Updating VSphere Cluster i/o filter after update to 11.0.1.1261

[bhagen]

This isn't an error or technical issue; just a question. So I don't have a case number.

All my esxi hosts are at 7.0 u2c; both vcenter servers are at 7.0.2.00400.

I've just installed VBR 11a and updated all the components except for my vsphere clusters. That's because, if I go to Backup Infrastructure and right-click MyVcenterServer - MyCluster and choose Upgrade, I see the warning: "During the upgrade, hosts of the selected clusters will be switched into the maintenance mode temporarily. Proceed with the upgrade now?"

Yeah...not on your life! We don't have DRS, so I need to manually move my powered-on VMs off one host, put it in maint mode, do any needed upgrades, reboot, exit maintenance mode, then move powered-on vms from the next host to the host I just upgraded, and continue. We only have 12 hosts (6 in each datacenter), so it's not that big a deal to do it manually.

I've tried (by mistake) in the past to just put a host in maintenance mode and let it figure things out, but it literally takes *hours* for it to enter maintenance mode. Meanwhile my backup get all screwed up if I have any backups running, and things generally slow down across the datacenter due to the insane flogging that the vsan is enduring.

So: am I missing a way to upgrade my esxi hosts individually? Again, the only choice I seem to have is to upgrade the cluster, and let veeam / vmware take control. Can't do that.

Thoughts?

[Gostev]

No... unfortunately the I/O filter upgrade process is fully managed by VMware for the cluster, we (Veeam) too have no control over it.

[bhagen]

Oh, bummer.

Well, I decided to try it on my DR cluster, and got an error, so I'll put in a ticket for that.

As an aside, where do I put in a feature request? Whenever there's an error in Veeam, we get the completely useless message "see the log for details" (or in this case, "see the event log for details"). I really do want to examine "the log"; but Veeam gives zero clues as to what machine the log resides on, what folder it resides in, or even the name of the log I'm supposed to be looking at...

[Gostev]

I've put such feature request myself a couple of years ago with a message to all Veeam developers asking not ever create these messages again without referencing the specific log file name.

[bhagen]

Bosses everywhere: "Developers, ye shall mark up and document your code, and produce useful error messages for the end user!!"
Devs everywhere: "Nah..."

[IDATAAB]

Hej just went through this updating to 11.0.1.1261.P2021211 - If you don't have DR enabled on your cluster, the only way to upgrade the I/O filters is to empty a host by migrating the VMs off of it, put it into Maintanence mode, then run the upgrade in Veeam. The hosts that have running VMs won't be upgraded as the migration of VMs won't take place because you don't have DR enabled. You'll get the "Failed to upgrade I/O filter" error for them. Just repeat the process untill you get you hosts updated. If you have DR enabled, VMware will take care of it but be prepared to sit back and cool your heels for a long time while VMware moves your VMs around for you.