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How to upgrade VCSA / vCenter from 7 to 8

Requirements:

  • Login to my.vmware.com (for downloading the ISO and upgrade the license key) Remember to check whether you have the right to upgrade your vcenter license to 8
  • Login to current vCenter (Appliance Root and SSO password)

Start by backuping up your vCenter config, your vCenter and do a Snapshot. Just in case

Lets upgrade to vCenter 8

Download the .ISO to vCenter from my.vmware.com and mount this on a Windows server in your environment.

Go to the vcsa-ui-installer\win32 and open installer.exe

Click on Upgrade

Click Next

Click i Accept the terms of the license agreement.

Click Next

Enter your source vCenter and click Connect to source, and enter credentials for it.

 

vCenter Server Appliance: Current vCenter adress / ip

SSO User name: typical administrator@vsphere.local

SSO Password: put in your password

Appliance (OS) root password: put in your root password

scroll down in the installer, and see next screenshot

ESXI Host or vCenter: Current vCenter adress / ip

User name: typical administrator@vsphere.local

Password: put in your password

Click Next

Clcik Yes, (if you get SSL certificate error)

Specify the target ESXI host that is going to host your new vSphere 8 vCenter. and click Next

Clcik Yes, (if you get SSL certificate error)

Specify the new name for your new vCenter 8 and the root password for it, and click Next

(The name of the new vCenter cannot be a duplicate of the old vCenter you are already running)

Select the Deployment and storage size that fits your setup, i go for the Tiny

Click Next

Select a datastore, and click next

(I will go for thin-disk mode , as my datastores not have enough space for Tick.)

Network: (look at the old vCenter and choose same)

Temporary IP adress: Find a temporary free ip, it will take the ip that the source vcenter server uses, once it’s finished!:

Subnet Mask or prefix length: Typical 255.255.255.0 (Look at you old vCenter)

Default gateway: Fill out your default gateway

DNS Servers: Fill out your DNS server

Click Next

Click Finish

The installer will now start Building and deploy the new vCenter.

After some time, Building the new vCenter are completed

Click Coninue

Click Next

it will make a Pre-upgrade check wait for it to finish

there will most likely be some warnings, check if they need to be solved or it doesn’t matter for your environment,

in my case it’s ok, so I click close

Select what you want upgraded, in my case i only need the Configuration and Inventory, then click Next

Click Next

Check off i have backed up the source vCenter Server and all the required data from the database, and click Finish

You will get a warning that the old vCenter will be switched off, when the network configuration is activated on the new vCenter, click OK

it will now start move the config from the old vCenter, and then turn off the old vCenter.

if you don’t have any vCenter 8 licenses in your environment, you will get this error, click close

The vCenter is know upgraded to 8.

Remeber to upgrade your vCenter 7 license to 8 at my.vmware.com.

Then add and asign the new licens to your new vCenter 8 server

If you are running etc. Veeam backup, then remeber to add credentials for the new vCenter

One thought on “How to upgrade VCSA / vCenter from 7 to 8

  1. IDKW, but this KB article can be challenging to locate. Here’s the link: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/78914

    The VCSA Installation wizard incorrectly detects the storage deployment size of the source vCenter during migration or upgrade (78914)

    Quotes from the KB:
    “…Workaround
    Note: while there are articles available on the Internet, describing how to shrink the disks of the VCSA after you finished the upgrade, please be aware that none of them are officially supported.

    Instead, to work around the issue, you can follow this two-stages approach during upgrade:…”

    “Related Information
    Note: The same approach can be used to downsize a VCSA during the upgrade.
    For example, consider a scenario where the VCSA was originally deployed with XLarge storage size, and the new VCSA should only have a “Large” or “Normal” storage size. However, keep in mind that the new VCSA needs to have enough storage space to accommodate the data imported from the source appliance.”

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