This week was the 5.0.1 update of vShield App.  I did run into some quirkyness installing, so here’s my quick rundown on how to upgrade vShield App to 5.0.1.

 

Step 1

Download the update from VMware’s site.

 

Step 2

Launch the vShield Manager home page and login.

 

Step 3

Click on Settings and Reports, then Updates.

 

Step 4

Click Upload Upgrade Bundle

 

Step 5

Select the file you downloaded and click Upload File

 

Step 6

Click Update Status and then Install and Confirm the install

 

VMware says you should see progress here, and mine stayed at 0% the whole time.  You will see in vCenter it starts reconfiguring VM’s.  On my upgrade, this step took 15 minutes or so, and the vShield Manager was rebooted.  I just refreshed the browser and logged back in after I figured that out.  If you are prompted to reboot, go ahead and do that now, followed by Finish Install.  This is likely browser dependent, as I didn’t see either prompt.

 

Once you log back in, you should see the following on Update Status

When you see that, you are clear to update your hosts.

Updating hosts is easy, but time consuming.

 

Step 1

Click on a host in the vSphere Client, and click the vShield tab

 

Step 2

You will see an update is available.  Click Update.

There is a warning, but it bears repeating.  DO NOT do this on a host where vCenter or the vShield Manager reside.

Your host is going to go into maintenance mode, and from this point forward it’s hands-off.

In the vSphere Client you can see it going in and reconfiguring, then redeploying your Service Virtual Machine on that host.

 

Then you’re all done.  Lather, rinse, and repeat.

 

Why upgrade to vShield App 5.0.1 ? Check this article on Duncan’s site for my favorite feature.

One last note.  When you’re configuring your exclusions in vShield App, the vShield Manager is automatically excluded, as are the service VM’s.