[SOLVED] Upgrade to SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere 4.8 failed

[keen hamlet]

Hello,

I tried to upgrade from SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere 4.7 to 4.8 unsuccessfully.
The console display a message "Successfully upgraded" but then no service start. I tried to reboot the appliance but it doesn't solve the issue.
After the upgrade, when I'm log into the console, I have some locale errors.
Services doesn't seem to start and on the webpage I do not have any vCenter information and I cannot add anymore.

Does anyone have already encoutered this problem?

Environment:

vSphere version: 7.0U3
Current SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere version: 4.7.0.6245256
Target SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere version: 4.8.0.6245690

Steps to reproduce:

1. Disable SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere through the plugin-in GUI (https://<scv-address>:8080)
2. Backup current appliance (Shutdown / VMware Snapshot / Start)
3. Mount the iso file to the virtual appliance
4. Log onto the Maintenance console, enter 2 for System Configuration, then enter 8 for Upgrade and finally enter y to start the upgrade

Actual result:

SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere is unable to connect to the vCenter.

Expected result:

Retrieve vCenter informations and connect to it.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[swift marlin]

This appears to be a little more in-depth than what Discord is intended for. I would suggest opening a case with the NetApp support team and letting them work through this with you.

[keen summit]

We are having the same issue when updating from SCV 4.6 --> 4.7 --> 4.8. This is with vCenter Build 19717403 which is U3e. Rebooting both vCenter and SCV does not help.

I'm suspecting it has something to do with the change to the remote plugin architecture with SCV 4.8 (check the release notes).

We will update to the latest vCenter U3j to see if that may fix it.

NetApp Knowledgebase 4 the win

https://kb.netapp.com/Advice_and_Troubleshooting/Data_Protection_and_Security/SnapCenter/SCV_upgrade_to_4.8_fails_to_upgrade_dotnet_runtime_files

I'm quite sure it's this issue @keen hamlet

[swift marlin]

Good catch @keen summit I hadn't seen that article yet.

[keen hamlet]

I think the article was created after I posted on Discord 😅
I'm trying the do the workaround but:

• At step 4: Type cd upgrade => I think it's cd /upgrade
• At step 8: Type curl ... => I have this error: bash: curl: command not found

I tried to look for curl into the appliance but noway:

# find / -name curl
# 

wget is not available either ^^

[keen hamlet]

😮‍💨 It was hard but I succeeded!

I downloaded package on another machine and I copied them through the appliance via SCP
Not an easy task because the shell of the diag user is a restricted shell.
Here is my procedure:

# Check the current shell for the diag user
grep diag /etc/passwd

# Remove the immutable attribute from passwd and shadow files
chattr -i /etc/passwd
chattr -i /etc/shadow

# Modify shell of the diag user
usermod -s /bin/bash diag

# Allow diag user to write files in /upgrade directory
chmod o+w /upgrade

# Copy files from another Linux machine
scp * diag@<Appliance hostname>:/upgrade

# Remove write permission I set previously on the /upgrade directory
chmod o-w /upgrade

# Change back the shell of the diag user
usermod -s /bin/diag-user-shell.sh diag

# Put back the immutable attribute to the passwd and shadow files
chattr +i /etc/shadow
chattr +i /etc/passwd

I finally continue de procedure on the KB article and it works 🥳

As a Linux expert, it was not so hard to do that but I don't think everybody can achieve it. Maybe NetApp should adapt the KB article 😅

Thanks @keen summit for the link!

[swift marlin]

@keen hamlet Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into the KB article as last I checked, curl was not included in SCV.

[keen hamlet]

@swift marlin I confirm that curl is still not in SCV.
If I can help (to test something or something else), do not hesitate 😉
I will be in Hockenheim for NetApp Insight EMEA next days so give me some delay to answer 😅

[swift marlin]

Two items to follow-up here:

1. The KB has been updated with better steps that don't require the use of the curl command.
2. At least in 4.8, maybe in 4.7 the curl command is included with SCV.

[keen hamlet]

Hi @swift marlin !
I tested the updated KB. It works BUT, after I restarted my services, I have ennoying sudo prompt. It seems to come from the /home/maint/scripts/get-token.pl script (as you can see in my print screen).

@swift marlin another thing, curl is definitively not included with SCV (neither in 4.7 nor in 4.8) 😇

[swift marlin]

@keen hamlet We have an internal theory that if you have upgraded from 4.4 to 4.8 that you will not get curl. Can you show mw the contents of /etc/os-release? I am actively working the issue with the SCV team of why some have it and others don't, but more importantly, what do we do about it now. Stay tuned.

[keen hamlet]

Thanks for the following @swift marlin
Here it is:

I confirm that I have SCV since a while. I do not remember which version I installed from scratch

[swift marlin]

Much research and testing has been done. The OS for SCV is getting upgraded as it should. The only item we can find that is missing due to upgrades where the original install is 4.4 or earlier, is curl. We have a KB (tested by myself and another engineer in support) to show you how to install curl on SCV if it is missing. https://kb.netapp.com/Advice_and_Troubleshooting/Data_Protection_and_Security/SnapCenter/SCV_4.8_upgrade_shows_curl_error_malformed_JSON_string

[keen hamlet]

@swift marlin I updated my 2 SCV appliances in production with these 2 links and I confirm everything works perfectly now!
Thanks for your help and for your time.
Sorry for the late answer. A lot of work since the NetApp Insight EMEA 😅