Update Sequence for VCF 9.0 and Compatible VMware Products

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

• VCF product components should follow a set of rules for upgrade orders.  Management planes typically get upgraded first. Core SDDC components follow a distinct upgrade order (SDDC Mgr, NSX, VC, ESXi).  Some components can be more flexible and rely on Product Interoperability Matrix
• In the past, for end-to-end upgrades,  KB 317899 and the latest vSphere 8.x upgrade order KB guided the upgrade sequence between overall management software and core SDDC elements.  
• VCF 9.0 Unified Release stipulates a set of product components and two major LCM systems (vRSLCM and SDDC Mgr).  There are some components (e.g., HSM) that Broadcom does not perform lifecycle, but they are critical for ESXi upgrades.   
• Given the increasing need to extend KB 317899 and vSphere 8.x upgrade order KB to cover the entire VCF 9.0 product component list and HSM,  the decision register tracks the upgrade order for VCF 9.0.

Notes:

• Patches can be applied in any order. The upgrade order only matters for major/minor releases.
• HSM lifecycle should be performed based on vendor's recommendation - can be before or after VC upgrades

Environment

VCF 9.0

VMware Aria Suite

Resolution

VCF 9.0 Upgrade Order

Sequence	Component / Target	Action / Notes
0	VCFDT
1	VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle	Patch
2	VCF Operations + VCF Operations fleet management appliance
3	VCF Automation	Parallel step
3	VCF Operations – Networks	Parallel step
4	VCF Operations – Logs	New Installation
5	VADP-based backup
6	VR
7	SRM
8	AVI
9	SDDC Manager
10	HCX
11	NSX
12	vCenter
13	VCF Identity Broker	New Installation
13	Supervisor
14	VSAN witness Host
15	ESXi
15+	NSX Finalize	Runs in conjunction with/after ESXi
16	VMware Tools
17	Virtual Hardware
18	VSAN On-Disk Format / VMFS
19	VSAN Fileservice

Notes:

• VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle does not have an upgrade to 9.0. What's needed here is a VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle  8.18 Patch 2 to begin the upgrade.
• VCF Identity Broker or VIDB  is a new component in VCF 9.0. This can only be installed after VCF Operations, SDDC-Manager, and Management Domain vCenter are on version 9.0.
• There is no upgrade path from VMware Aria Operations for Logs 8.x to 9.0. In VCF 9.0, log management is handled by this new capability inside VCF Operations. VCF Operations-Logs 9.0 has to be installed afresh; users can migrate 90 days of data from VMware Aria Operations for Logs 8.x to VCF Operations-Logs as a Day-N operation. For more information, see Log Data Transfer.
• Adding a few comments/caveats for the fleet management components for the Pre-9.0 → 9.0 upgrade path.
  • VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle, if present, needs to first patched to version VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.18 Patch 2. This patch facilitates
    • Upgrade of VMware Aria Operations 8.14+  to VCF Operations 9.0
    • Deploys VCF Operations fleet management appliance as part of VMware Aria Operations 8.14+ upgrade flow to VCF Operations 9.0
      • fleet management appliance is a new component which provides lifecycle management capabilities for management components in VCF 9.0
• VMware Identity Manager 3.3.x has no in-place upgrade to VCF 9.0. VMware Identity Manager or VIDM will continued to be managed by VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.x
  • All of it's Day-N operations must be performed by VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.x only

Additional Information

VCF 9.0 Tech Doc - Lifecycle Management