vCenter Server 7.0.0a

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.0a

VMware released a new vCenter Server version: 7.0.0a, 7.0.0.10300, build 16189094. In this article I cover the resolved issues and I show how easy is to update from the previous version of vCenter Server 7.0.0 to the latest 7.0.0a. I also include few images with the new update notification features from vSphere Client.

In case you are looking for an upgrade demonstration from vCenter Server 6.7 to vCenter Server 7.0.0, you can check my other article: How to Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance from 6.7 to 7.0 – Stage 1.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a – Resolved Issues

This release of vCenter Server 7.0.0a delivers the following patch:

  • Patch for VMware vCenter Server Appliance 7.0.0a (VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-7.0.0.10300-16189094-patch-FP.iso)

The patch resolves a vSAN issue: vSphere Lifecycle Manager and vSAN File Services cannot be simultaneously enabled on a vSAN cluster. With vCenter Server 7.0.0a you can enable both vSAN File Services and vSphere Lifecycle Manager at the same time on a cluster.

Upgrade from vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3g to vCenter Server 7.0.0a is not supported. Upgrade is supported though from older versions of vCenter Server 6.7. You can check KB67077 for the upgrade matrix.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a – Upgrade Issues

The 7.0.0a patch introduced 2 known issues:

  • In environments with vCenter Server High Availability enabled, patching a witness or passive node might fail with a message similar to: ​RuntimeError: unidentifiable C++ exception. Workaround: Disable vCenter Server High Availability. Apply patches to your vCenter Server system. Re-enable vCenter Server High Availability.
  • If you have a TLS configuration for the VC Storage Clients service different from the default TLS 1.2 only, the TLS version might revert to the default after patching your vCenter Server system to vCenter Server 7.0.0a. Workaround: Use the TLS Configuration utility to enable or disable TLS versions on your vCenter Server system after the update.

How to Update to vCenter Server 7.0.0a

vCenter Server 7.0.0 introduced a notification feature regarding the available updates (thanks go to Niels Hagoort for signaling the feature). You can see notifications and run a pre-check right inside the normal vSphere Client. In the top region of the client you can see a big blue banner. Also, if you click on the vCenter Server, next to the current version you can see a blue button “Updates Available”. Click on “Updates Available” or on “View Updates”.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - Notification in vSphere Client

We can see now the Update Planner. We can now run the pre-upgrade checks (these are the same checks that can be run from the appliance management console). Select the update, Click “Generate Report” and then click “Pre-Update Checks”.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - Update Planner

All good in my case, we are ready to proceed with the upgrade.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - Pre-Update Checks

Go to the appliance management console (https://<vCSA-FQDN>:5480/ – in my case that will be https://vcenter.cloudhat.local:5480/) using the root appliance password. Navigate to Update menu. We can see current version is 7.0.0.10100 and we have an available update to 7.0.0.10300 (which is vCenter Server 7.0.0a). Click on “Stage and install” link.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - Stage and Install

From now on, it is a pretty standard vCenter Server upgrade. Accept End user license agreement and click “Next”.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - End User License Agreement

We can choose now if we want to join Customer Experience Improvement Program. Make your choice and click “Next”.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - CEIP

Next wizard section asks us to confirm we took a backup of the current vCenter. Click “Finish” when done with the backup.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - Backup

The installation process starts now.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - Installing

After going through more installation stages, the vCenter services will get started and the installation will be complete.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - Installation Complete

Reloading the vCenter Server appliance management console, we see now the new build, 16189094.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - build 16189094

As usual, I also go to the vSphere Client to confirm the version. Here I got a surprise, the blue “Updates Available” notification is still there and the build version is shown as 16189207. It’s not the old build number (15952599), it’s not the new one (16189094), it’s something in between.

vCenter Server 7.0.0a - build 16189207

The strange build number (16189207) is not in the official KB for vCenter build numbers and versions, actually at the moment of writing this article I can’t find any reference to the exact number. David Stamen reported same issue about the updates still available, it remains to be seen how this evolves 🙂

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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