On 26 October 2017, VMware released VMware vCenter Server 6.5 Update 1b. In this article I will show you how to easily update vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) from version 6.5.x to the latest 6.5 Update 1b using vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface (VAMI). This version is also identified by version number 6.5.01100 and build number 6816762 (you can check KB2143838 for all vCenter build and version numbers – unfortunately VMware is a little behind to update this KB article).
Note: If you look for VCSA installation instructions, check this article: How to Install VCSA 6.5 (VMware vCenter Server Appliance).
In my case, I will update vCenter Server Appliance from 6.5.0.5500 build 5318154 to the latest 6.5.0.11000 build 6816762. I will start by accessing VAMI, on port 5480 of the vCenter Server (https://vcenter.lab.local:5480/ for my lab). I will authenticate with root user and corresponding password.
Update vCenter Server Appliance to 6.5 Update 1b
Once authenticated, the Summary page will load. Please note the displayed vCenter Server Appliance version (6.5.0.5500 in my case). Click on “Update” link on the left menu.
Update page is loading. Click on “Check Updates” button on top-right side of the page.
Now click on “Check Repository” button.
Click on “More Details”.
A ton of information about our environment and the available update is displayed on the page now. We see current version of the VCSA. We see that we run an embedded Platform Services Controller. Moving to “Available Updates” section, we see a reboot will be required after the update process is complete, we see the version to which we will update (6.5.0.1100 Build Number 6816762), we have a patch description (VC-6.5.0U1b-Appliance-FP, which is an abbreviation for vCenter 6.5.0 Update 1b Appliance Full Patch), we see the release date (27 October 2017), we see severity (Critical), and we see a link to KB2151741.
Back to larger view of the Update page, click on “Install Updates” button, and then on “Install All Updates”.
It’s time for End User License Agreement. Click on “End User License Agreement” link and read it. Check the “I accept…” checkbox. Please note the warning: this page might refresh multiple times during update. If the page refreshes, just wait, don’t hit refresh button on your browser. Once you accepted the EULA, click the “Install” button.
Update vCenter Server Appliance process begins. Click on “Show details” button to have more information about the progress.
We are in staging packages step now. Wizard will stay here for some time, it depends on how many packages we need to update and it depends on the available bandwidth. In my case it took 4 minutes.
If you are worried that the process is stuck, you can check the network traffic statistics for the vCenter Server Appliance.
Staging packages step is completed, and we move to updates testing.
Quickly we will move to “running pre-install scripts” step.
And finally, we’re to the last step of the wizard, updating packages.
In my case, after roughly 5 minutes and a half, the update process was completed. Click “OK” to close the wizard.
Go back to “Summary” page and click on “Reboot” button.
Confirm the reboot operation by clicking on “Yes” button.
vCenter Server Appliance is going to reboot shortly.
Update vCenter Server Appliance Process Confirmation
After the reboot process is completed, login page is displayed. Use root user to authenticate.
Go to “Update” page and click “Check Updates” one more time. You will see the new version listed (6.5.0.1100 build number 6816762), release date 26 October 2017, and a beautiful “Update Status”: Latest updates already installed on vCSA, nothing to stage/install.
This concludes my demonstration on updating vCenter Server Appliance from 6.5.x to 6.5 Update 1b. Happy VM management 🙂
