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Upgrade VMware Identity Manager with vRLCM

With the release of the vRealize Cloud Suite 2019 8.6 releases across the board, I have been getting my vRealize environment upgraded in the home lab. One of the key components of the vRealize Cloud Suite is VMware Identity Manager. I have detailed before how to upgrade vRealize Operations Manager using vRealize Lifecycle Manager. However, today, I wanted to walk through the steps on how to upgrade VMware Identity Manager step-by-step and see what the process looks like, as well as a couple of little hiccups I ran into.

Upgrade VMware Identity Manager with vRLCM

The process to upgrade VMware Identity Manager is similar to the process to upgrade other solutions using vRealize Lifecycle Manager, such as vRealize Operations Manager. An overview of the process looks like the following:

  1. Download and copy the upgrade tar.gz file to vRLCM
  2. Add the upgrade file to the product binaries
  3. Run the upgrade process for VMware Identity Manager

1. Download and copy the upgrade tar.gz file to vRLCM

Download the VMware Identity Manager offline upgrade package from your VMware customer portal.

Download the VMware Identity Manager offline upgrade package for vRLCM
Download the VMware Identity Manager offline upgrade package for vRLCM

You can use something like WinSCP like I am using below to copy over the upgrade file. Note, to use vRLCM, you have to download the repo file that is noted to work with vRLCM.

Copy the upgrade tar.gz file to the vRLCM appliance
Copy the upgrade tar.gz file to the vRLCM appliance

2. Add the upgrade file to the product binaries

Now that the file has been uploaded, we have to add it at the application level in vRealize Lifecycle Manager. For that we need to create a Binary Mapping. Under Settings, click the Binary Mapping tile.

Add the upgrade file using the Binary Mapping under Settings
Add the upgrade file using the Binary Mapping under Settings

Enter the location of the upload, such as /data/binaries/ova. Click the Discover button. You should see your upgrade file listed. Then click Add.

Discover and add the upgrade file for VMware Identity Manager
Discover and add the upgrade file for VMware Identity Manager

The request to add the source mapping will not take too long. You can click the Requests menu and see the progress of adding the upgrade file.

The binary mapping request should complete quickly
The binary mapping request should complete quickly

3. Run the upgrade process for VMware Identity Manager

Once the upgrade file is in place, the rest of the process is simply running the upgrade. I didn’t capture the screenshot of the upgrade button, however, if you navigate to your “globalenvironment” in vRealize Lifecycle Manager, you will see an Upgrade button. Click this button.

On the Proceed to Upgrade dialog box, you will need to Trigger Inventory Sync via the button. Once this has completed, click the Proceed button.

Trigger an inventory sync for VMware Identity Manager
Trigger an inventory sync for VMware Identity Manager

This begins the Upgrade VMware Identity Manager wizard. Set the Product Version to the appropriate version. Here, I am upgrading to 3.3.5. Click Next.

Upgrade VMware Identity Manager set product version
Upgrade VMware Identity Manager set product version

Click the Take product snapshot check box to have a snapshot automatically created.

Take a product snapshot
Take a product snapshot

You must run the precheck before continuing with the update.

Run the precheck before upgrading VMware Identity Manager
Run the precheck before upgrading VMware Identity Manager

Confirm the manual checks.

Confirm the manual validations
Confirm the manual validations

I had a couple of issues that came out of the precheck:

  • An expired root password
  • OVF properties missing

To correct the expired root password, since I didn’t want to change the password, I simply extended the life of the password expiration.

Change the password expiration for the root account in VMware Identity Manager
Change the password expiration for the root account in VMware Identity Manager

Also, I had an issue stating the OVF properties were missing. There is an official KB article on this issue found here:

However, after I examined the vApp properties of my VMware Identity Manager VM, these were correct. Simply powering off the VM and powering it back on corrected this issue for me.

Once these were corrected, I reran the upgrade precheck. All blocking issues were resolved. I simply had to accept the consent button and was good to proceed.

Accept the consent button
Accept the consent button

After clicking the consent button, you can proceed with the upgrade of VMware Identity Manager.

Consent accepted ready to proceed
Consent accepted ready to proceed

Click the Submit button to begin the VMware Identity Manager upgrade request.

Verify the upgrade summary screen for VMware Identity Manager
Verify the upgrade summary screen for VMware Identity Manager

The upgrade process for VMware Identity Manager begins.

The request to upgrade the VMware Identity Manager begins and proceeds
The request to upgrade the VMware Identity Manager begins and proceeds

After 24 minutes or so, the process completes successfully.

The VMware Identity Manager Upgrade request completes successfully
The VMware Identity Manager Upgrade request completes successfully

Concluding

Hopefully, this walkthrough of how to upgrade VMware Identity Manager with vRLCM will help to show the process to get your appliance upgraded using vRealize Lifecycle Manager. As mentioned, I ran into a couple of small blockers that were thankfully not difficult to resolve with the expired root password and the OVF properties issue. After this, the upgrade went smoothly.

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