In this post I will go over upgrading Aria Operations for Networks 6.x appliance to 6.14 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.

Settings page with Binary Mapping option highlighted for Aria Suite Lifecycle upgrade.

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 product binary for VMware Aria Operations for Networks upgrade, selecting local location and base directory.

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 showing upgrade tasks, one in progress and two completed.

We now have to wait for the download to complete

VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle shows request details with successful Stage 1 at 333ms.

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

The image shows the “Environments” section of VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle, highlighting “VCF Ops for Net” with “Information not available” under “Health.

Click on Upgrade

The screenshot shows the “Upgrade” button for VMware Aria Operations for Networks version 6.12.0.

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 prompts for inventory sync before proceeding.

Select product Version 6.14 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

Upgrade screen shows version 6.14.0, repository URL, and compatibility matrix link.

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 screen for VMware Aria Operations, showing snapshot options before proceeding.

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

The image shows the Precheck step of an upgrade wizard for VMware Aria Operations for Networks. It prompts to run precheck and handle errors.

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

Precheck step shows all validations passed; click Next to continue.

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 6.14.0 details for Aria Operations for Networks. Click Next, Submit.

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

Request Details showing upgrade stages: Stage 1 (Shutting down Guest OS), Stage 2 (Shutting down Guest OS), Stage 3 (Creating Node Snapshot). Flowchart shows stages 4-6 of a VM power-on and health check process. Stage 7: Create snapshot inventory; Stage 8: Upgrade VMware Aria Operations for Networks. Two stages of an upgrade process: Stage 9 and Stage 10, showing progress with “deleteNodeSnapshot” and “productupgradeinventoryupdate” labels.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up, we will be on 6.14

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