At the end of the last year I did a number of customer upgrades to the latest (at the time of writing) version of vRealize Operations Manager, 6.4. As such I thought it time to update my lab and document the procedure.
As always please read the release notes prior to any upgrade to check for any known issues and the exact procedure. Also be aware of any management packs you have installed as these may need to be updated as well. In my lab I am only upgrading vROPs from 6.2 to 6.4.

First of all, once you have read the documentation of course, you need to download the required files. For the vROPs appliance I deployed earlier this involves 2 files. One for the Appliance OS and One for the vROPs code. Be careful to choose the right files. As I have no Windows Remote Collectors I am downloading the file “… without Windows based RC” along with the “Virtual Appliance Operating System upgrade”

Whilst this is downloading I take the opportunity to check that there are no errors with my cluster and that everything is working/collecting as expected. I also check my backups and snapshot my vROPs cluster nodes (I only have one in the lab).

With the files downloaded and backups and snapshots up to date, log into the vROPs Admin UI and check the status of the cluster. Observe the current version number. Click on Software Update. You can see in my lab I have only one node. If you have more than one node then the update will be applied to all nodes during the process. Please ensure that you have planned for the downtime. Click on Install a Software Update.

You will then need to look for the file(s) that were previously downloaded. As this is the first of the required files for the update I am going to select the OS update. Again check the release notes but generally the OS comes first before any code updates.

Once you have selected the file a dialogue pops up with a number of options. You can tick ‘Install the PAK file even if it is already installed’ if for some reason you are reapplying the update. You can leave this blank if this is the first time. The other tick box is more important. Sometimes content (policies, alerts, symptoms, dashboards) are updated by VMware in which case you may want not overwrite old content that you have customised. This is why it is important to always clone items and make changes rather than work from supplied elements. In this case I am applying the OS code so it should not be an issue (it will be when I apply vROPs code) . In any case as this is a lab I dont mind.  Clicking upload, uploads the file and stages it. This may take a moment or two.

Once the file is staged a verification screen will appear showing the name of the file that will be applied and the version number along with whether the file signature has been verified. There is an estimated Install Time (useful if you have a cluster) but in my case it didn’t show anything. If happy, click next.

Accept the EULA by clicking in the box and then next

You will be given one last chance to review and to take backups/snapshots. If all is in order, click next.

Click Install to begin the upgrade.

You will see the screen change and show the status of the update for your nodes.

At somepoint you will be kicked out of the Admin GUI and have to log back in. Once you do so the update may still be ongoing. Once complete you will see the status as completed. In my lab it took around 7 minutes to complete. At this point it is a good idea to log back into the product UI and ensure that everything is in order.

With the OS update complete it is time to repeat the process for the vROPs code. Click Install an Update and browse for the correct file.

Again the choice to ‘Install the PAK file even if it is already installed’ is available along wth the ‘Reset Out of Box Content’. This time I select the tick box and get the following warning. This is a lab so I am happy to proceed.

The file is uploaded and staged.

If you are happy with the summary you can click next, next, next and Install.

As before you can watch the upgrade status. At some point the GUI will kick you out. On logging back in you can view the status. In this case the file is being applied. Note that the version number has changed for my node.

Once complete the status for all nodes in the cluster should show completed under software update. In my lab I only have one. The second update took around 15 minutes.
Clicking on System Status will show that the cluster is back up and running and online. The version number is correct.

Now I log into the product UI to check that I have all the new content and features that came with vROPs 6.4. and to make a check on my adapters (Administration > Solutions) to ensure that they are collecting. It is also worth going into Administration >  Inventory Explorer to check that the objects themselves are collecting.

Once I am satisfied that everything is as it should be don’t forget to remove any snapshots.