vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 Upgrade vCSA 6.

5 to vCSA
6.5b

vSphere 6.5, the latest version of its industry-leading virtualization platform.

This new release of vSphere features a dramatically simplified experience,
comprehensive built-in security, and a universal app platform for running any
app. vSphere 6.5 makes the vCenter Server Appliance the fundamental
building block of a vSphere environment. The core vSphere architecture is built
around this easy to deploy and manage approach that reduces operational
complexity by embedding key functionality into a single location. On March 14,
VMware released new build for vCenter 6.5 called vCenter 6.5b. vCenter 6.5b is
for both windows and vCSA 6.5b. In this article we will talk about whats new
with vCenter server 6.5b release and along with the overview about the resolved
issues in vCenter Server 6.5b. I will also going to explain the procedure to
upgrade vCSA 6.5 to vCSA 6.5b using ISO image.

Whats New with vCSA 6.5b

This release of vCenter Server 6.5.0b delivers a number of bug fixes and few of
the new functionality

Updates to time zones in the Linux Guest Operating System customization

Updates to time zones in the Windows Guest Operating System

customization

Updates to JRE package

Additional functionality to the vSphere Client

Resolved Issues in vCenter 6.5b

vCenter Single Sign-On Issues

Requests to the vCenter Single Sign-On server from the vSphere Web
Client fail

Upgrade and Installation Issues

 Sometimes embedded node upgrades from vSphere 5.5 or vSphere
6.0 to vSphere 6.5 fail during vmonapi firstboot

After upgrade to vCenter Server Appliance 6.5, email alerts no longer work

vCenter Server pre upgrade check fails with an error indicating duplicate
names in a network folder

vCenter Server installation fails when the username is entered using the
NetBios format

vCenter Server upgrade might fail at pre-check phase of ESXi Agent

Manager

Backup Issues

When the user performs an encrypted backup and restores from it, an
error pops up

During a restore with vSphere Data Protection, all vCenter Server services
fail to start

Security Issues

Update to Apache Struts

Apache Struts is updated to version 2.3.32 to resolve CVE-2017-5638.

Update to the NTP package

The vCenter Server Appliance NTP package is updated to version 4.2.8p9.

vCenter Server, vSphere Client, vSphere Web Client, and Host Client Issues

Virtual Volumes (VVol) replication groups in INTEST or FAILEDOVER

replication state cannot be selected in the vSphere Web Client

When you power on a virtual machine, not all related events are shown in
the related events section

The assign tag operation fails for the entity with an error message
 Node networking information is not visible to Active Directory users who
are members of 40 or more group

A vSphere Web Client plugin might stop working with Chrome version 55
and above

Deploying OVF template causes

error.mutationService.ProviderMethodNotFoundError error in some views

In environments that were upgraded from vSphere 5.1 or earlier, OVF

deployment from vSphere Web Client might fail

Searching for host name in New Virtual Machine wizard populates

incorrect results

Email alerts sent from VMware vCenter Server Appliance are rejected by a
relay server

Users with no vCenter Server permissions can log in to the vSphere Web
Client

The vSphere Web Client does not display the most recent task started
under the datacenter

Faceted search times out and tags do not display on vCenter Server
instances with a large number of inventory objects

Cannot access HTML5-based vSphere Client

Virtual Machine Management Issues

vCenter Server might fail because of database unique constraint violation

at pk_vpx_vm_virtual_device

High Availability and Fault Tolerance

vSphere Web Client VM Summary does not display accurate HA protection

configuration
How to Upgrade vCenter Server appliance 6.0 to vCSA 6.5 ?

You can upgrade or perform patching on your vCenter Server appliance using
two ways . First one is via internet. vCSA appliance will identify, if any updates
available via internet connection and list the update option. If you dont have
internet connection to your vCSA server. Second option is offline installer is the
ideal one to perform the vCSA 6.5 to 6.5b upgrade. In this article, i am going to
explain the upgrade procedure for upgrade from vCSA 6.5 to vCSA 6.5b using
offline upgrade procedure.

For offline upgrade, Download the vCenter server 6.5b upgrade ISO for the vCSA
appliance and attach the vCSA 6.5b upgrade ISO into the vCenter Server
appliance 6.5 virtual machine. Make sure Connected checkbox is selected and
click on Ok. Before performing the Upgrade, I always recommend to take the
snapshot of your vCSA appliance. If you have external PSC, Kindly take snapshot
of both PSC and vCenter appliance.
Login to the vCenter Server appliance 6.5 VAMI page using the URL
(https://vCenter-appliance-name:5480) and login with the root credentials.
In the vCenter Server Appliance management, Click on Update. You can check
the current version of vCenter Server appliance and build details. Click on Check
Updates > Check CDROM for offline Upgrade. If you have internet connect to
the vCSA appliance, you can select Check URL to scan for available updates for
vCSA. Since I dont have internet connection to my vCSA, I have Selected Check
CDROM option.
Advertise Here

Since we have already attached the vCSA 6.5b upgrade ISO to the CDROM of the
vCSA virtual machine. It detects the vCSA 6.5b under available updates. Review
the build version.

Click on Install Updates -> Install CDROM Updates to start the upgrade of vCSA
6.5 to vCSA 6.5b
Select the checkbox I accept the terms of the license agreement to accept the
End user license agreement and Click on Install
It will few minutes to complete the upgrade of vCenter Server appliance 6.5 to
vCSA 6.5b. Click on Ok to complete the installation.

Reboot the vCenter appliance after the upgrade and login back to vCSA
management page and you can notice that vCenter appliance is upgrade to the
build 6.5.0.5300 Build Number 5178943. which is nothing but vCSA 6.5b.
After upgrade, All my services are back and overall health status is green.

Thats it. we are done with the upgrade of vCSA 6.5 to vCSA 6.5b. I hope this is
informative for you. Thanks for Reading!!. Be social and share it in social media,
if you feel worth sharing it.