First Step in Upgrading vSphere 5.1 to vSphere 5.5 is to upgrade the vCenter Single Sign-on. This post will helps you understand the step by step upgrade procedure of vCenter Single Sign-on 5.5. vSphere 5.5 SSO architecture has been restrctured from the scratch as compared to previous version of SSO.The new  SSO 5.5 architecture is based on a multi-master model where each instance is automatically kept up to date with it peers via builtin replication. You can create sites to provide logical groupings of registered resources that maybe geographical or organizational separate as well as support for multiple tenants.

Below are the key improvements and changes made with the vCenter Single Sign-on 5.5 as compared to previous versions.

1. Dependency on the external Database has been removed

2. Single Sign-on is now supports multi-master Model and it will be aware about sites. You will have ability to define sites. Sites typically your physicla dat center locations.

3. Replication between SSO is built-in and automatic

4. No More Admin@System-Domain.  SSO administrator account is chnaged to Administrator@vSphere.local  in SSO 5.5. Password for Administrator@vSphere.local  can be defined during the Install or Upgrade of SSO.

Procedure to upgrade vCenter Single Sign-on 5.1 to Single Sign-on 5.1

Attach the vCenter installer CD and start the Autorun.exe. Under Custom Install, Select vCenter Single Sign-on and click on Install

You will get the warning  about SSL certificate. My SSL certificate is not expired. Let’s continue the upgrade by click on Ok.

Installer Detects my earlier version of vCenter Single Sign-on is already installed on this system. Which is version 5.1 . It will be upgrade to vCenter Single Sign-on 5.5.0. Click on Next

Read the license agreement and Select the Check box “I accept the terms in the License Agreement” .Click on Next

Installer will detects the System Information. Review the information and click on Next

Type the New password for the SSO administrator account. Specify the password the User administrator@vsphere.local . vsphere.local is a new domain that is created by vCenter Single Sign-on.You can use the account adminstrator@vsphere.local to log in to vCenter Single Sign-on and vCenter server after the installation.

In the vCenter Single Sign-on Configure Site Page, Enter the SSO Site name. I have left  the default site name “Default-First-Site” since it is my lab environment. Click on Next.

Review the vCenter  Single Sign-on installation location. If you want to change the default location, Click on Change and select the destination location. Click on Next

Review the vCenter Single Sign-on information and Install options. Click on Install.

It will take few minutes to complete the SSO upgrade. Once it is completed, Click on Finish.

Thats it. We are done and vCenter Single Sign-on is upgrade to SSO 5.5. Lets perform the remaining steps in our upcoming posts. I hope this is informative for you. Thanks for Reading !!!….

vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Series

vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Part 1 -Understanding vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Methods

vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Part 2 -Understanding the Hardware and software requirements for vSphere 5.5

vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Part 3 -Download VMware vSphere 5.5

vSphere5.5 Upgrade Part 4 – Taking Backup of  existing vCenter server Databaseand Certificates

vSphere5.5 Upgrade Part 5 – Upgrading vCenter Single Sign-on

vSphere5.5 Upgrade Part 6 – Upgrading vSphere Web Client

vSphere5.5 Upgrade Part 7 – Configuring vCenter Single Sign-on

vSphere5.5 Upgrade Part 8 – Upgrading vCenter Inventory Service

vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Part 9 – Upgrading vCenter Server

vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Part 10 – Upgrading vCenter Update Manager

vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Part 11 – Upgrade ESXi hosts using Update Manager

vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Part 12- Upgrade VMware Tools on Virtual Machines

vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Part 13- Upgrade VM Hardware Version for Virtual Machines

vSphere 5.5 Upgrade Part 14 – Different Methods to access vSphere Environment