VxRail ™ SolVe Generator

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Topic
VxRail Software Upgrade Procedures
Selections
Select the VxRail Appliance Model: VxRail P570/P570F
Select the Installed VxRail Software Version: v4.7.300
Select the Target VxRail Software Version: v4.7.410
Select your current VxRail Configuration: VxRail Cluster - non-vSAN Stretched Cluster

Generated: April 22, 2020 10:24 AM GMT

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Copyright © 2019 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved.

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MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-
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publication requires an applicable software license.

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trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.

Publication Date: April, 2020

EMC Confidential Information version: 3.8.7.2

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 Contents
Preliminary Activity Tasks .......................................................................................................3
Read, understand, and perform these tasks.................................................................................................3

Data-in-Place upgrade solution from v4.7.30x/400 to v4.7.410 ..............................................4

Summary:......................................................................................................................................................4
Materials Required:.......................................................................................................................................4
Preparation: ..................................................................................................................................................4
VxRail Cluster Upgrade ................................................................................................................................5
Task 1: [Optional] Configure alarm definition for Email notification...............................................5
Task 2: Take a snapshot of the service Virtual Machines.............................................................6
Task 3: Upgrade from v4.7.30x/400 to v4.7.410 ...........................................................................7
Task 4: Remove snapshots of the service Virtual Machines.......................................................19
Task 5: Mystic Service account password change (Optional).....................................................22

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Preliminary Activity Tasks
This section may contain tasks that you must complete before performing this procedure.

Read, understand, and perform these tasks

1. [ ] Table 1 lists tasks, cautions, warnings, notes, and/or knowledgebase (KB) solutions that you
need to be aware of before performing this activity. Read, understand, and when necessary perform
any tasks contained in this table and any tasks contained in any associated knowledgebase solution.

Table 1 List of cautions, warnings, notes, and/or KB solutions related to this activity

529655: VxRail: VxRail 4.7.x upgrade fails on ESXi host with secure boot enabled

530299: VxRail: Upgrade VxRail to 4.7 with NSX

539930: VxRail: LCM failed to expand /data/store2 partition on VxRail manager

2. [ ] This is a link to the top trending service topics. These topics may or not be related to this activity.
This is merely a proactive attempt to make you aware of any KB articles that may be associated with
this product.
VxRail Appliance Top Service Topics

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IMPORTANT: Please confirm whether a customer is using RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines (RP4VM)
in the VxRail cluster, prior to upgrading VxRail. RP4VM must be upgraded prior to upgrading VxRail to
prevent a DRU/DU issue on the VxRail cluster!

Note: It is highly advisable to monitor node reboots through IDRAC/BMC interfaces to detect boot related
issues.

Data-in-Place upgrade solution from v4.7.30x/400 to v4.7.410

CAUTION: Upgrades may fail from VxRail versions 4.7.x on ESXi host with secure boot enable. Please
refer to KB529655 for details and workaround.

Note: This upgrade procedure can be applied for customers in Greater China.

Summary:
This procedure describes the steps required to perform a data-in-place upgrade on a VxRail Appliance
from v4.7.300, v4.7.301 or v4.7.400 to v4.7.410.

IMPORTANT: Users upgrading from VxRail v4.7.300 may need to perform manual steps after
completing the v4.7.410 upgrade to implement some of the security mitigations. For a description of these
issues and a link to the mitigation procedure, review the MCEPSC vulnerability described in the “Security
fixes” section of the release notes.
IMPORTANT: For users upgrading from VxRail Appliance software v4.7.300 to v4.7.410: If you applied
any workaround from KB 537948 to mitigate the “Excessive Hardware health alarms being triggered for
"Sensor -1 type" on ESXi hosts running vSphere 6.7 U3” issue, please review KB 539130 to learn
whether you need to reverse any workarounds after completing the v4.7.410 upgrade.
IMPORTANT: If the VxRail Manager SSL certificate has been changed, please refer to the following
EMC Knowledgebase solution 530378 (How to prevent vCenter plugin issue caused by VxRail Manager
SSL certificate mismatch) before proceeding with the upgrade.
IMPORTANT: Flex Client via IE 11 is inaccessible post entering credentials after upgrade to vCenter
6.5U3f and vCenter 6.7 U3b (76755)
IMPORTANT: For details, refer to VMware KB:
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/76755?lang=en_US

Materials Required:
There is no need to load the file locally when performing an Internet connected upgrade. The upgrade file
will be auto downloaded from support.emc.com.
If not internet connected, the following file will need to be downloaded from
https://support.emc.com/products/39970 and made locally available.
 File name: VXRAIL_COMPOSITE-4.7.410-xxx_for_4.7.x.zip

Preparation:
1. [ ] Log into vCenter Server using HTLM5 Client with administrative privileges.
1. [ ] Make sure the VxRail appliance is in a healthy state. Address any issues found prior to starting
the upgrade process.

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 a. Navigate to Home > Hosts and Clusters > VxRail-Cluster.
b. Select Monitor > Issues and Alarms > All issues
c. Verify the VxRail cluster health status
2. [ ] Confirm VxRail appliance is currently running version v4.7.300, v4.7.301 or v4.7.400.

a. Navigate to Home > Hosts and Clusters > VxRail-Cluster.

b. Click Cluster > Configure > VxRail> System.

Figure 1 Review the version

CAUTION: If this VxRail Cluster is joining an External vCenter, please check the VxRail and External
vCenter Interoperability Matrix: https://support.emc.com/kb/520355. v4.7.410 recommends External
VCenter upgrade to 6.7 U3. Please set Cluster Health Monitoring to Muted mode in the VxRail Manager
GUI prior to upgrading external vCenter to avoid false alerts

VxRail Cluster Upgrade

Task 1: [Optional] Configure alarm definition for Email notification
If email notification is needed during LCM upgrade, please follow KB524924.
Email notification will be sent out with below stages
 When the cluster starts to do LCM upgrade, email notification about LCM upgrade starting will be sent
out.
 For each node
 When the node starts upgrade, email notification about node upgrade starting will be sent out.
 When the node completes upgrade, email notification about node upgrade completion will be sent
out.

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  Any node upgrade failure, email notification about node upgrade failure will be sent out.
 When the cluster completes LCM upgrade, email notification about LCM upgrade completion will be
sent out.

Task 2: Take a snapshot of the service Virtual Machines

 VxRail Manager VM
 VMware vCenter Server Appliance VM (if using embedded)
 VMware vCenter Server Platform Services Controller VM (if using embedded)
 VMware vRealize Log Insight VM (if using VxRail deployed syslog)
 ESRS VE VM (if call home is enabled and using VxRail Manager deployed ESRS)

1. [ ] Log into the vSphere Web Client.

2. [ ] Navigate to Hosts and Clusters.

Figure 2

3. [ ] Take a snapshot of a service VM. For example, VxRail Manager. Right-click VxRail Manager >
Snapshots > Take Snapshot.

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 Figure 3

4. [ ] Enter a name and click OK.

Figure 4

5. [ ] Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each of the remaining service VM’s.

Task 3: Upgrade from v4.7.30x/400 to v4.7.410

1. [ ] Click VxRail Cluster > Configure > VxRail > Updates.

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 Figure 5 Click Local Upgrade

2. [ ] If the cluster is not internet enabled, skip to step 6 to perform the LOCAL UPDATES option.
3. [ ] If connected to the internet, the INTERNET UPDATES button can be selected to automatically
get the required file.

Note: Screen shots may differ depending on the running VxRail version.

Figure 6

4. [ ] If the support account is not already set, you will be required to enter your Support username and
password then press Login you will then be prompted to select INTERNET UPDATES again.

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 Figure 7

5. [ ] The required file will begin to be downloaded. When completed, skip to step 10.
6. [ ] If the Cluster is not internet enabled, select the LOCAL UPDATES button.

Note: Screen shots may differ depending on the running VxRail version.

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 Figure 8

7. [ ] Click BROWSE.

Figure 9

8. [ ] In the open file dialog, navigate to the upgrade composite package file, VXRAIL_COMPOSITE-
4.7.410-xxx_for_4.7.x.zip, previously downloaded and saved locally, and then click Open to select.

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 Figure 10

9. [ ] The upload progress begins.

Figure 11

10. [ ] The upload progress can be monitored on the screen.

Figure 12

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11. [ ] Extraction and pre-checking will begin automatically.

Figure 13

12. [ ] Click the Continue button to start the upgrade.

Note: Screen shots may differ depending on the running VxRail version.

Figure 14

13. [ ] Choose option A to immediately begin the update or option B to schedule the update for a later
date and time:
Option A: Select Update Now and click NEXT.

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 Figure 15

Option B: Select Schedule Update, enter the date and time for the update to begin and click
NEXT.

Figure 16

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14. [ ] Input the usernames and passwords as prompted. Input fields will differ depending on whether
you are using an external vCenter or internal vCenter. Click NEXT to continue.

Figure 17 Enter the information

15. [ ] Click FINISH to start the update process.

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 Figure 18

16. [ ] The upgrade progress can be monitored on the screen.

Note: Screen shots may differ depending on the running VxRail version.

Figure 19

Note: If you are logged out of the VxRail Manager GUI, you can relaunch it by selecting VxRail Cluster >
Configure > VxRail > Updates.

IMPORTANT: VxRail V4.7.100 and higher no longer runs through VxRail Manager. vCenter is now the
user interface for configuration and management of the VxRail application. If you try to access the VxRail
manager IP address, you will be redirected to vCenter.

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 3. [ ] When the upgrade completes, log into vCenter Server using HTLM5 Client with
administrator@vsphere.local and the vCenter password.

Figure 20 vCenter LogIn screen

17. [ ] From the Home tab, select Hosts and Clusters and select the VxRail Cluster. Under the
Configure tab, expand the VxRail selection and choose Updates to verify the VxRail component
versions.

Figure 21

4. [ ] Make sure the VxRail appliance is in a healthy state.

a. Navigate to Home > Hosts and Clusters > VxRail-Cluster.

b. Select Monitor > Issues and Alarms > All issues.

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 Figure 22

c. Verify the VxRail cluster health status.

18. [ ] If ESRS is enabled in your VxRail appliance, please check the ESRS status.

a. Navigate to Home > Host and Clusters > VxRail-Cluster.

b. Select Configure > VxRail > Support.

Figure 23

c. On the Support section, check Last heartbeat is alive like following figure.

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 Figure 24 Check Last heartbeat

d. Open in browser: https://<ESRS VE IP>:9443. Login with admin username and password. Check
ESRS VE connectivity status is connected

Figure 25 Check the connectivity status

e. If not connected, please follow the below steps to correct the status.

a. Navigate to Home > Hosts and Clusters > VxRail-Cluster.

b. Select Configure > VxRail > Support.
c. On the ESRS section, click DELETE… button

Figure 26 Delete ESRS

d. After delete successfully, click EDIT… button to add it again.

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 Figure 27 Enable ESRS again

IMPORTANT: Users upgrading from VxRail v4.7.300 may need to perform manual steps after
completing the v4.7.410 upgrade to implement some of the security mitigations. For a description of these
issues and a link to the mitigation procedure, review the MCEPSC vulnerability described in the “Security
fixes” section of the release notes.
IMPORTANT: For users upgrading from VxRail Appliance software v4.7.300 to v4.7.410: If you applied
any workaround from KB 537948 to mitigate the “Excessive Hardware health alarms being triggered for
"Sensor -1 type" on ESXi hosts running vSphere 6.7 U3” issue, please review KB 539130 to learn
whether you need to reverse any workarounds after completing the v4.7.410 upgrade.

Task 4: Remove snapshots of the service Virtual Machines

Once the upgrade has completed successfully, remove all the snapshots created in the “Take a snapshot
of the service Virtual Machines” section to prevent vSAN capacity utilization long term:
 VxRail Manager VM
 VMware vCenter Server Appliance VM (if using embedded)
 VMware vCenter Server Platform Services Controller VM (if using embedded)
 VMware vRealize Log Insight VM (if using VxRail deployed syslog)
 ESRS VE VM (if call home is enabled and using VxRail Manager deployed ESRS)
1. [ ] Navigate to Hosts and Clusters > VxRail-Cluster.

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 Figure 28

2. [ ] Remove the snapshot of a service VM. For example, right-click VxRail Manager > Snapshots >
Manage Snapshots.

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 Figure 29

3. [ ] Select the appropriate snapshot and click Delete.

Figure 30

4. [ ] Click OK to remove the snapshot.

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 Figure 31

5. [ ] Repeat steps 2 through 4 for each of the remaining service VM’s.

Task 5: Mystic Service account password change (Optional)

With the release of v4.7.x, the Mystic Service account can now have the password changed. Work with
your customer to determine the new password. To change the password, perform the following:

1. [ ] Log in to vCenter Server using HTML5 Client with administrative privileges.

2. [ ] Navigate to Home > Host and Clusters > VxRail-Cluster > VxRail Manager.
3. [ ] Under the Summary tab, click Launch Web Console.

Figure 32

4. [ ] Click OK.

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 Figure 33

5. [ ] Login with root username and password.

6. [ ] Right click on the screen and select xterm.

Figure 34

7. [ ] Perform the following command to update the password:

# passwd mystic
8. [ ] Enter the new password as prompted.
9. [ ] Log out of VxRail Manager console. Right click on the screen and select Logout..

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