vRNI 6.x Guide and best practices on upgrading vRealize Network Insight

Products

• VMware Aria Operations for Networks

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
The purpose of this article is to assist with the upgrade of vRNI. It includes general information relating to the upgrade process, and supplemental information based on common issues and the latest support trends.

Environment

VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.x
VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.5.1
VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.8.0
VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.7.0
VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.4.0
VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.2.x
VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.9.0
VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.3.x
VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.5.0
VMware vRealize Network Insight 6.6.0

Resolution

Prerequisites

Before upgrading vRNI, make sure that snapshots have been taken on both vRNI Platform and Collector VMs to revert back the deployment to a working stable state.
Ensure vRNI VMs are powered off from vCenter using Power Option>Shut Down Guest OS and then take snapshots.

Post upgrade is Successful ensure to delete the snapshots.

As an extra insurance, it is recommended to take full backups of your vRNI deployment.
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/55829

Upgrade paths

Standard path
6.2.0 > 6.3.0>6.4.0>6.5.1>6.6.0>6.7.0>6.8.0>6.9.0
Jumps possible

6.2.0 > 6.4.0
6.3.0>6.5.1
6.4.0>6.6.0
6.6.0>6.8.0
6.7.0>6.9.0


Health checks to ensure a smooth upgrade
 

• From vRNI 3.8, we recommend to have 100% reservation. Please make sure reservation is set to 100% before the upgrade.
• Check the disk I/O speed (by doing a DD command)and make sure there is no latency beyond 20ms. Both steps will reduce overall time for upgrade
• Check the MD5SUM of the downloaded upgrade bundle and match with Customer Connect site.
• Increase the UI timeout to more than 1 hour. This will ensure seamless UI upgrade
  • Settings > System Configuration > User Session Timeout > Duration 24h.
• If you are upgrading from vRNI 3.7, you must increase the timeout values.

 

Upgrade methods 

A. Online Upgrade

Prerequisities

To receive the notification upgrade, make sure that your deployment has access to the following URLs on port 443 :

• svc.ni.vmware.com
• reg.ni.vmware.com

Notification of new version available:

To check the update notification available on vRealize Network Insight 4.x.0:

1. Go to Settings > Install and Support.
   
   Updates: A new version 4.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx is available!
   Pop Up Notification: Upgrade available!
    
2. Click View details to view details of update. 
3. Click Install Now on details page to download and upgrade the vRealize Network Insight deployment.
4. Verify the upgraded version from the product UI under Settings > About page to be 4.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx.

No notification of new version available:
If no notification is observed on vRealize Network Insight 4.x.0:
Verify that both vRealize Network Insight Platform and Proxy VMs have connectivity to svc.ni.vmware.com on Port 443 and reg.ni.vmware.com on Port 443.

Note: In case this connectivity requires http proxy, configure it on each VM using the set-web-proxy CLI command.


To confirm connectivity from vRealize Network Insight VMs:

1. Run this CLI command on each VM: 
   
   show-connectivity-status
   
   Note: Ensure that the output contains upgrade connectivity status as Passed. For more information, see the vRealize Network Insight Command-Line Interface Reference Guide at VMware vRealize Network Insight Information Center.
    
2. File a support ticket and provide Service tag from the product UI. Service tag is shown under Settings > About page.
3. Provide screenshot of show-connectivity-status CLI command output from each vRealize Network Insight Platform and Proxy VMs. 
   
   After VMware support enables online upgrade, these notification are visible in Settings > Install and Support.
   
   Updates: A new version 4.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx is available!
   Pop Up Notification: Upgrade available!
4. Click View details to view details of update. 
5. Click Install Now on the Details page to download and upgrade the vRealize Network Insight deployment.
   
   Note: Verify the upgraded version from the product UI under Settings > About page to be 4.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx.

 

B. Offline Upgrade

Use this option when both vRealize Network Insight Platform and Proxy VMs do not have access to the internet. You must upgrade Platform VMs before Proxy VMs.

In case of Cluster Upgrade, platform1 must be upgraded first, then the other platforms will upgrade automatically. To confirm platform1 IP address, run this command in CLI:
(cli)ping platform1

1. Download the upgrade bundle file VMWare-vRealize-Network-Insight-4.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx.upgrade.bundle.
2. Copy the upgrade bundle VMWare-vRealize-Network-Insight-4.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx.upgrade.bundle to vRealize Network Insight Platform and Proxy VMs.

To copy the file to vRealize Network Insight VM, use any one of these options:

Option 0 (The quickest way to upgrade) :

1. Go to Settings > Install and Support > Software Version > Click on "Click here" next to "Want to update using an update package" to upload the bundle to the appliances.
2. Click on "Browse" and on "Upload" to start the transfer.
3. Once the upload has been completed, when you are ready, click on "Install Now" to perform the upgrade.



Option 1:

• To copy the file from Linux VM to vRealize Network Insight VM, run this command:
  scp VMWare-vRealize-Network-Insight-3.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx.upgrade.bundle consoleuser@<IP_Address_vRNI_VM>:~/

 

• To copy file from Windows VM to vRealize Network Insight VM, run this command:
  
  Use pscp utility from https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/w64/pscp.exe
  pscp -scp <SOURCE_PATH>\VMWare-vRealize-Network-Insight-3.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx.upgrade.bundle consoleuser@<IP_Address_vRNI_VM>:~/

Option 2:

Log in to vRealize Network Insight Platform CLI using consoleuser and run this command:
(cli) package-installer copy --host 192.168.21.22 --user johndoe --path /path/to/VMWare-vRealize-Network-Insight-4.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx.upgrade.bundle

Note: This command uses SCP to download the bundle from the host where the patch is downloaded, thus SCP server is required to be running on the host.
For more information, see the vRealize Network Insight Command-Line Interface Reference Guide at VMware vRealize Network Insight Information Center.

1. Upgrade the appliance using package-installer upgrade command. 
   
   (cli) package-installer upgrade --name VMWare-vRealize-Network-Insight-4.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx.upgrade.bundle
   
   Note: Upgrade would complete within 30 minutes after this step. 
2. Verify the upgraded version using the show-version command.
   
   (cli) show-version
   
   You see the output similar to:
   
   3.x.0.xxxxxxxxxx
   
   Note: After a successful upgrade, it is not required to reboot the virtual machine.

 

Things to know 

VRNI 3.X: changing the brick size from medium to large size 

Additional Information

For any clarifications and issue troubleshooting, contact Broadcom Support.