In this guide i will go over the steps of getting an existing 8.x vRSLCM appliance upgraded to the latest 8.6.1 release. The release notes can be found here

The first step is to lo in to vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager under the Lifecycle Operations section

The image shows a section labeled “My Services” with icons and labels for Lifecycle Operations, Locker, Identity and Tenant Management, Content Management, Marketplace, and vRealize Cloud.

Go to settings -> System Upgrade

Settings page with System Upgrade option visible.

Click on Check for Upgrade

System upgrade successful; recommend taking snapshot before upgrade.

We can see that the check found a new version available for 8.6.1.5

System upgrade page showing available update 8.6.1.5, reboot warning, and upgrade options.

Click on Upgrade

Upgrade screen for vRSLCM 8.6.1 shows repository type options and upgrade buttons.

Verify that a snapshot or backup exists in case the process fails. Check the check mark for I took a snapshot of the vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager before I performed this operation. Click Next

Prerequisite check for vRSLCM upgrade. Ensure snapshot taken, then click Next.

Click on Run Precheck

System upgrade precheck step. Click RUN PRECHECK to validate data.

Verify that all check have passed and click on upgrade

PreCheck passed; click Upgrade to proceed.

This will fire up the upgrade process and start upgrading packages. The system will automatically reboot on 8.6.1.5 once completed. We can check the version by going to Settings -> System Details

System details show vRSLCM 8.6.1.5 version, no patch, 5% internal file space used.

If you get the below error clear the browser cache and try again

Error message: Unexpected error. Check server connection.