Upgrade

Perform an upgrade

Create Backup and Restore

It is recommended to take a backup of everything prior to an upgrade in the event a rollback is required

  • Take a snapshot of vRA
  • Take a snapshot of vRO
  • Export all SovLabs vRO Custom Resources created by customer in a vRO package

Please refer to our Backup and Restore from vRO Package PDF


Download the SovLabs Plug-in

A download link to the SovLabs Plug-in along with a license key will be provided in an email


Upgrade the SovLabs Plugin

# Step Location Notes
3 Install SovLabs Plugin vRO Control Center  

Steps

1. Login to the vRO Control Center as user root: https://[vRO-FQDN]:8283/vco-controlcenter/#/

Note: If it says page is unavailable (503 error) - Please start the Service manually.

  1. Built-in vRO: Browse to the vRA VAMI > Orchestrator > Orchestrator User Interface > Start.
  2. Stand-alone vRO: SSH to the vRO appliance. Run service vco-configurator start as root. Wait a couple minutes for the service to start.

2. Validate the Cluster Health by clicking on Validate Configuration and letting the checks Complete.

Upgrade-Step 2 Screenshot

3. Click on the Manage Plug-Ins icon

Upgrade-Step 3 Screenshot

4. In the Install plug-in section, browse for the SovLabs Plugin file (o11nplugin-sovlabs.vmoapp)

Upgrade-Step 4 Screenshot

5. Select the SovLabs plugin file (o11nplugin-sovlabs.vmoapp) to upload

Upgrade-Step 5 Screenshot

6. Click on Install

Upgrade-Step 6 Screenshot

7. Accept the EULA and click on Install

Upgrade-Step 7 Screenshot

8. Successful plugin install message will appear

Upgrade-Step 8 Screenshot

9. Restart the vRO server

  1. On the Home page, click on the Startup Options icon and click on Restart
  2. Optionally, SSH to the vRO appliance and type in:

service vco-server restart

Wait for vRO to restart successfully

10. Login again to the vRO Control Center and validate Cluster Health (See Step 2 above)

11. Click on the Manage Plug-Ins icon

12. Verify that the SovLabs Plugin successfully upgraded and is listed among the installed vRO plugins

Upgrade-Step 11 Screenshot

13. Restart vRA Appliance(s) (Typically 10-15 minutes for Services to all ‘Register’ in the VAMI)

Note: Restart vRA/vRO is necessary during a new install or else the SovLabs ‘types’ defined in our plugin will not be available and cause the Configuration Workflow to fail.


If Using Clustered vRO

  1. Install the plugin on one appliance first
  2. Restart the vRO service on that appliance
  3. Wait until the vRO service is completely up in vRO Cluster Manager
  4. The configurations should automatically sync

Configure the SovLabs Plugin

# Step Location Notes
3.1 Run the SovLabs Configuration workflow vRO client  

1. Login to the vRO client

2. In the Workflows tab, go to SovLabs > Configuration folder and expand it

3. Right-click on the SovLabs Configuration workflow and click Start Workflow

Upgrade - Configure SovLabs Steps 1-3 Screenshot

In the SovLabs Configuration workflow form wizard:

4. Accept the EULA and click Next

Upgrade - Configure SovLabs Step 4 Screenshot

5. In Service and Content section of the form:

Field Value Note
vRA Tenant Name Choose the appropriate tenant The drop-down may contain multiple tenants
Business Group Name Choose the sovlabs Business Group Step 1.3
Create SovLabs vRA Catalog Service No  
Publish License Content Yes  

6. Click Next

7. In the Upgrade Options section of the form:

Field Value Note
Upgrade existing SovLabs vRA Content Yes  
Upgrade SovLabs F5Config-default RESTipe? Yes Selecting yes will override the F5Config-default RESTipe with the latest RESTipe from source

8. Click Next

9. In the Install/Update section of the form:

Field Value Note
Install or Update SovLabs Workflow Subscriptions Yes  
All SovLabs vRA Event Broker Subscriptions are removed and regenerated as part of the upgrade process. Any adjustments to the priority codes for the SovLabs EBS post install will need to re-adjusted after an upgrade.
Upgrade - Configure SovLabs Step 9 Screenshot

10. Click Submit

If the SovLabs Configuration workflow fails when executed.
Check the vRO Logs for the error message 'Please reboot the VMware vRealize Automation Appliance and try re-running the SovLabs Configuration workflow again.' or 'THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN'(legacy).

1. Fix is to reboot vRA appliances - wait for services to Register in VAMI (10-15 minutes).

2. Re-run SovLabs Configuration Workflow. (This is caused by failing to reboot vRO/vRA in the previous section)


Delete Old SovLabs License

Only perform if upgrading to a SovLabs 2018.x plugin version for the FIRST time
-OR- if you obtained a new SovLabs License Key


SKIP this entire section if upgrading within SovLabs 2018.x plugin versions

Steps

  1. Login to the desired vRA tenant (e.g. sov_admin@vsphere.local user)
  2. Click on the Items tab
  3. Click on SovLabs License tab, which may be in the SovLabs vRA Extensibility Modules tab
  4. Select the SovLabs license key and go to Actions and click Delete License
  5. Submit the form
  6. Under Requests in vRA, the request should complete successfully.
  7. Repeat if you have multiple licenses (if upgrading from a SovLabs plugin earlier than 2017.x)

Add SovLabs 2018.2.6 License

Please note that the SovLabs 2018.2.6 Plugin needs a 2018.x license key.

# Step Location Notes
3.2 Add SovLabs License vRA tenant  

Only perform if upgrading to a SovLabs 2018.x plugin version for the FIRST time
-OR- if you obtained a new SovLabs License Key


SKIP this entire section if upgrading within SovLabs 2018.x plugin versions

Steps

  1. Login to the desired vRA tenant (e.g. sov_admin@vsphere.local user)
  2. Click on the Catalog tab
  3. Click on the catalog item: Add License - SovLabs Modules
  4. Fill out the form and click Submit
  5. Under Requests in vRA, the request should complete successfully.
  6. Once the SovLabs license has been added, SovLabs vRA Catalog Item(s) will appear for the modules licensed
Add License Screenshot

Add License Form

Field Value
License key Copy & paste the entire SovLabs license file provided (including the header)
Add SovLabs 2018.x License Screenshot

View Progress

To watch the progress of the license install workflow:

  1. Login to the vRO client
  2. In the Workflows tab, go to SovLabs > License > vRA ASD > Add License
  3. A vRO workflow token should appear and complete successfully.
Add License vRO workflow Screenshot

Results

After the license is successfully added, SovLabs Catalog Items and SovLabs vRA Event Broker Subscriptions will appear/generate

SovLabs vRA Catalog Items Screenshot

Disable SovLabs DNS Subscriptions


It is recommended once the SovLabs plug-in installation is completed to Disable DNS subscriptions until a ‘Proper’ DNS configuration is created.
Two options are available. Either:

  1. Login to vRA > Administration > Events > Subscriptions. Select and Unpublish the ‘SovLabs_DNS_machineBuilding’ and ‘SovLabs_DNS_machineDisposing’ subscriptions. (these will be restored any time the plug-in is updated)
  2. Create the Custom property: ‘SovLabs_DisableDNS’ - value ‘true’. Then apply to all the vRA > Infrastructure > ‘EndPoint(s)’ attached to vRA. This will prevent the DNS subscriptions from executing.
SovLabs Disable DNS Screenshot