While upgrading VMware vSphere Replication 8.7 to 8.7 recently, I encountered a noteworthy issue. It appears that the upgrade process mandates internet access for the VAMI installation. This is necessary for the VMware Photon OS to update Linux-based packages from the VMware online repositories. The challenge lies in the fact that the VMware documentation for VMware Replication 8.x and VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.x fails to mention this requirement for the appliance. The instructions simply advise users to download the ISO, attach it to the appliance VM, and initiate the upgrade from VAMI. Unfortunately, there is no provision to set a proxy in the VAMI web interface, presenting a complication for those working without direct internet access.

Here is how you can set the proxy via the CLI and then run the upgrade from VAMI and also watch the CLI at the same time:

  1. Take a backup or snapshot of either VSphere Replication appliance or SRM prior the undertaking any upgrade – the snapshot works and allows you to revert back to pre changes.
  2. First off download the relevant VMware Replication 8.8 or VMware Site Recovery Manager ISO upload it and attached it to the appliance
  3. Log into the CLI of the appliance and then run the following:
    su (enter your appliance root pw)
    /opt/vmware/share/vami/vami_set_proxy 10.0.0.1 8080 (where the ip and port is your proxy servers).
  4. I also found i had the edit the following file to enable it:
    nano /etc/sysconfig/proxy
    Set the HTTP and HTTPS proxy ip and port as per the file
  5. Now you can curl to test its working:
    curl -k google.com
    If you get a response (the html code back) then proxy is good.
    5. Now start the upgrade from VAMI web interface -> Update -> Edit -> Use CDROM click OK
    Select the radio button and press upgrade.
  6. Switch back over to your SSH session with the VAMI CLI and tail the upgrade txt file:
    tail -f /opt/vmware/var/log/vami/updatecli.log
    It will take a few seconds to start the upgrade so just spam the above tail and then you can watch it.

Photon OS uses the package manager ‘tdnf’ so you’ll see all those commands installing the packages. The upgrade process for VMware Replication 8.7 to 8.8 and also Site Recovery Manager 8.7 to 8.8 – required Internet access. If you didnt have it setup it would hang and actually wipe out packages such as VAMI cli commands. This is why I recommend a snapshot prior to the upgrade. Once successful you can then consolidate the snapshot.

Photon OS Upgrade log file