In this post I will go over upgrading Aria Operations for Logs 8.18.x appliance to 8.18.3 using Aria Suite Lifecycle. As a pre requirement we do need to have Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.18. Instructions can be found here. The upgrade does not include the latest Product Support Pack. We can apply the latest Product Support Pack following the guide here.

To get started we can go to Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> Binary Mapping.

The image shows the Binary Mapping section under Settings in Aria Suite Lifecycle.

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Binary Mapping screen in VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle showing “ADD BINARIES” button.

Due to changes in the 8.16 Aria Suite Lifecycle release (Release notes available here), My VMware based operations functionality has been deprecated. In my case, In this case, I chose to use Local and uploaded my .pak file to the /data/tmp directory on the Aria Suite Lifecycle appliance. The upgrade package can be downloaded from here.

Adding a product binary for VMware vRealize Log Insight 8.18.3 upgrade in Aria Suite Lifecycle.

We can see a list of binaries that have been discovered. We can select what we need and click on Add

This will create a request and start downloading the package. To view the progress we can click on the Click Here hyperlink

Binary mapping request submitted; click “Click here” to check status.

Click on the in Progress button to view the details

Requests page shows upgrade in progress for Aria Operations for Logs.

We now have to wait for the download to complete

Request Details showing successful Stage 1 in Aria Suite Lifecycle.

After the download is complete we can go to Environments -> View Details on the environment that includes Aria Operations

The screenshot shows the “Environments” page in VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle, with a focus on “VCF Logs” and “View Details” button.

Click on Upgrade

The image shows the “Upgrade” button in VMware Aria Operations for Logs 8.18.0, ready for an upgrade to 8.18.3 via Aria Suite Lifecycle.

An Inventory sync is recommended if the environment has changed since Lifecycle performed the last sync. We trigger the sync from the UI or click on Proceed to continue

Upgrade wizard step: Proceed to Upgrade, with options to sync inventory or proceed.

Select product Version 8.18.3 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

Selecting version 8.18.3 for VMware Aria Operations for Logs upgrade.

A new feature that was added was the capability to automatically create a snapshot prior to the upgrade and remove it after the upgrade. On this screen we also have the ability to choose if we want to keep the snapshots post upgrade for validation testing for example. Click Next

Upgrade step showing snapshot option; checkbox for taking snapshot, retain option, Next button.

Run the Precheck to make sure there are no errors or issues.

Upgrade VMware Aria Operations for Logs precheck step. Click RUN PRECHECK to validate data.

Once the check is complete we can review the checks that were performed and we can continue by clicking Next.

Precheck results show all validations passed; proceed to next step.

Review the upgrade details and click on Next and the Submit. We are taken to the progress screen where we can follow the progress.

Upgrade summary shows version 8.18.3 details, repository URL, and options like auto revert and retain snapshot.

We will be taken to the Request Details where we can track the progress of the upgrade

Upgrading Aria Operations for Logs to 8.18.3 via Aria Suite Lifecycle: Request Details showing progress stages.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up, we will be on 8.18.3

Since we are doing a major upgrade I strongly recommend to clean the cache before using the new Aria Operations for Logs version.