VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b

VMware released a new vCenter Server version: 6.7 Update 3b, 6.7.0.42000, build 15132721. In this article I will cover the resolved issues and I will show how easy is to update from a previous version of vCenter Server 6.7 to VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b.

In case you are looking for a plain installation of vCenter Server 6.7, you can check my other article: How to Install VCSA 6.7 (VMware vCenter Server Appliance).

Resolved Issues

This release of vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b delivers the following patches:

  • Security Patch for VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b (applicable for vCenter Server for Windows, Platform Services Controller for Windows, and vSphere Update Manager.; updates JRE version to 1.8.0_221)
  • Full Patch for VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 Update 3b (Product Patch for vCenter Server Appliance containing VMware software fixes, security fixes, and Third Party Product fixes)

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2 resolves plenty of issues with vMotion, backup, upgrades, VSAN UI, convergence, VM management, and networking.

  • Software components updates:
    • VMware Postgres updated to version 9.6.15
    • SQLite updated to version 3.29.0
    • BZip2 updated to version 1.0.8
    • SLF4J updated to version 1.7.28
    • Oracle (Sun) JRE updated to version 1.8.221
    • A pache Log4j Core 2.8.x branch updated to 2.8.2 and the 1.2.x branch to 1.2.17
    • cURL in the vCenter Server Appliance is updated to 7.65.3
    • OpenSSL updated to version openssl-1.0.2s
    • Spring Framework updated to version 4.3.25
    • Apache Tomcat updated to version 8.5.45
    • Eclipse Jetty upgraded to version 9.4.20
    • Apache Commons collections updated to version 3.2.2
    • Expat XML parser updated to version 2.2.7
  • Vpxd service may fail when deploying virtual machines from templates
  • You may see duplicate IP addresses for VMs with multiple NICs after vpxd restart
  • vCenter Server stops responding and the vpxd service continuously fails at VMware vSphere Storage DRS recommendations
  • Backups scheduled by using the vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface do not delete old backups according to retention policy on SMB and NFS shares
  • Multiple static routes defined for eth0 cause file-based backup to fail
  • You cannot run certificate-related API calls after an update from vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2 to 6.7 Update 2a or 6.7 Update 2c
  • vCenter Server upgrades might fail due to Windows Authenticator error
  • vCenter Server upgrade to 6.7.x might fail while starting the Content Library service
  • Patching vCenter Server 6.7.x with vCenter Server High Availability enabled might fail
  • VMware vSphere Storage DRS system calculations for space utilization might override user-defined settings
  • vSAN UI does not appear in vSphere Client after upgrade to 6.7 Update 3
  • Cannot enable vSAN performance service in vSphere Client
  • Converging a vCenter Server instance with an external Platform Services Controller to a vCenter Server instance with an embedded Platform Services Controller fails with an STS system tenant error
  • Convergence of a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller to a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller connected in Embedded Linked Mode fails after the first node is converged
  • A scheduled task to take snapshots of multiple virtual machines might start immediately instead of at the scheduled time
  • If a vCenter Server system is joined to a child Active Directory domain and has added it as a vCenter Single Sign-On identity source, you cannot reconfigure it by using the CLI sso-config utility
  • Authenticating Active Directory users by using SmartCard or eToken fails with a permission error
  • Active Directory authentication or joining a domain is slow
  • Users cannot log in to a vCenter Server system due to a domain offline issue
  • After a change in the host name or FQDN, virtual machines guest OS customization might fail
  • After migration of virtual machines by using vSphere Storage vMotion, the VM Summary tab might not display the updated storage usage field
  • Duplicate DNS records after configuring a vCenter Server High Availability environment might interrupt access to the vCenter Server system

There are also few known issues in VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b:

  • VMware Service Lifecycle Manager restarts the vpxd service every couple of days (Workaround: Disable Storage I/O Control for datastores with a large amount of connected ESXi hosts or reduce the number of connected hosts.)
  • After updating to vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3, the rsyslog service stops forwarding logs after some time (Workaround: To resume forwarding logs to the configured remote server, restart the syslog service by using the command systemctl restart syslog)

How to Update to vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b

I will demonstrate an online update from vCenter Appliance Management console. I logged in to the appliance management console (https://<vCSA-FQDN>:5480/) using the root appliance password, then I navigated to Update menu. I can see my current version is 6.7.0.41000 and I have an available update to 6.7.0.42000 (which is vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b). I will click on “Stage and install” link.

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b - Check Update Availability

Next step is to accept the end user license agreement (EULA). Check the “I accept…” checkbox and click on “Next”.

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2 - End User License Agreement

The installer will run pre-update checks now. If everything is in order, the wizard will jump to the next screen. You can see a downtime estimation (which proved to be extremely overestimated; in my case the upgrade took around 5 minutes instead of the estimated 369). Confirm you have a backup of vCenter Server and click on “Finish”.

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b - Backup Server

The wizard will pass through a series of updates while the vCenter Server is upgraded.

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2 - Installation in Progress
VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2 - Stopping Services
VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2 - Installing Packages

After some time we will be logged out from the appliance. Wait few minutes and then you can log back in.

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2 - Appliance Management Login

Installation is now completed!

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2 - Installation Completed

Going on the Summary page of the Appliance Management console, you can see the new version: 6.7.0.42000, build 15132721.

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b - Status

Hapy VM management 🙂

Constantin Ghioc

I usually play with vSphere API, Ansible, vRealize Automation, vRealize Orchestrator, and different AWS tools. In my other life I’m a husband and a father, an amateur photographer and a Go enthusiast.

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