRM from 6.5 to 6.5.1 at primary site.· Upgrade SRM from 6.5 to 6.5.1 at recovery site.
· Verify connection between SRM. Verify Protection groups and recovery plans are valid.
· Upgrade ESXi to 6.5, 7388607 at recovery site.
·
Upgrade ESXi to 6.5, 7388607 at primary site.
·
Upgrade virtual hardware and then VMtools on
Virtual Machines – Can be scheduled during the next available outage window.
·
Upgrade XIOS and XMS to 6.0.1
Backup & Restore
(if required) the SRM Embedded vPostgres Database -
1)
Log into the system on which you installed Site
Recovery Manager Server.
2)
Stop the Site Recovery Manager service.
3)
Navigate to the folder that contains the
vPostgres commands.
4)
If you installed Site Recovery Manager Server in
the default location, you find the vPostgres commands in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware
vCenter Site Recovery Manager Embedded Database\bin.
5)
Create a backup of the embedded vPostgres
database by using the pg_dump
command.
pg_dump -Fc --host 127.0.0.1 --port
port_number --username=db_username srm_db > srm_backup_name. To create a backup you need the admin password. We did not have the Admin password documented. Here is a link on how to reset the Admin password - http://virtuallycurious.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-case-of-forgotten-site-recovery.html
You set the port number, username, and password for the embedded
vPostgres database when you installed Site Recovery Manager. The default port
number is 5678. The database name is srm_db and cannot be changed.
6)
Start the Site Recovery Manager service.
7)
Restore (if
things go south) by using the pg_restore
command
pg_restore -Fc --host 127.0.0.1
--port port_number --username=db_username --dbname=srm_db srm_backup_name
References –
·
VMware Product Interoperability Matrices -http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php
·
Update sequence for vSphere 6.5 and its
compatible VMware products (2147289) - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147289
·
Backup and Restore the embedded vPostgres
Database - https://docs.vmware.com/en/Site-Recovery-Manager/6.5/srm-install-config-6-5.pdf
· EMC Recoverpoint SRA compatibility Matrix - https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/detail.php?deviceCategory=sra&productid=39129
· Order of upgrading vSphere and SRM components - https://docs.vmware.com/en/Site-Recovery-Manager/6.5/com.vmware.srm.install_config.doc/GUID-E7B47738-C63D-4A05-9A13-7C5FF20801A7.html
· Avamar Comaptiblity Matrix - https://support.emc.com/docu32263_Avamar-Compatibility-and-Interoperability-Matrix.pdf?language=en_US
