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title: "Upgrade/Patch vCenter Server through the VCSA Appliance Shell"
canonical: "https://www.virtcloudrocks.com/space/VSPHTECH01/852168/Upgrade%2FPatch%20vCenter%20Server%20through%20the%20VCSA%20Appliance%20Shell"
format: markdown
---
Introduction You can use the software-packages utility in the appliance shell of a vCenter Server Appliance that contains a vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, a vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller, or a Platform Services Controller to see the installed patches, stage new patches, and install new patches. To perform ISO-based patching, you have to download the relevant ISO image from VMware patches repository, attach the ISO image to the CD/DVD drive of the appliance, optionally stage the available patches from the ISO image to the appliance, and install the patches. Prerequisites If you are installing staged patches, verify that you staged the correct patch payload - check on  Stage Patches to the vCenter Server Appliance . If you are installing patches that you previously staged from an ISO image, verify that the ISO image is attached to the CD/DVD drive of the PSC/vCenter Server Appliance - check on  Stage Patches to the vCenter Server Appliance . If you are installing patches directly from an ISO image that you previously downloaded from  https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/patch , you must attach the ISO image to the CD/DVD drive of the vCenter Server Appliance.  If you are installing patches directly from a repository, verify that you have configured the repository settings and that the current repository URL is accessible, check on  Configure URL-Based Patching . If you are patching a vCenter Server Appliance with an external Platform Services Controller, verify that you have applied patches to the PSCs, prior applying the patches to vCenter appliance(s). You must apply patches to the Platform Services Controller and any replicating partners in the vCenter Single Sign-On domain. High-level view of the upgrade process Below schematic presents a high level view of the vCenter Server / PSCs upgrade process. Download the patch ISO file Download the latest patch for vCenter server 6.5 from VMware portal,  https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/patch#search In our case we shall apply the latest patch on vCenter Server 6.5U2, i.e.  6.5.0.23000 Build 10964411   Running version of PSC/vCenter Server before upgrading:  6.5.0.13000 Build 8024368 Version to which it will be upgraded/patched to:  6.5.0.23000 Build 10964411 Prior initiation of the upgrading/patching process of the vCenter component, make sure that you have taken snapshots in order to be able to revert back, in case that anything goes wrong! Upgrading the PSC Attach the downloaded patching ISO, in our case  VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.5.0.23000-10964411-patch-FP.iso  file to the vCenter Server Appliance CD or DVD drive. Log in to the appliance shell as root and run the commands given below: To stage the ISO files to the appliance Command> software-packages stage --iso Accept the EULA in order to be able to proceed further. To see the staged content: Command> software-packages list --staged To install the staged rpms: Command> software-packages install --staged Reboot the appliance in order for the upgrade process to finish Verify the upgraded/patched version of the PSC After the upgrade was finished some of the services were not starting, see below root@psc01-a [ ~ ]# service-control --status
StartPending:
 applmgmt pschealth vmonapi vmware-cis-license vmware-cm vmware-sca vmware-statsmonitor
Running:
 lwsmd vmafdd vmcad vmdird vmdnsd vmware-psc-client vmware-rhttpproxy vmware-sts-idmd vmware-stsd vmware-vmon
Stopped:
 vmware-vapi-endpoint Any time that I tried to reboot the appliance or trying to manually start the services, I was facing the same issues. Finally, I came to a VMTN article and a propose solution related to password expiration policy of the root account! I had to run below set of commands, on the bash shell of the appliance root@psc01-a [ ~ ]# chage --list root
root@psc01-a [ ~ ]# chage -M -1 root; echo "" > /etc/security/opasswd After that I manually tried to start all the services and it went successful, root@psc01-a [ ~ ]# service-control --status Upgrading the vCenter Server As soon as the patching/upgrade of the external PSC finishes successfully you may proceed with the patching/upgrade of the vCenter Server. The procedure to be followed is the same like the one used to upgrade the PSC, so proceed as follow, Attach the patch ISO, in our case  VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.5.0.23000-10964411-patch-FP.iso  file to the vCenter Server Appliance CD - make sure that you have the CD connected at power on. Log in to the appliance shell as root and run the commands given below: To stage the ISO files to the appliance Command> software-packages stage --iso Accept the EULA in order to be able to proceed further. To see the staged content: Command> software-packages list --staged To install the staged rpms: Command> software-packages install --staged Reboot the appliance in order for the upgrade process to finish Verify that all the services are running, by running below command to the bash shell appliance root@vcsa-site-a [ ~ ]# service-control --status Verify the upgraded/patched version of the vCenter, through vSphere Client VMware vCenter Server 6.5 Update 2d Release Notes VCSA 6.5 Patch Update Fails Stage Patches to the vCenter Server Appliance VMware Patches Repository