Upgrading VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is not just about running the upgrade workflow — it’s about preparation. Before moving from version 9.0 to 9.0.1, several validation and readiness steps must be taken to ensure a smooth and error-free process. Before diving into the upgrade process, it’s essential to understand how lifecycle management in VCF is structured and the distinction between management components and core components.
VCF Operations serves as the central tool for managing the lifecycle of both Management and Core Infrastructure Components. It provides unified capabilities for downloading, staging, and applying patches or upgrades — whether you’re operating online or through an offline depot. While both component types can share the same depot, their upgrade scopes differ:
- Management components (like SDDC Manager, Aria Suite, and NSX Managers) are maintained at the fleet level, allowing consistent operations across multiple VCF instances.
- Core components (such as ESX hosts, vCenter, and NSX Edge Clusters) are managed per instance, ensuring control within each workload domain.
This separation allows administrators to plan and execute upgrades in a structured, non-disruptive way. However, it also raises an important question:
When performing an upgrade, which should be done first? The management components or the core components?
This article is part of a two-part series. In this first part, I’ll cover the upgrade of the VCF management components, and in the next one, I’ll focus on the core components. In both, we’ll outline what to verify, what to back up, and what dependencies to check before initiating your upgrade.
To answer the question, when upgrading your environment, you always begin with the management components. Start by upgrading the Fleet Management Appliance, followed by the other management components such as Aria Operations, Aria Automation, Aria Identity Broker (if deployed), Aria Logs, and Aria Networks. There is no strict order in upgrading the remaining management components — the key is to ensure that the Fleet Management Appliance is upgraded first, as it orchestrates and coordinates the lifecycle of all other management components.
I began the upgrade by initializing the download of the required binaries. However, when attempting to download the Operations, Operations Logs, and Operations Network binaries, I encountered the error LCMCOMMON92001.
The details of the error are:
com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.common.exception.EngineException: Exception encountered when downloading the binary at com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.drivers.commonplugin.task.DownloadFromBroadcomDepot.execute
(DownloadFromBroadcomDepot.java:237) at com.vmware.vrealize.lcm.automata.core.TaskThread.run(TaskThread.java:62) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
During the preparation phase, I was using an offline depot. I had already verified that all the necessary binaries were present, so I initially assumed the issue wasn’t related to the depot content. Yet, despite the binaries being available, the system still refused to download or display the remaining upgrade packages for the management components.
After some investigation, I identified the root cause: the Fleet Management Appliance itself must be patched first. Without applying the latest patch to the Fleet Management Appliance, VCF Operations will not allow the download or synchronization of the remaining management component binaries.
To resolve this, I navigated to:
Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Binary Management → Patch Binaries
And downloaded the latest Fleet Management patch. Once applied, the remaining binaries became available, allowing the upgrade workflow to proceed normally.
Once the patch download was complete, I proceeded to apply it by going to:
Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Settings → System Patches → New Patch
⚠️ Important: Before applying the patch, always take a snapshot of the Fleet Management Appliance. This ensures you have a safe rollback point in case the patch process encounters any issues.
By selecting the New patch, you can see the available patch and choose to apply it.
By clicking Next, you will be directed to the Review and Install page, where you can install the desired patch.
The patch will apply within a short period of time; meanwhile, it’s normal not to see the lifecycle information under Fleet management in VCF operation.
After the patch is applied, I can download the operation and the rest of the available VCF management components to continue with the upgrade.
After that, I also downloaded the automation patch, as operation and automation are the first two appliances I want to patch.
Then, by navigating to Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Components → Plan Upgrade, I was able to select the target version for VCF Operations and other management components and create an upgrade plan accordingly.
Here, I can view the status of the upgrade and patch, and select the first appliance to upgrade the operation.
It’s always recommended to trigger the Inventory sync before proceeding with the upgrade. I have already done that, and when I select Proceed, I can see the component version. I then click Next.
Then I run the Aria Operations Pre-Upgrade Readiness Assessment Tool (APUAT) assessment and be patient, as this step takes a while to complete.
Then, as always, it’s recommended to take a snapshot before proceeding, and you select to retain the snapshot after the upgrade is completed, which I did not do in my case.
Then, as the last step before proceeding with the upgrade, run the precheck.
After all validation passes, I can see the upgrade summary and submit to start the upgrade.
In my case, the upgrade of VCF Operations completed successfully after approximately 28 minutes!
To verify the version, I returned to Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Components, where the VCF Operations component now appeared as in compliance, confirming that the upgrade was successful.
Then, I moved on to patch the Automation component, selecting “Apply Patch” to initiate the upgrade process.
I select the available patch and confirm that the SFTP configuration has been done.
And install the patch
After initializing the upgrade, although I set up the SFTP, I encountered an error”LCMVMSP10035“. This is a known issue when your target SFTP backup is on Windows.
Here, I share the KB article that explains the resolution in case you encounter the same problem. After I fixed the issue, the automation upgrade completed successfully.
Next, I proceeded to upgrade the Operations Logs component by selecting “Upgrade” and initiating the upgrade process.
As mentioned earlier, it’s always recommended to trigger an inventory sync and then proceed.
Then, I selected the target component version to proceed with the upgrade.
Then, I took a snapshot of the appliance before proceeding with the upgrade.
As the final required step, I ran the precheck to validate readiness before starting the upgrade.
After the precheck passed successfully, I proceeded to initiate the upgrade.
At this stage, I reviewed the upgrade summary and then clicked Submit to begin the upgrade.
The VCF Operations Logs upgrade was completed quickly, finishing successfully in about 6 Minutes.
Finally, I proceeded to upgrade the last VCF management component — Operations Network, to complete the management stack upgrade sequence.
The steps were identical to those for the Operations Logs upgrade. After the precheck passed successfully, I initiated the Operations Network upgrade.
The upgrade finished successfully, and all VCF management components now appeared in Compliance, confirming that the upgrade was completed successfully.
In the next blog post, I will cover the upgrade of the core VCF components, completing the overall upgrade journey from 9.0 to 9.0.1.