NSX Host/Edge cluster selection not adhered to during an upgrade in SDDC Manager 5.1

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

In VCF 5.1, during NSX upgrade, selecting specific clusters does not restrict the upgrade to selected clusters; instead, all clusters are upgraded regardless of the selection.

Environment

Vmware Cloud Foundation 5.1

Resolution

The issue has been resolved in VCF 5.1.1 and in Async patch for VCF 5.1.
Upgrade the SDDC Manager to VCF 5.1.1 or the VCF 5.1 Async Patch.

For an in-place workaround in VCF 5.1, please follow the steps in the workaround section below.

Workaround:

To workaround the issue for SDDC Manager 5.1, before applying NSX upgrade patch, please follow the below mentioned steps:
Download Async Patch Tool from Download VMware Cloud Foundation and set it up by following the official guidelines from Async Patch Tool 1.1.0.2 and follow the steps until "List the available async patches" ( step 4 in Offline mode or  step 3 in Online mode) as follows:

Online mode:

1.  Download the Async Patch Tool to a computer that has access to the SDDC Manager appliance.

a) Log in to VMware Customer Connect and browse to the Download VMware Cloud Foundation page.
b) In the Select Version field, select your current version of VMware Cloud Foundation.
c) Click Drivers & Tools.
d) Expand VMware Cloud Foundation Tools and click Go To Downloads in the Async Patch Tool  row.
e) Click Download Now.

 

2.  Copy the Async Patch Tool to the SDDC Manager appliance and configure it for use.

a) SSH into the SDDC Manager appliance using the vcf user account.
b) Create the asyncPatchTool directory.
    mkdir /home/vcf/asyncPatchTool
c) Copy the Async Patch Tool file (vcf-async-patch-tool-<version>.tar.gz) that you downloaded in step 1 to the /home/vcf/asyncPatchTool directory.
d) Navigate to /home/vcf/asyncPatchTool and extract the contents of vcf-async-patch-tool-<version>.tar.gz.
    tar -xvf vcf-async-patch-tool-<version>.tar.gz
e) Set the permissions for the asyncPatchTool directory.
  cd /home/vcf/
  chmod -R 755 asyncPatchTool
  chown -R vcf:vcf asyncPatchTool

Offline mode:

1. Download the Async Patch Tool to a computer that has access to the internet.

a. Log in to VMware Customer Connect and browse to the Download VMware Cloud Foundation page.
b. In the Select Version field, select your current version of VMware Cloud Foundation.
c. Click Drivers & Tools.
d. Expand VMware Cloud Foundation Tools and click Go To Downloads in the Async Patch Tool row.
e. Click Download Now.
Extract vcf-async-patch-tool-<version>.tar.gz.
Navigate to vcf-async-patch-tool-<version>/bin and confirm that you have execute permissions.

 

2. Download the spec file inputspec.json attached to the KB.

3. Only for Offline mode:

a. Create the asyncBundles directory.
     mkdir /home/vcf/asyncBundles
b. Use async patch tool to download the required patch bundle with the following command, started from the ~/asyncPatchTool-<version>/bin:
./vcf-async-patch-tool --download -i <input_spec_file> --sddcSSHUser <sddc_ssh_user> --depotUser <depot_user> --outputDirectory /home/vcf/asyncBundles/
Example:       
./vcf-async-patch-tool --download -i ~/inputspec.json --depotUser [email protected] --sddcSSHUser vcf --outputDirectory /home/vcf/asyncBundles
Note: You should transfer the downloaded bundle and async patch directory to the SDDC Manager using Apply an Async Patch to VMware Cloud Foundation in Offline Mode as guide from steps 7 and 8 as follows:

1. Copy the patch and set permissions.

a. Copy the entire output directory (for example, apToolBundles) to the SDDC Manager appliance.
Select any location that has enough free space available, for example, /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/.
b. SSH into the SDDC Manager appliance using the vcf user account.
c. Navigate to /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/.
If the output directory has been copied to a different location, navigate to that directory instead.
d. Run the following commands:
  chmod -R 755 apToolBundles
  chown -R vcf:vcf apToolBundles

2. Copy the Async Patch Tool to the SDDC Manager appliance and configure it for use.

a. SSH into the SDDC Manager appliance using the vcf user account.
b. Create the asyncPatchTool directory.
    mkdir /home/vcf/asyncPatchTool
c. Copy the entire contents of the Async Patch Tool directory from the computer with internet access to the /home/vcf/asyncPatchTool directory on the SDDC Manager appliance.
d. Set the permissions for the asyncPatchTool directory.
  cd /home/vcf/
  chmod -R 755 asyncPatchTool
  chown -R vcf:vcf asyncPatchTool

4. Enable patch by running the following command, started from the ~/asyncPatchTool-<version>/bin:

For offline mode:
./vcf-async-patch-tool -i <input_spec_file> --sddcSSOUser <sso_user> --sddcSSHUser <sddc_ssh_user> --outputDirectory <absolute_path_to_artifact_dir> --instanceType OFFLINE
For online mode:
./vcf-async-patch-tool -i <input_spec_file> --sddcSSOUser <sso_user> --sddcSSHUser <sddc_ssh_user> --outputDirectory <absolute_path_to_artifact_dir> --instanceType ONLINE --depotUser <depot_user>

Example
./vcf-async-patch-tool -i /home/vcf/inputspec.json --sddcSSOUser [email protected] --sddcSSHUser vcf --outputDirectory /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/apToolBundles --instanceType OFFLINE

5. Proceed with performing Upgrade NSX for VMware Cloud Foundation. Please refer https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-Foundation/5.1/vcf-lifecycle/GUID-2E70DA12-2DF3-456D-88C2-21BB35876AB1.html for more information.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

• Host Cluster-level upgrade selection: This may result in unplanned host maintenance windows and VM migrations
• Edge Cluster-level upgrade selection: This may result in unforeseen network traffic flow/routing changes.