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Which Platform Services Controller (PSC) is my vCenter Server pointing to?

09.21.2015 by William Lam // 15 Comments

In vSphere 6.0 Update 1, one of the new features that is available for both the vCenter Server for Windows and vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) is the ability to "repoint" the vCenter Server to a new or existing Platform Services Controller (PSC). The process is pretty straight forward and is nicely outlined in the following KB articles: KB 2113917 and KB 2131191.

One obvious question that might come up before you decide to repoint is what is the current PSC that my vCenter Server is currently pointing to? This was actually a question that I had just received this morning from one of my readers. Though I had some of the details documented in these two articles here and here on locating all deployed PSC's and vCenter Server's, I figured it was probably worth pulling this topic out into its own blog post for ease of searching.

Note: The solution below is applicable to both vSphere 6.0 and vSphere 6.0 Update 1, but the ability to repoint is only available in Update 1.

There are two methods in which you can quickly identify the PSC that your vCenter Server is currently pointing to.

Option 1: Using the vSphere Web/C# Client

Under the vCenter Server's Advanced Setting, there is a property called "config.vpxd.sso.admin.uri" which specifies the PSC it is currently configured with. This is the most simplistic approach if you want to do it using the vSphere UI. Also note this is available through the vSphere API, so you can also query this from the command-line

Option 2: Using vmafd-cli command-line

The second option is to use the handy vmafd-cli utility which is avialable on the vCenter Server itself. You will need to run the following command depending on your vCenter Server platform (Windows or VCSA):

VCSA:

/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli get-ls-location --server-name localhost

Windows VC:

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\vmafd-cli get-ls-location --server-name localhost

Here is a screenshot of running the command on the VCSA:

Quick Tip - Fix for CIP no longer functioning in vSphere Web Client after Chrome 45 update

09.11.2015 by William Lam // 39 Comments

For those of you who recently updated to Chrome 45, which apparently I did as well or more likely it automatically did it for me. You may have noticed that the Client Integration Plugin (CIP) for the vSphere Web Client no longer function when you try to upload an OVA or trying to use the Windows Session Authentication feature. The latest release of Chrome has now completely disabled NPAPI support, but luckily there is a simple fix.

You simply just need to download and install the following new version of the CIP package for either Windows or Mac OS X and you will be able to restore the functionality that you once had which no longer relies on NPAPI. This fix applies to both a vSphere 6.0 and vSphere 6.0 Update 1 environment which I was able to test myself as I have both deployed. If you are still having issues after installing the update, make sure you clear your browser cache as the old plugin may still be cached. Some folks had to perform a reboot, especially if you have more than one user on the system which could still have existing running processes.

UPDATE (10/27/15) - For customers running vSphere 5.5.x, the NPAPI fix has just been released as part vCenter Server 5.5 Update 3a. The fix includes both a server side and client side component. This means to apply the fix, you MUST update BOTH the vCenter Server as well as the updated CIP which is provided when logging into the vSphere Web Client. For vSphere 5.0/5.1 customers, the only work around is by following this VMware KB 2114800.

I want to give a big shoutout to my buddy Blair who shared this KB with me as I was having issues after the Chrome update.

Client Integration Plugin for Windows:

http://vsphereclient.vmware.com/vsphereclient/2/9/9/4/0/4/1/VMware-ClientIntegrationPlugin-6.0.0.exe

Client Integration Plugin for Mac OS X

http://vsphereclient.vmware.com/vsphereclient/2/9/9/4/0/4/1/VMware-ClientIntegrationPlugin-6.0.0.mac64.dmg

You can also find more details noted in this VMware KB 2130672. For vSphere 5.5 customers, a back port is currently being worked on but there is currently not an ETA. When is it released, the KB will be updated and you can subscribe to it for the announcement.

How to upgrade from VCSA 5.x & 6.x to VCSA 6.0 Update 1?

09.11.2015 by William Lam // 100 Comments

I have seen quite a few questions come in on how to properly upgrade from an existing vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 5.x and/or 6.x environment to the latest vSphere 6.0 Update 1 which was just released today. Before I jump straight into the process, I think its worth covering on how updates (patches) and upgrades have traditionally been handled for the VCSA. In an update or patch scenario, you are staying within a major release of vSphere (e.g. vSphere 5.0) and moving to something like vSphere 5.0 p01 and in this case, an in-place update or patch is performed. In an upgrade scenario, where you are moving from one major release (e.g. vSphere 5.0) to another major release (e.g. vSphere 6.0), a "migration based" approach is taken. This means that you would need to deploy the new VCSA that you wish to upgrade to and then migrate the data from your old VCSA appliance to the new one which is part of the upgrade workflow. This "migration based" approach was also true for any "U" (Update) releases (e.g. vSphere 5.5 to vSphere 5.5 Update 1).

For major releases, this makes perfect sense and provides customers a nice way to easily rollback if something goes wrong. You simply power off the new VCSA and then power on your original VCSA and you are back in business. For update releases, we have heard from our customers that this process was not ideal and though there is always a risk when updating software (which is why I always recommend customers test thoroughly in a Dev/Test environment before moving to production), the amount of changes in the code is significantly less when compared to a major upgrade. One of the new features that we have introduced in vSphere 6.0 Update 1 is an in-place upgrade for "U" (Update) releases which I have already blogged about here among other new features.

This means that if you are coming from a VCSA 6.x environment and you wish to upgrade to vSphere 6.0 Update 1, you simply just mount the vSphere 6.0 Update 1 Patch ISO to your VCSA 6.x environment and perform the update from the command-line via the appliancesh interface. This is quite nice as it reduces the need to copy data between your old and new appliance and helps reduce the overall downtime. In fact, you can upgrade to vSphere 6.0 Update 1 in about 10min or so using this new method. If you are coming from a VCSA 5.x (5.0, 5.1 or 5.5) environment, this would be consider a major to major upgrade and you would need to follow the "migration based" approach to upgrade to vSphere 6.0 Update 1. One other thing to note after you have upgraded to vSphere 6.0 Update 1, we have now re-introduced URL based patching via the VAMI interface. This means in the future, you no longer need to update or patch from an ISO but can do so directly from VMware's online repository.

Below are the instructions on upgrading from VCSA 6.x to VCSA 6.0 Update 1:

Note (09/14/15):

If you have an External PSC with your VCSA 6.x and wish to upgrade, the process shown below is the same for both the PSC and the VCSA. You will want to first upgrade your PSC first as that provides authentication to your vCenter Server. Once the PSC has been upgraded and accessible on the network again, you will then want to move to your VCSA. If you are interested in the proper sequence and ordering of VMware Products to update, you can also check out this handy VMware KB 2109760 which provides all the details
Thanks to fellow reader Idan for reporting this but it looks like after an upgrade of the VCSA, the default VMware URL for the VAMI is not working. You will need to update it to point to the following URL https://vapp-updates.vmware.com/vai-catalog/valm/vmw/647ee3fc-e6c6-4b06-9dc2-f295d12d135c/6.0.0.10000.latest/ instead of the default one as shown in the screenshot below. This is only applicable for upgrade scenarios. If you deploy a new VCSA 6.0 Update 1, it will automatically be using the correct URL

Step 0 - Ensure you have a proper backup and take a snapshot of your VCSA 6.x appliance before beginning.

Step 1 - Download the VCSA 6.0 Update 1 Full Patch (VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.0.0.10000-3018521-patch-FP.iso) by visiting the VMware Patch Download site.

Step 2 - Mount the VCSA 6.0 Update 1 Patch ISO to your VCSA 6.x appliance using either the vSphere Web/C# Client

Step 3 - Login to your VCSA 6.x appliance via SSH to the appliancesh interface. If you have disabled that, simply type "appliancesh" and login with the root credentials.

Step 4 - Run the following command to stage and install the patches from the VCSA 6.0 Update 1 Patch ISO:

software-packages install --iso --acceptEulas

Note: If you run into any errors while either staging or installing the patches, you should drop into the bash shell and take a look at /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/software-packages.log file for additional information. One common issue that I have seen in the past is if your /storage/log partition is full and you may need to perform a clean up before continuing.

Step 5 - Once the upgrade has completed, you just need to reboot your VCSA by running the following command:

shutdown reboot -r "Updated to vSphere 6.0u1"

Step 6 - A quick way to confirm that you have successfully upgraded your VCSA to vSphere 6.0 Update 1, simply open a browser to the following URL: https://[VCSA-IP]:5480 and it should take you to the new HTML5 VAMI interface.

If you would like additional information, take a look at this VMware KB 2119924.