In this post I will go over upgrading my 8.x SSC appliance to 8.14.1. As a pre requirement we do need to have VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle upgraded to 8.14. Instructions can be found here. The upgrade does not include the latest PSPACK that contains the 8.14.1 Aria Automation Config release. Instructions to get the PSPACK can be found on my other blog post here.

Mapping the Upgrade Binaries

To get started we can go to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> Binary Mapping. (If you haven’t added your My VMware credentials you will need to do that first by going to VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle -> Lifecycle Operations -> Settings -> My VMware)

Settings page with options like System Details, Logs, and System Upgrade.

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Binary Mapping screen shows options to add and delete unsupported binaries for VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle.

Select My VMware and click on Discover

Adding product binary for VMware Aria Automation Config upgrade.

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

“Add Product Binary” step for upgrading VMware Aria Automation Config to version 8.14.1.

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

Binary Mapping page shows successful request submission with options to add, delete unsupported binaries.

Click on the in Progress button to view the details

Upgrade request for VMware Aria Automation Config, status is In Progress.

We now have to wait for the download to complete

Request in progress, downloading VMware binaries, stage 1.

Starting the Upgrade from the Environment

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

“Environments” page with “Corp Local” listed, showing “Datacenter Corp,” “Health GREEN,” and “Products” including VMware Aria Automation Config.

Under VMware Automation Config tab Click on Upgrade

VMware Aria Automation Config screen with an upgrade option for Standalone vRASSC 8.12.1.

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

Upgrade step: Sync inventory or proceed.

Selecting Version 8.14.1

Select product Version 8.14.1 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

Select VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle Repository, version 8.14.1, then click Next.

Snapshot and Precheck

We can automatically create and delete a snapshot part of the upgrade process

Upgrade VMware Aria Automation Config wizard shows taking a snapshot step.

Run the Precheck to make sure there are no errors

Upgrade VMware Aria Automation Config Precheck step. Click RUN PRECHECK to validate data.

Completing the Upgrade

Once the check is complete, click on Next. Review the upgrade details and click on Next. We are taken to the progress screen where we can follow the progress.

Upgrading VMware Aria Automation Config to 8.14.1. Progress screen shows stages 1-3: shutting down Guest OS, creating Node Snapshot, and powering on VM.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up we will be on 8.14.1

Post-Upgrade Resources

Here are a few additional blogs that might be useful post upgrade:

Error Code: LCMVSSC10018

SSC 8.8 sseapi_rpc_queue: could not connect to SSE server

SSC 8.8 urllib3 (1.25.11) or chardet (4.0.0) doesn’t match a supported version

Authentication failed: no Authorization header