Upgrade Sequence and Related Issues for VMware Cloud Foundation and vSphere Foundation 9.1

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation
• VMware vSphere Foundation

Issue/Introduction

A mandatory component upgrade sequence must be followed when upgrading the environment to version 9.1. Workload domains can be upgraded later as an optional Day-N procedure.

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 introduces enhancements designed to simplify private cloud infrastructure management:

• VCF Management Services: VCF 9.1 introduces a common runtime and a unified set of components for lifecycle and operational capabilities. This architecture layer is a mandatory, required part of the deployment. For more information, see Components in VCF and vSphere Foundation.
• Decommissioning of the 9.0 Fleet Management Appliance: VCF 9.1 completely replaces the standalone Fleet Management Appliance introduced in version 9.0. It is replaced with two new services—Fleet Lifecycle and SDDC Lifecycle—which run natively within VCF Management Services. The Fleet Management appliance is powered down and ready to be decommissioned.
• Introduction of the Centralized VCF License Server: A new appliance that centralizes license management, offering flexible scaling and local control. The license server is a required component for VCF and vSphere Foundation environments.
• Consolidation of the 9.0 VMware Identity Broker (vIDB): In VCF 9.1, the external multi-node appliance cluster used for vIDB in VCF 9.0 is migrated directly into VCF Management Services, and the standalone VMs are powered down and ready to be decommissioned.

Environment

• VMware vSphere Foundation 9.1.
• VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.

Resolution

Table of Contents

1. Upgrading from VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.x or 9.0.x to 9.1
2. Upgrading to vSphere Foundation 9.1
3. Common Related Issues

Follow the appropriate upgrade guide below based on the current version.

Upgrading from VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.x or 9.0.x to 9.1

1. Upgrading from VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.x to 9.1
2. Upgrading from VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.x to 9.1

Upgrading to vSphere Foundation 9.1

1. Upgrading to vSphere Foundation 9.1
2. Upgrading from standalone components of vSphere 8 and Aria Operations 8 to 9.1

Common Related Issues

An incorrect upgrade path can trigger the errors described in the following KBs.

1. VCF 9.1 upgrade binaries do not show up in VCF Operations 9.0.
2. Unable to license vCenter after upgrading to 9.1, One or more vCenter instances are not connected to a license server.
3. Licenses could not be assigned to vCenters, license assignment failure on VCF 9.1.
4. Upgrading VCF Operations from 9.0.2 to 9.1 returns sync error when upgrading ESXi host.