VMware suggested way of upgrading the vCSA and PSC to the latest software version is not the easiest way to do it. It’s actually not the upgrade, rather a new installation and then backup and restore of the current configuration. Luckily, there is a lot easier way of doing the upgrade and it takes just about 10 minutes. To do so, first, you must download a slightly different ISO image. Log in to my VMware and go to Product Patches page. Enter your version of the vCSA and download the FP ISO file, in my case VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.5.0.5500-5318154-patch-FP.iso
Now mount the ISO file first to your PSC using VMware Web Client, and log in to vCSA console and type the following command:
software-packages install --iso --acceptEulas
If you prefer to stage the upgrade packages before installing them, then use the following command:
software-packages stage --iso --acceptEulas
After you can install packages using the following command:
software-packages install --staged
After the upgrade procedure is complete, unmount the ISO image and reboot the vCSA using the following command:
shutdown reboot -r "vCSA 6.5 upgrade"
Confirm successful upgrade by logging into HTML5-based appliance management interface via https://<FQDN or IP>:5480 and look for the version number.
Article created: 2017-05-31 12:31:03
Last updated: 2017-05-31 12:35:16
Can this method be used to upgrade from 6.0 to 6.5?
No, unfortunately, you can not. VCSA 6.5 runs on PhotonOS and there is no direct upgrade possibility. The “upgrade” will actually install a new VCSA, assign temp IP address and then migrate the settings from the original VCSA, remove the original VCSA and use the original IP address. But all the future upgrades can be done using this method, until VMware again changes something.