Upgrade from DellEMC VxRail 4.7.300 to 4.7.410

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In my last article I showed how to upgrade from 4.5 to 4.7.  In this article I thought I would make a quick guide from upgrading from 4.7.x to 4.7.x since DellEMC’s documentation is a little off.  Now with the VxRail Manager plug-in capability in vCenter it does finally feel a like a single pane glass management interface.  I hope this article helps anyone who has to upgrade their existing VxRail cluster.

Things that had me excited:

  • VxRail Plug-in gives a single pane glass management feel.
  • I enjoyed seeing that you were provided an estimate as part of the pre-upgrade process
  • I loved the estimated time remaining during the upgrade.
  • Even though I am use to the hosts being rebooted it was nice to see it called out

Additional Articles that may help:
If virtual machines won’t migrate during maintenance mode because VMWare Tools are trying to be installed:
https://digitalthoughtdisruption.com/2020/04/20/vmware-virtual-machine-cant-migrate-vmotion-because-the-virtual-machine-is-installing-vmware-tools-and-cannot-initiate-a-migration-operation-quick-cli-fix/

If you need a PowerCLI Script to Unmount virtual machine ISO’s:
https://digitalthoughtdisruption.com/2020/03/31/powershell-powercli-script-to-list-unmount-iso-on-vmware-vms-prior-to-vxrail-4-5-or-4-7-upgrade/

Pre-Reqs:

Additional but not required Pre-Req:
Since VMs are vMotioned as part of the upgrade, please ensure that VMs are capable of being vMotioned in advance. Examples of issues which may prevent vMotion:

• VM with an ISO mounted

• VM with external storage locally mounted

• VM pinned to a host

Side note: Don’t forget to take a snapshot of the VxRail Manager VM, vCenter and PSC (If external).

If you have NSX – Upgrade first then run the following command on ESXi host to confirm NSX was upgraded:

esxcli software vib list |grep nsx

Useful ruby shell commands to run Prior to upgrade:

Check health of your cluster:

vsan.health.health_summary <cluster number>

Since you must put a host in maintenance mode you should also run:

vsan.whatif_host_failures 1 -s

Confirm your disks are balanced and none are close to 80% full, if close then run a proactive rebalance prior to upgrade:

vsan.disks_stats .

2 x Call out for DellEMC. 
The refresh icon during the upgrade doesn’t work.  You can either refresh the page at the top of the UI of vCenter or wait for the natural screen refresh.

The below screenshot comes directly from your VxRail 4.7 Admin Guide.

Machine generated alternative text:
1. From the main page of the vSphere Client, click Hosts and Clusters in the left navigation 
bar. 
2. Select the VxRail cluster you want to update in the left navigation pane. 
3. Select VxRail Updates from the inner left navigation bar.

As you can see this is not an option:

Machine generated alternative text:
Add 
Alarms 
X Delete 
update Manager 
vSAN 
VxRail 
Health 
Trcubl. 
Status 
Add VxRail Hosts 
Shut Down

As you can see there is no upgrade button

Multi-step Upgrade Process

Machine generated alternative text:
Summary Monitor 
VM/Host Groups 
INTERNET UPDATES 
VM/Host Rules 
VM Overrides 
Host Options 
Host Profile 
I/O Filters 
More 
Alarm Definitions 
Scheduled Tasks 
vSAN 
Services 
Disk Management 
Fault Domains 
VxRail 
System 
updates 
Configure 
permissions 
Hosts 
VMS 
Datastores 
Networks 
Updates 
SYSTEM 
LOCAL UPDATES 
Current VxRail System Version 
Installed On 
Installed Components and Versions 
Dell PTAgent 1.9.2-20 
VMware ESXi 67.0-14320388 
vxRail Manager 47.300-14450150 
VMware vcenter server Appliance 6.70-14368073 
vxRail Manager Via 47.300-14450150 
4.7.300-26108987 
oct 22, 2019, PM

Host & Clusters > Cluster > Configure > VxRail > Updates

Machine generated alternative text:
SYSTEM 
INTERNET UPDATES 
LOCAL UPDATES 
VxRai Local Update 
Select a local VxRaiI update package to upload to your system in order to apply a local update. 
BROWSE...

Select browse and go to the upgrade file

Machine generated alternative text:
Name 
VXRAIL COMPOSITE- 
4.7.410-26262335 
for 
Date modified 
2/6/2020 11:12 AM 
Type 
Compressed (zipp... 
Size

I always like to upload from local updates.  Just ensure you download the correct file from DellEMC support page.

Machine generated alternative text:
SYSTEM 
VxRai Local Update 
LOCAL UPDATES 
4% 
CANCEL UPDATE 
uploading selected update package: VXRAIL COMPOSITE-4.7.410-26262335_for 4.7 .x_zip (376 
Wait for the upload to complete before navigating away from this view. otherwise the upload will not finish properlyt 
171.98 MB / 3.76 ca

This will take a little time to upload.

Machine generated alternative text:
SYSTEM 
LOCAL UPDATES 
CONTINUE UPDATE 
CANCEL UPDATE 
VxRail Update In Progress: Version 4.7.410-26262335 
VxRail is Ready to Update Your Cluster 
G) Estimated Minimum Update Time: 4.9 hours. 
Note: This estimate does not include the time to resynchronize data on the cluster_ Refer to KBS359S6 for more details. 
This update requires host reboot. O 
Before you begin this upgrade, it is highly recommended that create a snapshot of core system VMS (VxRail Manager. vCenter Server Appliance, 
Platform Services Controller, and if applicable, Log Insight and SRS) in case of upgrade failure. 
Refer to KB52399S to make sure there is enough healthy nodes in the cluster. Otherwise, during upgrade, the system may run in degrade state in 
which there is risk of data loss or unavailability. 
Note that GPIJ hardware compatibility may be different for the new version of vSphere software. If you have installed a GPO card since the initial 
cluster configuration, consult with the GPIJ vendor for compatibility suggestions to ensure support with the version of vSphere software included in 
the VxRail Appliance software. 
Components changed by this update: 
VxRail Manager 47410-15257101 (All Platforms) 
Dell PTAgent 19.4-41 (Dell) 
Reboot Required 
Reboot Required 
VxRail Platform service 47410-15257101 (All Platforms) 
DELL iDRAC for 14G 3.36.36.37 (Dell) 
Reboot Required 
Bios for 14G 2.48 (Dell) 
Reboot Required

Verify you have performed the above pre-reqs before clicking continue

Machine generated alternative text:
Update VxRail 
Schedule When to Apply This Update 
1 Schedule 
2 Specification 
Select to update your VxRaiI system now or schedule update for later_ 
3 Summary 
update Now 
C) Schedule update 
CANCEL 
NEXT

You can update now or schedule a date and time for the upgrade to kick off

Machine generated alternative text:
Update VxRail 
1 Schedule 
2 Specification 
3 Summary 
Specification 
Enter necessary information to initiate the upgrade process. 
Required Information to Upgrade VxRail System 
VxRail Manager root account username 
VxRail Manager root account password 
Required Information to Upgrade vCenter 
vCenter administrator account 
username 
vCenter administrator account password 
CANCEL 
BACK

Put in your root and administrator credentials

Machine generated alternative text:
Update VxRail 
Summary 
1 Schedule 
VxRail has all the information to start the update. 
2 Specification 
To initiate the update, click Finish. 
BACK 
FINISH 
3 Summary 
Target Version 
Minimum Estimated Time 
4.7 410-26262335 
4.9 hours 
CANCEL

Click finish and let the upgrade begin

Machine generated alternative text:
SYSTEM 
LOCAL UPDATES 
5% 
Hide Details » 
VxRail Update In Progress: Version 4.7.410-26262335 
The upgrade process may take significant time to complete, you can come back later to check the results. 
Verifying credentials for VMware vCenter Server Appliance administrator account 
Estimated remaining time: 296 minutes 
Verifying credentials for VMware vCenter Server Appliance administrator account 
Verifying credentials for VxRail Manager root account 
Uploading bundle: 
VXRAIL COMPOSITE-4.7.410-26262335_for 4.7.x_zip completed successfully. 
Uploading bundle: QLogic-Network-RDMA-iSCSI-v4.O.139-offline_bundIe-13949884zip with total size: 2 MB. 
Uploading bundle: 
with total size: I MB. 
Uploading bundle: 
VMW-ESX-6.7.o-bnxt-214.o-1-offIine_bundle-14230442.zip with total size: I MB. 
Uploading bundle: 
VMW-ESX-6.7.o-i40en-1.8.6-offIine_bundle-13636624.zip with total size: I MB. 
Uploading bundle: 
VMW-ESX-6.7.o-ixgben-1.7.17-offline_bundle-13940882.zip with total size: 1 MB.

Continue to monitor during the upgrade.  Now you can monitor the firmware updates, maintenance mode, reboot & rinse and repeat from here.

Machine generated alternative text:
SYSTEM 
LOCAL UPDATES 
x 
@ Your VxRail system is successfully upgraded

You’ll get this wonderful message following the upgrade.

Machine generated alternative text:
SYSTEM 
INTERNET UPDATES 
LOCAL UPDATES 
4.7 410-26262335 
Feb 7, 2020, AM 
Current VxRail System Version 
Installed On 
Installed Components and Versions 
Dell 1.9.4-41 
VMware ESXi 6.70-15160138 
vxRail Manager 47.410-15257101 
VMware vcenter server Appliance 6.70-14368073 
vxRail Manager Via 4.7.410-15257101

You can confirm you’re on the right VxRail code level and you are officially done.

Summary:
As you can see in 4.7 the upgrade process has been made easier.  Now that VxRail is a plug-in in vCenter it does give you a single pane glass management interface, which I have wanted for years.  Overall, once you know how to navigate vCenter to upgrade your cluster it is pretty straight forward.  As always I just hope this article is useful.

One comment

  1. Thanks for a great page on this latest upgrade Paul! You noticed an issue in the steps to start the upgrade. I will take note and get that fixed! : ) Many thanks, Ed

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