Handling vCenter Server updates across multiple sites with limited internet access creates operational annoyances. Downloading ISO files for each instance, manually transferring them, and repeating the process for every vCenter consumes valuable time and resources for really big environments.
In this article I will use centralized offline update repository using an on-premises web server. This allows to host VMware's update bundles once and serve them to all vCenter Servers across infrastructure.
This helps in increased Bandwidth Efficiency as I don’t have to download large update files (8GB) in different location, this ensures consistency in all environments which uses same vCenter update binaries and updates. This is very good for secured environments without internet egress such as DMZ. It can audited properly with centralized control of vCenter update binaries.
I have downloaded latest vCenter Update Repo zip file from Broadcom VMware website.
For this demo you will require a Web server with https SSL certificate, which is one of the requirement to use with VMware vCenter update repository settings. For quick setup and POC purpose in my lab I am using XAMPP web server, It is installed on Microsoft Windows system. Under default location C:\xampp\htdocs I have created a folder vc_patches. In the same location I have kept the vCenter updaterepo.zip file and unzipped it. After unzipping zip file completely you will see 2 folder - manifest and package-pool. Once this based setup is ready test the URL in browser and check shown folders are visible.
Before upgrading vCenter Server I always take snapshot of the vCenter VM. In case something goes wrong I can revert to old version of vCenter virtual machine.
To start updating vCenter open its management URL with port 5480. Note down the current version detail version of vCenter server. In the navigation pane go to Update, then click SETTINGS button. In the Repository Settings click specified and add the web URI earlier configured and Save the configuration.
Following go to CHECK UPDATES and click Check CD ROM + URL from the list. New version will appear immediately, Select it and click STAGE AND INSTALL link.
It starts the vCenter updating process, In the first step Accept End user license agreement (EULA) and click NEXT.
In the next section I see some warning related to Pre-Update Check Results.
Warning 1: Files that cannot be used with Lifecycle Manager will not be copied from the source. These file include VM guest OS patch baselines, host upgrade baselines and files, and ESXi 6.5 and lower version host patches baselines. It's resolution is review VMware Lifecycle Manager Documentations for details.
Warning 2: File-based backup of the vCenter Server has not been created, to resolved this warning perform a file-based backup of the vCenter server.
I will just Ignore and Continue both the warnings as I don't have any ESXi 6.x version in my infrastructure. And for second warning instead of File based backup I took temporary snapshot of vCenter VM in my lab, in case any unforeseen event It can be reverted to snapshot to recover it. For Production environment it is always recommended to take proper vCenter file based backup and other measures.
As said earlier it is recommended that you backup vCenter Server properly before installing any update or patch on vCenter Server. Additionally before update process automatically creates a LVM snapshot based backup of your vCenter. The Estimated downtime to vCenter server is around 33 minutes. Check the box for I have backed up vCenter Server and its associated databases and click Finish button.
Installation of update progress starts.
Once everything goes as per the plan you will see Installation Succeeded and complete, click close.
Reopen or refresh page and login to vCenter Server Management with port number 5480. Check the version and do the complete sanity checks of vCenter server to verify everything is working good. In the last do not forget to delete snapshot.
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