There is the time for upgrades and patches, again. Yes, again and again. New vulnerabilities that are discovered needs to be patched as soon as possible. Bugs that has been discovered, needs to be resolved. Luckily, since a while, the upgrade/update process of VMware vCenter Server has gone smooth and easy. So all you have to do is to upgrade your VMware VCSA to the latest VCSA 8 U3b. The process of upgrading VCSA has not changed.
You do everything nicely via the VAMI UI via https://ip_of_vcsa:5480
No need CLI for patching. And VMware usually does not like when users put their hands into the CLI anyway. VCSA is usually stable as such, however, the file-level backup shall be done before you start the upgrade process.
Note that it is not blocking you to upgrade, but it is good to create one in case something goes wrong. You can proceed with the upgrade/patch even if you do not have any file-level backup, but you're taking the risk that if something goes wrong, you'll lose the history data, configuration etc. and you'll have to start from scratch. Also, perhaps all your backup/monitoring software would have to be re-configured again because the vCenter server instance ID would have changed (if you reinstall a new copy).
What is vCenter server Instance ID?
Each vCenter Server system has a vCenter Server instance ID. This ID is a number between 0 and 63 that is randomly generated at installation time, but can be reconfigured after installation.
vCenter Server uses the instance ID to generate MAC addresses and UUIDs for virtual machines.
Upgrade your VMware VCSA to the latest VCSA 8 U3b
The latest release of vCenter Server – vCenter Server 8.0 Update 3b | 17 SEP 2024 | ISO Build 24262322.
What's New: This release resolves CVE-2024-38812 and CVE-2024-38813. For more information on these vulnerabilities and their impact on VMware by Broadcom products, see VMSA-2024-0019.
VMware vCenter Server 8.0 Update 3b delivers bug fixes documented in the Resolved Issues section.
Two ways to apply vCenter 8 U3b patches:
- Online by downloading via the VAMI management UI
- Offline by downloading the ISO
1.Online Update
Click the Check update button and then Stage and Install link.
then accept the EULA
Join CEIP (not mandatory)
and click NEXT….
Have you done your file-level backup?
then just go for a coffee. There is 8gigs of downoad and then the upgrade process will update the OS.
2. Offline:
The same, hit the Check Update button, VCSA will detect the ISO attached to the VM and you'll be able to detect the patch and start the upgrade process by clicking the Stage and Install link.
Log in to the Broadcom Support Portal to download this patch. (VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-8.0.3.00200-24262322-patch-FP.iso)
You then attach the ISO to your VCSA VM and start the process exactly the same way as with the Online update. The only difference is here that you can apply this for isolated environments, for environments that do not have internet access.
Full ISOs download:
Under the Products Tab, choose the user entitlement for VMware vSphere (e.g. click on VMware vSphere – Enterprise). Select the major version of vSphere required. Click View Group on the right side of the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) item. Use the drop-down in the upper-right to choose the desired version.
Patch Builds:
Under the Solutions Tab, choose the user entitlement for VMware vSphere (e.g. click on VMware vSphere – Enterprise). Select the major version of vSphere required. Find the desired version of ESXi in the list.
From VMware:
Fixed Version(s) and Release Notes:
VMware ESXi 8.0 U3
Downloads and Documentation:
https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/productfiles?displayGroup=VMware%20vSphere%20-%20Standard&release=8.0&os=&servicePk=202631&language=EN&groupId=204419
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/8.0/rn/vsphere-esxi-803-release-notes/index.html
VMware vCenter Server 8.0 U3
Downloads and Documentation:
https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/productfiles?subFamily=VMware%20vCenter%20Server&displayGroup=VMware%20vCenter%20Server%208.x&release=8.0U3&os=&servicePk=520490&language=EN
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/8.0/rn/vsphere-vcenter-server-803-release-notes/index.html
Final Words
Easy way to update your vCSA to the latest release. VMware always provides online and offline possibility.
More posts from ESX Virtualization:
- Update ESXi Host to the latest ESXi 8.0U3b without vCenter (NEW)
- VMware vSphere 8.0 U2 Released – ESXi 8.0 U2 and VCSA 8.0 U2 How to update
- What’s the purpose of those 17 virtual hard disks within VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 8.0?
- VMware vSphere 8 Update 2 New Upgrade Process for vCenter Server details
- VMware vSAN 8 Update 2 with many enhancements announced during VMware Explore
- What’s New in VMware Virtual Hardware v21 and vSphere 8 Update 2?
- Homelab v 8.0
- vSphere 8.0 Page
- Veeam Bare Metal Recovery Without using USB Stick (TIP)
- ESXi 7.x to 8.x upgrade scenarios
- A really FREE VPN that doesn’t suck
- Patch your ESXi 7.x again
- VMware vCenter Server 7.03 U3g – Download and patch
- Upgrade VMware ESXi to 7.0 U3 via command line
- VMware vCenter Server 7.0 U3e released – another maintenance release fixing vSphere with Tanzu
- What is The Difference between VMware vSphere, ESXi and vCenter
- How to Configure VMware High Availability (HA) Cluster
Stay tuned through RSS, and social media channels (Twitter, FB, YouTube)
This upgrade process update the host too or just the vcenter?
The article is only about vCenter update. ESXi is separate article, will write soon.
Hallo,
I think a lot readers will have the problem that their account isn t working or is not validated.
Account? You mean VMware/Broadcom account? Well, they should fix it if that’s the case. Most admins have their VMware/Broadcom account valid so they can download/use their entitled purchases in production.