Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Upgrade

This chapter describes upgrading the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge, including prerequisites and instructions.

About Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Upgrades

Upgrading Cisco ACI Virtual Edge is similar to installing it. You download the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge OVF file from Cisco.com, upload it to the VMware vCenter content library. You then deploy Cisco ACI Virtual Edge on the ESXi hosts.

You perform these upgrade tasks using the Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in only. You cannot use the VMware PowerCLI or a Python script.


Note
Do not use the vSphere (thick) Client to upgrade Cisco ACI Virtual Edge or modify its vApp properties. Use only the Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in. Use only the vSphere Web Client to modify Cisco ACI Virtual Edge vApp properties.

The following sections provide information about prerequisites and installation.

For information about other Cisco Cisco ACI Virtual Edge tasks, see the following sections in this guide.

Recommended Upgrade Sequence for Cisco APIC, the Fabric Switches, and Cisco ACI Virtual Edge

When you upgrade the Cisco APIC, NX-OS software on the fabric switches, or Cisco ACI Virtual Edge, upgrade them all so they remain compatible.

To avoid network traffic disruption, we recommend that you perform the different upgrades in the following order:


Important
Before you upgrade the Cisco APIC, fabric switches, and Cisco ACI Virtual Edge, check the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Release Notes and the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Release Notes for software compatibility information. All are available on Cisco.com.

  1. The Cisco APIC software image—Follow the instructions in the Cisco APIC Management, Installation, Upgrade, and Downgrade Guide.

    If you have Cisco APIC clusters, the clusters are upgraded one by one automatically.

  2. The switch software on the fabric switches—Follow the instructions in the Cisco APIC Management, Installation, Upgrade, and Downgrade Guide.

    To avoid network traffic disruption during the upgrade, provide a path for Cisco ACI Virtual Edge traffic by putting the TORs and spines into different firmware or maintenance groups and then upgrading each firmware or maintenance group individually.

  3. The Cisco ACI Virtual Edge—Complete the following tasks:

    1. Follow the instructions in this chapter.

    2. Complete one of the following steps:

      • Run the vem restart command on the VIBs if you decide to keep the VIBs on the current release.

      • Upgrade the VIBs to the later release if you decide to upgrade the VIBs.

Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Upgrade Workflow

This section provides a high-level description of the tasks required to upgrade the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge.

  1. Fulfill all the prerequisites. See the section Prerequisites for Upgrading Cisco ACI Virtual Edge in this guide for instructions.

  2. Download the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Open Virtualization Format (OVF) file from Cisco.com and then upload it to the vCenter content library. See the section Upload the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VM OVF File to the VMware vCenter in this guide for instructions.

  3. Deploy Cisco ACI Virtual Edge on the ESXi hosts. See the section Deploy Cisco ACI Virtual Edge on the ESXi Hosts Using the Cisco ACI vCenter Plug-In in this guide for instructions.

Prerequisites for Upgrading Cisco ACI Virtual Edge

Perform the following tasks before you upgrade Cisco ACI Virtual Edge:

  • Ensure that the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge that you plan to upgrade is properly configured and is operating without any issues.

  • Check the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Release Notes on Cisco.com for information about upgrading to the desired version.

  • Ensure that OpFlex is online.

  • In order to use the Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in, we recommend that you use vCenter 6.0 Update 3 or later.

  • If you want to use the Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in to upgrade the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge, you first must upgrade the plug-in to the version shipped with the Cisco APIC version (4.x).

  • If you use static or DHCP IP pools, ensure that you have enough IP addresses.

    There must be more IP addresses in the static or DHCP pools than there are the in the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge service VMs in the data center in VMware vCenter. Otherwise, the upgrade of the new Cisco ACI Virtual Edge will fail.

  • If the host is not part of a DRS cluster, manually move the non-Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VMs out of the host or power them off before the upgrade. If the host is part of a DRS cluster, non-Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VMs are moved out of the host automatically.

Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Upgrade

After you fulfill the upgrade prerequisites, you can use the VMware vCenter to install Cisco ACI Virtual Edge. You use the Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in, which automates the process.

You first upload the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VM OVF file to the VMware vCenter content library. You can then deploy Cisco ACI Virtual Edge on the ESXi hosts.


Note
If you use a local data store for content library storage, re-create the content library after you remove a host and then reattach it to vCenter. That is because the data store ID changes after the host is reattached, breaking the association between the content library and the data store.

Note
After you deploy Cisco ACI Virtual Edge, do not remove it from the vCenter inventory and add it back. Doing so removes all the configurations you made during deployment. Deploy a new Cisco ACI Virtual Edge instead of adding an existing one back to the inventory.

Upload the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VM OVF File to the VMware vCenter

You upload the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VM OVF file to the VMware vCenter before you deploy Cisco ACI Virtual Edge on the ESXi hosts.

Before you begin

You must have done the following:

  • Downloaded the folder with the OVF file to your computer.

  • Check the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge Release Notes on Cisco.com to ensure that the OVF file is compatible with the version of Cisco APIC.

  • Have already registered the Cisco ACI fabric inside the Cisco ACI vCenter plug-in.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to the vSphere Web Client.
Step 2

Choose Content Libraries.

You can use an existing content library or create one to receive the upload of the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VM OVF. See VMware documentation for instructions.

Step 3

Choose the library and then click Import item.

Step 4

In the Import library item dialog box, click the Browse button.

Step 5

In the pop-up dialog box, choose the OVF file and click Open.

Once the OVF file is uploaded to the content library, it appears in the work pane under the Templates tab.

Deploy Cisco ACI Virtual Edge on the ESXi Hosts Using the Cisco ACI vCenter Plug-In

After you upload the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VM OVF file to the VMware vCenter, you deploy Cisco ACI Virtual Edge on the ESXi hosts.

Before you begin

You must have uploaded the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VM OVF file to the VMware vCenter.


Note
If you use VMware vCenter 6.0 Web Client, the pop-up window for browsing to the OVF file may not appear. In that case, upload the OVF and virtual machine disk file (VMDK) to the HTTP server. Then use the OVF file URL from the server to download the OVF file to the content library.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to the vSphere Web Client.

Step 2

In the Home work pane, click the Cisco ACI Fabric icon.

Step 3

In the Cisco ACI Fabric navigation pane, click ACI Virtual Edge.

Step 4

In the ACI Virtual Edge work pane, if there are multiple virtual domains, choose the domain from the Select an ACI Virtual Edge Domain drop-down list.

If there is only one virtual domain, skip to the next step.
Step 5

Choose the host or hosts on which you want to deploy Cisco ACI Virtual Edge.

Step 6

From the ACI Virtual Edge version drop-down list, choose the version to be deployed.

Step 7

From the Management PortGroup drop-down list, choose the management port group.

Step 8

From the Datastore drop-down list, choose Custom, click Edit.

Step 9

In the Custom AVE Datastore selection dialog box, choose a local or a remote data store for each Cisco ACI Virtual Edge.

Note 
To ensure a higher level of availability, we recommend that you choose a local data store if you have one.
Note 
You may not see all types of local storage in vCenter. However, if you uncheck the Use local datastore only check box, vCenter shows all local data stores. For details, see the documentation on the VMware website for details.
Step 10

In the VM Admin Password fields, enter a new password for the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VMs.

Step 11

Click Install/Upgrade ACI Virtual Edge.

Step 12

In the dialog box, click Yes.

In the work pane, the installed hosts display OpFlex status, the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge VM, and management IP. It could take a little while for OpFlex to come up.