Guidelines to upgrade to VCF 5.2.x with Async Patched vCenters (7.0U3T, 8.0U2E, 8.0U3D)

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation
• VMware Cloud Foundation 4.x
• VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

VCF customers running on versions 4.x and 5.x who have updated to async patches (such as vCenter 7.0U3t) may encounter issues when attempting to upgrade to VCF 5.2.0.0 or 5.2.1.0.

This issue arises with Async Patch vCenter versions that were released after the target VCF release version, making the upgrade incompatible.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x

VMware Cloud Foundation 4.x

Cause

The underlying cause is that the security patches applied to vCenter (e.g., 7.0U3t) are newer than the corresponding VCF versions available at the time of the upgrade attempt.

As a result, compatibility checks fail during the upgrade process, preventing the system from progressing to the desired VCF version.

Resolution

To bypass this issue and successfully upgrade to VCF 5.x, follow these steps: 

Management Domain Upgrade: 

1. Plan the upgrade to the target VCF Version
2. Upgrade SDDC Manager to the target VCF Version
3. Disable upgrade compatibility checks by following the steps from KB 323368
4. Edit the upgrade plan - change the vCenter target version to the desired vCenter version that it should be at, or that it can be upgrade to
5. Validate selection - Confirm and Save plan.
6. Continue with the vCenter upgrade, and the upgrades for the rest of the Management WLD.
        

Workload Domain Upgrade: 

1. Disable upgrade compatibility checks by following the steps from KB 323368.
2. Restart Lifecycle Management by running: systemctl restart lcm
3. Plan the upgrade → Select target VCF release → Customize Upgrade → Change vCenter Target version to the desired target version.
4. Validate selection - Confirm and Save plan.
5. Continue with the WLD upgrades

 

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For example:

VCF 4.5.2.0 with vCenter Patched to 7.0U3T, Plans to upgrade to VCF 5.2.0.0/VCF 5.2.1.0.

Management Domain :

• Plan Upgrade to VCF 5.2.0.0
• Upgrade the SDDC Manager to 5.2.0.0
• Disable upgrade compatibility checks by following the steps from KB 323368
• Edit Upgrade Plan, Select Target version as VCF 5.2.0.0, Change vCenter target version from 8.0.3.00100 to 8.0.3.00400 [8.0U3D] or greater
• Validate Selection - Confirm and Save Plan 
• Continue with vCenter upgrade.

Workload Domain :

• Disable upgrade compatibility checks by following the steps from KB 323368
• Plan Upgrade → Select Release VCF 5.2.0.0 → Customise Upgrade → Change vCenter Target version from 8.0.3.00100 to 8.0.3.00400 aka 8.0U3D or greater → Confirm and Save Plan 
• Continue with WLD upgrades.

 

Additional Information

Refer to KB Article for more details on bypassing upgrade compatibility checks:

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/323368/bypass-sddc-manager-upgrade-compatibilit.html