Update vCenter Server Appliance without internet connection

Last week i published a blog post where i outlined how to install an Apache web server on a CentOS virtual machine (VM). The web server was required to install, update and upgrade a few other applications and one of them was the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) from version 5.5.0 Update 1c to the latest available version 5.5.0 Update 2a version.

This is something i have done several times in the past with one exception. This time i didn’t have any internet connectivity so i couldn’t use the default repository vapp-updates.vmware.com.

I used the following procedure to successfully update my VCSA.

•  Download the VMware vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2a Appliance ZIP file from the VMware download page found here.
  
• Copy the vCSA zip file to the jump PC available for accessing the vSphere environment.
• Upload the ZIP file to my Linux based web server.
• Unzip the zip file using the unzip command:
  • unzip VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-5.5.0.20100-2170515-updaterepo.zip
• created the visa directory in the web server document root
  • mkdir /var/www/html/vcsa
• moved the unzipped content to the /var/www/html/vcsa directory
  • mv manifest /var/www/html/vcsa/
  • mv package-pool /var/www/html/vcsa/
• run the command restore con to avoid potential permission problems
  • restorecon -r /var/www/html
• Log in to the VCSA web management interface using the https://ip-address:5480 address. In my case https://10.10.100.151:5480
• Click the update tab
• Click the Settings button and change the Update Repository from “Use Default Repository” to “Use Specified Repository”. In my case http://10.10.100.182/vcsa
  
• Click the Status button and click Check Updates to verify if any updates are available.
  
• It take a few seconds before the check is finished.
  
• Click Install Updates and the following page appears.
  
• When the upgrade is finished you’ll have to log on again.
• Go tho the Update section.
  
• As you can see you are required to reboot the appliance after the upgrade is completed.
• You reboot the VCSA via the System tab.
• Login once more after the reboot and verify the update has completed.