Abstract: A method of upgrading a VIM server appliance includes: creating a snapshot of logical volumes mapped to physical volumes that store configuration and database files of virtual infrastructure management (VIM) services provided by a first VIM server appliance to be upgraded; after the snapshot is created, expanding the configuration and database files to be compatible with a second VIM server appliance; replicating the logical volumes which have been modified as a result of expanding the configuration and database files, in the second VIM server appliance; after replication, performing a switchover of VIM services that are provided, from the first VIM server appliance to the second VIM server appliance; and upon failure of any of the steps of expanding, replicating, and performing the switchover, aborting the upgrade, and reverting to a version of the configuration and database files that was preserved by creating the snapshot.

Abstract: Distributed tracing is applied during an upgrade from a first management appliance to a second management appliance. The distributed tracing method includes generating a parent span that encapsulates states of the overall workflow, including a span context that contains a trace identifier and a span identifier, and generating a plurality of child spans. Each child span encapsulates states that represent a piece of the workflow and contains a reference to the parent span context. The states of the child spans include an error tag that indicates whether the piece of the workflow associated with the child span executed with an error. Because child spans may be generated for a piece of the workflow that is executed by a service running in the first or second management appliance, the span context for the parent span is persisted by the first management appliance and replicated for use by the second management appliance.

Abstract: An example method of upgrading an application in a software-defined data center (SDDC) includes: deploying, by lifecycle management software executing in the SDDC, a second appliance, a first appliance executing services of the application at a first version, the second appliance having services of the application at a second version, the services in the first appliance being active and the services in the second appliance being inactive; setting, by the lifecycle management software, the first and second appliances as a preemptive pair, where the first appliance is protected and the second appliance is unprotected by fault domain management (FDM) software executing in the SDDC; performing, by the lifecycle management software, a switchover to stop the services of the first appliance and start the services of the second appliance; and setting, by the lifecycle management software, the first appliance as unprotected and the second appliance as protected by the FDM software.

Abstract: A method performing at least one of hardware component compatibility checks or resource checks for datastore deployment is provided. The method includes receiving a request to aggregate local disks of a first host in a first host cluster to create and deploy a first datastore for the first host cluster, determining one or more of hardware components on the first host supports the deployment of the first datastore using a first database file available on the first host or resources on the first host support the deployment of the first datastore, and aggregating the local disks of the first host to create and deploy the first datastore for the first host cluster based on the determination.

Abstract: A system and method for establishing trust between management entities with different authentication mechanisms in a computing system utilizes a token exchange service to acquire a second security token used in a second management entity in exchange for a first security token used in a first management entity. When a request with the second security token is sent from the first management entity to the second management entity, the second security token is validated using a public key from the first management entity at the second management entity. After validation, the request is processed at the second management entity and a response is transmitted to the first management entity.

Abstract: Distributed tracing is applied during an upgrade from a first management appliance to a second management appliance. The distributed tracing method includes generating a parent span that encapsulates states of the overall workflow, including a span context that contains a trace identifier and a span identifier, and generating a plurality of child spans. Each child span encapsulates states that represent a piece of the workflow and contains a reference to the parent span context. The states of the child spans include an error tag that indicates whether the piece of the workflow associated with the child span executed with an error. Because child spans may be generated for a piece of the workflow that is executed by a service running in the first or second management appliance, the span context for the parent span is persisted by the first management appliance and replicated for use by the second management appliance.

Abstract: An example method of fault-handling for an autonomous cluster of hosts in a virtualized computing system includes: detecting, by a second plurality of infravisors in a second plurality of the hosts, lack of network connectivity with a first cluster control plane (CCP) executing on a first host in a first plurality of the hosts; electing, among the second plurality of infravisors, a second primary infravisor, a first primary infravisor executing on the first host; running, by the second primary infravisor, a second CCP on a second host in the second plurality of hosts; providing, by the second primary infravisor, a CCP configuration to the second CCP; and applying, by an initialization script of the second CCP, the CCP configuration to the second CCP to create a second autonomous cluster having the second plurality of hosts, the first CCP managing a first autonomous cluster having the first plurality of hosts.

Abstract: A method of on-boarding a virtual infrastructure management (VIM) server appliance in which VIM software for locally managing a software-defined data center (SDDC) is installed, to enable the VIM server appliance to be centrally managed through a cloud service includes upgrading the VIM server appliance from a current version to a higher version that supports communication with agents of the cloud service, modifying configurations of the upgraded VIM server appliance according to a prescriptive configuration required by the cloud service, and deploying a gateway appliance for running the agents of the cloud service that communicate with the cloud service and the upgraded VIM server appliance.

Abstract: An example method of establishing trust between a cross-cluster control plane (xCCP) and a cluster control plane (CCP) of an autonomous cluster of hosts in a virtualized computing system includes: providing, by the xCCP, trust data of the xCCP to a hypervisor of a host in the autonomous cluster that is executing the CCP; providing, by the hypervisor, the trust data to the CCP through a volume attached to a virtual machine (VM) that executes the CCP; persisting, by the CCP, the trust data in a database; and accessing, by a security token service (STS) of the CCP, the trust data in the database to authenticate access to the CCP by the xCCP.

Abstract: An example method of creating an autonomous cluster of hosts in a virtualized computing system includes: enabling, by a virtualization management server executing a cross cluster control plane (xCCP), an infravisor in a seed host of the hosts, the infravisor a component of a hypervisor executing on the seed host; running, by the infravisor, a cluster control plane (CCP) pod on the seed host executing a CCP; providing, by the infravisor, a CCP configuration to the CCP pod; applying, by an initialization script of the CCP pod, the CCP configuration to the CCP to create the autonomous cluster having the seed host as a single node thereof; and extending the autonomous cluster with remaining hosts of the hosts other than the seed host as additional nodes thereof, the CCP applying a cluster personality to each of the remaining hosts derived from the seed host.

Abstract: A method of reserving hardware resources for management appliances of a software-defined data center (SDDC) that have been deployed onto one or more hosts of a cluster of hosts, includes reserving hardware resources of the cluster for a resource pool that has been created for the management appliances, the hardware resources including at least processor resources of the hosts and memory resources of the hosts, and assigning the management appliances to the resource pool created for the management appliances. The management appliances share the hardware resources of the cluster with one or more other resource pools and, after the steps of reserving and assigning, are allocated at least the hardware resources that have been reserved for the resource pool created for the management appliances.

Abstract: A system and method for establishing trust between management entities with different authentication mechanisms in a computing system utilizes a token exchange service to acquire a second security token used in a second management entity in exchange for a first security token used in a first management entity. In an embodiment, an endpoint is set at the first management entity as an authentication endpoint for the second management entity, which is used to authenticate a request with the second security token that is sent from the first management entity to the second management entity. After authentication, the request is processed at the second management entity and a response is transmitted to the first management entity.

Abstract: In one example, a management node and an infrastructure node external to the management node may be identified in a cloud computing environment. The management node may execute a centralized management service and the external infrastructure node may execute a first infrastructure service that handles at least one infrastructure network function for the centralized management service. Further, a second infrastructure service may be deployed on the management node. Data in the first infrastructure service may be replicated to the second infrastructure service. Furthermore, the centralized management service in the management node may be repointed to the second infrastructure service such that the second infrastructure service is to operate within the management node.

Abstract: A method of reserving hardware resources for management appliances of a software-defined data center (SDDC) that have been deployed onto one or more hosts of a cluster of hosts, includes reserving hardware resources of the cluster for a resource pool that has been created for the management appliances, the hardware resources including at least processor resources of the hosts and memory resources of the hosts, and assigning the management appliances to the resource pool created for the management appliances. The management appliances share the hardware resources of the cluster with one or more other resource pools and, after the steps of reserving and assigning, are allocated at least the hardware resources that have been reserved for the resource pool created for the management appliances.

Abstract: A method of upgrading a VIM server appliance includes: creating a snapshot of logical volumes mapped to physical volumes that store configuration and database files of virtual infrastructure management (VIM) services provided by a first VIM server appliance to be upgraded; after the snapshot is created, expanding the configuration and database files to be compatible with a second VIM server appliance; replicating the logical volumes which have been modified as a result of expanding the configuration and database files, in the second VIM server appliance; after replication, performing a switchover of VIM services that are provided, from the first VIM server appliance to the second VIM server appliance; and upon failure of any of the steps of expanding, replicating, and performing the switchover, aborting the upgrade, and reverting to a version of the configuration and database files that was preserved by creating the snapshot.

Abstract: A system and method for upgrading a source management component of a computing environment uses a target management component that is deployed in a host computer of the computing environment. The source and target management components are set as a primary-secondary management pair for a high availability system such that the source management component is set as a primary protected component and the target management component is set as a secondary unprotected component. After services of the source management component are stopped and the target management component is powered on, the primary-secondary management pair is modified to switch the source management component to the secondary unprotected component and the target management component to the primary protected component. Services of the target management component are then started to take over responsibilities of the source management component.

Abstract: A host computing system may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory may include an auto-discovery module to broadcast a message to a set of management nodes in a data center. The message may include a configuration policy. Further, the auto-discovery module may receive an acknowledgment message from a management node. The acknowledgment message may indicate that the management node supports the configuration policy. Furthermore, the auto-discovery module may establish a trust relationship with the management node in response to receiving the acknowledgment message. Further, the auto-discovery module may enable the host computing system to add to a cluster managed by the management node upon establishing the trust relationship.

Abstract: Techniques for declaratively deploying a virtual infrastructure management (VIM) server in a computing environment are provided. According to one set of embodiments, an installer computer system can receive a desired state definition specifying a desired state for the VIM server and a virtual infrastructure to be managed by the VIM server. The installer computer system can further install the VIM server on a target computer system in the computing environment and provide the desired state definition to the target computer system. Upon initial boot up of the VIM server on the target computer system, a service of the VIM server can automatically configure the VIM server in accordance with the desired state definition.

Abstract: A system and method for establishing trust between management entities with different authentication mechanisms in a computing system utilizes a token exchange service to acquire a second security token used in a second management entity in exchange for a first security token used in a first management entity. In an embodiment, an endpoint is set at the first management entity as an authentication endpoint for the second management entity, which is used to authenticate a request with the second security token that is sent from the first management entity to the second management entity. After authentication, the request is processed at the second management entity and a response is transmitted to the first management entity.

Abstract: Aspects of updating or upgrading a management system for a virtualized computing environment are described. In some aspects, a virtualization management system that manages a virtualized computing environment can be upgraded or updated with limited downtime of the system by deploying a new instance of the system and subsequently assigning a network address of the previous instance to the new instance once it is deployed in the environment.