Upgrade vSphere Replication (Live Recovery)
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Upgrade vSphere Replication (Live Recovery)

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Article ID: 375967

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Updated On:

Products

VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

This document will walk you through the known caveats of vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) upgrade.

Environment

vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) 9.x
vSphere Replication 8.x

Cause

The health of the vCenter and vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) can cause a failure to upgrade.

vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) is a plugin and dependent on vCenter's health. vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) will fail to upgrade when vCenter PNID and Hostname/CN=DCName are not consistent in syntax, certificates are expired or CA certificates are implemented wrong. The vCenter embedded platform service controller (PSC) has stale, duplicates, SSL trust issues, and other inaccuracies. 


The vSphere Replication health must not have the following issues:

Connection status
If the vCenter Server address of one site changes, the connection status between the two sites may display as "Not connected". 


SSL certificate
Changing the SSL certificate of vCenter Server may prevent access to vSphere Replication. 


Firewall
An anti-virus agent in the firewall may detect virus data and stop the connection during replication. 


RPO violations
These may occur due to network connectivity problems, changing the IP address, or slow bandwidth. 


Upgrading multiple vCenter Server instances
In an Enhanced Linked Mode environment, upgrading vSphere Replication under more than one vCenter Server instance at the same time may cause replication failures. To avoid this, restart the HMS service after upgrading the vCenter Server components. 


Upgrading the VRS add-on appliance
Upgrading the VRS add-on appliance may fail if the VRS deployment uses the VRMS OVF files instead of the addon OVF files

Resolution


Please check the health of the vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) and vCenter. Open a separate support request for issues found in the vCenter (344917), prior progress on the vSphere Replication upgrade. 

For vSphere Replication (Live Recovery):

  1. Check interoperability of vCenter and vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) and Site Recovery Manager (Live Site Recovery) release.
  2. Remove any problem virtual machines in replication that prevent an upgrade and can not be resolved outside of Configured Protection of vSphere Replication.
  3. Address Site Pairs between the vSphere Replication, which could be related to network KB 312798, hbr service or database issues, and/or ssl certificates and thumbprint.
  4. Disable any firewall anti-virus agent on the switch between the vCenter and vSphere Replication and between vSphere Replication paired site.
  5. Fix all RPO violations related to network issues between the vSphere Replication pairs.
  6. Missing OvfEnv.xml file in vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) KB 324631

 

Prior upgrade

  1. ALWAYS Validate the vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) build number using a Putty session or terminal at the command prompt: login with the 'admin' credentials where the motd will show the release and build number

  2. ALWAYS Download the same release and build number, the exact build number is important, of vSphere Replication (Live Recovery).
                    Download site use the right side dropdown list to find the correct release and confirm the build number matches the installed vSphere Replication (Live Recovery)
  3. ALWAYS export the vSphere Replication configuration. This data is only compatible to import with the same vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) build number.
  4. ALWAYS take a snapshot of the vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) Appliance and Servers prior making any changes. The ability to revert back to a known state is important.


The order of upgrade for Replication (Live Recovery) plugins

  1. The sites are paired then proceed to update (patch) or upgrade (new release).
  2. Upgrade the vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) add-ons, called Servers, first, use the addon OVF files for upgrade.
  3. Upgrade the vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) Appliance, called Management, second, use the VRMS OVF files for upgrade.
  4. After upgrade is complete, login to the ESXi host where the vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) virtual machines(s) reside and power off and back on. This will confirm the correct files on reboot are updated properly.
  5. Login to the VRMS Appliance Management Interface (VAMI) with admin credentials and click on RECONFIGURE
  6. To Pair sites Login to vSphere Client > Menu > Site Recovery > OPEN Site Recovery > View Details > Site Pairs > Summary tab > Reconnect

Additional Information

  • This step is done ONLY if you have taken a snapshot of the vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) virtual machine prior an update or upgrade or changes.
    If the upgrade of the vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) does not complete or fails to pair. Revert the snapshots on both sites and start over with the upgrade process.
  • This step is done ONLY if you have exported the replication configuration data and downloaded the correct build number iso for vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) Appliance.
    If the upgrade of the vSphere Replication (Live Recovery) is not recoverable.  Delete VM from Disk the vSphere Replication virtual machine and deploy the original build number then import the replication configuration data
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