Lifecycle management of virtual infrastructure management server appliance

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions to be executed in a computer system to carry out a method of upgrading a virtual infrastructure management (VIM) server appliance, said method comprising:

• creating by a first VIM server appliance, which is the VIM server appliance to be upgraded, a snapshot of logical volumes mapped to physical volumes that store configuration and database files of VIM services provided by the first VIM server appliance;
• after the snapshot is created, expanding by the first VIM server appliance, the configuration and database files to be compatible with a second VIM server appliance;
• instructing the second VIM server appliance to replicate the logical volumes of the first VIM server appliance, which have been modified as a result of expanding the configuration and database files;
• after replication, performing a switchover of VIM services that are provided, from the first VIM server appliance to the second VIM server appliance so that the VIM services are provided by the second VIM server appliance after the switchover;
• and
• upon failure of any of the steps of expanding, replicating, and performing the switchover, aborting the upgrade, and reverting to a version of the configuration and database files that was preserved by creating the snapshot.

A computer system including a cluster of hosts that are programmed to carry out a method of upgrading a virtual infrastructure management (VIM) server appliance, said method comprising:

• creating by a first VIM server appliance, which is the VIM server appliance to be upgraded, a snapshot of logical volumes mapped to physical volumes that store configuration and database files of VIM services provided by the first VIM server appliance;
• after the snapshot is created, expanding by the first VIM server appliance, the configuration and database files to be compatible with a second VIM server appliance;
• replicating the logical volumes of the first VIM server appliance, which have been modified as a result of expanding the configuration and database files, in the second VIM server appliance;
• after replication, performing a switchover of VIM services that are provided, from the first VIM server appliance to the second VIM server appliance so that the VIM services are provided by the second VIM server appliance after the switchover;
• and
• upon failure of any of the steps of expanding, replicating, and performing the switchover, aborting the upgrade, and reverting to a version of the configuration and database files that was preserved by creating the snapshot.