Release date: January 3rd 2022
Welcome to my VMware Horizon series. In this session I will describe how I upgraded my VMware Horizon Connection Servers to v. 2111. I start out by downloading the installation media from VMware Customer Connect
Prior to doing my Cloud Pod Architecture upgrade, I double check VMware’s documentation about upgrading CPA here: Upgrading a Cloud Pod Architecture Environment
As always when upgrading VMware Horizon, before I start upgrading my Connection server, I verify that I have a valid backup and document my settings. I also disable the provisioning and desktop pools
Next, in Horizon Administrator, I disable the connection server I want to upgrade.
As I’m running Cloud Pod Architecture, I also check that replication between my connection servers are running smoothly, as described by VMware here: Forcing replication between ADAM databases This also applies to replica servers. The reason I’m mentioning this, is that I did actually get an error when doing the upgrade. Before I upgraded, I did a shut down of my Connection Servers to make snapshots, but I didn’t allow for the replication to be restored properly before I started the upgrade. The error-message I got was “ERROR: Could not transfer schema master FSMO to local node.” in the vminst.log file.
To work around this, I could of course have reverted to snapshots, booted up and awaited replication to re-establish properly, but instead I forced the connection server I as upgrading to be the “SchemaMaster”, as described by VMware here: Troubleshooting Errors During Upgrade and Installation of Connection Servers
Anyway, once I had sorted out the issue above, I could start the upgrade by first verifying the installed versions from Control Panel
Next, I login on the first Connection Server and launch the downloaded executable to do a manual upgrade. I will perform a silent upgrade on my second Connection Server below.
I launch the Horizon Connection server installation wizard, Next…
I accept the license terms, Next…
Join the CEIP or not, Next…
I acknowledge the Operational Data Collection info, Next…
I confirm the installation path, Install…
Once the installer finishes, click Finish…
I can now re-enable the connection server
Finally, I re-enable the desktop pools and the provisioning
After the installation is done, I can verify in Control Panel the installed version and finish off by doing a reboot. Once rebooted I check services and the locked.properties file as described below.
As I mentioned above, I will be doing a silent upgrade of my second Connection Server. As pr. VMware’s documentation, this should be similar to doing a silent install: Silent Installation Properties for a Horizon Connection Server Standard Installation
I quickly verify which MSI properties to apply according to the VMware’s documentation.
I launch an administrative cmd prompt and start the silent upgrade
VMware-Horizon-Connection-Server-x86_64-8.4.0-19067837.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE=1 VDM_INITIAL_ADMIN_SID=S-1-5-32-544"
To verify the upgrade result, I check the log file vminst.log under %AppData%
Once the upgrade is finished, an event is logged about this in Windows Event Viewer.
I do a quick reboot of the Connection Server and verify that all services are up and running after the upgrade.
Finally, as a result of the upgrade, I have to recreate my locked.properties file under:
C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\sslgateway\conf
This concludes my session about upgrading the Connection Servers to v. 2111. I can now proceed with upgrading the UAG’s, posted here: VMware Horizon – Upgrade Unified Access Gateway to v. 2111
VMware Horizon planning, deployment etc.
Official VMware Horizon 8 Documentation
Disclaimer: Every tips/tricks/posting I have published here, is tried and tested in different it-solutions. It is not guaranteed to work everywhere, but is meant as a tip for other users out there. Remember, Google is your friend and don’t be afraid to steal with pride! Feel free to comment below as needed.
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