Reading Time: 2 minutes

The Reduced Downtime Upgrade (RDU) is a new mechanism introduced in vSphere 8.x for upgrade/update the self-managed vCenter Servers with a minimal downtime (lesser compared to normal upgrade/update procedure).

What is the Self-managed vCenter Server? It’s a vCenter Server that manages its own ESXi host and its own virtual machine.

More information are available in KB 92659 (vCenter Server upgrades with the reduced downtime).

If you try to update a vCSA 8.0.x with VAMI you will notice this reminder about the new RDU feature:

Actually works only with 8.0.x version, so can be used as an update tool according with the following table:

Source VersionTarget Version
8.0 GA8.0 U2 or later releases
8.0 U18.0 U2 or later releases
8.0 P028.0 U2 or later releases
8.0 U2Releases later than 8.0 U2

The produce to use RDU is a little more complicated compared to traditional update (basically with a single click you start the update).

The new model require to deploy a new VM with a temporary IP where the vCenter Server database and all the configurations are migrated.

Then the different services are started on the new VM and this require a downtime.

After all the old VM will be powered off and the new will acquire the original IP address.

Share

Related Posts

  • VMware vCenter Server 5.0 Update 1b

    On 16 August 2012, VMware has releaded a new version of vCenter Server: VMware vCenter Server 5.0 Update 1b (build 804277). This version introduces support for the following vCenter Databases: Oracle 11g Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition, Standard ONE Edition Release 2 [11.2.0.3] - 64 bit…

  • VMware vCenter Server 5.0 Update 1b

    Dal 16 agosto 2012, è disponibile una nuova minor release di vCenter Server: VMware vCenter Server 5.0 Update 1b (build 804277). Questa versione aggiunge il supporto ai seguenti database: Oracle 11g Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition, Standard ONE Edition Release 2 [11.2.0.3] - 64 bit Oracle…

  • vCenter Server: Physical or Virtual?

    From the version VI 3.x the vCenter Server can be deployed or on a physical server or on a virtual machine (both solutions are supported by VMware). In this page pros and cons are analyzed.

Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.