Upgrading NSX

Upgrade the Upgrade Coordinator

The upgrade coordinator runs in the NSX Manager. It is a self-contained web application that orchestrates the upgrade process of hosts, NSX Edge cluster, and Management plane and provides a single pane of glass for managing NSX upgrades. 

Its features include: 

• Checks existing version is upgradable to the latest release before starting the upgrade 
• Allow you to define upgrade paths for the different infrastructure components 
• Performs upgrades in the correct order, ensuring staged success and managing retries of failed components 
• Tracks and reports upgrade status 
• Retains upgrade history 

Procedure

1. From your browser, log in as a local admin user to the NSX Manager. 

2. Select System > Upgrade from the navigation panel. 

3. Click Upgrade. 

4. Review the bundle and status page. 

5. Click Upload. Upgrading the upgrade coordinator might take 10-20 minutes, depending on your network speed. If the network times out, reload the upgrade bundle. When the upload process finishes, the Prepare for Upgrade button appears. 

6. Click Prepare for Upgrade. The EULA appears. Read and accept the EULA terms. 

7. Accept the notification to upgrade the upgrade coordinator. 

8. Click Run Pre-Checks to verify that all the NSX components are ready for upgrade. 

Upgrade NSX Edge Cluster

The next component to be upgraded is the NSX Edge Cluster. 

The Upgrade Coordinator creates one Upgrade Group for each existing Edge Cluster, and it is not possible to move one Edge node from one group to another. 

Edge nodes inside each group are upgrade in serial mode - only the node in upgrade is down while other nodes in the cluster remain active to continuously forward traffic. This is not customizable. 

Procedure

1. Define the upgrade order. 
   • Serial: Upgrade all the Edge upgrade unit groups consecutively. This menu option is selected by default. This selection is applied to the overall upgrade sequence. 
   • Parallel: Upgrade all the Edge upgrade unit groups simultaneously. For example, if the overall upgrade is set to the parallel order, the Edge upgrade unit groups are upgraded together and the NSX Edge nodes are upgraded one at a time. 
2. Customize Pauses during Upgrade 
   • When an upgrade unit fails to upgrade
     • Selected by default so that you can fix an error on the Edge node and continue the upgrade. You cannot deselect this setting. 
   • After each group completes
     • Select to pause the upgrade process after each Edge upgrade unit group finishes upgrading. 
3. Reorder the upgrade sequence of an Edge upgrade unit group. Click and drag to reorder any of the Edge groups' upgrade sequence. 
4. Click Start to upgrade. 

Configuring and Upgrading Hosts

You can upgrade your hosts using the upgrade coordinator. 

Procedure

1. Define groups. You can edit and delete an existing host upgrade unit group before you start the upgrade or after you pause the upgrade. 
2. Define order within groups. Select whether to upgrade the hosts in parallel or serial mode. 
3. Define order amongst groups. Select whether to upgrade the host upgrade unit groups in parallel or serial mode. 
4. Customize pause during upgrade. 
   1. Pause on any failure of any unit 
   2. Pause after each group completes upgrade 

Upgrading Management Plane

The upgrade sequence upgrades the Management Plane at the end. If required, you can continue to make configuration changes while the Management Plane upgrade is in process. 

Procedure

1. Backup the NSX Manager. 
2. Click Start to upgrade the Management plane. 
3. Accept the upgrade notification.

In case of upgrade failure, you can rollback the NSX Manager Upgrade and retry the manager upgrade process.