Yesterday, I updated my VMware vCloud Director 1.5 lab with the 1.5.1 patch.  So far, no problems… The update was EASY and took less than 20 minutes.  I took some screenshots of the upgrade— just to show you how the upgrade looks.   In my lab, I am using a single cell vCD instance.  You will need to repeat for each cell in  your vCloud.  Be sure to follow the release notes for your specific configuration.

If you are updating from an older version of vCloud Director, Chris Colotti has a great article to get you going.  http://www.chriscolotti.us/vmware/info-vcloud-director-1-5-1-released/ – Look under the “Related Posts” area  for his 4-step procedure.

One of the main features that I am going to see customers take advantage of is that Firewall rules can now be configured with CIDR blocks, IP Ranges, and port ranges.

There is also an update to VMware vShield.   However, this update is not required to update to 1.5.1.  I did the update in my environment — and things look good.  One thing to bear in mind: To get the new vShield Edge update deployed to your OrgvDC,  you will need to do a “Reset Network” under the OrgNetwork.

Here are the official release notes from VMware:

vCD 1.5.1 release notes
http://www.vmware.com/support/vcd/doc/rel_notes_vcloud_director_151.html

vShield 5.0.1 release notes
http://www.vmware.com/support/vshield/doc/releasenotes_vshield_501.html

Prerequisites that I recommend:
– Backup your vCloud database (The update upgrades the schema)
– Backup your vShield Manager database (cool and easy AND encrypted) — FYI: Can’t view entries.
– I also think it’s a good idea to take a snapshot, clone, or backup of your vCD cell(s).

First, I upgrade my vCD cell(s) — then upgraded my vShield Manager.

Here are the screenshots:

Pre-upgrade version check:

Just choose “Help”, then “About” — from the vCloud Director portal.

Now just to run the .bin file to start the update:  (You’ll need to get the files to your vCD cell)
[root@vcd01 vcd1.5.1]# ./vmware-vcloud-director-1.5.1-622844.bin

You’ll note that the “vmware-vcd-cell” service failed to stop… This didn’t seem to be a problem.  BTW, I used the cloud-management-tool to gracefully stop the cell activity.

Now to upgrade the database schema.  Type:  /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/upgrade   <See below>

All done… Now, just give vCD a few minutes to restart the portal interface.  Login and check your version/build number.   You should see something like this:

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VMware vShield 5.0.1 update