In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x vRLI appliance to 8.6.2 using vRSLCM (vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager). As a pre requirement we do need to have vRSLCM (vRealize Lifecycle Manager) upgraded to 8.6.2 or 8.7. Instructions can be found here. The upgrade already includes the latest Product Support Pack so an update to the Product Support Pack is not required.

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

Settings page with options like System Details, Logs, and My VMware.

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Binary Mapping page shows options to add and delete unsupported binaries in vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager.

Select My VMware and click on Discover

Select My VMware and click Discover to add a product binary.

We can see a list of binaries that have been discovered. Make sure we select the upgrade package not the install package. We can select what we need and click on Add

UI shows list of vRealize Log Insight versions for upgrade. Select 8.6.2 and click 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

Upgrading vRLI 8.6.0 to 8.6.2 via vRSLCM in progress.

We now have to wait for the download to complete

Progressing through VMware download stages in vRSLCM upgrade.

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

The image shows a vRSLCM environment named “Corp Local” with a health warning about unavailable environment health.

Click on Upgrade

The image shows a vRealize Log Insight upgrade page with version 8.6.0, upgrade options, and an inventory sync notice.

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

Upgrade wizard step: “Proceed to Upgrade” with inventory sync recommendation and options.

Select product Version 8.6.2 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

Upgrading vRLI to 8.6.2 via vRSLCM wizard. Select version 8.6.2, then Next.

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 chose if we want to keep the snapshots post upgrade for validation testing for example. Click next

Upgrade wizard step for taking and retaining product snapshots.

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

Precheck step: Click RUN PRECHECK to validate data. Follow instructions if errors appear.

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

The precheck step shows all validations passed, allowing the upgrade to proceed.

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

Progress screen showing upgrade stages: shutting down guest OS, creating node snapshot, powering on VM.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up we will be on 8.6.2

Since we are doing a major upgrade i strongly recommend to clean the cache before using the new vRLI version.