HPE - A00131392en - Us - HPE OmniStack 4.2.0 For Vsphere Upgrade Guide

HPE OmniStack 4.2.
0 for vSphere Upgrade Guide
Published May, 2023

Version 4.2.0
Part No. 20-SVTY-OMNI420UPGRADE-ED1
Documentation Feedback: doc-feedback-hpe-storage@hpe.com
Legal Notices
Copyright © 2023 by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
Notices
The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for Hewlett Packard Enterprise products
and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be
construed as constituting an additional warranty. Hewlett Packard Enterprise shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or
omissions contained herein.
Confidential computer software. Valid license from Hewlett Packard Enterprise required for possession, use, or copying. Consistent
with FAR 12.211 and 12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Com-
mercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license.
Links to third-party websites take you outside the Hewlett Packard Enterprise website. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has no control
over and is not responsible for information outside the Hewlett Packard Enterprise website.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise believes in being unconditionally inclusive. If terms in this document are recognized as offensive or
noninclusive, they are used only for consistency within the product. When the product is updated to remove the terms, this document
will be updated.
Acknowledgments
Intel®, Itanium®, Pentium®, Intel Inside®, and the Intel Inside logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other
countries.
Microsoft® and Windows® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries.
Adobe® and Acrobat® are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Java® and Oracle® are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
UNIX® is a registered trademark of The Open Group.
All third-party marks are property of their respective owners.
Publication Date
Wednesday May 10, 2023 03:35:41
Document ID
btu1669287949930
Legal Notices ii
Contents
Overview of the upgrade process..................................................................................................6

Plan your upgrade.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................6
Upgrade overview.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................6
Upgrade task summary............................................................................................................................................................................................................................7
Upgrade vCenter Server 6.x to 7.x task summary....................................................................................................................................................................8
Determine the current software version on the hosts...........................................................................................................................................................8
Prerequisites...................................................................................................................................10
Check the HPE SimpliVity federation...........................................................................................................................................................................................14
Verify HA compliance through vSphere Client.......................................................................................................................................................................15
Verify Management Virtual Appliance health through vSphere Client....................................................................................................................15
Verify the digital signature of Upgrade Artifacts through the Upgrade Manager............................................................................................16
Download the HPE OmniStack upgrade software.................................................................................................................................................................17
Download the HPE host firmware...................................................................................................................................................................................................19
Upgrade Arbiter.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................19
Install HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client.................................................................................................................................................................19
Upgrade the software and firmware..........................................................................................21

Upload the software................................................................................................................................................................................................................................21
Monitor the upgrade...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................26
Commit the upgrade (for HPE OmniStack software only)...............................................................................................................................................27
Troubleshooting.............................................................................................................................30
Phases in the upgrade process.........................................................................................................................................................................................................30
Phase 1: Login...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................30
Phase 2: Inventory discovery...........................................................................................................................................................................................32
Phase 3: Prepare the cluster for upgrade.................................................................................................................................................................33
Phase 4: Select components for upgrade.................................................................................................................................................................34
Phase 5: Upgrade pre-validation checks...................................................................................................................................................................35
Phase 6: Upload upgrade artifacts................................................................................................................................................................................35
Phase 7: Upgrade the software.......................................................................................................................................................................................36
Phase 8: Commit the upgrade.........................................................................................................................................................................................42
Tasks in a combined software and firmware upgrade......................................................................................................................................43
General troubleshooting procedures............................................................................................................................................................................................44
1: Verify that all hosts in the cluster are healthy..................................................................................................................................................44
2: Verify that the HPE SimpliVity file system (SVTFS) is running ............................................................................................................44
3: Verify that ssh is enabled on the ESXi host.......................................................................................................................................................44
Contents 3
4: Verify that HPE SimpliVity datastore is accessible from HPE OmniStack hosts.........................................................................44
5: Create an HPE SimpliVity datastore.......................................................................................................................................................................44
6: Verify network connectivity between Upgrade Manager and HPE OmniStack hosts..............................................................45
7: Verify that REST services are running on the Virtual Controller...........................................................................................................45
8: Regenerate a REST certificate...................................................................................................................................................................................45
9: Check hypervisor and HPE OmniStack software interoperability.........................................................................................................45
10: Install a version of Arbiter that is compatible with the HPE OmniStack software version.................................................45
11: Verify network connectivity between HPE OmniStack hosts and Arbiter....................................................................................45
12: Verify that the root account for the HPE OmniStack hosts is not locked.....................................................................................46
13: Verify that the datastore mount path is in use.............................................................................................................................................46
Cluster name appears with "%2f" characters in Upgrade (OMNI-46414)................................................................................................................46
ESXi upgrade starts, but never completes the upgrade (OMNI-48202).................................................................................................................46
Host displays the upgrade at 95% when upgrading (OMNI-49556).........................................................................................................................47
Firmware upgrade troubleshooting...............................................................................................................................................................................................47
Pre-stage upload artifacts in low-bandwidth environments...........................................................................................................................................47
Upgrade Manager cannot proceed with the upgrade of the ESXi component for all the ESXi upgrade packages released
beyond the 4.1.1U1 release.......................................................................................................................................................................................48
Upgrade Manager cannot proceed with the upgrade of the Firmware component for all the firmware upgrade packages
released beyond the 4.1.1U1 release...................................................................................................................................................................48
Upgrade Manager launch fails with the error: Unable to find the HPE OmniStack upgrade package...................................................48
Upgrade Manager launch fails with the error: Unable to find the associated signature file........................................................................49
Upgrade Manager launch fails with the error: Digital signature check failed for the HPE OmniStack upgrade package..........49
Upgrade Manager fails with the error 'Digital signature verification failed for the Management Virtual Appliance upgrade
package' for the centrally managed use case..................................................................................................................................................49
Upgrade Manager fails with the error: 'Digital signature verification failed for the Management Virtual Appliance upgrade
package' for the centrally managed federation use case.........................................................................................................................49
Upgrade of node stuck at upgrade phase "Resynchronize virtual machine data"..............................................................................................50
Appendix A: Support and other resources................................................................................51
Appendix B: VMware ESXi manual upgrade..............................................................................53

ESXi upgrade requirements................................................................................................................................................................................................................53
Migrate and shut down virtual machines...................................................................................................................................................................................53
Upgrade ESXi..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................53
Verify that the ESXi upgrade succeeded....................................................................................................................................................................................54
Install the Hewlett Packard Enterprise VAAI-NAS plug-in..............................................................................................................................................54
Appendix C: Centrally-Managed federation upgrade example...........................................55
Appendix D: VAAI NAS overview................................................................................................60

HPE SimpliVity VAAI-NAS plug-in.................................................................................................................................................................................................60
Prerequisites for installing the VAAI-NAS plug-in................................................................................................................................................................60
Contents 4
Install the HPE Simplivity VAAI-NAS plug-in on a standard host...............................................................................................................................60
Verify VAAI-NAS plug-in installation using vSphere Client options..........................................................................................................................62
Verify VAAI-NAS plug-in installation using CLI commands............................................................................................................................................62
Uninstall the HPE SimpliVity VAAI-NAS plug-in VIB..........................................................................................................................................................63
Overview of the upgrade process

Hewlett Packard Enterprise regularly releases new and updated hardware and software revisions providing feature enhancements
and bug fixes as documented in the HPE OmniStack Release Notes.
You can also find notifications of available upgrades from the Customer Support (https://www.hpe.com/support/hpesc) web
site.
Plan your upgrade

Use the HPE SimpliVity Upgrade Planner to help you to plan your upgrade.
The HPE SimpliVity Upgrade Planner is a tool aimed to ease the complexity and time taken during the upgrade planning
process. It is a simple-to-use intuitive web-based tool built on the existing HPE SimpliVity Interoperability and Upgrade Guides.
It helps by greatly reducing the time and effort that you spend on HPE SimpliVity lifecycle management.
You are given step-by-step instructions for each component to be upgraded and, based on your inputs and selections, a final
summary is then presented to you. You can download the upgrade plans to plan for future upgrades, use the planner during
actual upgrades, or simply check out what the upgrade path entails.
For more information, see https://storage-showcase.ext.hpe.com/hpe-simplivity-upgrade-planner.
Upgrade overview
Upgrade Manager allows you to upgrade the following on your hosts:
• HPE OmniStack software
• VMware ESXi software
• HPE host firmware (HPE SimpliVity Service Pack (HPE SVTSP))
Upgrade Manager allows you to upgrade one or more of the software packages in a single session.
When upgrading HPE OmniStack, VMware ESXi, or both, Upgrade Manager can simultaneously upgrade hosts in a cluster
when the hosts do not have any powered-on guest virtual machines (except the Virtual Controllers). This feature can accelerate
the upgrade process. When upgrading HPE host firmware separately or together with other software in a single cluster,
Upgrade Manager will upgrade each host in a cluster randomly, one host at a time. When upgrading HPE host firmware in
multiple clusters, Upgrade Manager will simultaneously upgrade the clusters.
An HPE OmniStack software upgrade requires all the hosts in a cluster to use the same version of HPE OmniStack software
(for example, all hosts in a single cluster use HPE OmniStack 4.0). You must also commit the upgrade to make it final. When
upgrading from HPE OmniStack 3.7.10 U1 or later to HPE OmniStack 4.1.1U1, you perform the commit on individual clusters.
When upgrading from 3.7.10/3.7.10A or earlier to 4.1.1U1, you either perform the commit on the entire federation, or first
upgrade to 3.7.10 U1 before upgrading to 4.1.1U1.
An ESXi upgrade requires the hosts to use a version of ESXi supported by HPE SimpliVity (for example, ESXi 6.7 or ESXi 7.0)
and your vCenter Server. Once upgraded, you do not need to commit the upgrade to make it final.
An orchestrated host firmware (SVT Service Pack for ProLiant) upgrade requires the use of Upgrade Manager version 3.7.10
or higher. Once upgraded, you do not need to commit the upgrade to make it final. For details on supported platforms and
firmware versions, see the HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide for your platform at:
http://www.hpe.com/docs/simplivity-interop.
Overview of the upgrade process 6

Upgrade task summary

This chart provides a high-level view of the tasks required to upgrade software on a host:
Task Description
1 Verify that your configuration is ready for upgrade by review-
ing Prerequisites on page 10 and Check the HPE SimpliVity
federation on page 14.
2 Download the HPE OmniStack software bundle from the My
HPE Software Center (http://www.hpe.com/software/hpesoft-
warecenter) and save the files in the same directory on the
computer that is local to the hosts you want to upgrade.
3 If upgrading the HPE OmniStack software, upgrade the Arbiter
software (without removing the current version) to the same
version of the HPE Overview of the upgrade process
OmniStack software you plan to use for the upgrade. The Ar-
biter and HPE OmniStack software versions must match to
complete the upgrade.
4 If upgrading the VMware ESXi software, download the zipped

ESXi offline upgrade bundle and the HPE SimpliVity InterOp
Catalog bundle from the My HPE Software Center
(http://www.hpe.com/software/hpesoftwarecenter) and save
them in the same directory. You must extract the contents of
the HPE SimpliVity InterOp Catalog bundle in the same direc-
tory.
5 If upgrading the HPE host firmware, download the ISO image
from the Customer Support website (https://sup-
port.hpe.com/hpesc/public/km/search#q=Simplivi-
ty%26t=DriversandSoftware%26sort=relevancy%26layout=ta-
ble).
6 Install (or upgrade) HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client
on your vCenter Server to check your current HPE OmniStack
and ESXi versions.
7 Run Upgrade Manager to:
• Upload the software you are upgrading to the datastore
used by the hosts.
• Upgrade the hosts with the latest software.
• Commit the HPE OmniStack upgrade to all the hosts.
You cannot access new features in the HPE OmniStack
software upgrade until you commit it to all the HPE Om-
niStack hosts in the cluster or federation.
You do not need to commit the upgrade to complete the
process for ESXi or HPE host firmware upgrades unless
you are upgrading ESXi from 6.x to 7.x. In that case you
must first commit the OmniStack upgrade to provide
support for this new feature before you can use Upgrade
Manager to update the ESXi version.

Upgrade vCenter Server 6.x to 7.x task summary

This version of HPE OmniStack software supports an ESXi upgrade to ESXi 7.0 from versions 6.5 or 6.7. Unlike the 6.x versions,
vCenter Server 7.x is only supported on a vCenter Server Appliance (Linux) host. The recommended workflow for upgrading
from ESXi 6.x to 7.x is as follows:
Task Description
1 Use Upgrade Manager to perform the HPE OmniStack upgrade
to 4.1.0 or higher for the entire federation. Do not attempt to
upgrade ESXi to 7.x yet.
2 Commit the upgrade. The upgrade must be commited for the
entire federation before HPE OmniStack can support the ESXi
7.x upgrade.
3 Migrate your 6.x vCenter Server(s) from the current Windows
host(s) instances to a supported 7.x version, or, upgrade the
vCenter Server Appliance instances to a supported 7.x version
(if the user is already at the 6.x VCSA). Use the VMware up-
grade and patching procedures:
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/vsphere-
vcenter-server-70-upgrade-guide.pdf.
4 Install the HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client on the
new vCenter Server Appliances.
5 Ensure that the HPE SimpliVity Arbiter is accessible. If you
originally had the Arbiter on the same Windows host as the
vCenter Server, you may need to assign a new IP address to
the old Windows host or alternatively move the Arbiter to a
different host. Use the CLI command svt-arbiter-address-set
to update the Arbiter IP address or svt-arbiter instance-set
to point the cluster to a newly deployed Arbiter. See the HPE
OmniStack Command Reference Guide for details.
6 Restart Upgrade Manager and perform the ESXi upgrade from
6.x to 7.x.
7 Upgrade the VAAI-NAS instances on your standard hosts if
you wish to take advantage of the latest ESXi 7.x features.
See Install the HPE Simplivity VAAI-NAS plug-in on a standard
host on page 60.
Determine the current software version on the hosts

You can view the current version of HPE OmniStack software and VMware ESXi software on your hosts through Upgrade
Manager. However, if you want to check the current versions before starting the upgrade:
Procedure
1. Open HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client.
2. Browse to Home > Inventory > Hosts and Clusters.
3. Expand the datacenter that has the cluster with the hosts you want to upgrade and click the HPE SimpliVity tab. You can
view the HPE OmniStack version in the lower-right panel. To see the ESXi version installed on each host, select a host
from the cluster, click the Summary tab, and look at the version shown in the Hypervisor field.

HPE host firmware consists of various components, each with its own version. To view the component versions,refer to
the firmware upgrade report you optionally generated after the last firmware upgrade. If you do not have the report, use
HPE iLO.

Prerequisites
Cluster upgrades with different versions
You can upgrade an existing cluster to a later version of the HPE OmniStack software and continue to use clusters that have
different versions of the software. For example, if you have two clusters with the HPE OmniStack 3.7.10 U1 software installed,
you can upgrade and commit one cluster to 4.0.0 or 4.0.1.
The minimum version of software that supports this type of upgrade is HPE OmniStack 3.7.10 U1.
Upgrade prerequisites
Before you upgrade the HPE OmniStack or VMware ESXi software, consider the following.
Prerequisite Description
Upgrade Manager system requirements Upgrade Manager requires:
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows 10
• A version of Java equivalent to OpenJDK 8, such as Azul
or AdoptOpenJDKOracle
• Microsoft® .NET Framework 4.7.1 web installer package
or later
• If upgrading a federation containing 32 or more hosts, the
CPU should have at least two processor sockets.
• When upgrading HPE host firmware, verify that the host
where Upgrade Manager is running has access to the HPE
Integrated Lights Out (iLO) network. It is not recommend-
ed to use iLO 5 with hosts managed by HPE OneView. To
workaround this, unmanage the hosts from HPE OneView,
and then proceed with the upgrade.
Cluster requirements HPE OmniStack hosts can reside in one or more clusters per
datacenter.
Each cluster can contain up to 16 HPE OmniStack hosts.
Each cluster requires at least one datastore for uploading the
binary image.
For HPE host firmware upgrades, all clusters in the federation
must be running the same OmniStack version. Mixed clusters,
where a federation contains clusters running different Om-
niStack versions, is not supported when performing HPE host
firmware upgrades.
Prerequisites 10
Host requirements All the hosts in the cluster must use the same version of HPE
OmniStack software.
VMware Distributed Power Management is not supported and
must be disabled on all hosts.
For ESXi upgrades, the hosts must use a version supported
by HPE SimpliVity and vCenter Server.
For host firmware upgrades, the hosts must be running
firmware version 3.7.10 or higher. In addition, when upgrading
host firmware for the first time, it is recommended that you
perform the operation together with an HPE OmniStack up-
grade.
Software compatibility requirements Verify that the software versions in the target configuration
are compatible with each other. For more information, refer
to the HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide at
http://www.hpe.com/docs/simplivity-interop.
Virtual machine requirements (excluding the Virtual Controller) To upgrade the HPE OmniStack software, you do not need to
shut down or move virtual machines from the hosts. However,
if you only need to upgrade one host, shut down the virtual
machines before you start to prevent data loss. For a fully
automated ESXi or HPE cluster firmware upgrade, a valid
vSphere Enterprise Plus or higher license type is required.
vSphere DRS is leveraged as part of the automatic migration
of virtual machines during this process, and is only possible
with a vSphere Enterprise plus license or higher. If you do not
have a vSphere Enterprise Plus or higher license or cannot
enable vSphere
DRS, you will need to manually shut down or move the virtual
machines off the hosts you need to upgrade.
Note: Intelligent Workload Optimizer is an HPE

SimpliVity feature that works with the vSphere DRS
cluster feature. It is enabled by default to ensure ef-
ficient load balancing for virtual machines on the
HPE OmniStack hosts. Intelligent Workload Optimizer
requires three or more HPE OmniStack hosts in the
cluster to start creating cluster groups and affinity
rules in vSphere DRS. To manage Intelligent Work-
load Optimizer, use the svt-iwo commands as de-
scribed in the HPE OmniStack Command Reference
Guide. For standard hosts (no HPE OmniStack soft-
ware) that share an HPE SimpliVity datastore, mi-
grate the virtual machines to HPE OmniStack hosts
in the cluster
Prerequisites 11
Virtual Machine Operations Avoid the following virtual machine operations during up-
grades:
• Backing up virtual machines manually, cloning virtual ma-
chines, or creating application consistent backups during
the upgrade.
• Moving virtual machines with the HPE SimpliVity Move
Virtual Machine option or VMware vMotion feature.
Scheduling Schedule the upgrade during a maintenance window or a pe-

riod when you expect minimal system use. You should also:
• Upgrade your Production and Disaster Recovery (DR)
datacenters separately in order to maintain DR continuity
and in case of catastrophic failure or disaster.
• Avoid times when virtual machine I/O is high. Consider
quiescing virtual machines that typically have a high rate
of I/O.
• Make sure that the SimpliVity cluster or federation is in a
healthy state and that there are no unacknowledged
alarms or events or pending tasks.
• Maintain the continuity of virtual machines running on
standard hosts that use HPE SimpliVity datastores by
migrating their virtual machines to an HPE OmniStack
host before you start the upgrade process.
For more details on migrating virtual machines, see the
VMware documentation.
Policy Backups Make sure that your backup schedule is current and that the
upgrade does not coincide with a heavy policy backup
schedule.
Note: Tasks such as policy backups might fail if the

backup occurs during a critical time in the upgrade
procedure. Examine the virtual machine alarms after
an upgrade to check for automated backup failure
and create manual supplemental backups if neces-
sary.
Prerequisites 12
Network Make sure your network is functioning correctly by checking
the following:
• Ports 22, 443, and 9190 are open as documented in the
HPE OmniStack for vSphere Deployment Guide.
• Upgrade Manager: Ports in the range 8100-8200 are used
for hosting the SVTSP ISO image for iLO to mount it during
the firmware upgrade.
• iLO: Ports 22 (SSH) 80 (HTTP), 443 (SSH) & 17988
(Virtual Media), 8100-8200 (incoming traffic ports) have
to be opened in the iLO network.
• HPE OmniStack: Port 80 is used by Upgrade Manager to
query Firmware Version stored in HPE OmniStack.
• All of the above ports must be opened for Bi-directional
traffic.
• Ensure that SSH & Virtual Media are enabled in iLO. You
should reset iLO if you are changing any of the iLO config-
urations.
• Ensure that the computer with Upgrade Manager can
communicate with the computer that has vCenter Server.
If they cannot communicate, you cannot log in through
Upgrade Manager and upgrade the hosts in vCenter
Server.
• If upgrading HPE host firmware, ensure that the computer
with Upgrade Manager can communicate with the Host
iLO IP or hostname.
Note: Do not attempt to upgrade hosts over a WAN.
vCenter Server Account Credentials Know the vCenter Server account credentials. HPE SimpliVity
Upgrade Manager requires you to log in with administrator
credentials as a user or as part of an Administrators group.
Note: If you log in to Upgrade Manager with an ac-

count that uses a custom role (not administrator),
you cannot perform the upgrade tasks even if you
have all the available permissions. You can only log
in to the application and upload the required .tar file.
HPE iLO If upgrading HPE host firmware:

• Know the HPE iLO IP address and user account credentials.
You may need to enter them during the upgrade process.
Upgrade Manager will attempt to auto-populate the HPE
iLO IP address. To use this feature, the Virtual Controller
must be running HPE OmniStack 3.7.8 or higher and the
root password must be up to date in the Digital Vault.
• When using DHCPv4 or DHCPv6 for the iLO network, en-
sure that the DNS server is configured and working prop-
erly. Specifically, ensure that the iLO DNS configuration
and DNS forwarding settings are correct. If set incorrectly,
you may get a PVC failure while upgrading the HPE host
firmware.
Prerequisites 13
Health Monitor Script If you plan to commit the upgrade in a federation with HPE
OmniStack hosts in multiple datacenters with clusters in a
ROBO (Remote Office, Branch Office) environment, clear pro-
cesses that are in a Dead state. If necessary, contact Customer
Support (https://www.hpe.com/support/hpesc) and request
article KBA_4306.
HPE SimpliVity 2600 Gen10 When upgrading host firmware on an HPE SimpliVity 2600
Gen10 system, you must first upgrade the chassis firmware
using HPE iLO. Then upgrade the individual servers (ProLiant
XL170r/XL190r) in the chassis using Upgrade Manager. The
chassis firmware and upgrade instructions (Readme file) are
located in the Extras folder in the SVTSP ISO.
Check the HPE SimpliVity federation

Before you begin the upgrade process, check the following federation items:
• HPE OmniStack hosts reside in clusters.
• Ensure that the clusters are configured appropriately to allow for running guest migration from the hosts being upgraded.
For example, disable vSphere HA, or define vSphere HA admission control settings that will not interfere with guest
migration. For more details, refer to the HPE OmniStack for vSphere Administration Guide.
• Verify that the guest virtual machines in the clusters you want to upgrade show a status of "Yes" for Storage High Availability
(HA) compliance by checking the virutal machine view in vSphere Client. For more information, refer to Verify HA compliance
through vSphere Client on page 15.
• If you are upgrading a centrally-managed federation, verify that all of the management virtual appliances are running and
healthy. For more information, refer to Verify Management Virtual Appliance health through vSphere Client on page 15.
• Check the vSphere license to make sure it is valid and has not expired. You must use a valid vSphere license to successfully
complete the upgrade process. During the upgrade process, Upgrade Manager powers off and then powers on the Virtual
Controller for each host you upgrade. If you attempt to use Upgrade Manager and your vSphere license expired, Upgrade
Manager cannot power on the Virtual Controller after the upgrade and you cannot use your HPE OmniStack host. You can
check the license through the Configuration tab in vSphere Client.
• If you enabled VMware ESXi lockdown mode, ensure that the ESXi administrator or root account that is stored in the HPE
SimpliVity Digital Vault is added to the Lockdown Exception user list on the HPE OmniStack host.
You can use Upgrade Manager with a single vCenter Server or multiple ones (in Linked Mode) and it supports a ROBO (Remote
Office, Branch Office) environment.
For an HPE OmniStack software upgrade, you do not need to shut down or move virtual machines from the hosts if the cluster
has more than one HPE OmniStack host. The hosts rely on storage IP failover during the upgrade process. But, if the cluster
only has one HPE OmniStack host, shut down the guest virtual machines before you start the process to prevent data loss.
Do not shut down the Virtual Controller. (It runs the HPE OmniStack software for the host.)
For a fully automated ESXi or HPE cluster firmware upgrade, a valid vSphere Enterprise Plus or higher license type is required.
vSphere DRS is leveraged as part of the automatic migration of virtual machines during this process, and is only possible with
a vSphere Enterprise plus license or higher. If you do not have a vSphere Enterprise Plus or higher license or cannot enable
vSphere DRS, you will need to manually shut down or move the virtual machines off the hosts you need to upgrade.
Note: If you need to upgrade a cluster with one HPE OmniStack host with a hosted vCenter Server, use vMotion to
migrate the vCenter Server virtual machine and any of its components (such as the VMware Platform Services Controller
[PSC]) off the host and onto a host in another cluster that uses an HPE SimpliVity datastore to ensure the upgrade
succeeds.
Prerequisites 14
Verify HA compliance through vSphere Client

All the virtual machines in the Federation must be in storage High Availability (HA) compliance before you can upgrade the
hosts to ensure you do not lose data.
To check for HA compliance in HPE SimpliVity Plug-In for vSphere Client, see the following steps.
Procedure
1. In vSphere Client, expand the datacenter with the cluster that has the HPE OmniStack hosts. Click the cluster.
2. Select a virtual machine in the cluster and click the Summary tab.
3. Scroll down to the the Summary panel and check the HA status.
To check the HA status of all the virtual machines in the cluster, click the Profile Compliance tab and click Check Compliance
Now. See the VMware documentation for more information.
4. Verify that all virtual machines have a Storage HA Compliance value of Yes (synchronized).
Note: If you see a status of No, you have a single HPE OmniStack host in the cluster. Virtual machines on a single
host in a cluster cannot reach HA compliance. You need to shut down the virtual machines to upgrade the software.
See Check the HPE SimpliVity federation on page 14 for more details.
Verify Management Virtual Appliance health through vSphere Client

Before upgrading a centrally-managed federation, verify that all Management Virtual Appliances in the federation are healthy.
Procedure
1. In vSphere Client Home, select HPE SimpliVity Federation from the main menu.
2. On the HPE SimpliVity Home, locate the Management Virtual Appliance Status card. This card displays the Management
Virtual Appliance health.
3. Click DETAILS for more information about the health of the Management Virtual Appliance.
Prerequisites 15
HPE OmniStack uses the following information to determine the overall health of the Management Virtual Appliance:
Health State Power Storage High Availability

Green (OK) ALIVE ON NOT APPLICABLE, SAFE,
SYNCING
Yellow (DEGRADED) ALIVE ON DEGRADED, UNKNOWN,

OUT_OF_SCOPE, DEFUNCT
Yellow (DEGRADED) ALIVE UNKNOWN NOT_APPLICABLE,SAFE,
SYNCING,DEGRADED,UN-
KNOWN,OUT_OF_SCOPE,DE-
FUNCT
Red (CRITICAL) REMOVED, DELTED N/A N/A
Red (CRITICAL) N/A OFF, SUSPENDED N/A
Verify the digital signature of Upgrade Artifacts through the Upgrade Manager
The Upgrade Manager has a digital signature verification feature that verifies the integrity and authenticity of the upgrade
artifacts implicitly during the upgrade process. This feature is seamlessly integrated with the Upgrade Manager.
You copy the detached signature files along with their respective upgrade artifacts as described in Download the HPE OmniStack
upgrade software.
If the digital signature verification is successful, the upgrade proceeds as usual. If the digital signature verification fails for any
reason, the upgrade fails. For more information about the different error scenarios that you might encounter, see the
Troubleshooting section.
You can verify the integrity of the Upgrade Manager executable from the digital signature tab in the properties pop-up window.
To open the properties pop-up window, right-click on the Upgrade Manager, and then click on the Properties option. You
can choose to inspect and verify the digital signature details such as Issued by, Issued To, and other information by clicking
on the Details of each certificate.
Prerequisites 16
Download the HPE OmniStack upgrade software

This procedure describes how to access the Upgrade Manager software you need to upgrade your HPE OmniStack hosts.
Procedure
1. To download the upgrade package, go to the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Support Center Customer Support
(https://www.hpe.com/support/hpesc) website.
2. Search for SimpliVity.
3. Enter the HPE OmniStack version you need in the Search field (for example, HPE OmniStack 4.1.2U1).
4. Click Drivers and Software.
5. Click HPE OmniStack Software for VMware vSphere.
6. Click Obtain Software to open the My HPE Software Center (http://www.hpe.com/software/hpesoftwarecenter).
7. Log in with your HPE Passport account credentials.
8. Click Software Updates.
9. Click Updates.
10. In Search Products, specify your search criteria, and then click Search. For example, searching for Product Description
= OmniStack will list all the HPE OmniStack software you are eligible to download.
11. Locate the HPE OmniStack version in the results and click More Info.
Prerequisites 17
12. Locate the upgrade package (Q8A57-11089_SimpliVity_Upgrade_Package_n.n.n.zip), and click More

Info.
13. Click Update at the bottom of the page.
14. Save and extract the package to a location you can access.
Note: Do not place the files in a folder named with double-byte characters. For example, if the folder has a Japanese
name, change it to something in English to use Upgrade Manager. In addition, the folder name should not include
special characters (for example, %, #).
The extracted contents is similar to the following:

• simplivity-arbiter-n.n.n.n.msi
• SimpliVity-MVA-Software-revX-n.n.n.n.tar
• SimpliVity-MVA-Software-revX-n.n.n.n.tar.sig
• SimpliVity-OmniCube-Software-revX-n.n.n.n.tar
• SimpliVity-OmniCube-Software-revX-n.n.n.n.tar.sig
• simplivity-upgrade-manager-n.n.n.n.exe
• HPE-SimpliVity-Plug-in-for-vSphere-Client-linux-x64-n.n.n.n.run
• SimpliVity-Plug-in-for-vSphere-Client-Windows-n.n.n.n.exe
• svt-vmm-add-in-n.n.n.n.zip
Note: Each file in the package includes a SHA256 file to confirm its integrity.
15. If upgrading VMware ESXi software:

a) At the top of the page, click View Products by Family to return to the Search Software Updates page.
b) Search for Product Name = HPE SimpliVity custom ESXi.
c) Locate the version you want and click More Info.
Note: If upgrading to HPE OmniStack 3.7.7 or later, download an HPE SimpliVity Custom ESXi Offline Bundle.
If upgrading to an HPE OmniStack version earlier than 3.7.7, download an HPE customized image, and then
download the necessary patches, as explained in the HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide
(http://www.hpe.com/docs/simplivity-interop).
d) Click Update at the bottom of the page.

e) Download the zipped file, and then extract it in the same folder where you saved the HPE OmniStack files.
Note: Do not store more than five versions of VMware ESXi software in the folder at any one time. If necessary,
remove old versions when adding later ones.
f) Download the latest HPE SimpliVity Interop Catalog.

i) At the top of the page, click View Products by Family to return to the Search Software Updates page.
ii) Search for Product Name = HPE SimpliVity InterOp Catalog.
iii) Locate the latest version and click More Info.
iv) Click Update at the bottom of the page.
v) Download the zipped file, and then extract it in the same folder where you saved the HPE OmniStack files.
Note:
The interop-catalog-n.n.n.json file is digitally signed by HPE and the resulting digital signature
information is written to the interop-catalog-n.n.n.json.sig file. Do not attempt to manually
edit the interop-catalog-n.n.n.json file. Editing it manually invalidates the file and renders it
unusable.
Prerequisites 18
What to do next
• If upgrading host firmware, see Download the HPE host firmware on page 19 for instructions on downloading the firmware.
• Continue with the remaining sections in this chapter to install the software.
Download the HPE host firmware

This procedure describes how to download HPE host firmware.
For a list of supported platforms, refer to Supported Platforms in the HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Release Notes.
For information on the supported HPE firmware versions, refer to the HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide listed
in Prerequisites on page 10.
Procedure
1. Open the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Support Center (https://www.hpe.com/support/hpesc).
2. Click Drivers and Software.
3. Select the required HPE OmniStack firmware version.
4. In the Drivers & software page, click Download for each part of the download, and save the digital signature file together
with the firmware upgrade artifacts to the same folder where you saved the HPE OmniStack files. The directory path to
this location must not contain special characters, such as #, %.
Upgrade Arbiter
The Arbiter software version must match the HPE OmniStack version you plan to use for the upgrade.
Note: Do not remove your current version of Arbiter. Leave it installed when you run the upgrade steps.
Procedure
1. Copy the executable named simplivity-arbiter-n.n.n.n.msi from the distribution media to the Arbiter
host (typically the vCenter Server computer).
2. Double-click the installer icon to open the installer and click Next.
3. Accept the license agreement and click Next to open the Setup Type dialog box.
4. Click Complete, and then Install.
5. If you see a Files in Use message stating that some VMware applications are in use and need to be closed, select Do not
close applications. A reboot will be required and click OK. Arbiter installs as expected without you needing to restart
the computer.
6. Click Finish to complete the installation.
Install HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client

To access the latest features in HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client after you upgrade the HPE OmniStack software,
you must install it on the vCenter Server you plan to use. You must use administrator credentials to successfully install and
register HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client.
If you use Enhanced Linked Mode, you must install the same version of HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client on each
server running vCenter Server to access the HPE SimpliVity options.
To access the latest version of HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client, see the upgrade package you download in Download
the HPE OmniStack upgrade software.
Prerequisites 19
If you have an earlier version installed, remove it before you install the new version. For complete steps on installing or removing
the application, see the HPE OmniStack for vSphere Deployment Guide.
Prerequisites 20
Upgrade the software and firmware
Review these items before you run Upgrade Manager:
• Do not run the upgrade across a slow network link.
• Do not run multiple instances of Upgrade Manager at the same time within a federation.
• Upgrade all clusters that contain a single HPE OmniStack host before or after upgrading all clusters with multiple HPE
OmniStack hosts.
• If you plan to simultaneously upgrade all the hosts in a cluster:
• Shut down all guest virtual machines (except the Virtual Controllers) before launching Upgrade Manager.
• Be aware that you cannot cancel the upgrade once it starts.
• Simultaneous upgrade is not supported when upgrading host firmware. When upgrading HPE host firmware separately
or together with other software, Upgrade Manager will upgrade each host randomly, one host at a time.
• If you close and reopen Upgrade Manager while an upgrade is in progress, you will be unable to cancel the upgrade in the
new Upgrade Manager instance. Attempting to do so will result in an error.
• If an ESXi upgrade fails, you should wait a few minutes for the host and the Virtual Controller to restart their services
before starting another upgrade (HPE OmniStack or ESXi) on the same host. Starting the upgrade too soon may result in
the upgrade failing a second time, either at the pre-validation upgrade tests step, or outright.
• If an HPE host firmware upgrade fails, check the conditions, and then restart the upgrade after a few minutes.
• When upgrading a centrally-managed federation, the HPE SimpliVity Plug-in will not function while the cluster hosting
the Management Virtual Appliance is upgraded. All clusters continue to operate normally while the Management Virtual
Appliance is upgraded. Once the upgrade of the cluster hosting the Management Virtual Appliance completes, the HPE
SimpliVity Plug-in reconnects to the Management Virtual Appliance and resumes functioning as normal.
• If you are performing a sequential ESXi/Firmware upgrade, be aware that Upgrade Manager will disable vSphere Admission
Control at the cluster level before the hosts enter maintenance mode. This ensures that the VM workload will migrate
successfully. Once the upgrade completes and the hosts exit maintenance mode, Upgrade Manager will re-enable admission
control with the same user-defined settings as before the upgrade started.
• You can track the upgrade on the vCenter Server (Task & Events tab).
Note: Refer to the HPE OmniStack Command Reference Guide if you prefer to use commands to upgrade the HPE
OmniStack software on the hosts. You cannot use commands to upgrade the ESXi software. However, you can manually
upgrade it as described in Appendix B: VMware ESXi manual upgrade on page 53 of this guide.
Upload the software

The steps in this procedure upload the software to the datastore. You can immediately continue to the next procedure to
perform the upgrade and monitor it or complete those tasks later. (You only need to commit the upgrade for the HPE OmniStack
software.)
Before you begin
Procedure
1. After downloading the appropriate software, do the following, depending on what you are upgrading:
• If you are upgrading the HPE OmniStack software, ensure that the files
(simplivity-upgrade-manager-x.x.x.exe,
SimpliVity-OmniCube-Software-revA-x.x.x.tar, and
SimpliVity-OmniCube-Software-revA-x.x.x.tar.sig) are in the same directory.
Upgrade the software and firmware 21

• If you are upgrading a centrally-managed federation, ensure that the

SimpliVity-MVA-SoftwarerevX-n.n.n.n.tar and
SimpliVity-MVA-Software-revX-n.n.n.n.tar.sig files are in the same directory as the HPE
OmniStack software.
• If you are upgrading the ESXi software, ensure that it is in the same directory as the HPE OmniStack software. (You
do not need to unzip the file.)
Note: Note: Do not upgrade ESXi 6.x to ESXi 7.x until after the HPE OmniStack software is upgraded and
committed to 4.1.0 or higher on all clusters in the federation. Attempting to upgrade to ESXi 7.x before
completing and committing the HPE OmniStack 4.1.x upgrade will fail the Pre-Upgrade Validation Tests.
• If you are upgrading HPE firmware, ensure that it is in the same directory as the HPE OmniStack software.
2. Double-click the Upgrade Manager executable to open the login screen.

3. Enter the vCenter Server IP address, your administrator user name and password, and click Login.
Upgrade Manager retrieves the VMware certificate to access vCenter Server.
4. Click Accept to accept the certificate and open the the Upgrade Prerequisites and Best Practices screen.
5. Make sure that you have fulfilled the upgrade prerequisites and are following the best practices. Then, click OK to open
the HPE SimpliVity Software Upgrade screen.

Note: The above example is for a peer-managed federation. When upgrading a centrally-managed federation,
the screen would list the Management Virtual Appliance. For an example of upgrading a centrally-managed
federation, refer to Appendix C: Centrally-Managed federation upgrade example on page 55.
6. Ensure that the hosts you want to upgrade have an Upgrade Status of Ready for upgrade.
Note: If you previously upgraded some hosts in the cluster, you may see a mix of status settings (for example,
Ready for upgrade and Ready for Commit). If you see hosts with the Faulty status, you can check these hosts for
any alarms and attempt to resolve the alarm conditions before attempting the upgrade. If you do not see any
hosts with the Ready for upgrade status and you need to upgrade them, contact Hewlett Packard Enterprise and
do not continue.
7. Select HPE SimpliVity Federation, one or more clusters, or individual hosts.
Note: If you cannot see a cluster you recently created, close Upgrade Manager and log back in to the application
after a few minutes. You should see the cluster appear on the screen.
8. Do one of the following:

• If you only want to upload the software to the datastore, click Upload only at the bottom of the screen . You can close
the application after the upload finishes and continue the upgrade process at a later time.
• If you want to upload the software package and start the upgrade process, click Upgrade.
9. Select a version for each product you want to upgrade. To not upgrade a product, leave the default of No Action.
10. Click Next, and then do one of the following:
• If you are not upgrading HPE host firmware, skip to the next step.
• If you are upgrading HPE host firmware, enter the iLO IP Address, if not auto-populated; the User Name; and the
Password used to access the Integrated Lights Out (iLO) remote management system. Repeat this step for each host.
Then click Next.

11. In the Pre-Upgrade Validation Tests screen, monitor Upgrade Manager as it determines whether the configuration is ready
for upgrade.
Note: If Upgrade Manager detects any issues, you see the messages with any necessary troubleshooting tips in
the Test Details section. If needed, troubleshoot any issue and click Rerun Test to continue.

12. When all the tests pass, click Next to open the Ready to Upgrade screen.
13. Click Finish to acknowledge that the upgrade will not change the current HPE InfoSight settings.
14. Monitor the state of the upload in the Upgrade Status column.
The Upgrade status changes from Initiating upload process to Uploading package to Validating uploaded package to
Upload completed. A cluster must be in the Uploading Package state to cancel.

Monitor the upgrade

Do not close and reopen Upgrade Manager during HPE host firmware upgrade.
While the upgrade status is Upgrade in progress, you can click the menu icon in the Upgrade Status column and select Cancel
Upgrade to cancel software upgrades for all hosts in the cluster or individual hosts.
When canceling an upgrade, be aware of the following:
• When the cancel operation is accepted, the cluster state will change to Cancelling upgrade.
• When the cancel operation is not accepted, the cluster state will remain Upgrade in progress.
• When the cancel operation is accepted and the upgrade is not cancelled on the current running host, the host state will
remain Upgrade in progress and the cluster state will remain Cancelling upgrade.
• When the cancel operation is accepted and the upgrade is cancelled on the current running host, the host and cluster state
will change to Failed.
• When simultaneously upgrading all the hosts in a cluster, you cannot cancel the upgrade once it starts.
Before you begin

After Upgrade Manager uploads one or more software packages, it starts the upgrade process that you can monitor.
Procedure
1. If you closed Upgrade Manager, open it and log in again.
2. Monitor the upgrade progress. If an HPE OmniStack or VMware ESXi upgrade takes longer than expected, you can close
Upgrade Manager and reopen it at any time to check the upgrade status. For example, if it takes more than 15 minutes,
you can close it. Later, when you can open it again, you may see a host restart (reboot) after an upgrade or see the upgrade
start for the next host in the cluster. Do not close and reopen Upgrade Manager during an HPE host firmware upgrade.
Note: To ensure you do not experience any data loss, Upgrade Manager checks the storage High Availability
(HA) status of all the virtual machines on each host to ensure they are protected. If all the virtual machines on a

host are HA protected, the upgrade begins. If not, you see a message indicating how many virtual machines are
not protected.
A virtual machine may become unprotected in a problematic federation, for example, when network issues cause
a host to lose connectivity. The upgrade process for a host cannot start until all its virtual machines are HA
protected.
You can check the storage HA status through the Virtual Machines object in your hypervisor.
3. Verify the following in the Upgrade Status column during the upgrade process:
• Clusters show Upgrade in progress while hosts upgrade. Optional: While an upgrade is in progress, mouseover to view
detailed upgrade information. To capture the information for use in other applications, right-click , and select Copy
information to clipboard.
• Hosts with HPE OmniStack upgrades show Ready for commit when done. The Next button switches to Commit to
complete the HPE OmniStack upgrade.
• Hosts with ESXi or HPE host firmware upgrades show Completed when done.
4. Recommended: When an HPE host firmware upgrade is complete, optionally generate a firmware upgrade report by clicking
the corresponding in the Upgrade Status column and selecting Generate Report. You can generate the report at the host
or cluster level. This report shows version (previous and current) and state information for the individual firmware
components. This feature is only available when upgrading from 4.0 or higher, and will only display upgrade information
for the hosts you just upgraded.
• If you upgraded the HPE OmniStack software (with or without ESXi software), continue to Commit the upgrade (for
HPE OmniStack software only) on page 27.
• If you upgraded ESXi software, HPE firmware, or both (without HPE OmniStack software) and you do not need to
upgrade any more hosts in the cluster (or another cluster), click the close button (X) at the top of the screen and
confirm the close.
• If you upgraded ESXi software, HPE firmware, or both (without HPE OmniStack software) and you want to upgrade
the hosts in another cluster (or upgrade the HPE OmniStack software in the same cluster), click Next to open the HPE
SimpliVity Software Upgrade screen and select the objects you want to upgrade. Click Next and repeat the steps to
complete the upgrade.
Commit the upgrade (for HPE OmniStack software only)

You cannot access new features in the HPE OmniStack software upgrade until you commit it to all the HPE OmniStack hosts
in the cluster.
You do not need to commit ESXi or HPE Host firmware upgrades.
Note: Arbiter must match the HPE OmniStack software version of the upgrade or you cannot commit it to the hosts.
If you need to upgrade Arbiter, see Upgrade Arbiter on page 19.
A commit operation irreversibly modifies the HPE OmniStack hosts in the federation. You cannot revert the software upgrade
once you commit it.
Before you begin

Once the Upgrade Status appears as Ready for commit, you can commit the HPE OmniStack software upgrade to all the hosts
in the federation.
Note: If you are upgrading from 3.7.10/3.7.10A or earlier, you must first upgrade all clusters in the federation and
then perform federation commit using the Commit button at the bottom of Upgrade Manager. If you are upgrading

from 3.7.10 Update 1 or later, you can upgrade each cluster individually and perform cluster commit using the Commit
option available in the hamburger menu next to the cluster in Upgrade Manager.
Procedure
1. If you previously closed Upgrade Manager, open it and log in with your administrator account.
2. Ensure that all hosts show the same version of HPE OmniStack software and the Upgrade Status shows as Ready for
commit. For example:

• If upgrading from HPE OmniStack 3.7.10 U1 or later, commit the upgrade on a specific cluster by clicking the
corresponding menu icon ( ) in the Upgrade Status column and selecting Commit. Click Yes to confirm the commit.
Repeat this step for each additional cluster.
• If upgrading from an earlier version of HPE OmniStack, commit the upgrade on the federation by clicking Commit at
the bottom of the screen. Click Yes to confirm the commit.
Note: You cannot reverse the upgrade once you commit it.
4. Verify that the correct HPE OmniStack version appears in the Current Software Version column. You should also see an
upgrade status of Completed.

5. When the upgrade is complete, do one of the following:

• If you have no other software to upgrade, click Close to close Upgrade Manager.
• If you have other software to upgrade (ESXi or HPE host firmware), click Upgrade to start the upgrade process again,
as described in Upload the software on page 21, or click Cancel to complete the upgrade at a later time.
Note: If you commit the HPE OmniStack software upgrade and need to remove it, you can remove the upgraded
HPE OmniStack hosts from the federation and inventory (to remove from vCenter Server). You then need to
reset the servers to their factory defaults and redeploy them. Contact Customer Support
(https://www.hpe.com/support/hpesc) for more information.
What to do next
See Install HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client on page 19 for details on installing the latest version of HPE SimpliVity
Plug-in for vSphere Client if not done already.
Note: If you use vSphere 6.5 with HPE OmniStack 3.6.2 or later, you may experience a slight decrease in storage
performance when HPE OmniStack hosts run heavy workloads. If this occurs, contact Customer Support
(https://www.hpe.com/support/hpesc) for details on resolving this issue.

Troubleshooting
Phases in the upgrade process

The following diagram shows the phases of the upgrade process when you use Upgrade Manager. See the topics in this section
for a description of each phase.
Phase 1: Login
During the login phase, Upgrade Manager prompts you to provide login credentials for the vCenter Server.
Upgrade Manager uses these credentials to authenticate the user. It creates a session that Upgrade Manager uses for all
communications with the vCenter Server and the HPE OmniStack hosts during the upgrade process.
When you close Upgrade Manager, the session also closes. You need to log in again the next time you open Upgrade Manager.
Troubleshooting 30
VMware Certificate
The vCenter Server uses a certificate to encrypt session information sent over connections between server and client systems.
During the authentication process, Upgrade Manager retrieves and displays the certificate required to access the vCenter
Server. You are prompted to accept or reject the certificate.
If you accept the certificate and authentication succeeds, Upgrade Manager proceeds to the next phase of the upgrade process.
If you need to obtain a valid certificate, see the VMware documentation.
Troubleshooting 31
Phase 2: Inventory discovery

During the inventory discovery phase, Upgrade Manager completes the following tasks:
1 Using the session created during the login phase, contacts the vCenter Server to retrieve a list of Virtual Controllers.
2 After receiving this list, Upgrade Manager contacts one of the Virtual Controllers to retrieve the federation topology and
version information for all HPE OmniStack hosts in the federation.
3 After receiving this data, Upgrade Manager displays information in the HPE SimpliVity screen about the current state of
all clusters.
Cluster details and upgrade status

When the inventory discovery phase completes, Upgrade Manager displays these details:
• The IP addresses for the HPE OmniStack hosts in a cluster.
• The version of the HPE OmniStack, VMware ESXi and firmware components for each HPE OmniStack host in the cluster.
The displayed upgrade status values are:
• Completed: The upgrade completed.
• Ready for Upgrade: A component is ready for an upgrade to begin.
• Upgrading: An upgrade is in progress.
• Ready for Commit: The upgrade phase for the Virtual Controller is complete and you can finalize the upgrade.
Troubleshooting 32
Note: When upgrading ESXi software to ESXi 6.7 P05, ESXi 7.0 Update 2a or later, if you do not see the Upgrade
Status as Ready for Upgrade despite downloading the requisite ESXi upgrade bundles, ensure that you have
downloaded the HPE SimpliVity InterOp Catalog as described in Download the HPE OmniStack upgrade software. If
you have not downloaded the HPE SimpiVity Interop Catalog, download it, and then restart Upgrade Manager.
Phase 3: Prepare the cluster for upgrade

During the prepare the cluster for upgrade phase, you select either an HPE OmniStack host or a cluster to upgrade. When you
click Next to move to the next step in the wizard, the upgrade process uploads a Java application to a datastore in the selected
cluster or the cluster for the selected HPE OmniStack host.
Upgrade Manager uses the Java application to orchestrate upgrade operations for the selected clusters or hosts. The amount
of time required for this activity depends on the number of hosts in a cluster. While the clusters are being prepared for an
upgrade, Upgrade Manager displays the message, Preparing cluster for upgrade.
Once the selected clusters are prepared for an upgrade, Upgrade Manager proceeds to the next phase in the upgrade process.
Troubleshooting 33
Phase 4: Select components for upgrade

During the select components for upgrade phase, you select the components and the software or firmware versions for the
upgrade. The options that Upgrade Manager displays are based on the HPE OmniStack, hypervisor, and firmware upgrade
artifacts that it finds in the folder where the Upgrade Manager executable is located.
Troubleshooting 34
Phase 5: Upgrade pre-validation checks

In the upgrade pre-validation checks phase, Upgrade Manager tests the configuration of the selected cluster or HPE OmniStack
hosts to ensure a successful upgrade These tests are referred to as pre-upgrade validation tests. You can track the test
progress and review the details as the tests run.
If issues occur, you can address the issues and rerun the tests. Once all test complete successfully, you can proceed to the
next step in the upgrade wizard.
The pre-upgrade validation tests try to avoid failure during the upgrade due to misconfigurations. Other failures can occur
due to conditions that are not included in the tests.
Phase 6: Upload upgrade artifacts

During the upload upgrade artifacts phase, Upgrade Manager uses a checksum to validate the selected upgrade artifacts.
When validation completes successfully, Upgrade Manager uploads the selected software or firmware to a datastore in a
selected cluster or the cluster where a selected HPE OmniStack host is located.
If you are upgrading a centrally-managed federation, Upgrade Manager uploads the upgrade artifact for the Management
Virtual Appliance first.
Single replica datastores are not used for uploading upgrade artifacts.
If the datastore already contains some of the upgrade artifacts, Upgrade Manager does not validate or upload those artifacts,
ensuring a more effective use of network bandwidth.
Upgrade Manager uses the following criteria for selecting a datastore for uploading upgrade artifacts:
• The datastore with the largest available free space.
• The datastore that requires fewer upgrade artifacts to be uploaded.
• Consider manually pre-staging the OmniStack upgrade artifacts in low-bandwidth/high latency environments. See Pre-stage
upload artifacts in low-bandwidth environments on page 47 for an overview of the procedure.
The time required for the upload depends on the number of upgrade artifacts that Upgrade Manager needs to upload, network
latency, as well as the locations of Upgrade Manager and the cluster.
Troubleshooting 35
You can monitor the upload process in the progress bar displayed in Upgrade Manager.
After uploading the upgrade artifacts successfully, Upgrade Manager begins the upgrade, unless you chose to upload the
artifacts without continuing the upgrade. If you upload the artifacts only, you can continue the upgrade at a later time that is
more convenient (for example, off-peak hours).
Phase 7: Upgrade the software

During the upgrade the software phase, the upgrade of the selected cluster or host begins. The time required to complete
the upgrade depends on the components being upgraded. You can monitor the progress of the component in the HPE
SimpliVity Software Upgrade screen in the upgrade wizard.
If you select multiple components for upgrading, Upgrade Manager upgrades the components in the following order:
1 Virtual Controller
2 ESXi software
3 Firmware
Troubleshooting 36
If you are upgrading a centrally-managed federation, Upgrade Manager upgrades the Management Virtual Appliance first.
Management Virtual Appliance upgrade phases

This section describes the phases in the upgrade process for the Management Virtual Appliance.
Table 1: Management Virtual Appliance upgrade phases
Phase Description
Validate the Management Virtual Appliance upgrade In this phase, Upgrade Manager uses available metadata to
validate the Management Virtual Appliance upgrade package
package.
on the datastore.
If the version of the uploaded package is the same as the
version of the currently installed Management Virtual Appli-
ance, the upgrade is skipped.
Extract the files in the Management Virtual Appliance upgrade In this phase, Upgrade Manager extracts the files in the Man-
package agement Virtual Appliance upgrade package to a staging
folder on one of the Virtual Controllers.
Delete the existing Management Virtual Appliance In this phase, Upgrade Manager deletes the existing Manage-
ment Virtual Appliance. It also deletes associated files from
the datastore.
Install a new Management Virtual Appliance In this phase, Upgrade Manager uses the ISO image in the
staging folder to deploy the Management Virtual Appliance
and power it on. The upgrade process continues after the
Management Virtual Appliance is running.
Troubleshooting 37
Phase Description
Verify the new Management Virtual Appliance In this phase, the upgrade process waits for the Management
Virtual Appliance service to be ready to service requests. Up-
grade Manager retrieves information from all the Virtual
Controllers in the federation and builds a data cache.
Virtual Controller upgrade phases

This section describes the phases in the upgrade process for Virtual Controllers.
Table 2: Virtual Controller upgrade phases
Phase Description
Resynchronize virtual machine data This phase ensures that the guest virtual machines are synced
between the primary and secondary hosts and are HA compli-
ant. The time required for this phase depends on the number
of virtual machines that exist and the amount of I/O on each
of the virtual machines.
Extract the upgrade file In this phase, Upgrade Manager validates the upgrade artifact
using a checksum. Once validated, Upgrade Manager extracts
the files into a directory that other upgrade processes can
access.
Verify the environment In this phase, additional validation tests occur to help ensure
that the upgrade is successful. These tests verify the following
conditions:
• No process is using the SVTFS mount path.
• Logical drives are in a healthy state.
• At least 5% of free space is available in the /var directory.
• SSH connectivity exists between the Virtual Controller
and the HPE OmniStack host.
• Read-Only root mode is active on the Virtual Controller.
Prepare the uploaded package In this phase, Upgrade Manager unpacks and installs SVTFS
(the HPE SimpliVity file system), updates, and security
patches for the underlying operating system.
Safely shut down the HPE OmniStack Virtual Controller This phase prepares the Virtual Controller to boot with the
new version, shut down SVTFS services, and then reboot the
Virtual Controller.
If a Virtual Controller does not restart normally, it rolls back
to the previous version.
Confirm software version This phase checks that all Virtual Controller services are run-
ning.
When this phase completes successfully, the upgrade status
changes to Completed.
ESXi upgrade phases

This section describes the phases in the upgrade process for ESXi software.
Troubleshooting 38
Table 3: ESXi upgrade phases
Phase Description
Resynchronize virtual machine data In this phase, Upgrade Manager ensures that guest virtual
machines are synced between the primary and secondary
hosts and are HA compliant.
The time required for this phase depends on the number of
virtual machines and the amount of I/O on each virtual ma-
chine.
Extract the upgrade file In this phase, verification of the upgrade artifact tar archive
using checksum validation occurs. The tar archive is unpacked
into a directory that subsequent processes access.
Verify the environment In this phase, validation tests occur to ensure the upgrade
should be successful. These tests verify the following condi-
tions:
Troubleshooting 39
Phase Description
Safely shut down the Virtual Controller In this phase, Upgrade Manager prepares the Virtual Controller
to boot up with the new software version. The tasks in this
phase are:
• Find and request a peer host to perform the ESXi upgrade.
• Shut down the SVTFS services.
• Shut down the Virtual Controller.
The peer host completes the following tasks:
1 Puts the HPE OmniStack host into maintenance mode.
When the HPE OmniStack host is in maintenance mode,
the vCenter Server migrates all guest virtual machines to
other hosts. The time required to complete this task de-
pends on the number of guest virtual machines that re-
quire migration.
2 Upgrades the VAAI plugin.
In this phase, the VAAI plugin is upgraded using the
vSphere Installation Bundle in the tar archive on the Virtual
Controller.
3 Upgrades the ESXi software.
In this phase, the ESXi software on the HPE OmniStack
host is upgraded.
4 Reboots the HPE OmniStack host.
The host is rebooted with the upgraded version of the
ESXi software. Once the host has booted successfully, the
Virtual Controller restarts.
5 Remove the HPE OmniStack host from maintenance mode.
In this phase, the host is removed from maintenance mode.
The vCenter Server migrates guest virtual machines from
other hosts to this host. The time required for this step
depends on the number of guest virtual machines that
need to be migrated.
Confirming software version In this phase, Upgrade Manager confirms whether all services
on the Virtual Controller are running.
Firmware upgrade phases

This section describes the phases in the upgrade process for firmware.
Troubleshooting 40
Table 4: Firmware upgrade phases
Phase Description
Prepare the host to boot to the firmware ISO over virtual me- In this phase, Upgrade Manager mounts the ISO file using iLO
dia. virtual media. It sets a one-time boot configuration in the BIOS
to enable booting to the mounted ISO file when booting to
the HPE Smart Update Manager (SUM).
Resynchronize virtual machine data In this phase, Upgrade Manager ensures that guest virtual
machines are synced between the primary and secondary
hosts and are HA compliant.
The time required for this phase depends on the number of
virtual machines and the amount of I/O on each virtual ma-
chine.
Extract the upgrade file In this phase, verification of the upgrade artifact tar archive
using checksum validation occurs. The tar archive is unpacked
into a directory that subsequent processes access.
Verify the environment In this phase, validation tests occur to ensure the upgrade
should be successful. These tests verify the following condi-
tions:
Safely shut down the Virtual Controller In this phase, Upgrade Manager prepares the Virtual Controller
to boot up with the new firmware. The tasks in this phase are:
Find and request a peer host to prepare for the firmware up-
grade.
Shut down SVTFS services.
Shut down the Virtual Controller.
The peer host completes the following tasks
1 Puts the HPE OmniStack host in to maintenance mode.
When the HPE OmniStack host is in maintenance mode,
the vCenter Server migrates all guest virtual machines to
other hosts. The amount of time required for this task
depends on the number of guest virtual machines to be
migrated.
2 Reboots the HPE OmniStack host.
The HPE OmniStack host reboots using the ISO file over
the virtual media. This action starts the HPE Smart Update
Manager (SUM). HPE SUM orchestrates the firmware up-
grade.
Troubleshooting 41
Phase Description
Upgrade the firmware In this phase, Upgrade Manager prepares the firmware up-
grade. The tasks in this phase are:
1 HPE SUM starts iLO.
The HPE OmniStack host accesses the mounted ISO file
and boots to HPE Smart Update Manager (SUM). HPE
SUM manages the firmware upgrade process.
2 Stage the firmware components.
In this phase, HPE SUM copies the firmware files to the
staging area for the upgrade.
3 Upgrade firmware components.
The firmware upgrade bundle includes multiple firmware
components. In this phase, HPE SUM upgrades the re-
quired firmware components sequentially. It ignores
firmware components that are already at the latest ver-
sions.
4 Activate firmware components.
In this phase, HPE SUM activates the new firmware com-
ponents. Depending on the components being upgraded,
the HPE OmniStack host might reboot multiple times. After
all firmware components activate successfully, the HPE
OmniStack host boots to the ESXi software.
5 Remove host from maintenance mode.
In this phase, Upgrade Manager removes the HPE Om-
niStack host from maintenance mode. The vCenter Server
migrates guest virtual machines from other hosts to this
host. The amount of time required for this task depends
on the number of guest virtual machines that require mi-
gration.
Confirm the software version In this phase, Upgrade Manager confirms that all Virtual
Controllerservices are running.
Phase 8: Commit the upgrade

The commit phase applies to upgrades of the HPE OmniStack software only.
During the commit phase, you finalize the upgrade. After committing the upgrade, rollbacks to a previous version are not
supported.
If you are upgrading from HPE OmniStack 3.7.10 U1 or later, you commit upgrades at the cluster level. For earlier versions,
you commit the upgrade at the federation level.
If you are using Arbiter, committing the upgrade requires that the version of Arbiter is compatible with Upgrade Manager.
Troubleshooting 42
Tasks in a combined software and firmware upgrade

This topic lists all the tasks that occur during the Upgrade the software phasae upgrade task that occurs if you select all
components, software, and firmware for upgrade.
For detailed descriptions of each phase and task, see the topics in Phases in the upgrade process on page 30.
Table 5: Tasks in a combined software and firmware upgrade
Components Task
Management Virtual Appliance Validate the Management Virtual Appliance upgrade package.
Extract the files in the Management Virtual Appliance upgrade
package.
Delete the existing Management Virtual Appliance.
Install a new Management Virtual Appliance.
Verify the new Management Virtual Appliance.
Firmware Prepare the host to boot into the firmware ISO over virtual
media.
All components Resynchronize virtual machine data.
Extract the upgrade file.
Firmware Verify the environment.
Prepare the uploaded package.
All components Safely shut down the Virtual Controller.
Find and request a peer node to manage the ESXi and
firmware upgrade (ESXi and firmware only) .
Shut down SVTFS services.
Shut down the Virtual Controller.
Firmware and ESXi software Put HPE OmniStack host in to maintenance mode.
ESXi software Upgrade VAAI plugin.
Upgrade ESXi software.
Firmware Reboot the HPE OmniStack host.
Prepare the firmware upgrade.
Stage the firmware components.
Upgrade firmware components.
Activate the firmware components.
Firmware and ESXi software Remove hosts from maintenance mode.
All components Confirm software version.
Troubleshooting 43
General troubleshooting procedures
1: Verify that all hosts in the cluster are healthy

Upgrade failures can occur if faulty or unreachable HPE OmniStack hosts exist in a cluster.
Procedure
1. Using ssh, log in to a Virtual Controller and start a HPE OmniStack CLI session.
2. Run the svt-federation-show command.
3. Verify the state of all HPE OmniStack hosts is Alive.
2: Verify that the HPE SimpliVity file system (SVTFS) is running

Upgrades could fail to complete if svtfs is not running.
Procedure
1. Using ssh, log in to a Virtual Controller.
2. Run this command: systemctl status svtfs@0.
3. Verify that the state of the SVTFS service is active (running).
3: Verify that ssh is enabled on the ESXi host

Upgrade failures can occur if ssh is not enabled on the ESXi host that has the HPE OmniStack software installed.
Procedure
1. Log in to the vCenter Server and select the ESXi host.
2. Select the Configure option for the host and click Services.
3. Wait until all the services display in the right pane.
4. Look for SSH service and verify that the service is running.
5. If the SSH service is not running, start the service by clicking Start.
4: Verify that HPE SimpliVity datastore is accessible from HPE OmniStack hosts
Upgrade failures can occur if the HPE OmniStack hosts in a cluster cannot access the datastore.
Procedure
1. Using ssh, log in to a Virtual Controller.
2. Use a mount command to identify the HPE SimpliVity datastore's mount point and try to create a file in the datastore. For
example, use this command to identify a mount point:
touch /mnt/svtfs/0/{datastoreId}/temp
Note: You could also use the hypervisor management system user interface to locate the mount point.
3. Try this procedure for all the HPE OmniStack hosts that are using the datastore.
5: Create an HPE SimpliVity datastore

Upgrade failures can occur if a datastore for the cluster is unavailable.
Procedure:
Troubleshooting 44
For instructions on creating a datastore, see the Create a datastore section in the HPE OmniStack for vSphere Administration
Guide.
6: Verify network connectivity between Upgrade Manager and HPE OmniStack hosts
Upgrade failures can occur if Upgrade Manager is unable to communicate with the systems it is upgrading.
Procedure:
Use the network PING command to verify connectivity between the system where you are using Upgrade Manager and the
HPE OmniStack hosts.
7: Verify that REST services are running on the Virtual Controller

Upgrade failures can occur if the REST services are not running. Using the host name or IP address, try to browse the Virtual
Controller.
Procedure
1. Open a web browser.
2. Using the host name or IP address, try to browse to a Virtual Controller.
For example, use this syntax: https://hostnameORipAddress
If you are able to reach the Virtual Controller successfully, REST services are running.
8: Regenerate a REST certificate

Upgrade failures can occur if a REST certificate is invalid.
Procedure
For instructions on regenerating a REST certificate, see this knowledge base article: SimpliVity - Upgrade fails due to Incorrect
Omnistack Certificate.
9: Check hypervisor and HPE OmniStack software interoperability

Upgrade failures can occur if you try to install incorrect versions of software.
Procedure:
For interoperability details, see the HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide.
10: Install a version of Arbiter that is compatible with the HPE OmniStack software version
Upgrade failures can occur if an incorrect version of Arbiter is installed.
Procedure:
For interoperability details, see the HPE SimpliVity OmniStack Interoperability Guide.
11: Verify network connectivity between HPE OmniStack hosts and Arbiter
Upgrade failures can occur if HPE OmniStack hosts and Arbiter are unable to communicate with each other.
Procedure
1. Using ssh, log in to a Virtual Controller and start a HPE OmniStack CLI session.
2. Use this command: svt-federation-show
3. Verify that the Arbiter state for for all hosts is Connected.
Troubleshooting 45
12: Verify that the root account for the HPE OmniStack hosts is not locked
Upgrades can fail if the root account on the ESXi host running the HPE OmniStack software is locked.
Procedure
1. Log in to the vCenter Server using the VMware vSphere Web Client and select an HPE OmniStack host.
2. For each host, select Configure.
3. Under System, click Advanced System Settings.
4. Wait until all system settings to display in the right pane.
5. Check the following: values
• Look for Security.AccountLockFailures.
• Verify that account locking is enabled. Any value greater that zero indicates locking is enabled after the specified
number of failed login attempts.
• Look for Security.AccountUnlockTime. This value indicates the number of seconds that a user is locked out due to
failed login attempts.
13: Verify that the datastore mount path is in use

Upgrade failures can occur if the all processess are unable to access the mount point for the datastore.
Procedure
1. Using SSH, log in to the Virtual Controller.
2. From the icon in Upgrade Manager, get the list of Process IDs (PIDs) that are using the mount point.
3. For each PID, use this command: ps -eaf | grep PID
4. From the output, verify that the PID is accessing the mount point.
Cluster name appears with "%2f" characters in Upgrade (OMNI-46414)

If you created a cluster in vSphere Client and used a slash (/) special character in the cluster name, you see the slash appear
as "%2f" when you look at the cluster name in Upgrade Manager.
Resolution
Open vSphere vSphere Client and locate the cluster that uses the slash character in the name. Right-click the cluster and click
Rename. Enter a new name without special characters (for example, /, *, \ :, ", ?). Then run Upgrade Manager again.
ESXi upgrade starts, but never completes the upgrade (OMNI-48202)

If you select a cluster to perform an ESXi upgrade (with or without a configuration that uses Linked Mode), you may see the
ESXi upgrade abruptly stop and fail to continue the upgrade.
Resolution
The ESXi upgrade can stop as soon as it starts if the cluster does not (or cannot) use vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler
(with HPE SimpliVity Intelligent Workload Optimizer) to automatically migrate the virtual machines off the host to perform
the upgrade. If this occurs, you must manually move the virtual machines off the hosts you need to upgrade or power them
off before you start the upgrade. (Do not power off or migrate the Virtual Controller. The Virtual Control is a virtual machine
dedicated to the host. It's name starts with "OmniStackVC.") You can complete the upgrade once the virtual machines are off
the host or powered off.
Troubleshooting 46
Host displays the upgrade at 95% when upgrading (OMNI-49556)

During an ESXi upgrade of a cluster using Upgrade Manager, the upgrade completes on one host and then fails on the next
host. The operation failed due to vCenter reporting that the task "Exit Maintenance Mode" was running when in fact it completed
minutes before. This blocks the upgrade from starting on the next host.
Resolution
Restart the ESXi upgrade on the cluster.
Firmware upgrade troubleshooting

Use the following to troubleshoot issues with HPE host firmware upgrade:
To verify that a host is ready for firmware upgrade:
1 Log into the host's HPE iLO management processor.
2 Navigate to Remote Console & Media→ Vitual Media.
3 Under Connect CD/DVD-ROM, verify that there is a valid URL present and that the Boot on Next Reset option is selected.
To verify the HPE firmware upgrade status:
1 Use an external REST client to establish a session with the HPE iLO management processor for which you want to query
status.
2 Perform a GET on the URL:
https://<iLO_IP_Address>/redfish/v1/Systems/1/hpserversettings/firmwaredriverbasesettings/
The results will indicate the HPE firmware upgrade status.
Pre-stage upload artifacts in low-bandwidth environments

Customers with low bandwidth networks can either use the Upload Only option in Upgrade Manager to prestage upload
artifacts such as the HPE SimpliVity OmniCube software upgrade tar file, ESXi offline bundle, or the HPE SimpliVity MVA tar
file. Alternatively, they can manually pre-stage the artifacts by placing them in the .svtupgrade directory on the datastore
in the cluster that has the most free space.
Resolution
Use the following steps to manually pre-stage the upgrade software, based on which components require upgrading:
Task Description
1 Download the required upgrade packages from the HPE software download site to your local system (where
Upgrade Manager will run) and unzip the 4.1.1U1 SimpliVity Upgrade package. See Download the HPE OmniStack
upgrade software for details.
2 Use the df -h command to find the datastore with the largest amount of free space in the cluster.
3 Place the SimpliVity-OmniCube-Software-revX-x.x.x.xxx.tar in the directory on the
datastore you selected in the previous step. This file is required for all upgrades, including ESXi and Firmware
upgrades as it contains the upgrade scripts.
4 Place the SimpliVity-MVA-Software-revX-x.x.x.xxx.tar file in the same .svtupgrade
directory if you are upgrading the Management Virtual Appliance software.
Troubleshooting 47
Task Description
5 Place the ESXi zip file in the same .svtupgrade directory if you are upgrading ESXi. The ESXi zip file also
needs to be placed in the same location as the Upgrade Manager and SimpliVity upgrade packages on the local
system.
6 The Firmware SVTSP ISO image does not reside in the .svtupgrade directory but should be placed in the
same location as the Upgrade Manager and SimpliVity upgrade packages on your local system (see Task 1).
7 Use Upgrade Manager to perform the upgrade.
Upgrade Manager cannot proceed with the upgrade of the ESXi component for all the ESXi
upgrade packages released beyond the 4.1.1U1 release
During the ESXi upgrade, the Upgrade Manager does not display that the ESXi component is ready for an upgrade in the
inventory discovery phase of the upgrade process. Subsequently, the Upgrade Manager does not list the entries in the dropdown
list for the ESXi component in the Select components for upgrade phase of the upgrade process for the ESXi packages
released beyond the v4.1.1U1 release, despite the respective upgrade packages being available in the folder from where the
Upgrade Manager was launched.
Resolution
The Upgrade Manager's digital signature verification for the ESXi upgrade package might have failed. Refer to the Interoperability
Guide to verify that the version of the ESXi package is supported. Also, ensure that the latest interop catalog file and the
corresponding signature file are copied together with the ESXi upgrade package into the folder from where the Upgrade
Manager is launched and that all these artifacts are not corrupted. Restart the Upgrade Manager after closing earlier instances,
if any.
Upgrade Manager cannot proceed with the upgrade of the Firmware component for all
the firmware upgrade packages released beyond the 4.1.1U1 release
During the firmware upgrade, the Upgrade Manager does not display that the Firmware component is ready for an upgrade
in the inventory discovery phase of the upgrade process. Subsequently, the Upgrade Manager does not list the entries in the
dropdown list for the Firmware component in the Select components for upgrade phase of the upgrade process for the
Firmware packages released beyond the HPE SimpliVity v4.1.1U1 release, despite the respective upgrade packages being
available in the folder from where the Upgrade Manager was launched.
Resolution
The Upgrade Manager's digital signature verification for the Firmware upgrade package might have failed. Refer to the
Interoperability Guide to verify that the version of the Firmware upgrade package is supported. Also, ensure that the
corresponding signature file is copied together with the Firmware upgrade package into the folder from where the Upgrade
Manager is launched and that both of these artifacts are not corrupted. Restart the Upgrade Manager after closing earlier
instances, if any.
Upgrade Manager launch fails with the error: Unable to find the HPE OmniStack upgrade
package
When launching the Upgrade Manager, it fails with an error dialog stating that the HPE OmniStack upgrade package could
not be found.
Troubleshooting 48
Resolution
Refer to the Interoperability Guide to verify that the version of the HPE OmniStack upgrade package that you are updating
your installation with is supported. Also, ensure that the corresponding signature file is copied together with the correct version
of the HPE OmniStack upgrade package into the folder from where the Upgrade Manager is launched, and that both these
artifacts are not corrupted. Restart the Upgrade Manager after closing earlier instances, if any.
Upgrade Manager launch fails with the error: Unable to find the associated signature file
When launching the Upgrade Manager, it fails with an error dialog stating that the signature file for the HPE OmniStack
upgrade package could not be found.
Resolution
Upgrade Manager launch fails with the error: Digital signature check failed for the HPE
OmniStack upgrade package
When launching the Upgrade Manager, it fails with an error dialog stating that the digital signature verification for the HPE
OmniStack upgrade package has failed.
Resolution
Upgrade Manager fails with the error 'Digital signature verification failed for the
Management Virtual Appliance upgrade package' for the centrally managed use case
When selecting the Upgrade or Upload-only option, the Upgrade Manager fails with an error stating that the digital signature
verification for the HPE Management Virtual Appliance upgrade package has failed.
Resolution
Ensure that the corresponding signature file is copied together with the correct version of the HPE Management Virtual
Appliance upgrade package into the folder from where the Upgrade Manager is launched, and that both of these artifacts are
not corrupted. Restart the operation again or restart the Upgrade Manager after closing earlier instances, if any.
Upgrade Manager fails with the error: 'Digital signature verification failed for the
Management Virtual Appliance upgrade package' for the centrally managed federation
use case
When selecting the Upgrade or Upload-only option, the Upgrade Manager fails with an error that the upload operation has
failed.
Troubleshooting 49
Resolution
Ensure that the corresponding signature file is copied together with the correct version of the HPE Management Virtual
Appliance upgrade package into the folder from where the Upgrade Manager is launched, and that both these artifacts are
not corrupted. Restart the operation again or restart the Upgrade Manager after closing earlier instances, if any.
Upgrade of node stuck at upgrade phase "Resynchronize virtual machine data"

The time required for the upgrade phase depends on the number of virtual machines that exist and the amount of I/O on each
of them. At times, however, the upgrade might get stuck at this phase.
Resolution
Contact Customer Support (https://www.hpe.com/support/hpesc) to identify the reason why resynchronizing virtual machine
data is taking a long time.
Troubleshooting 50
Appendix A: Support and other resources
This section contains the following topics:
• Support and other resources
• Documentation feedback
Support and other resources

Accessing Hewlett Packard Enterprise Support:
• For live assistance, go to the Contact Hewlett Packard Enterprise Worldwide website:
https://www.hpe.com/info/assistance
Information to collect
• Technical support registration number (if applicable)
• Product name, model or version, and serial number
• Operating system name and version
• Firmware version
• Error messages
• Product-specific reports and logs
• Add-on products or components
• Third-party products or components
Accessing updates
• Some software products provide a mechanism for accessing software updates through the product interface. Review your
product documentation to identify the recommended software update method.
• To download product updates:
• My HPE Software Center: Software downloads
https://www.hpe.com/software/hpesoftwarecenter
• To subscribe to eNewsletters and alerts:

https://www.hpe.com/support/e-updates
• To view and update your entitlements, and to link your contracts and warranties with your profile, go to the Hewlett
Packard Enterprise Support Center More Information on Access to Support Materials page:
https://www.hpe.com/support/AccessToSupportMaterials
Important: Access to some updates might require product entitlement when accessed through the Hewlett
Packard Enterprise Support Center. You must have an HPE Passport set up with relevant entitlements.
Remote support
Remote support is available with supported devices as part of your warranty or contractual support agreement. It provides
intelligent event diagnosis, and automatic, secure submission of hardware event notifications to Hewlett Packard Enterprise,
which initiates a fast and accurate resolution based on the service level of your product. Hewlett Packard Enterprise strongly
recommends that you register your device for remote support.
Appendix A: Support and other resources 51

If your product includes additional remote support details, use search to locate that information.
HPE Get Connected
https://www.hpe.com/services/getconnected
HPE Pointnext Tech Care
https://www.hpe.com/services/techcare
HPE Datacenter Care
https://www.hpe.com/services/datacentercare
Warranty information
To view the warranty information for your product, see the links below:
HPE ProLiant Servers and Options https://www.hpe.com/support/ProLiantServers-Warranties
HPE Enterprise and Cloudline Servers https://www.hpe.com/support/EnterpriseServers-Warranties
HPE Storage Products https://www.hpe.com/support/Storage-Warranties
HPE Networking Products https://www.hpe.com/support/Networking-Warranties
Regulatory information
To view the regulatory information for your product, view the Safety and Compliance Information for Server, Storage, Power,
Networking, and Rack Products, available at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Support Center:
https://www.hpe.com/support/Safety-Compliance-EnterpriseProducts
Additional regulatory information
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is committed to providing our customers with information about the chemical substances in our
products as needed to comply with legal requirements such as REACH (Regulation EC No 1907/2006 of the European
Parliament and the Council). A chemical information report for this product can be found at: https://www.hpe.com/info/reach
For Hewlett Packard Enterprise product environmental and safety information and compliance data, including RoHS and
REACH, see: https://www.hpe.com/info/ecodata
For Hewlett Packard Enterprise environmental information, including company programs, product recycling, and energy
efficiency, see: https://www.hpe.com/info/environment
Appendix A: Support and other resources 52

Appendix B: VMware ESXi manual upgrade
This section describes how to manually upgrade VMware ESXi software on HPE OmniStack hosts.
Before attempting to upgrade to ESXi 7.0 or higher, HPE OmniStack must first be upgraded and committed to 4.1.1U1 or
higher. Refer to Upgrade vCenter Server 6.x to 7.x task summary on page 8 for an overview of the procedure.
ESXi upgrade requirements

Before performing an ESXi upgrade on an HPE OmniStack host, ensure you complete the following tasks:
Note:
For detailed information about each task, see the HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client and the HPE OmniStack
for vSphere Administration Guide.
• Verify that the version of ESXi you plan to use on the server is compatible with the version of your vCenter Server. For
example, if you are upgrading the server to ESXi 6.7, your vCenter Server must already be running version 6.7 or greater.
• To avoid disrupting virtual machine I/O during the upgrade, ensure that your virtual machines are storage HA compliant,
which you configure in your vSphere Client.
• Create recent backups of all virtual machines.
• Migrate or shut down all virtual machines, as described in Migrate and shut down virtual machines on page 53.
• Download the custom upgrade image, as described in Download the HPE OmniStack upgrade software.
• Obtain access to the server console using any of the following methods:
• A local connection to the server.
• Remote access via the iLO console.
• Remove any USB (storage) devices from the front and rear USB ports on the server.
Migrate and shut down virtual machines

You can migrate virtual machines if another available server in the cluster has sufficient resources. If there is only one server
in the datacenter, you must shut down the virtual machines.
Procedure
1. Select the server in vSphere, and then click the Virtual Machines tab.
2. Migrate virtual machines using vMotion if an alternate server is available.
3. Shut down any virtual machines that you cannot migrate.
4. Shut down the Virtual Controller on the server.
5. Enter Maintenance Mode for the server.
6. Shut down the server.
Upgrade ESXi
Before you begin

Complete the tasks in ESXi upgrade requirements on page 53.
Appendix B: VMware ESXi manual upgrade 53

Procedure
For instructions on upgrading ESXi, see Upgrade or Update a Host with Image Profiles in VMware ESXi Upgrade available
at https://docs.vmware.com/.
CAUTION: Do not use VMware vSphere Update Manager (VUM) to update multiple hosts. The hosts must be
updated one at a time.
Verify that the ESXi upgrade succeeded

You can review the current status of the HPE OmniStack host on which you upgraded ESXi to ensure that the upgrade was
successful and the server is operating normally.
Procedure
1. From the vSphere Client Home, click Events to check that vSphere alarms have cleared.
If there is a residual network connectivity alarm, you can acknowledge and clear it.
If the following alarms appear due to the vSphere HA state being HA agent unreachable, VMware migration of guest VMs
will fail. To resolve the migration issue, follow the instructions in the VMware KB article https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2011192:
• vSphere HA host status
• vSphere HA agent for this host has an error: The vSphere HA agent is not reachable from vCenter Server
2. From the vSphere Client Home, click HPE SimpliVity Federation→Hosts to verify that the server has a status of Alive.
Note: You can also use the following CLI command to check server status:
svt-federation-show
3. From the vSphere Client Home, click HPE SimpliVity Federation→Virtual Machines to verify that no VMs have a storage
HA compliance value of No (synchronizing).
4. From the vSphere Client Home, click Hosts and Clusters, and then select the upgraded server.
5. Select the Summary tab to confirm that the updated ESXi version appears in the Configuration Portlet.
6. Restart any manually shut-down virtual machines and migrate virtual machines back from other servers, if necessary.
Install the Hewlett Packard Enterprise VAAI-NAS plug-in

If ESXi was updated in a previous task, the vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI)-Network Attached Storage (NAS) plug-in
does not require updating (the updated VAAI-NAS plug-in is provided with the ESXi image).
Note: If you attempt to install the HPE SimpliVity VAAI-NAS plug-in and you see the following error:
[NoMatchError] No VIB matching VIB search specification 'simplivity-esx-n.x-nasplugin'
This message indicates that a reboot is pending. The plug-in was previously uninstalled, but the host has not rebooted
since the uninstallation. Reboot to correct the problem.
Install the Hewlett Packard Enterprise VAAI-NAS plug-in VMware Installation Bundle (VIB) as described in HPE SimpliVity
VAAI-NAS plug-in on page 60.
Appendix B: VMware ESXi manual upgrade 54

Appendix C: Centrally-Managed federation upgrade example
The following example steps you through the process of upgrading a centrally-managed federation. This content is meant to
supplement the full upgrade instructions available in Upload the software on page 21.
1 After logging into Upgrade Manager, the Software Upgrade screen opens showing multiple Management Virtual Appliances
in the federation. Note that the Management Virtual Appliances are selected by default:
Appendix C: Centrally-Managed federation upgrade example 55

2 Hosts ready for upgrade:
3 Management Virtual Appliance software packages uploading:

4 HPE OmniStack packages uploading:
5 Management Virtual Appliances upgrading.
During the upgrade process, Upgrade Manager:

1 Deletes the old Management Virtual Appliance.
2 Extracts the new Management Virtual Appliance software package on one host in the cluster.

3 Creates and powers on the new Management Virtual Appliance.

4 Starts the services on the Management Virtual Appliance and marks the upgrade process complete.
6 HPE OmniStack upgrading:

7 HPE OmniStack upgrade complete and ready to commit:
8 Upgrade complete:

Appendix D: VAAI NAS overview
HPE SimpliVity VAAI-NAS plug-in

This section contains details on how to install the vStorage API for Array Integration-Network Attached Storage (VAAI-NAS)
plug-in. This plug-in improves the performance of cloning operations by offloading storage operations from hosts to the Virtual
Controller.
Typically, the only times these procedures are required are when upgrading the ESXi version from 6.x to 7.x on a standard
host, or when installing the VAAI-NAS plug-in on a standard host for the first time.
The VAAI-NAS plug-in is installed on the Virtual Controller for each OmniStack host as part of the HPE OmniStack software
installation. The plug-in is also included with the HPE Custom Image for VMware ESXi Offline Bundle used for upgrading ESXi
on HPE SimpliVity systems. No additional steps to install the VAAI-NAS plug-in are required when upgrading ESXI on HPE
SimpliVity hosts.
The HPE SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in distribution includes an ESXi-specific package, where n.n.n.nnn is replaced by a version
string, as shown in the following examples:
• simplivity-esx-6.x-nas-plugin-3.0.8.5.vib for ESXi 6.x 32/64-bit.
• simplivity-esx-7.x-nas-plugin-4.1.1.10.vib for ESXi7.x 64-bit.
When installed, the files are located in the following ESXi system folders:
• /usr/lib/vmware/nas_plugins/lib32/libsvt-nas-vaai-plugin.so
• /usr/lib/vmware/nas_plugins/lib64/libsvt-nas-vaai-plugin.so
• /etc/vmware/firewall/svt-vaai-plugin-firewall.xml
Prerequisites for installing the VAAI-NAS plug-in
Prerequisites and considerations

The following installation prerequisites and considerations apply for the VAAI-NAS plug-in:
• You do not need to uninstall existing versions of the VAAI-NAS plug-in before installing an updated version.
• Enable SSH on HPE OmniStack hosts and on the standard hosts that access HPE SimpliVity datastores.
• If standard hosts share the HPE SimpliVity datastores, uninstall any VAAI-NAS plug-ins from other vendors that might
compete with the HPE SimpliVity Plug-in.
• A post-installation reboot is required for every host where you install the VAAI-NAS plug-in. This reboot requires that you
shut down or migrate any virtual machines running on the standard host.
• Shut down or migrate the virtual machines off the hosts where you plan to install the VAAI-NAS plug-in.
Install the HPE Simplivity VAAI-NAS plug-in on a standard host

If you want a standard ESXi host to use an HPE SimpliVity datastore, it must share the datastore with an HPE OmniStack host.
To ensure cloning operations offload storage operations from the host to the Virtual Controller, you must also install the
VAAI-NAS plug-in on the standard ESXi host that uses an HPE SimpliVity datastore.
During the installation, the installation package moves from the Virtual Controller to its HPE OmniStack host, so at least one
Virtual Controller must remain available at all times. This procedure assumes that you already shut down or that you plan to
migrate virtual machines.
Appendix D: VAAI NAS overview 60

Note: If you attempt to install the VAAI NAS plug-in and you see the following error: [NoMatchError] No VIB matching
VIB search specification 'simplivity-esx-n.x-nas-plugin', it means that the plug-in was previously removed, but the
standard ESXi host was not rebooted. Reboot the host to correct the problem.
Install the VAAI NAS plug-in VMware Installation Bundle (VIB) as described in this section.
Procedure
1. From vSphere Client Home, click Global Inventory Lists.
2. Click Virtual Machines to open a list of virtual machines. Verify that the HA Protection column shows Yes for the virtual
machines.
3. Using a terminal emulator, log on to the first standard host as root.
4. Enter the following esxcli command:
# esxcli software vib install --viburl=

http://ip-address/vaai/simplivity-esx-n.x-nas-plugin-
n.n.n.nnn.vib
Where:
ip-address is the IP address of the Virtual Controller where the VIB is located. You can find details on the Virtual Controller
by clicking vCenter Inventory Lists Virtual Machines in vSphere Client. Click the Virtual Controller for the host you need
to access and click the Summary tab to find the IP address and other details.
n.x is the ESXi version (6.x).
n.n.n.nnn is the version string for the VAAI NAS plug-in. Use the correct revision for the version of ESXi installed on the
host.
Note:
In Omnistack version 4.1.1U1, the simplivity-esx-7x-nas-plugin vib is not hosted on the Virtual
Controllers. Use the following procedure to install the 7.x vib:
• Download the ESXi 7.x offline bundle from the HPE Support Center to a local directory on the ESXi host (refer
to Download the HPE OmniStack upgrade software).
• Enter the following command :
#esxcli software vib install

--vibname=simplivity-esx-7x-nas-plugin -d
/path/to/ESXi7.x-offline-bundle.zip
Where:
• vibname is the name of the plugin
• /path/to is the local directory on the ESXi host where you downloaded the ESXi 7.x offline bundle.

6. Click Hosts.
7. Right-click the host you want to access and click Maintenance Mode→ Enter Maintenance Mode.
8. Click OK to confirm maintenance mode.
9. Right-click the host again and click Power → Reboot.
10. Right-click the host and click Maintenance Mode→ Exit Maintenance Mode.
11. Starting at step 3, repeat this procedure for all standard hosts that share HPE SimpliVity datastores in the federation.
Make sure you use the appropriate VIB version, depending on the ESXi version installed on the standard host.

Results
The following is a sample of an installation:
~ # esxcli software vib install --viburl=

http://100.131.11.105/vaai/simplivityesx-6.x-nas-plugin-3.0.8.5.vib
Installation Result
Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to
be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
Reboot Required: true
VIBs Installed: SimpliVity_bootbank_simplivity-esx-6.x-nas-plugin_3
.0.8.5
VIBs Removed:
VIBs Skipped:
Verify VAAI-NAS plug-in installation using vSphere Client options

To verify that the HPE SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in is installed and functioning for a HPE SimpliVity datastore, use vSphere
Client options as follows:
Procedure
2. Click Datastores to open the datastore view.
3. Click the datastore you use for the host with the newly installed VAAI-NAS plug-in.
4. Click the Configure tab.
5. Click Hardware Acceleration, and verify that Hardware Acceleration is supported on all hosts.
6. Click Device Backing, and verify that the Server field shows the root name as omni.cube.io.
7. If the datastore does not show the Hardware Acceleration as Supported on all hosts (for example, Unknown or Not
Supported shows), try installing the VAAI-NAS plug-in on the host again.
Verify VAAI-NAS plug-in installation using CLI commands

To verify that the HPE SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in is installed and functioning for an HPE SimpliVity datastore, use esxcli
as described in this procedure. The procedure assumes that SSH is enabled.
Procedure
1. Using a terminal emulator, log in to a standard host as root.
2. Enter the following esxcli command:
# esxcli storage nfs list
3. Look for active datastores where the root of the Device Backing name is omni.cube.io.
4. Verify in the output that the value of Hardware Acceleration is Supported on all hosts. If the value is Not Supported, then
the HPE SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in is not installed or not functioning correctly. Try installing it on the host again.
Results
The following is a sample VAAI verification:
~ # esxcli storage nfs list

Volume Host Share Accessible Mounted Hardware
Name Acceleration
----------- ------------ ------------------------ ---------- ------- --------

----
100 sml omni.cube.io /mnt/svtfs/0/100sml true true Supported
110-sml-hr omni.cube.io /mnt/svtfs/0/110-sml-hr true true Supported
englab2 omni.cube.io /mnt/svtfs/0/wnglab2 true true Supported
~ #
Uninstall the HPE SimpliVity VAAI-NAS plug-in VIB

Normally, you do not uninstall the HPE SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in VIB unless instructed to do so by Customer Support
(https://www.hpe.com/support/hpesc). Upgrades do not require you to remove the plugin.
As for VIB installation, a complete uninstallation requires that you reboot every OmniStack host and every standard host. This
might take some time because you must migrate or shut down active virtual machines.
Note: If you attempt to uninstall the HPE SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in and you see an error similar to the following:
[NoMatchError] No VIB matching VIB search specification 'simplivity-esx-6.x-nasplugin', it means that the plug-in
was previously removed, but the HPE OmniStack host was not rebooted. Reboot the host to correct the problem.
Procedure
1. Using a terminal emulator, log on to the first host as root.
2. Determine the installed VIB version. This example shows a 6.x version, but you will see either a 6.x-nas-plugin or
7.x-nas-plugin, based on your environment:
~ # esxcli software vib list | grep simplivity

simplivity-esx-6.x-nas-plugin 3.0.8.45
Hewlett Packard Enterprise VMware Accepted 2015-09-09
3. Enter the following esxcli commands using the VIB version determined in the previous step (6.x in this example):
# esxcli software vib remove --vibname=simplivity-esx-6.x-nas-plugin
4. If removing the plug-in from an HPE OmniStack host, do the following:

1 From vSphere Client Home, click Global Inventory Lists.
2 Click Hosts.
3 Right-click the host and click Maintenance Mode→ Enter Maintenance Mode.
4 Click OK to confirm maintenance mode.
5 Right-click the host again and click Power → Reboot.
6 Right-click the host and click Maintenance Mode→ Exit Maintenance Mode.
5. Power up the virtual machines (if powered off) or migrate them back from their temporary location.
6. Repeat the previous steps until you have uninstalled the VIB from all the hosts that need it removed. Follow any host-specific
procedures for restarting virtual machines.
7. Verify that the software was removed:
1 From vSphere Client Home, click Global Inventory Lists.
2 Click Datastores to open the datastore view.
3 Click the datastore you use for the host with the newly installed VAAI-NAS plug-in.
4 Click the Configure tab.
5 Click Hardware Acceleration, and verify that Hardware Acceleration shows as Not Supported.

Results
The following is a sample uninstall:
~ # esxcli software vib remove --vibname=simplivity-nas-plugin.3.0.8.45

Removal Result
Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs
to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
Reboot Required: true

VIBs Installed:
VIBs Removed: SimpliVity_bootbank_simplivity-nas-plugin_3.0.8.45
VIBs Skipped:

HPE - A00131392en - Us - HPE OmniStack 4.2.0 For Vsphere Upgrade Guide

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

HPE - A00131392en - Us - HPE OmniStack 4.2.0 For Vsphere Upgrade Guide

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

HPE OmniStack 4.2.

0 for vSphere Upgrade Guide

Published May, 2023

Copyright © 2023 by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP

Wednesday May 10, 2023 03:35:41

Overview of the upgrade process..................................................................................................6

Upgrade the software and firmware..........................................................................................21

Appendix A: Support and other resources................................................................................51

Appendix B: VMware ESXi manual upgrade..............................................................................53

Appendix C: Centrally-Managed federation upgrade example...........................................55

Appendix D: VAAI NAS overview................................................................................................60

Overview of the upgrade process

Plan your upgrade

Overview of the upgrade process 6

Upgrade task summary

4 If upgrading the VMware ESXi software, download the zipped

Overview of the upgrade process 7

Upgrade vCenter Server 6.x to 7.x task summary

Determine the current software version on the hosts

Overview of the upgrade process 8

Overview of the upgrade process 9

Note: Intelligent Workload Optimizer is an HPE

Scheduling Schedule the upgrade during a maintenance window or a pe-

Note: Tasks such as policy backups might fail if the

Note: Do not attempt to upgrade hosts over a WAN.

Note: If you log in to Upgrade Manager with an ac-

HPE iLO If upgrading HPE host firmware:

Check the HPE SimpliVity federation

Verify HA compliance through vSphere Client

Verify Management Virtual Appliance health through vSphere Client

Health State Power Storage High Availability

Yellow (DEGRADED) ALIVE ON DEGRADED, UNKNOWN,

Red (CRITICAL) N/A OFF, SUSPENDED N/A

Download the HPE OmniStack upgrade software

12. Locate the upgrade package (Q8A57-11089_SimpliVity_Upgrade_Package_n.n.n.zip), and click More

The extracted contents is similar to the following:

15. If upgrading VMware ESXi software:

d) Click Update at the bottom of the page.

f) Download the latest HPE SimpliVity Interop Catalog.

Download the HPE host firmware

Install HPE SimpliVity Plug-in for vSphere Client

Upload the software

Before you begin

Upgrade the software and firmware 21

• If you are upgrading a centrally-managed federation, ensure that the

2. Double-click the Upgrade Manager executable to open the login screen.

Upgrade the software and firmware 22

7. Select HPE SimpliVity Federation, one or more clusters, or individual hosts.

8. Do one of the following:

Upgrade the software and firmware 23

Upgrade the software and firmware 24

Upgrade the software and firmware 25

Monitor the upgrade

Before you begin

Upgrade the software and firmware 26

Commit the upgrade (for HPE OmniStack software only)

Before you begin

Upgrade the software and firmware 27

3. Do one of the following:

Upgrade the software and firmware 28

5. When the upgrade is complete, do one of the following:

Upgrade the software and firmware 29

Phases in the upgrade process