Using the vSphere 8.0 Upgrade Evaluator Script

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Upgrading to vCenter Server or ESXi 8.0 requires an additional precheck to identify the certificate with a weak signature algorithm and spherelet compatibility captured part of Upgrading vCenter Server or ESXi 8.0 fails during precheck due to a weak certificate signature algorithm

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Resolution

This upgrade evaluator script will help you identify the presence of a certificate with a weak signature algorithm and identify incompatible spherelet versions.

Steps to Run the Script:

1. Download the vSphere-upgrade-evaluator.zip attached to this KB article.

2. Transfer the file to a folder on the vCenter Server Appliance using WinSCP (e.g., /root or /tmp). Choose the location on the appliance that has admin rights and permissions for the logged-in user.
   Note: It's necessary to enable the bash shell before WinSCP will work. Refer to KB: Connecting to vCenter Server Virtual Appliance using WinSCP fails with the error: Received too large (1433299822 B) SFTP packet. Max supported packet size is 1024000 B

3. Log in to the vCenter Server using root credentials with an SSH Client (using Putty.exe or any similar SSH Client) and change to the directory where the script was placed. Use the user with the administrator rights and permissions on the Appliance/Machine (In the Case of Windows VC).

4. Extract the file using the extraction tool, unzip, 7zip, etc.
   

5. Update vsphere-upgrade-evaluator/config.json with the correct SSO administrator username and password.
   

6. Execute the script as follows:

• On Windows:

“%VMWARE_PYTHON_BIN%" C:\vsphere-upgrade-evaluator\upgrade_evaluator_script.py --config C:\vsphere-upgrade-evaluator\config.json --resultsDir C:\temp

• On VCSA:

$VMWARE_PYTHON_BIN /root/vsphere-upgrade-evaluator/upgrade_evaluator_script.py --config /root/vsphere-upgrade-evaluator/config.json --resultsDir /tmp

• Script execution would take some minutes, depending on the size of the environment. Wait for the console messages to show the successful completion, like below:

• Open the “upgrade_evaluator_result.txt” inside the result folder printed on the console.
• In case there are no errors, then the result file would look like below:

 

• In case there are any issues, then the result will look like below:

• For error messages (ERROR) related to “com.vmware.vsphere8_upgrade_certificate_checks” please follow the steps in Upgrading vCenter Server or ESXi 8.0 fails during precheck due to a weak certificate signature algorithm for resolution.

Additional Information

Output file descriptions

1. upgrade_evaluator.log - This log file provides the comprehensive logs which display what is happening in the script run.

2. upgrade_evaluator_result.json - This file is the concatenated output of each individual component in json format.

3. upgrade_evaluator_result.txt - This file is the concatenated output of each individual component in more human readable format.

4. upgrade_evaluator_status.json - This file shows the run status of each component phase, this can be used for live tracking the status of UpgradeEvaluator run.