This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to migrate vCenter 7.x to a new vCenter 8.x environment without losing Citrix configurations, ensuring a seamless transition and minimizing downtime, while maintaining the integrity of existing virtual infrastructure and Citrix settings.

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Instructions

Background 

Normally, for a customer who is using VMware hypervisor in Citrix Daas or CVAD and wants to upgrade their vCenter and keep your configuration identical, you would choose an in-place upgrade. This is the easiest and most popular method for upgrading a vCenter and is officially supported by VMWare. However, this  approach makes  the vCenter upgrade irreversible, leaving you no opportunity to roll back to the pre-upgrade state if any mistakes or errors occur. 

 

For customers who want to have a brand-new vCenter to coexist with the old one during the upgrade process, there is an alternative available. With the coexistence of the new vCenter, there is no need to worry about rollback, as the original environment remains unaffected. 

Prerequisites

Please refer to the official document to ensure that all prerequisites are met:

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/372863/quick-guide-to-upgrade-from-vcenter-serv.html

How to upgrade

1.Click the installer under vcsa-ui-install\win32\installer.exe

2.Click the Upgrade option on the UI installer page.

3.Enter the required parameters, such as the ESXi address where the new vCenter will be deployed, credentials, and other details. Once entered, the first stage will begin, and a brand-new vCenter 8 will be installed on the target ESXi host.

4.Do not click “Continue” when the first stage is finished.

5.Login to the administration page of the newly deployed vCenter8.x by accessing its FQDN on port 5480, for example: https://brand-new-deployed.com:5480, and click “Upgrade”. Note: please replace the URI with  your actual vCenter address.

6.Click “Next”, fill in the required source vCenter information using the original vCenter7.x detail on the prompted administration page.

7.Pre-upgrade check will start, Click “Close” when there are no critical issues.

8.Select upgrade data you want to copy from source vCenter service then click “NEXT”.

9.Click “Finish” on the page of “Ready to complete”.

10.The entire configuration from the source vCenter7.x– including its IP address, FQDN, Cluster, networking, and more will be copied to the newly deployed vCenter8.x.

 

What We Achieved

When the above steps are completed successfully, you should get the following results: 

1. The original vCenter7.x will be shut down. 

2. The new vCenter8.x will be identical to the original vCenter7.x and will be started.

3. The FQDN address is the same as the original. 

4. Configurations in Citrix Daas and CVAD do not need to change(e.g., Hosting connection, Machine catalog, Images…). 

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