VMware SD-WAN Software Upgrade FAQs

VMware SASE Orchestrator Upgrades

Q: What is the impact of a VMware SASE Orchestrator upgrade?
A: Before the scheduled upgrade, a data transfer is performed on the Orchestrator to prepare for the cutover.  On the control plane, there will be intermittent  performance degradation during this time.  Customer traffic is not affected.

During the upgrade:

• Users will experience a brief loss of access to the Orchestrator.
• Configuration updates to VMware SD-WAN Edges will be disabled.
• Edge and Gateway services are not impacted.

Q: What happens if there are issues with the upgrade?
A: In the event there are issues with the Orchestrator upgrade and Engineering is unable to restore service on the new version, they can restore the Orchestrator from a backup taken prior to the upgrade.

Q: Why is my Orchestrator upgraded but not my Gateway?
A: Some software releases are Orchestrator-only and do not include software updates for the Gateways or Edges. When an Orchestrator-only release is made available, our Cloud Operations team upgrades only the Orchestrators, and the Gateways remain on their own latest version of software.

For example: Release 5.3.x is the 1st Orchestrator-only release. You will notice that Orchestrators may carry the 5.3.x version of software, while the Gateways remain on a 5.2.x software version.

Q: What about UI Builds? How are those different from a standard Orchestrator updated build?
Starting from Orchestrator Release 5.2.0.4, VMware is also releasing UI Builds. A UI Build only includes fixes for UI issues, which are problems that affect how you use the Orchestrator's user interface. A UI Build does not include any fixes for management issues that impact the underlying functionality of the Orchestrator as a standard Orchestrator build would.

Q: Does a UI Build's format affect how the Orchestrator is upgraded for them?
Because UI Builds only resolve UI issues, updating an Orchestrator to a UI Build is simple with none of the disruptions of a standard Orchestrator build upgrade. In other words, updating an Orchestrator with a UI Build does not cause a loss of access to the Orchestrator and does not disrupt configuration updates to SD-WAN Edges. As a result, when a UI Build is released, all Shared and Private Orchestrators are upgraded quickly and unobtrusively by the VMware Cloud Operations team.
 

VMware SD-WAN Gateway Upgrades

Q: What is the impact of a Gateway upgrade?
A: During the upgrade

• Most customers will not observe any impact.
• The Gateway will be down for no longer than 3 minutes during the cutover to the new version.
• Non SD-WAN Destination (NSD) via Gateway tunnels will go down during the upgrade (for the duration of the cutover). If a redundant NSD is available, traffic will be re-routed via the redundant Gateway.

VMware SD-WAN Edge Upgrades

Q: How do I upgrade my Edges?
A: Customers and Partners can perform self-service Edge upgrades.

• Beginning with Release 4.0.0, Operators and Managed Service Providers (i.e. Partners) can now delegate the capability to upgrade Edges to Customer Enterprise Superusers, facilitating self-service of the software lifecycle of Edges. 
  • A Customer desiring Edge upgrade self-service whose support entitlement is with VMware directly, should contact VMware Support to enable this feature. 
  • A Customer desiring Edge upgrade self-service whose support entitlement with with a Partner/MSP should contact their partner to enable this feature.
• Customers whose support entitlement is with a Partner should contact their Partner to schedule Edge upgrades.
• Any upgrade should be conducted by Customers or Partners. Procedure to execute an upgrade is described here.
• VMWare SD-WAN Support can assist in case any issues are encountered with an Edge upgrade.

Q: Do I have to upgrade all of my Edges at once?
A: Edges can be upgraded individually.
Note: Please refer to the respective Release Notes to see if Hubs should be upgraded before Branch Edges for "Branch-to-Hub".

Release Notes

Q: Where can I find Release Notes?
A: Release Notes are available on docs.vmware.com.  

Additionally, the “What’s New in Version x.y.z ?” section of the VMware SD-WAN documentation for a particular release help highlight changes in our online documentation.  This documentation is also found at docs.vmware.com.