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 How to Apply a System Patch to VMware Aria Automation Using Aria Lifecycle Manager

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?articleNumber=389977


Issue/Introduction

Migrating from VMware to Broadcom support portal has changed how patches, PSPAKS, and hotfixes are supplied on the portal.

Note:

  • Following the VMware by Broadcom Day 2 transition on May 6, 2024, Customer Connect has been migrated to the Broadcom Support. This migration impacts the VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle as follows:
    • All Product Support Packs, along with product and patch binaries, will now need to be downloaded from the Broadcom Support Portal.
    • Users must then manually map these into the VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle.
    • Additionally, all online download methods previously available in the VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle will be disabled in the user interface upon upgrading to our next release.
    • See VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.16 Release Notes for additional information.

Environment

VMware Aria Automation 8.x
VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle Manager 8.x

Resolution

Step 1: Download the patch. See KB How to download all VMware Aria Suite products from the Broadcom portal to properly download the patch from the Broadcom support portal. Aria Automation 8.18.1 patch 1 is used as reference. 

Once the patch is downloaded, you will need to upload it to the Aria Lifecycle Manager appliance. Using WinSCP, you can transfer the patch file to the /data directory which is typically referenced in the Aria Lifecycle Manager UI as you will observe in a step in a subsequent step.

Step 2: Login to the Aria Lifecycle Manager and navigate to the Settings>Binary Mapping. You may notice “System Patches” but that is for Lifecycle Manager itself.

Step 3: Navigate to Patch Binaries

Step 4: Click Add Patch Binary button

Step 5: Enter /data at the Source Location. This is the location on the LCM that the patch downloaded file was uploaded. Click Discover so that LCM will find the uploaded file.

Step 6: Once the uploaded patch file is discovered, select the file and click ADD.

Step 7: You can click on the Upload patch request link to see the progress of staging the Aria Automation patch within Aria Lifecycle Manager so that it can be used for patching the environment.

Step 8: Once the request is complete, you can navigate back to Environments. You can navigate to other areas of Lifecycle manager but you will not be able to patch Aria Automation before the patch is staged.

Step 9: Click View Details button

Step 10: Click on the three dots to reveal the actions available and then click on Patches.

Step 11: Then click on Install Patch.

Step 12: Select the patch and click Next. In production environments you may have additional patches, so always remember to pick the appropriate one.

Step 13: Click Run Precheck button

Step 14: Click the Next button once All validations passed for product installation appears. It may be possible that pre-check validations may not be all successful, so you will need to address identified issues before proceeding.

Step 15: Click Install button

Step 16: The patching process can take a while depending on your specific configuration and specs.

Step 17: Completion of the Patch request

Patch installation verification

To verify patch installation, you can navigate to the Aria Automation environment from within Aria Lifecycle options area (three dots) Patches, History. This should display the patch history with version details.

Alternatively, you can verify patch history installation by connecting to the Aria Automation appliances via SSH and running the following command:

vracli version patch

 

Additional Information

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