Aria Operations Two-Step Upgrade Flow

Products

• VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

We are excited to announce key enhancements to the Aria Operations platform, designed to optimize performance and scalability.  These improvements make the platform more efficient and capable of handling larger scales seamlessly.

With the introduction of these beneficial enhancements, upgrading from version 8.16 or lower to 8.17.1 or higher requires attention to ensure a smooth transition. There may be brief periods of data collection gaps during the upgrade process.  The upgrade begins on the cluster side.  Once completed, the Cloud Proxies (CPs) upgrade will commence.  A temporary impact on data collection may occur between the completion of the cluster upgrade and the commencement of the CPs upgrade.  The duration of this impact varies based on the number of CPs and the time needed to download, extract, and upgrade them.

Environment

VMware Aria Operations 8.x

Resolution

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.

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”. See the 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.

 

3. After the CP pack has been installed, install the regular “vRealize_Operations_Manager_With_CP-8.xx.x-to-8.xx.x.xxxxxxxx.pak” file.