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JOURNAL OF Intelligent Infrastructure Insights for the Modern Datacenter Era · by Dr Pranay Jha Explore the Guides

VCF 9.1 Upgrade: The Complete Guide (VCF 9.1 Upgrade Series)

A complete, sequential runbook for upgrading an existing VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.x fleet to VCF 9.1: planning, prerequisites, prechecks, the correct sequence, and every component in order. New parts publish regularly. Start at Part 1, or jump to the part you need.

Complete · all 14 parts published
Phase 1 · Plan
  1. 01What Is New in VCF 9.1 and the Case for Upgrading
  2. 02Supported Upgrade Paths to 9.1: From 9.0.x, Skip-Level and vSphere Foundation
  3. 03Prerequisites and the Planning and Preparation Workbook
  4. 04The VCF 9.1 Upgrade Planning Tool
Phase 2 · Prepare
  1. 05Prechecks and Readiness, and Fixing What They Flag
  2. 06Backups and a Rollback Plan Before You Touch Anything
  3. 07The Upgrade Sequence End to End, and Why the Order Matters
Phase 3 · Execute
  1. 08Upgrade VCF Operations First: PAK File and Software Update
  2. 09Deploy VCF Management Services and the Software Depot
  3. 10The VCF License Appliance and Dependency Components
  4. 11Upgrade SDDC Manager and the Management Domain
  5. 12Upgrade Workload Domains: NSX, vCenter and ESX
Phase 4 · Land It
  1. 13Post-Upgrade Validation and Health Checks
  2. 14Troubleshooting a Stalled Upgrade and Rolling Back

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AI & Cloud-Native Platform

Architecture & Design

About the Author

Dr Pranay Jha

Dr. Pranay Jha is a Cloud and AI Consultant with 18+ years of experience in hybrid cloud, virtualization, and enterprise infrastructure transformation. He specializes in VMware technologies, multi-cloud strategy, and Generative AI solutions. He holds a PhD in Computer Applications with research focused on Cloud and AI, has published multiple research papers, and has been a VMware vExpert since 2016 and a VMUG Community Leader.