vRealize Network Insight

Upgrading vRealize Network Insight

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vRealize-Network-Insight/6.5.1/com.vmware.vrni.install.doc/GUID-EE13DF2F-F0D0-4834-8299-5F6344DEEC9E.html

https://thinkvirtuals.com/2021/07/26/vrealize-network-insight-6-3-upgrade-2/

Important points to consider while upgrade

Ensure that you are following the upgrade path. To know about the correct upgrade path, see VMware Product Interoperability Matrix - Upgrade Path. https://interopmatrix.vmware.com/Interoperability
After upgrade, vRealize Network Insight takes around 12 to 24 hours to process the data that were in pipeline during the upgrade operation and reflect on the UI.
vRealize Network Insight does not support rollback or product downgrade. You must take a backup before you proceed to upgrade. For more information about the back up and restore process, see the https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/55829 KB article.
In a cluster environment, you must perform the upgrade operation only on the platform 1 node.

Prerequisites

1. Backup your deployment
    Take snapshot of vNI VMs
3. Download the new license key from my.vmware.com. This is required only for a major version upgrade.
3. The upgrade steps might fail if there is insufficient space in the /tmp directory. 
    Verify you meet the following disk space requirements for platform and collector server:
    /tmp - 6 GB
    /home - 2 GB
4. Verify you meet the following disk space requirement for platform server:
    /- 12 GB (Only for the Platform1 node)
    /var - 40 GB

Note:
    a. The bundle upload and the subsequent upgrade steps may fail if there is insufficient space in the /tmp directory.
5. To avoid the UI session timeout, go to 
    Settings > System Configuration > User Session Timeout 
        and increase the User Session Timeout to at least 2 hours. 
    Imporatnt:
        After you change the session timeout duration, you must log in again to the system.
6. Ensure that all the nodes are online. If any node is inactive, you will not be allowed to trigger the upgrade.
7. Take the snapshots of the VMs.

Upgrade Procedure

1. Download the required upgrade bundle file from My VMware
2. Check and ensure that the MD5SUM value of the download bundle file matches the MD5SUm values specified in the VMware website
3. Login to vNI
    a. Navigate to Settings
        Click on the wheel icon on the top right coner of the UI page
    b. Navigate to Infrastructure and Support
    c. Navigate to Overview and Updates
4. Click Browse to select the file and click Upload.
    When the upload is complete, vRealize Network Insight show the Bundle Upload Complete message notification within 2-3 minutes and the bundle processing happens in the background.
    Note:
    a. Until the upload of the package happens, ensure that the session is not closed. 
        If the session ends, you have to restart the upload process.
    b. Do not refresh the page after bundle upload, until you see the Update Available message notification.
5. In the Update Available message notification, click View details.
    vRealize Network Insight Upgrade screen appears.
6. Read the Before you proceed instruction and click Continue.
    a. Select "I have read the above points", and
    b. Click CONFIRM
7. Wait for the pre-checks to complete, which verifies:
    the customer table,
    the disk space, including the space required for migration
    the license requirement
    the bandwidth
    the version
    the NTP sync status
8. Click the I agree to the constraints option. If you are performing a major version upgrade, enter the new license key
9. Click Install Now.
10. Once the upgrade process begins, the vRealize Network Insight Upgrade screen provides the status of the upgrade process
    a. After the services are upgraded, Nginx restarts to display the migration process. 
        So, you might not be able to access the UI for a short period (one to two minutes).
        Note:
            There are about 35 taks to be completed
    b. The PostgreSQL data on the collectors are also migrated to Foundation DB as part of upgrade process. 
        However, the collector migration status is not shown on the UI.
11. Upon the completion of upgrade process, you see the confirmation message.
    All platforms and the collectors nodes are upgraded.

Note

If a node becomes inactive, the upgrade process does not continue. The upgrade will not resume until the node becomes active again.
The platform1 becomes the upgrade server. If platform1 is offline, then no other node is upgraded.
Once the platforms are upgraded, you can resume your normal vRealize Network Insight operations even though the collector upgrade happens in parallel. Until the upgrade process is completely over, the Node Version Mismatch detected message is shown in the Install and Support page.