The upgrade VMDK file user for VMware is also used to create a drive volume that can be used to upgrade AWS instances. Once created, the same volume can be used to upgrade multiple servers though one at a time.
Tools & Equipment Required
•R11.1 Upgrade VMDK File
This file is mounted onto a virtual machine as an additional drive. When the virtual machine is rebooted from this drive, it performs the process of upgrading the existing drive to R11.1 SP2. That process include the migration of all existing data.
•AWS Command Line Interface
The AWS command line can be access from a PC. For a Windows PC, it can be run as part of the Windows command prompt or PowerShell. For details, refer to https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-welcome.html for installation and operation details.
Process
1.If you do not already have one, create an S3 bucket in the same region as the instances:
a. In the AWS Management Console, under STORAGE select S3.
b.Select Create Bucket and enter a memorable name, for this example "vmdk-ipo".
c.Select the Region that matches that hosting the instances to be upgraded and click Create.
2.Upload the VMDK file to the bucket:
a.Click Upload and select the VMDK file. Wait until the upload of the file to the bucket has completed.
3.From the AWS command line, create a snapshot from the VMDK file using the following command:
aws ec2 import-snapshot --description "INSTALLER" --disk-container "Format=VMDK,UserBucket={S3Bucket=vmdk-ipo,S3Key=ABE-upgradedisk.vmdk}"
4.Note the ImportTaskID shown in the output. This is the task ID needed for the next operation. For example:
{
"SnapshotTaskDetail": {
"Status": "active",
"Description": "INSTALLER",
"DiskImageSize": 0.0,
"UserBucket": {
"S3Bucket": "demogermany",
"S3Key": "ABE-11.1.100-59-upgradedisk.vmdk"
},
"Progress": "0",
"StatusMessage": "pending"
},
"Description": "INSTALLER",
"ImportTaskId": "import-snap-0c938d492b68484da"
}
5.Check the status of snapshot using the following command. Replace the <snap-id> with the task ID from the previous step.
aws ec2 describe-import-snapshot-tasks --import-task-ids <snap-id>
6.Do not proceed until the status shown in the command output is listed as "Completed". For example:
{
"ImportSnapshotTasks": [
{
"SnapshotTaskDetail": {
"Status": "completed",
"Description": "INSTALLER",
…
7.Once the snapshot import has completed, create a volume based on the snapshot:
a.Select Elastic Block Storage | Snapshots.
b.Select the snapshot and select Actions | Create Volume.
c.For Volume Type, select General Purpose SSD (gp2).
d.For Size (GiB), enter 200GB.
e.For Availability Zone, select the same zone as being used to host the instances that are being upgraded.
8.You can now proceed with upgrading the virtual machine using the upgrade volume. See Upgrading an AWS Instance.