Updating VMware Cloud Foundation from 3.5 to 3.5.1

Business as usual to keep a dark site VCF deployment up to date…

  • Generating marker file on the SDDC manager
  • Using a workstation with internet access to download the update bundle(s) (in this case “bundle-8203.tar”, almost 7 GB big) and delta file
  • Uploading and importing them into the SDDC manager
  • Fixing file permissions
  • Install the update using the web interface of the SDDC manager:
VMware Cloud Foundation update version 3.5.1 – Import successful
VMware Cloud Foundation update version 3.5.1 – Update initialization successful

A countdown timer appears at the top of the SDDC manager admin page when you use the “Schedule Update” function:

VMware Cloud Foundation update version 3.5.1 – Update about to start
VMware Cloud Foundation update version 3.5.1 – Update in Progress
VMware Cloud Foundation update version 3.5.1 – Update Updated 🙂

Everything went smoothly as expected in less than 21 minutes.

The release notes list what’s new:

  • Multi-Cluster NSX-T Support – Enables deployment of multiple clusters in a NSX-T based Workload Domain.
  • Custom ISO Support for Lifecyle Management – Enables customer-specified ISOs in place of VMware stock images for ESXi upgrades.
  • Miscellaneous Bug Fixes – Includes multiple bug fixes from the Cloud Foundation 3.5 release.