In this post i will go over upgrading my 8.x vRLI appliance to 8.8.2 using vRSLCM (vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager). As a pre requirement we do need to have vRSLCM (vRealize Lifecycle Manager) upgraded to 8.8.2. 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)

The image shows a settings page with various options like System Details, Logs, System Patches, and My VMware.

Click on Add Binaries under Product Binaries

Binary Mapping page in vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager.

Select My VMware and click on Discover

Adding a product binary in vRSLCM, selecting My VMware, and clicking Discover.

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

The image shows the “Add Product Binary” step in vRSLCM, listing vRealize Log Insight versions with upgrade and install options.

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 mapping request submission and options to add or delete binaries.

Click on the in Progress button to view the details

Requests page showing a type upgrade in progress for vRLI 8.8.2.

We now have to wait for the download to complete

Request details show “In Progress” with “Stage 1” and “477ms” for VMware download.

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

UI shows ‘Corp Local’ environment with ‘Products’ icons and ‘Health’ info.

Click on Upgrade

The screenshot shows the vRealize Log Insight upgrade page with version 8.6.0, options to add components, upgrade, and sync inventory.

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: Trigger inventory sync before proceeding.

Select product Version 8.8 and click Next. We can also review the compatibility matrix to make sure the environment is compatible.

Upgrade vRLI to 8.8.2 via vRSLCM wizard step.

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 showing snapshot options for vRA VA, with checkboxes for taking and retaining snapshots.

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

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 confirms all validations passed for vRealize Log Insight upgrade.

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 stages 1-3 of an upgrade process: shutting down Guest OS, creating Node Snapshot, and Power On VM.

The system will get rebooted and once its back up we will be on 8.8.2

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