Aria Operations Two-Step Upgrade Flow

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

This article outlines the steps to upgrade your Aria Operations cluster from version 8.16 or earlier to 8.17.1.

VMware Aria Operations now delivers significant advancements in scalability and performance. When upgrading from version 8.16 or earlier to 8.17.1, you may encounter brief data collection gaps during the transition between upgrading the main cluster and the Cloud Proxies (CPs).

To minimize these gaps, VMware has introduced a Two-Step Upgrade Flow. While the standard upgrade process continues to work reliably, adopting this two-step approach allows you to take full advantage of the platform’s enhancements with minimal impact on ongoing data collection.

Note: The procedure cannot be applied when applying Hot Fixes/Patches

Note: Procedure should not be applied if we are upgrading to 8.16 or lower

Environment

VMware Aria Operations 8.17.x

Resolution

Please before proceeding you want to make sure you review the official Upgrade Path for Aria Operations (formerly vRealize Operations).

To mitigate potential data collection gaps and facilitate a smooth upgrade experience, we recommend adopting the "Two-Steps Upgrade Flow". This approach is tailored to minimize interruptions and streamline the data collection process during the upgrade.

While the regular, well-known upgrade workflow functions effectively, by following this two-step upgrade path, you can leverage the substantial benefits of the Aria Operations platform enhancements without notable disruption to your data collection processes.

First-Step:

1. Download “vRealize_Operations_Manager_Only_CP-8.xx.x-to-8.xx.x.xxxxxxxx.pak” and “vRealize_Operations_Manager_With_CP-8.xx.x-to-8.xx.x.xxxxxxxx.pak” files from the Broadcom Support Portal
   
   
2. From the admin UI install the “vRealize_Operations_Manager_Only_CP-8.xx.x-to-8.xx.x.xxxxxxxx.pak” and wait until it is distributed to all CPs and the status of the upgrade shows as “Running”. As shown in below pic. 

 

 

 

NOTE: 

In the case of maintenance release upgrades where there is only a minor change in the version number (e.g. 8.17.1 to 8.17.2), when the CP only pak file "vRealize_Operations_Manager_Only_CP-8.xx.x-to-8.xx.x.xxxxxxxx.pak" is uploaded, the upgrade of the cloud proxies will proceed to completion without pausing in the "Running" state as it does with a major version upgrade (shown above). Wait for the Upgrade Status to show as "Complete" for all the cloud proxies, then proceed to step 3 below. If there are any issues with the upgrade of any of the cloud proxies, resolve this first before proceeding.

Second-Step:

    1.  Once the Cloud Proxy upgrade reaches the "Running" state, upload the "vRealize_Operations_Manager_With_CP-8.xx.x-to-8.xx.x.xxxxxxxx.pak" package and start the Aria Operations (Analytics Nodes) upgrade.

    2.  The Cloud Proxy upgrade will complete after the Aria Operations upgrade is finished.

         

Additional Information

Release Notes: https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/aria/aria-operations/8-17-1/Chunk914683509.html

Note:

• Some operating systems (especially Windows) apply a security restriction to files downloaded from the internet, often referred to as the "Mark of the Web."
• If your installer fails during execution with checksum or package validation errors, it is due to this restriction preventing the system from accessing the complete .pak file data.
• You must manually unblock the downloaded .pak file before proceeding with the patch or upgrade.
• You may follow the below steps to unblock the impacted file:

  ->Locate the downloaded .pak file.

  ->Right-click the file and select Properties.

  ->On the General tab, look for the Security section near the bottom.->

  ->Check the Unblock box.

  ->Click Apply and then OK.