The VMware Aria Operations upgrade from version 8.18.3 to 8.18.5 is hanging at stage 6 of 14 on the primary node during the upgrade process.

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

When upgrading VMware Aria Operations from version 8.18.3 to 8.18.5, the upgrade process may fail or hang.

This behavior is typically observed while applying the Assessment Tool (APUAT) pak file or the actual upgrade patch file.

The following symptoms are present:

• The VMware Aria Operations admin UI displays a progress status of "6 of 14 completed on primary node and 1 of 14 on other two nodes".
• Finish and Cancel installation options are not responding.
• The upgrade does not progress beyond this stage.

Environment

 

VMware Aria Operations 8.18.x

 

Cause

The cluster enters an inconsistent state, often due to a corrupted node during initial upgrade attempts or subsequent recovery efforts (such as node additions or snapshot restores).

This leaves redundant or corrupted data in the httpd configuration and vcopsPakManager history, which prevents the casa-b2b service from executing correctly and blocks the upgrade communication.

Resolution

To resolve the upgrade failure and clear the inconsistent cluster state, follow these steps:

1. Clear Stale Installation Files

Establish an SSH session to all nodes in the cluster.

Locate and remove the APUAT PAK file from the local repository on all nodes: rm /storage/db/pakRepolocal/APUAT-for-8.14x-8.18.x.pak

Verify the removal by running: ls /storage/db/pakRepolocal/ | grep APUAT

2. Repair Web Services

On the primary node, open the httpd configuration file: vi /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

Locate and delete the following redundant section:

ProxyTimeout 600
<LocationMatch "/casa/upgrade/cluster/pak/.*/operation/install">
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass http://127.0.0.1:8000/ disablereuse=Off
ProxyPassReverse http://127.0.0.1:8000/
</LocationMatch>

<LocationMatch "/casa/upgrade/cluster/pak/.*/operation/cancel_stage">
ProxyPass http://127.0.0.1:8000/ disablereuse=Off
ProxyPassReverse http://127.0.0.1:8000/
</LocationMatch>

Restart the HTTP service: service httpd restart

Verify the casa-b2b service status and restart it: service casa-b2b restart

3. Cleanup Upgrade History

On the primary node only, cd /storage/vcops/user/conf take a back up of vcopsPakManagerCommonHistory.json using the command cp /storage/vcops/user/conf/vcopsPakManagerCommonHistory.json /storage/vcops/user/conf/vcopsPakManagerCommonHistory.json.backup

open the following file: vi /storage/vcops/user/conf/vcopsPakManagerCommonHistory.json

Carefully remove any JSON objects containing the following entries (ensure you maintain valid JSON syntax):

"pak": "vRealizeOperationsManagerEnterprise-818524967113"

"pak": "APUAT-for-814x-818524965648"

4. Resume Upgrade

Log in to the Admin UI and re-run the Aria Operations Assessment Tool (APUAT) 

Once the assessment completes successfully, proceed with the VMware Aria Operations 8.18.5 cluster upgrade.