Esxi 6.7 u3 vSAN upgrade path to 7.0 u1

[Knothead00]

vCenter 7.0.3 build 20150588

(13) VMware ESXi 6.7.0 build-16075168 running vSAN ; VMware ESXi 6.7.0 Update 3

esxcli system settings advanced list -o /Virsto/DiskFormatVersion

   Path: /Virsto/DiskFormatVersion

   Type: integer

   Int Value: 10

   Default Int Value: 10

   Min Value: 2

   Max Value: 10

   String Value:

   Default String Value:

   Valid Characters:

   Description: Virsto Disk Format version

We would like to upgrade to either:

7.0.0.update01-17551050 OR 7.0.0.update02-18538813

Per this document either one is a safe path:  https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/90408

Note we are certainly following all best practices very comfortable with all recommendations:  https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2146381

I have read this article and from what I can tell upgrading from 6.7u3 to 7.0 u1 is a very safe path to go. : https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/76841

Our current disk format version for  all hosts is 10. Running vSAN at version vSAN 6.7 Patch 02

The goal is to get to 7.3 but understand we will need to go through a couple of iterations of upgrades 6.7 u3 > 7.0 u1 > 7.0 u2 > 7.0 u3.

I getting this right?

Thanks. Roger.

[TheBobkin]

Hi Roger,

 

As per https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2146381, you can upgrade directly from ESXi/vSAN 6.7 U3 to 7.0 U3, no need for intermediate upgrade steps.

Regarding https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/76841 (I actually happen to have authored that article ), that issue can only occur if for instance mid-upgrade (e.g. half the nodes on 6.7 U3 and other half on 7.0 U3) you added a new 7.0 U3 node with v15 disks (or any version >v10) or recreated a Disk-Groups on a higher version node mid-upgrade - vCenter 7.0 actually has some guardrails preventing this (e.g. it would create the Disk-Group on v10) but I will be frank and say I have observed these guardrails get broken/bypassed and hence would not rely on them 100% e.g. don't recreate any Disk-Groups or add/remove disks or nodes mid-upgrade.

 

Once all nodes are on 7.0 U3, proceed with the on-disk format precheck and if green then the on-disk format upgrade.

[Knothead00]

How do we  upgrade the host without disk format increasing past the current version of 10? 

Option 1) Can I assume you leave it in the cluster and complete a full excavation then using LCM upgrade to a newer version?

Option 2) take it out of the cluster, upgrade the host then back into the cluster? 

 

 

[TheBobkin]

 On-disk format doesn't get upgraded automatically with upgrade of ESXi/vSAN version - it is a manually triggered task that should be performed after all hosts have been upgraded (and precheck of this will state fail if all nodes not on same major version).

[Knothead00]

I took a single host (full exac) out of the cluster and upgraded it to 7.0 u2 :

[root@esx06:~] vmware -vl
VMware ESXi 7.0.2 build-18538813
VMware ESXi 7.0 Update 2
[root@esx06:~] esxcli system settings advanced list -o /Virsto/DiskFormatVersion
Path: /Virsto/DiskFormatVersion
Type: integer
Int Value: 14
Default Int Value: 14
Min Value: 2
Max Value: 14

The disk version is now 14 can that version be placed back into the cluster?

[TheBobkin]

, There is generally no need to either do full evacuation nor take the node out of the cluster - the vast vast majority of vSAN customers (assuming data stored as FTT=1 or higher) just stage the update on each node then do each of them one by one with Maintenance Mode 'Ensure Accessibility' option, whether you want to do this or Full Data Evacuation is up to you (but will make upgrading all nodes take an order of magnitude longer), but there is no good reason to take the node out of the cluster.

 

"[root@esx06:~] esxcli system settings advanced list -o /Virsto/DiskFormatVersion
Path: /Virsto/DiskFormatVersion
Type: integer
Int Value: 14"
This shows you the default Virsto version that this node will use if you for instance you deleted a Disk-Group and recreated it or added a new Disk-Group (which is v14 as default for 7.0 U2) - this does NOT indicate what format the current disks are on - this would be checkable via:
# esxcli vsan storage list

If the disks are still on v10 then yes it should be okay to add this node back to the cluster, but if you wanted to be cautious (in case someone else recreates/add disks/Disk-Group) you could also set Virsto legacy format to v10 on this and all nodes until all the nodes are upgraded (then set this to the default version of the higher build e.g. v15 for 7.0 U3) and only then once all nodes upgraded to the same build, perform on-disk format upgrade.

 

"[root@esx06:~] vmware -vl
VMware ESXi 7.0.2 build-18538813
VMware ESXi 7.0 Update 2"
Is there a reason you updated this node to 7.0 U2 where there was a direct upgrade path to 7.0 U3 as I mentioned previously?