Melissa Palmer Rebecca Fitzhugh SER2318BU #VMworld #SER2318BU Upgrading to vSphere 6.5 the VCDX Way

•  This presentation may contain product features that are currently under development. •  This overview of new technology represents no commitment from VMware to deliver these features in any generally available product. •  Features are subject to change, and must not be included in contracts, purchase orders, or sales agreements of any kind. •  Technical feasibility and market demand will affect final delivery. •  Pricing and packaging for any new technologies or features discussed or presented have not been determined. Disclaimer 2

Melissa Palmer Tweet Blogger Creative Team Author VMware @ vMiss33 @ vMiss.net VirtualDesignMaster.io IT Architect Series: The Journey VCDX #236 3

Rebecca Fitzhugh 4 Tweet Blogger Co-Host I have a job! Author VMware @ rebeccafitzhugh @ technicloud.com @ vbrownbag.com @ Rubrik.com vSphere Virtual Machine Management Learning VMware vSphere VCDX #243

Part I – Planning Your Upgrade

Why Upgrade? •  “Because it is the latest and greatest” isn’t good enough. •  Better justification is: –  Extended lifecycle –  Compatibility (must upgrade to ESXi 6.5 for VSAN 6.5+) –  vCenter Server HA –  VM encryption 6

Planning Your Upgrade, the VCDX Way •  Approach problem of upgrade with distinct methodology •  Rehost vs rearchitect •  It’s not about “the bells and whistles” but meeting the business requirements •  Plan the upgrade project end-to-end before beginning implementation •  Validate post implementation 7

Design Process Assess the technical and business requirements. Design a solution that meets the requirements. Deploy the design in the production environment. Validate the deployment against the design and requirements. Requirements Education and Knowledge Transfer (Ongoing) •  Educate stakeholders to provide design input. •  Communicate technical and operational changes. 8

Current State Analysis •  Health Assessment –  vRealize Operations Manager –  vSphere Optimization Assessment –  VMware {code} vCheck for vSphere –  vSphere Health Check (PSO) –  Hardware / Storage / Network / 3rd party •  Compatibility 9

Design Methodology Conceptual Logical Physical Requirements, Constraints, Assumptions, Risks Design Decisions Design Decisions 10

Conceptual Model •  Requirements –  Example: All virtual infrastructure components should be highly available. •  Constraints –  Example: vSAN must be used for virtual machine storage. •  Assumptions –  Example: Organization will continue to purchase vSphere Enterprise Plus licensing •  Risks –  Example: Staff has not been trained in the use of vSphere Web Client 11

Logical Design •  High level architecture and design decisions. •  Design Decision: Management components should be separate from production workloads. 12

Physical Design •  Licensing •  Configuration specifications •  Upstream configurations –  Networking, storage, etc. •  Design Decision: –  vCenter Server HA will be used. 13

Major Key Alert! •  You will need to involve more than just the virtualization team: –  Networking –  Storage –  Operations –  Security –  Backup –  Disaster Recovery 14

Part II – Future State Design

New Features •  Design and use of new features / products •  Review all features to determine what is relevant to your organization •  Keep your organizations top design qualities in mind! 16

Introduction to Design Qualities •  They are… –  Availability –  Manageability –  Performance –  Recoverability –  Security •  How does your organization rank them, and why? •  Use these to drive your design choices and business cases. Availability Security Performance 17

Rearchitect versus Rehost •  Upgrades can be the time to fix issues in infrastructure design. –  Design Decision: Old environment gets upgraded; new clusters added are re-architected. –  Design Decision: New deployment is configured according to new design; existing infrastructure is re-architected cluster-by-cluster. 18

Building the Business Case •  Proof of concept for new features can prove value. –  Be sure to determine key success criteria at the outset! •  Examine operational cost of continuing with old architectures. –  Compare to operational cost of deploying new architectures or rearchitecting existing. •  Consequences of not upgrading. –  Support implications, lifecycle, etc. 19

Major Key Alert! •  The success of future state design is highly dependent on an accurate current state analysis. In case you didn’t catch the DJ Khaled reference the first time. 20

Part III – Example Upgrade Plans

Scenario A •  The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen is currently running vSphere 5.5 across 3 sites. Currently, each site is independently managed. –  Requirements: •  Manage all sites through a single interface. •  Ensure virtual infrastructure components adhere to 10 minute RTO. •  Centralized logging in each site. –  Constraints: •  No additional hardware may be purchased. –  Assumptions: •  Licensing is available. –  Risks: •  Staff is not trained to use vRealize Log Insight 22

Scenario A 23 •  The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen is currently running vSphere 5.5 across 3 sites. Currently, each site is independently managed. –  Design Decisions: •  Consolidate vSphere SSO domains (must be done prior to upgrading) •  Use Enhanced Linked Mode. •  Migrate to vCenter Server Appliance •  Use vCenter Server High Availability •  Deploy vRealize Log Insight

vSphere 5.5 à vSphere 6.5 24 Product Current Version Upgrade Version Comments vCenter Server 5.5 6.5u1 vCenter Server 6.5a needed for NSX ESXi 5.5 6.5u1 NSX 6.3 6.3.3 Req vSphere 5.5 U3 minimum vRealize Automation 7.0 7.3 Side by side upgrade vRealize Operations Manager 6.0.1 6.6.1 Two steps: 6.0.x to 6.3.1 to 6.6 vRealize Log Insight n/a 4.5 New per requirement

Compatibility Matrix 25

SSO Domain Consolidation 26

Upgrade Order Step 4: Upgrade Other VMware & 3rd Party Products Step 1: vSphere SSO Domain Consolidation Step 2: Migrate / Upgrade SSO 5.5 to PSC 6.5 Step 3: Migrate / Upgrade vCenter Server 5.5 to 6.5 Step 6: Upgrade Virtual Machines – VM Tools / Compatibility Step 5: Upgrade ESXi 5.5 hosts to 6.5 Step 7: Upgrade VMFS5 to VMFS6 27

Scenario B •  Dunder Mifflin is currently running vSphere 6.0 with vSAN within a single site. A new compliance regulation requires user data to be encrypted. All users leverage VDI for desktops. –  Requirements: •  Adhere to new regulatory compliance. •  Centralized monitoring for virtual infrastructure. –  Constraints: •  Horizon must be used for VDI solution. –  Assumptions: •  The current number of Connection Servers provides sufficient number of sessions –  Risks: •  Staff is unfamiliar with vRealize Operations Manager 28

Scenario B •  Dunder Mifflin is currently running vSphere 6.0 with vSAN within a single site. A new compliance regulation requires user data to be encrypted. All users leverage VDI for desktops. –  Design Decisions: •  Use vCenter Server High Availability •  Deploy vRealize Operations Manager •  Install Horizon adapter for vRealize Operations Manager •  Leverage vSAN data-at-rest encryption 29

vSphere 6.0 à vSphere 6.5 30 Product Current Version Upgrade Version Comments vCenter Server 6.0u2 6.5u1 ESXi 6.0u2 6.5u1 vSAN 6.2 6.6 Req for data-at-rest encryption vRealize Operations Manager n/a 6.6.1 New per requirements Horizon View 7.0.1 7.2.0

Compatibility Matrix 31

Upgrade Order 32 Step 3: Upgrade Horizon to 7.2 & 3rd Party Products Step 1: Migrate / Upgrade SSO 6.0 to PSC 6.5 Step 2: Migrate / Upgrade vCenter Server 6.0 to 6.5 Step 5: Upgrade Virtual Machines – VM Tools / Compatibility Step 6: Upgrade Horizon Agent Step 4: Upgrade ESXi 5.5 hosts to 6.5 Step 7: Upgrade vSAN to 6.6

Major Key Alert! •  Takeaway: understand the upgrade process and concepts and apply them to your own environment. 33

Resources •  vSphere documentation (https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/index.html) •  vSphere Upgrade blog series (https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/) •  VMware {code} vCheck (https://code.vmware.com/samples/823/-vcheck-vsphere) 34

Questions? 35

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Melissa Palmer | @vmiss33 Rebecca Fitzhugh | @rebeccafitzhugh