Upgrading VCF Telemetry to 9.1.1 Step by Step

Cosmin Trif — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 21:30:00 +0000

With VCF 9.1.1 released on September 3, 2026, I continued patching the management services in my lab. In this post I will go over upgrading VCF Telemetry from 9.1.0.0 to 9.1.1.0 through VCF Operations.

The VCF 9.1.1 release notes are the source for the release scope, upgrade sequence, dependencies, and known issues. The VCF Operations 9.1.1 release notes list the Telemetry target build as 25671600.

Telemetry is a VCF management service hosted by the VCF services runtime. The supported lifecycle workflow is Build -> Lifecycle -> VCF Management -> Upgrade. This walkthrough covers one 9.1.0.x to 9.1.1 maintenance upgrade. If you are coming from an older VCF or Aria release, follow the applicable VCF upgrade procedure first.

Versions in This Upgrade

These are the versions reported by the VCF Operations UI in my lab:

Component	Before	After
Telemetry	9.1.0.0.25181946	9.1.1.0.25671600

The target build matches the Telemetry entry in the VCF Operations 9.1.1 release notes.

Before You Begin

For an existing 9.1.0.x environment, upgrade Fleet Lifecycle to 9.1.1 first. In my lab it was already running 9.1.1.0.25713934. After that prerequisite is complete, patch the remaining management components according to their release-note dependencies.

The VCF Operations page can also display a warning that VCF Operations must be patched independently from the other management components. If that warning is present, finish the VCF Operations patch and wait for it to complete before starting Telemetry.

Before starting:

Verify that an external SFTP backup location is configured and reachable under Build -> Lifecycle -> VCF Management -> Backup & Restore. Keep the backup encryption passphrase available for a restore. The SFTP backup documentation describes the supported configuration.
Take an on-demand component backup and verify that it completes successfully before patching Telemetry. Review the VCF management backup and restore documentation for the supported backup methods.
Confirm that lifecycle metadata is current and that the 9.1.1 binaries are available in the assigned software depot. For a disconnected environment, prepare the binaries with the VCF Download Tool.
Make sure no other management-component upgrade or patch operation is running. I run one component at a time so that a failure is easier to isolate.
Plan a maintenance window and check the VCF services runtime health before starting.

Selecting Telemetry

Set the target VCF version to 9.1.1.* if it is not already selected. If the release is not listed, use Sync to refresh the lifecycle metadata and wait for that task to finish before checking again.

Filter the component list for telemetry and select the Telemetry row for the VCF instance you want to patch. In my lab the instance was instance-a. Expand Check Required Binaries and resolve any missing binary before continuing.

The upgrade path should read 9.1.0.0.25181946 -> 9.1.1.0.25671600. The screenshot below shows Fleet Lifecycle on 9.1.1, the 9.1.1 target, and Telemetry ready for upgrade.

Running the Prechecks

With only Telemetry selected, click Run Prechecks (1). Open the task details and wait for the Telemetry Precheck Workflow to finish.

When the precheck completes, review Prechecks and confirm that the result is Passed. The checks in my run covered package staging, the vCenter connection, the database upgrade, and the single-component backup requirement.

Return to the component list and confirm that Telemetry is Ready for upgrade. Do not start the upgrade while the precheck is still running. If a check fails, open its details, fix the reported issue, and run the precheck again.

Starting the Upgrade

Click Upgrade on the Telemetry row. The status changes to Upgrade in progress. Open Upgrade details to follow the workflow.

The task details can be used to watch the plugin staging and component stage prechecks:

The overall workflow then moves through these subtasks:

Set Telemetry upgrade context for the workflow.
Run Telemetry prechecks.
Stage the Telemetry package in the VCF services runtime.
Prepare Telemetry for upgrade.
Perform the Telemetry upgrade.
Run the inventory sync after the Telemetry upgrade.

The task in my lab started at 5:15 PM and completed at 5:59 PM, for a total workflow time of about 44 minutes. That is the duration shown by my task, not a promise about service downtime in another environment. Wait for the final inventory sync and confirm that the overall task is Completed.

Verifying the New Version

Go to Build -> Lifecycle -> VCF Management -> Components and open the Telemetry component for the instance you upgraded.

Under Summary, verify that the status is Running and the version is 9.1.1.0.25671600. In my lab the deployment size was Small, it was managed by the VCF services runtime, and the summary showed Telemetry: Deactivated.

The Telemetry: Deactivated value is a configuration state shown by the component summary. If your organization uses telemetry reporting, review that setting against your policy after the upgrade rather than assuming it changed as part of the package update.

Finally, review VCF Management -> Tasks for failed or partially completed tasks, check the VCF services runtime and Telemetry health, and confirm that the management-services backup still works. Keep or expire the backup artifacts according to your retention policy.

Telemetry in my lab is now on 9.1.1.0.25671600. If this is part of a larger VCF 9.1.1 maintenance run, continue with the remaining components in the order and dependency boundaries documented in the VCF 9.1.1 release notes.