Random notes on Vmware Vcenter v6.5 & 7.0

• Clearing out the VMware Update Manager before an upgrade will cut down on the time required to update, as by default the VCenter upgrade will drag all that data with.   Also during the migration one might see an error message saying it needs an export location because the root partition is only 4gb.  

https://www.stephenwagner.com/2020/07/22/vcsa-vcenter-upgrade-7-enter-new-export-directory-source-machine/

1. Log in to your vCSA source appliance via SSH or console
2. Run the applicable steps as defined in the VMware KB 2147284 to reset VUM (WARNING: commands are version specific). In my case on vCSA 6.5 I ran the following commands:
   1. shell
   2. service-control --stop vmware-updatemgr
   3. /usr/lib/vmware-updatemgr/bin/updatemgr-util reset-db
   4. rm -rf /storage/updatemgr/patch-store/*
   5. service-control --start vmware-updatemgr
3. Open your web broswer and navigate to https://new-vcsa-IP:5480 and resume the migration. You will now notice a significant space reduction and won’t need to specify a new mount point

•  Forgot the administrator@vsphere.local password?  SSH into the VCenter, start the shell, and type: /usr/lib/vmware-vmdir/bin/vdcadmintool

http://www.virtubytes.com/2017/10/25/reset-vcenter-sso-password-vsphere-6-5/

• Need to adjust DNS settings, like the FQDN?  

https://www.virtualvmx.com/2018/05/changing-fqdn-of-vcenter-appliance.html

1. Access the VCSA from console or from Putty session.
2. Login with root permission
3. Use above command in the command prompt of VCSA : /opt/vmware/share/vami/vami_config_net
4. Opt for option 3 (Hostname)
5. Change the hostname to new name
6. Reboot the VCSA appliance.

• If there is any change to the naming of the vCenter, logon issues with using Active Directory may occur.  In my case one could logon using @vsphere.local, and clicking the check box to use local credentials worked.  However one could not type their credentials in, regardless of UPN format.  The fix for us what find the AD record of the vCenter server, go to the Attribute Editor, and change the "dNSHostName" entry.  FWIW in one instance the vCenter was using the internet name, which is different than the Active Directory name. 
• When using the built in backup feature to backup the VCSA, when using FTP the destination folder must be empty.
• https://www.altaro.com/vmware/backing-up-vcsa-6-5-natively-using-ftps/
• https://sfitpro.blogspot.com/2016/11/configuring-vcsa-65-backup-lessons.html
  
• When using the built in backup feature to backup the VCSA, all of the services need to be running, including ones for unused features.  Again from the shell "service-control --start --all"
• When doing the in place upgrade, use the hostname of an ESXi server for the source of the existing vCenter server and the destination.  Things get wonky if one tries to deploy a vCenter Server on top of the old on.
• DNS is super important (duh), my home lab kept having weird DNS lookup failures, one can use the IP addresses for the upgrade process.
• If you have plug-ins that don't work after the upgrade and seems to uninstall them, look into using JXplorer; think of it as a regedit for vCenter. The plugins will be in the "ServiceRegistrations" section.