Failed vCenter upgrade from 7.0.3 to 8.0 is hanging

[mleite]

Hello - I attempted to upgrade one of our 7.0.3 vCenter appliances to 8.0.  The upgrade failed, but I was able to shut down the new vCenter that was created and revert back to the 7.0.3 vCenter.  Everything is functional with it, except when I try to connect to the admin console on port 5480, it's stuck on this:

No option to cancel or do anything else.  I've tried the steps in Manually cancel the RDU (Reduced Downtime Upgrade) workflow on vCenter Server

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Manually cancel the RDU (Reduced Downtime Upgrade) workflow on vCenter Server Manually cancel the RDU (Reduced Downtime Upgrade) workflow on vCenter Server VMware vCenter Server 8.0 Issue/Introduction Environment Resolution Follow the below steps: Power off the new version vCenter VM. Log into the ESXi host that has the old version vCenter VM. Ensure the old vCenter VM is powered on. View this on Broadcom >

 and also here - VMware vSphere

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VMware vSphere Installed a fresh copy of the VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.3-18700403 to fix a problem I could not resolve. Right after the installation I started an upgrade from 5480 View this on Broadcom >

  Neither worked.  Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Broadcom		remove preview
VMware vSphere Installed a fresh copy of the VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.3-18700403 to fix a problem I could not resolve. Right after the installation I started an upgrade from 5480 View this on Broadcom >

[Chuck Metzger]

I had the exact same problem.  I tried many different things to get this to work.  I gave up and just created a new VCSA 8 and skipped the migration.  There is also a thread on reddit about this, and they had support look at it and they couldn't figure it out and referred it to the developers.

[vasquezu]

Have you tried the following:

1. stop the VAMI service:
   service-control --stop applmgmt

2. Remove the file /etc/applmgmt/appliance/software_update_state.conf :
   rm -i /etc/applmgmt/appliance/software_update_state.conf

3. go to /var/log/vmware/upgrade :
   cd /var/log/vmware/upgrade

4. do the following 3 inside this folder:
   Create Precheck File: touch prechecks-succeeded
   Create Export File: touch export-succeeded
   Create import File: touch import-succeeded

5. Start the VAMI service :
   service-control --start applmgmt

Source: https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=67179

[mleite]

That worked, thanks!  Creating those files with the touch command is what did the trick, that wasn't in the other solutions that I had found.

[vasquezu]

Nice! Glad that worked for you. 

[MeenaJ]

Did you perform the upgrade by mounting the ISO and doing an "upgrade" from there, or using the vCenter upgrade option in the vCenter UI?

[David Olson]

I know this is a bit late, but did you have ssh enabled on the source VCSA? I found that was required during step 2 of upgrade.