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Upgrading to vSphere 8.0

Upgrading to vSphere 8.0

End of Marketing: As of 31 October 2025, new deployments of VMware Solutions offerings are no longer available for new customers. Existing customers can still use and expand their active VMware® workloads on IBM Cloud®. For more information, see End of Marketing for VMware on IBM Cloud.

You can upgrade the VMware vCenter Server® software on your instances to version 8.0.

Before you begin

The time to complete the upgrade is unknown. It is possible that it might take several maintenance windows to completely upgrade an environment. Running up-leveled and down-leveled versions of the SDDC software is supported by VMware® during the upgrade process. However, some functions such as vMotion, might be limited during this process.

Complete the following requirements before you begin the upgrade:

  • Before you upgrade vCenter Server, you might need to upgrade VMware NSX®. You are responsible to determine the interoperability requirements for all of your software, including all VMware software and third-party software. For more information about VMware interoperability, see Product interoperability matrix.
  • Open a support ticket with the IBM Cloud® for VMware Solutions team to notify them that an upgrade is being planned. The ticket remains open until the instance is registered at the upgraded level in the IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions console.
  • Verify that the vCenter Server root user ID and its credentials are visible on the console. If your instance was initially ordered in a VMware Solutions environment V2.5 to V5.7, only the customerroot account is visible on the console. For instances, clusters, hosts, and vCenter Server VMs ordered in VMware Solutions V5.7 and later, the customerroot user is no longer created by the VMware Solutions automation.
  • If you encounter a problem during the upgrade process, use the IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions upgrade ticket that you opened at the beginning of the process to contact IBM Support. If required, IBM Support will open tickets with Broadcom Support.
  • Follow the support process to ensure that IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions provides Broadcom Support with all the information about the vCenter Server design and setup, and the IBM Cloud® information.
  • By following the support process, you ensure that accurate information is shared with Broadcom Support, which shortens the support experience. After IBM Support provides the necessary information to Broadcom Support, you can interact with Broadcom Support directly.
  • Ensure that you keep a record of all the new passwords and credentials that you create as part of the upgrade process. IBM Support requires these credentials at the end of the upgrade process to update its internal database.

Procedure to upgrade to vCenter Server 8.0

  1. Set the cluster Distributed Resource Schedule to Manual. You must set the cluster Distributed Resource Schedule (DRS) to manual to prevent unexpected migrations during the upgrade process. Complete the following steps from the VMware vSphere Web Client:

    1. Select Host and Clusters > Cluster > Configure > DRS.
    2. Click EDIT.
    3. Set the DRS field to Manual.

  2. Create a standard switch for the new vCenter Server Appliance. Temporarily install the new vCenter Server Appliance that you deploy onto a vSphere Standard Switch. One of the existing vmnics is reassigned from the distributed switch during the upgrade. Complete the following steps from the vSphere Web Client:

    1. Select Hosts and Clusters > HOST > Configure > Virtual Switches. Select a host for the new vCenter Server Appliance.
    2. For the private network switch, select Managed Physical Adapters. The private network switch name ends with -private.
    3. Select uplink1/vmnic2, then click Close Close icon to delete the adapter. Click OK.
    4. Return to the Virtual Switches and click Add Networking.
      1. Select Virtual Machine Port Group for a standard switch and click Next.
      2. For New Standard Switch, set the MTU to 9000 and click Next.
      3. Click the green Add icon Add icon to add an adapter. Click OK, then Next to accept vmnic2.
      4. For Connection Settings, keep the VM Network and VLAN ID None defaults. Click Next, then Finish. Standard Switch: vSwitch0 is displayed in the list of switches.
    5. Make a note of the Network Setting for the vCenter Server Appliance VM. Update the new vCenter appliance to match.
      • From the vSphere Web Client, click the VM for the vCenter Server appliance. Note the name that ends with vc.
      • From the middle pane, click the Networks tab. Note the name of the distributed port group, ending with -dpg-mgmt.

  3. Upgrade vCenter Server. Follow the VMware instructions for upgrading vCenter Server. For more information, see Upgrade a vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 with an Embedded Platform Services Controller or 7.0 by Using the GUI. Ensure to complete the following requirements during the upgrade:

    • Mount the VMware-VCSA ISO, go to the visa-ui-installer\win32 directory, and run the installer.
    • In the vCenter Server 8.0 installer window, select the Upgrade flow and complete the steps in the installer.
    • Use the IP and credentials (administrator and root) for the current vCenter Server Appliance. Use the IP and root password for the ESXi host of the current vCenter Server Appliance and the host where you want to deploy the new 8.0 vCenter Server Appliance. Use a new temporary IP address, gateway, and subnet mask for the new vCenter Server Appliance during installation.
    • Complete Stage 2 when prompted. Ensure to note any warnings and take the appropriate actions.

    After you upgrade to version 8, in the VMware vCenter Server Appliance, the details pane for the vCenter object takes several minutes to load. This problem is resolved if you enable the connection of the vCenter Server Appliance to the VMware update repository.

  4. Update vCenter Server and ESXi host licenses. After you upgrade to vCenter Server 8.0, update the licenses on vCenter Server. If you have a vSAN cluster, you must also update the vSAN license. To access vCenter Server and vSAN licenses, see Retrieving VCF license keys.

    • Procedure to update the vCenter Server license Complete the following steps from the vSphere Web Client:
      1. Select the Administration menu > Licensing > Licenses.
      2. From the Licenses page, click + Add New Licenses.
      3. Enter the new vCenter Server 8.0 license key in the New Licenses field. Then, enter a name for the license and click OK.
      4. From the Assets page, select the instance under VCENTER SERVER SYSTEMS and click Assign License. Then, select the new license and click OK.
      5. From the Licenses page, find the license with the product name VMware vCenter Server 6 Standard and click Remove Licenses.
    • Procedure to update the vSAN cluster license
      1. From the Licenses page, click + Add New Licenses.
      2. Enter the new vSAN license keys in the New Licenses field. If you have multiple vSAN license keys, enter all the licenses in the New Licenses field, specify a name for each license, and then click OK.
      3. Complete the following steps from the Assets page.
        1. Select VSAN CLUSTERS.
        2. Select the vSAN cluster and click Assign License.
        3. Select one of the new vSAN license keys and click OK.
        4. Repeat this step for each vSAN cluster.
      4. From the Licenses page, select all the old vSAN cluster licenses and click Remove Licenses.

  5. Remove the temporary standard switch. Reassign the vmnic that you temporarily used on the standard switch back to the distributed switch it was originally associated with. Complete the following steps from the vSphere Web Client:

    1. Go to the new vCenter Server appliance.
    2. Under Actions click Edit Settings.
    3. For network adapter 1, browse to the name of the distributed port group that ends with -dpg-mgmt that you previously noted. Save the changes.
    4. Go to the host where you deployed the new appliance. Select Hosts and Clusters > HOST > Configure > Virtual Switches. Then, click MANAGE PHYSICAL ADAPTERS for vSwitch0.
    5. Select vmnic2 and click the red X to delete the adapter. Click OK. The There are no active physical network adapters for the switch. warning is displayed. Click OK.
    6. Click the ... in the vSwitch0 display and then select Remove. Click OK to confirm you want to remove the switch.
    7. In the same display, select the private switch and click MANAGE PHYSICAL ADAPTERS.
    8. Select uplink1 and click +. vmnic2 is displayed.
    9. Click OK, and then OK again to exit the window.

Procedure to upgrade the ESXi hosts

Review the following information before you upgrade the ESXi hosts:

  • Determine whether your servers are eligible to be upgraded to vSphere 8. For more information, see the VMware by Broadcom Compatibility Guide.
  • Ensure that the vCenter Server version is 8.0 or later.
  • Obtain the ISO image and the update files either from Broadcom, if you have a direct support contract with them, or by opening an IBM Support ticket.
  • Back up your environment before you start the upgrade.

Preparing for the upgrade of ESXi hosts

To complete the upgrade from version 7 to 8, you must establish a baseline group configuration in VMware vSphere Update Manager (VUM) and attach it to the cluster that contains the hosts to be upgraded.

  1. Import the ISO image and the updates files.

    Complete the following steps in the vSphere Web Client:

    1. Import the vSphere 8 ISO image. Go to the Lifecycle Manager section of vCenter Server and click the Imported ISOs tab. After the import is completed, the ISO image is displayed in the list.
    2. Import the NSX-LCP update that matches the version of VMware NSX that is installed. The file name is similar to nsx-lcp-esxio-4.2.3.0.0.24866350-esx80-unified.zip (ensure that it has unified in the name). After the import is completed, the update is displayed on the Updates tab. Ensure that the rollup toggle is off as this update is not a rollup update.
    3. Import the i40en network driver by following the previous step. Extract the contents of the Intel-i40en_2.9.2.0-1OEM.800.1.0.20613240_24226995-package.zip file and import it from the folder where you extracted it. After the import is completed, the i40en driver is displayed on the Updates tab.

  2. Set up the NSX connection to vCenter Server.

    Complete the following steps on the NSX manager UI to allow for communications between vCenter Server and NSX Manager:

    1. Click the System tab and click Fabric > Compute Managers from the left navigation panel. Click the vCenter Server compute manager and click EDIT.
    2. On the Edit Compute Manager window, switch the Create Service Account and Enable Trust toggles to YES.
    3. Click EDIT next to the FQDN or IP Address field, enter the credentials for vCenter Server (administrator@vsphere.local and the correct password), and click SAVE.

  3. Create baselines and baseline groups.

    Complete the following steps on the Create Baseline window to create an upgrade baseline for the ISO image file:

    1. Under Name and description, enter a name for the baseline and select the Upgrade option for Content. Click NEXT.
    2. Under Select ISO, choose the imported 8.0u3g ISO image file. Click NEXT.
    3. Under Summary, click FINISH.

    Complete the following steps on the Create Baseline window to create an extension baseline for the NSX Local Control Plane (LCP):

    1. Under Name and description, enter a name for the baseline and select the Extension option for Content. Click NEXT.
    2. Under Select Extensions, choose the imported NSX LCP. Click NEXT.
    3. Under Summary, click FINISH.

    Complete the following steps on the Create Baseline window to create an extension baseline for the i40en network driver:

    1. Under Name and description, enter a name for the baseline and select the Extension option for Content. Click NEXT.
    2. Under Select extensions, choose the downloaded i40en driver. Click NEXT.
    3. Under Summary, click FINISH.

    Complete the following steps on the Create Baseline Group window to combine the previous baselines into a baseline group. A baseline group is a container that allows selection of a set of baselines to apply.

    1. Under Name and description, enter a name for the baseline group and click NEXT.
    2. Under Upgrade Baseline, ensure that the Add the following baseline to the group checkbox is selected and click NEXT.
    3. Under Patch Baselines, click NEXT. You don't need to include any patches.
    4. Under Extension Baselines, select the previous extension baselines (NSX LCP and i40en driver). Click NEXT.
    5. Under Summary, click FINISH.

    On the Lifecycle Manager UI, verify that the new baseline group is displayed and select it to verify that its content is correct.

  4. Attach the baseline group to the cluster.

    Complete the following steps in the vSphere Web Client:

    1. Click the cluster name from the left navigation panel and click the Updates tab.
    2. Scroll down the page and under Attached Baselines click ATTACH > Attach Baseline or Baseline Group.
    3. Select the baseline group that was created in a previous step and click ATTACH. The baseline group gets attached to the cluster.

Remediating the ESXi hosts

Complete the following steps in the vSphere Web Client:

  1. Select a host that does not have vCenter Server installed, for example, host-wd003. Verify that the vCenter Server VM does not exist on this host.

  2. Click the Updates tab and scroll down the page. In the Attached Baseline and Baseline Groups table, select the baseline group that was attached in a previous step.

  3. Right under Attached Baseline and Baseline Groups, click REMEDIATE.

  4. Accept the Foundation Agreement and click OK. If you see a warning HA admission control will be disabled, you can ignore it.

  5. Expand the Remediation setting section and ensure that the checkbox Ignore warnings about unsupported hardware devices is selected so that any TPM 1.2 warnings are ignored.

  6. Click REMEDIATE. A number of tasks start to run in the tasks list, for example, Migrate virtual machines or reboot.

  7. Monitor the remediation progress in the Remediate entity task:

    • The host is put into maintenance mode and then powered off.
    • As a result, the host status in vCenter Server displays disconnected.
    • The entire process for a single host can take 15-20 minutes, with multiple host restarts.

  8. Repeat the previous steps to remediate all hosts that do not have vCenter Server installed. After all hosts are remediated, the Updates tab of the cluster shows all hosts at version 8.

Enabling Lifecycle Manager

For ongoing maintenance, convert the upgraded cluster to an LCM (Lifecycle Manager) cluster by enabling single image management through LCM.

Complete the following steps in the vSphere Web Client:

  1. Click the cluster name from the left navigation panel and click the Updates tab.
  2. Click MANAGE WITH A SINGLE IMAGE. In the table, ensure that the autodetected network driver is included. Other components, such as the NSX LCP, is not displayed in this table. Click SAVE.
  3. Under Check Image Compliance, a message indicates that the hosts are not compliant because TPM 1.2 exists on the hardware and vSphere FDM is missing. vSphere FDM was not automatically installed when the baseline group was attached. Click FINISH IMAGE SETUP.
  4. With the cluster selected in the left navigation panel, click REMEDIATE ALL.

The process of remediation starts. For each host:

  • The VMs are moved off the host.
  • The host is put into maintenance mode.
  • The host is restarted one or more times.
  • The host is taken out of maintenance mode.

Then, the process continues with the next host until all hosts are remediated.

Remediating new hosts that are added

If you add a host to a vSphere 8 cluster from the VMware Solutions console, the host is provisioned with vSphere 7. After the host is added, you see errors and alarms in the vSphere Web Client and in NSX Manager, which indicate that the host has compatibility issues or is not available.

To remediate the new host so it matches the current vSphere version of the cluster, complete the following steps in the vSphere Web Client:

  1. Click the cluster name from the left navigation panel and click the Updates tab. A message indicates that the host is not compliant.

  2. Click REMEDIATE ALL to review the remediation impact.

  3. Accept the Foundation Agreement and click START REMEDIATION. A number of tasks start to run in the tasks list.

  4. If you see problems with the NSX configuration of the new host on the NSX Manager UI, wait for the additional tasks that are running in the vSphere Web Client to complete.

    You might see the Apply NSX Solution task running, which is updating the new host with the NSX VIB bundles needed for the NSX configuration.

  5. While tasks are running in the vSphere Web Client, monitor the progress on the NSX Manager UI:

    • If you see errors, click Install Failed > VIEW ERRORS.
    • After some time, the errors are resolved and the NSX configuration displays Success.

The entire process can take 10-15 minutes after which the operation is complete in vCenter Server and the Updates tab of the cluster shows all hosts at version 8.

Upgrading the disk format post-remediation

To upgrade the disk format, complete the following steps in the vSphere Web Client:

  1. Click the cluster name from the left navigation panel and click the Configure tab.
  2. Click vSAN > Services. On the vSAN Services page, click PRE-CHECK UPGRADE.
  3. On the same page, click UPGRADE, and then click UPGRADE again on the window that appears.

A number of tasks start to run in the tasks list. Monitor their progress until completion.

Procedure to update ESXi host licenses

To update the ESXi host licenses, you must first retrieve your new vSphere licenses from the IBM Cloud console. For more information, see Retrieving VCF license keys.

  1. From the Licenses page, click + Add New Licenses.
  2. Enter the new vSphere 8 license keys in the New Licenses field. If you have multiple vSphere 8 license keys, input the all of the licenses in the New Licenses filed, enter a name for each license, and click OK.
  3. Complete the following steps from the Assets page.
    1. Select HOSTS.
    2. Select the host and click Assign License.
    3. Select one of the new vSphere 8 license keys and click OK.
    4. Repeat this step for each upgraded host.
  4. From the Licenses page, select all of the old vSphere 6 licenses and click Remove Licenses.