Update vCloud Director to 9.7.0.3

In this article I will describe a procedure how you can update vCloud Director to 9.7.0.3.
The update process takes around 10 to 15 minutes in total, based on my three vCD cell setup.
The release notes for 9.7.0.3 can be found here.

These are the specifics of my vCloud Director lab:

• Running version vCloud Director 9.7.0.2
• I’m using the appliances
• The lab consists of 3 vCD cells
• We’re using the embedded database
• vSphere 6.7

Let’s get started!

Update vCloud Director to 9.7.0.3

1. Find out which cell is the primary cell.
   Open your browser and navigate to https://<Local-FQDN/IP>:5480
2. Log in with your administrative credentials.
3. After logging in you can see which cell of the cells is the primary

   

4. Login to https://my.vmware.com and download the update package. In this case it’s “VMware vCloud Director 9.7.0.3–Virtual Appliance update package for 9.7.x”
   Direct link: https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=VSPP_VCD9703&productId=867&rPId=36103#

   

5.  After the download completes, copy the .GZ file to the /tmp/ folder on your primary cell (In my example I’m using WinSCP)
   
6. Connect with SSH to your vCD cell

   # Create a new folder inside /tmp/ with the name "local-update-package"
   mkdir /tmp/local-update-package
    
   # Extract the .GZ to the /tmp/local-update-package/ folder
   tar -zxf /tmp/VMware_vCloud_Director_9.7.0.4444-14535248_update.tar.gz -C /tmp/local-update-package
    
   # Configure the folder /local-update-package/ as default update repository
   vamicli update --repo file:///tmp/local-update-package
    
   # Check if the repository is configured correctly
   vamicli update --check
   

7. The result of the check will look like this

   

8. Stop the vCD cell

   # vCD cell quiesce
   /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool -u m.roeleveld cell -q true
   # vCD cell maintenance mode
   /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool -u m.roeleveld cell -m true
   # vCD cell software shutdown
   /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/cell-management-tool -u m.roeleveld cell --shutdown

9. Quickly take a snapshot of the vCD cells in vSphere, just to be sure.
10. Install the patch now. Installation will roughly take 5 minutes

    vamicli update --install latest
    

    

11. Repeat the steps 5-10 on the vcd-cell02 and vcd-cell02

Update the database

1. Log on to the primary vCD cell and make a backup of the vCloud Director database.

   # Backup the vCloud Director database
   opt/vmware/appliance/bin/create-db-backup
   

   

2. Upgrade the vCloud Director database by running the following command

   # Start the update of the vCloud Director database upgrade script 
   /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/upgrade

   

3. Start the vCloud Director service on vcd-cell02 and vcd-cell03

   # Start vCloud Director service
   service vmware-vcd start
   

4. Don’t forget to remove the snapshot from the cells in vSphere!

PS. Check our other vCloud Director related articles here.