The starting point for many VMware products is vCenter Server. It goes without saying that it is widely employed in several data centers all around the world. The good news is that VMware’s VMware Cloud Provider Program has increased provider access to many of its major technologies, including the vCenter Server.
The VMware Cloud Provider Program offers VMware partners access to some of the company’s most popular products on a pay-as-you-go or pay-as-you-grow basis, as well as quick on-demand support and upgrades to the most recent product versions.
What is vCloud Usage Meter
Any servers utilized in the service delivery path or administration control plane must have VCPP licenses, which are only available to partners in the VMware Cloud Provider Program. Perpetual VMware licenses, including OEM versions, are only permitted for internal IT activities that are not connected to the provision of services. Perpetual and Demo licenses for vCenter Servers are metered but not reported. It is recommended to use different vCenter Servers for Demo and Perpetual licenses.
That being said in order to be able to collect and report on the VCPP license utilized in every product used a vCloud Usage Meter appliance is installed in the vCenter.
What kind of data does vCloud Usage Meter collect
vCloud Usage Meter collects product consumption data from vCenter Server instances and other products.
- Collected data from the vCenter Server instances includes DNS name, physical memory (RAM), and license type.
- Collected data from the virtual machine includes the metered product name, hostname, allocated and billing virtual memory (vRAM), CPU, and instance universal unique identifier (UUID).
- Collected data from products includes billing vRAM, and other metrics specific to the metered product.
That was a simple introduction to VMware vCloud Usage Meter and what is does for VMware Service Provider, however we will have to leave it at that and dive in into our today’s article which is the Upgrade process.
IN-Place vCloud Usage Meter Upgrade to Version 4.6
Starting with version 4.6, you can upgrade the vCloud Usage Meter appliance by using an .iso image that includes a complete Photon OS update. You can install vCloud Usage Meter 4.6 as an in-place upgrade on top of vCloud Usage Meter 4.3 and later.
If you want to upgrade from vCloud Usage Meter 3.6.x, you must install vCloud Usage Meter 4.6 as a new appliance.
Prerequisites
- Backup or take a snapshot of the source vCloud Usage Meter appliance that you want to upgrade.
2. You must enable SSH on the source vCloud Usage Meter appliance by running the following command.
systemctl enable sshd
3. You must have a password to log in to the vCloud Usage Meter console as root.
Upgrade Procedure
Download the following upgrade files to your local computer.
| File Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Usage_Meter_Agent-4.6.0.0-<BUILD_NUMBER>_Upgrade.iso | The ISO upgrade file containing the upgrade script and the YUM repository. |
| Usage_Meter_Agent-4.6.0.0-<BUILD_NUMBER>_Upgrade.mf | Contains the sha1checksum of the upgrade ISO file. |
| Usage_Meter_Agent-4.6.0.0-<BUILD_NUMBER>_Upgrade.crt | Contains the public certificate that signs the ISO file. |
| Usage_Meter_Agent-4.6.0.0-<BUILD_NUMBER>_Upgrade.sign | Contains the signature for the ISO file. |
The above can be found from the Products and Accounts >All Products> VMware vCloud Usage Meter on VMware customer connect Portal
Upload the Upgrade ISO to one of the Datastores on the vCenter where the Usage meter appliance is installed.
Connect the CD-ROM drive of vCloud Usage Meter to the Usage_Meter_Agent-4.6.0.0-<BUILD>_Upgrade.iso file.
Log in to the source vCloud Usage Meter console as root.
Create an upgrade directory by running the following command. In my case the directory was already there.
mkdir /root/upgrade
Mount the CD drive by running the following command
mount -o loop /dev/cdrom /root/upgrade
To start the in-place upgrade, run the command.
bash /root/upgrade/upgrade-um.sh
You are prompted to confirm if a snapshot of the source vCloud Usage Meter appliance that you want to upgrade exists.
To complete the in-place upgrade, you are prompted to reboot the appliance.
NOTE: For a clean reboot and clean start or the services it is recommended to reboot the vCloud Usage Meter from the vSphere side and not by typing yes on the command prompt.
Verify that the vCloud Usage Meter services are up and running.
a. Navigate to the /opt/vmware/cloudusagemetering directory.
cd /opt/vmware/cloudusagemetering
b. Verify the status of the vCloud Usage Meter services by running the following command.
bash scripts/status.shIf the services are running, you receive a Running status. In case you receive a Running status that has errors, check the latest log files. The errors might not be related to the in-place upgrade.
If the verification fails with an Offline status that has errors, check the in-place upgrade log files at /opt/vmware/var/logs/um-upgrade.log. If the in-place upgrade caused the errors, restore the vCloud Usage Meter appliance from the latest backup or snapshot, and repeat the steps.
Stop SSH by running the commands.
systemctl stop sshdOther articles on VMware
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