Proactive NSX Upgrade Cases

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

Prerequisites to be followed before opening Proactive NSX Upgrade Cases:

• Cases must be opened 10 business days in advance of the upgrade window.
• Cases should be opened as Severity 4.
• Upgrade prechecks must be run in advance and report any issues that cannot be resolved.
• Collect the NSX Manager logs (don't set log age), also the precheck results file for upload to the new Case.
• Read the target version Release Notes and be aware of Known Issues.
• Confirm the target NSX version is compatible with other products in the environment. Also confirm the NSX upgrade path is supported. Reference Interop Matrix.
• If this is a VCF environment, open a proactive Case with VCF Support.
• Validate NSX backup and restore functionality and ensure the passphrase is known. 
• Ensure ports required for the upgrade are open e.g. 443/8080 see Required Ports.
• Action and resolve any open Medium or Critical Alarms.
• If a bespoke Upgrade runbook is being followed ensure it is aligned with the official Upgrade Guide.
• VMware advise to upgrade to the latest available version of either 3.2.x or 4.x.

VMware by Broadcom Support will: 

• Ensure precheck issues are resolved.
• Validate the target version and advise if a newer one is available.
• Review Manager logs for known issues that may impact the upgrade.
• If a proactive Case is not raised with sufficient notice of 10 days, it will not be possible to offer log review and precheck resolution within the planned timeframe. 

Please complete the following template when opening the Case: 

• Upgrade Date & Time:
• NSX from version:
• NSX to version  :
• VCF from version:
• VCF to version:
• No. of VM Edges:
• No. of Bare Metal Edges:
• No. of Hosts:
• No. of Managers:
• vLCM environment?: 
• Upgrade Prechecks Passed?:  
• Federation?: 
• Security Only?: 
• NCP/Antrea?:

Upgrade Recommendations:

• It is recommended to retain locally the NSX logs collected when opening the proactive Case until the upgrade has completed successfully.
• Prepare a contingency plan to allow the upgrade maintenance window to be extended should a failure occur.
• After completing the Edge and Host upgrade and before starting the NSX Manager upgrade, take another backup.
• If an upgrade failure occurs, please request an uplift in case severity.
• NSX Manager failures can be rolled back from version 3.2.1 and above see Upgrade Guide. 

Resolution

Open a Upgrade Awareness Case via Broadcom Support.

The purpose of a proactive Upgrade Case is to prepare in advance for the NSX upgrade.

This is not an exhaustive health check of the environment, if this is required please engage VMware by Broadcom Professional Services.

*Please note: Broadcom Support will not be able to provide dedicated support to be on standby during the maintenance window.  If you experience issues during your scheduled change, please reach out on your proactive case and request an uplift in severity and the next available technical support engineer will contact you.