VxRail Upgrade Checklist

Aug 21

2 min read

1. Pre‑Upgrade Validation

Cluster health check — Verify VxRail Manager shows System Health: Good, no active operations, no critical alerts.
vSAN object health — Confirm no resyncs, no degraded components, no inaccessible objects.
Host hardware status — Validate PSU, NIC, disk, controller health via vCenter + esxcli hardware.
Network validation — Ensure vmk0, vSAN vmk, MTU, DNS, and NTP are consistent across nodes.
Version compatibility — Validate target VxRail bundle against Dell Compatibility Matrix.
vCenter backup — Ensure a successful backup exists before upgrade.
Remove VxRail Manager snapshots — Never upgrade with snapshots present.
Check NSX-T health (if applicable) — Validate transport nodes, MTU, and cluster status.

Download VxRail LCM bundle — Online or offline bundle validated for your environment.
Upload bundle to VxRail Manager — Confirm checksum and bundle integrity.
Review upgrade impact — Identify vCenter, PSC, ESXi, firmware, and driver changes.
Notify stakeholders — Communicate maintenance window and expected downtime.
Disable DRS automation if required — Some environments prefer manual control.
Confirm HA readiness — Ensure HA is healthy before node-by-node evacuation.
Export host profiles — Capture baseline configuration.
Collect VxRail Manager logs — Useful for rollback or post-upgrade validation.

Upgrade vCenter (if VxRail-managed) — VxRail LCM handles sequencing below automatically.
Upgrade VxRail Manager — Validate post-upgrade service health.
Upgrade ESXi hosts one-by-one — Follow strict node-by-node workflow:
- Enter maintenance mode
- Ensure vSAN evacuation completes
- Apply firmware + driver + ESXi updates
- Reboot
- Validate host health
- Exit maintenance mode
Monitor vSAN resync — Ensure cluster returns to green before upgrading next node.
Validate NSX-T host upgrades (if applicable) — Confirm transport node status after each ESXi upgrade.

Verify VxRail Manager version — Confirm upgrade success and LCM readiness.
Check vCenter services — Ensure all services are running and healthy.
Validate ESXi host versions — Confirm all nodes match target build.
Run full vSAN health check — Validate cluster stability and object compliance.
Check firmware/driver compliance — Ensure no drift across nodes.
Validate NSX-T fabric — Confirm transport nodes, edges, and managers are healthy.
Review cluster events — Identify any warnings or anomalies.
Test VM mobility — Confirm vMotion stability post-upgrade.

Export final compliance report — Capture final cluster state.
Document version matrix — Record vCenter, ESXi, VxRail, NSX versions.
Archive upgrade logs — Store for audit and future troubleshooting.
Validate rollback assets — Ensure backups, host profiles, and logs are preserved.

Attached is a downloadable VxRail Upgrade Checklist.