As hermit crabs mature and get bigger, eventually their shell becomes too small. There inevitably comes a day when they have to ditch their old shell, venture out into the world, and find a new home. With vRealize Automation 6.1, that new shell has arrived for customers using pre-6.0 versions of vCloud Automation Center. However, unlike the hermit crab that needs to take a risk venturing out unprotected for its new shell, VMware has developed a migration tool to guide you directly into that brand new home.
Why exactly do we need to move into this new shell? One of the biggest reasons is the new architecture. As of 6.0, two new appliances were added to the architecture:
- An Identity Appliance providing single sign on capabilities
- A vCloud Automation Center Appliance which is the server, user portal, and a PostgreSQL database
In addition to the Infrastructure as a Service appliance, a minimal installation of vRealize Automation (vRA) 6.1 includes three VMs. There is a newly published Reference Architecture for vRA 6.1, which is worth reviewing to ensure all of your infrastructure requirements are met.
For those of you that are on version 6.0, think of upgrading to 6.1 as simply a matter of continuing to mature inside of that same hermit crab shell. There’s no need to ditch the old shell, you’re simply becoming a more mature hermit crab with less bugs :).
In the two part video series below, I go over what’s involved in getting to vRA 6.1. Be sure to take care in meeting all of the prerequisites prior to the migration to ensure the smoothest transition possible. The first video will cover a majority of these prerequisites, but be sure to review the documentation for a comprehensive list. Secondly, we’ll look at the results of the migration pre-req checker, which will give you a detailed list of everything that requires attention prior to the actual migration.
In the second video I’ll go through a migration of a 5.2 environment, showing you the before and after look. Overall it’s a fairly smooth process which minimizes any downtime as you make this transition. And with all the other 6.0 and 6.1 features and fixes you’ll be able to benefit from between these releases, you’ll be sure to love your new home.
Videos:
- Part 1: http://youtu.be/f3VoHaFrkD8
- Part 2: http://youtu.be/14HO3Gk1Akk
Additional Resources:
- Download: https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/info/slug/datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vcloud_automation_center/6_1
- Documentation: https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vcac-pubs.html
- Release Notes (includes “Migrating to vCloud Automation Center 6.1” guide): https://www.vmware.com/support/vcac/doc/vcloud-automation-center-61-release-notes.html
- What’s new in 6.0: http://blogs.vmware.com/management/2013/10/1840.html
- What’s new in 6.1: http://blogs.vmware.com/management/2014/08/introducing-vcloud-automation-center-6-1.html
