Itzikr's Blog

We have just released a minor update to the new(ish) HTML5 based vCenter plugin, if you are new to this, I highly suggest you first read this post I wrote here https://volumes.blog/2018/12/14/vsi-virtual-storage-integrator-8-0-is-here/

This section provides a list of features supported in this release.
VSI 8.1 release supports the following features:

VMAX All Flash/PowerMax support:
Storage System and Storage Group Administration
Provisioning VMFS Datastores
Viewing VMFS DatastoresRDM creation on VMAX All Flash/PowerMax
View VM disk information for VMAX All Flash/PowerMax
VMAX All Flash/PowerMax Host Best Practices

XtremIO support:
Storage System Administration
Provisioning VMFS Datastores
Viewing VMFS Datastore Details
Increase VMFS Datastore capacity
RDM creation on XtremIO
View VM disk information for XtremIO
XtremIO Host Best Practices

Unity support:
Storage System and Storage Pool Administration
Provisioning VMFS Datastores
Viewing VMFS Datastores
Provisioning NFS Datastores
Viewing NFS Datastores
Increase NFS and VMFS Datastore capacity
RDM creation on Unity
View VM disk information for Unity
NAS Server Administration
Unity Host Best Practices
Users/User Group Administration

To download the new client, click the screenshot below

And you can download the documentation, clicking this url https://support.emc.com/docu94130_VSI_for_VMware_vSphere_Client_8.1_Product_Guide.pdf?language=en_US&source=Coveo

One more thing..

We are starting to containerize some of our data services, this statement is pretty vague deliberately but in the context of the VSI plugin, lets assume you are already running VSI 8.0 and want to do an upgrade to VSI 8.1, you have two options:

Upgrade VSI Plug-in using DockerHub
Use the procedure in this topic to upgrade the VSI plug-in using DockerHub.
Before you begin
You must log out of the vCenter before upgrading the plug-in.
Procedure
1. Login to the IAPI VM through SSH.
2. Stop the current IAPI container. Use the following command: docker stop iapi
3. Pull the latest IAPI/VSI image from DockerHub: docker pull dellemc/vsi
4. You can also perform the following optional steps:
a. Backup the previous IAPI container. Use the following commands:
a. docker rename iapi iapi-before-upgrade

b. docker update –restart=no iapi-before-upgrade
b. Backup the IAPI database. Use the following command:
docker cp vsidb:/data/appendonly.aof <OUTPUT_DIRECTORY>
c. Backup the existing VSI plug-in. Use the following command:
cp /opt/files/vsi-plugin.zip <OUTPUT_DIRECTORY>
d. Backup existing SSL certificates. Use the following command:
docker cp iapi:/etc/ssl/certs/java/cacerts
<OUTPUT_DIRECTORY>
e. Any files backed up in the previous steps can be restored after the container
upgrade if needed by copying the files to the new container. For example,
docker cp <OUTPUT_DIRECTORY>
5. Upgrade the VSI plug-in.
l To register the VSI plug-in without SSL verification, use the following
command:
python3 /opt/scripts/register_extension.py -ignoressl true
l To see additional options for using SSL certificate verification during
registration, use the following command:
python3 register_extension.py -h
Note
After upgrade, the SSL is not enabled by default. To enable SSL, see Change Settings in application.conf of the IAPI container.
6. Refresh the VSI plug-in:
l If you have a current vCenter already open, logout and log back in to refresh
the plug-in.
Or
l If you do not have a vCenter open, log in to the vSphere Client, log out, and
log back in to refresh the plug-in.
Upgrade VSI using Package
Use the procedure in this topic to upgrade VSI 8.0 to VSI 8.1 version.
Before you begin
You must log out of the vCenter before upgrading the plug-in.

Procedure
1. Download the VSI 8.1 upgrade.tar package from Dell EMC Support Site or DockerHub.
2. Copy the upgrade package to /tmp folder of the IAPI server.
To copy the upgrade file, use the following command:
scp iapi-vsi-upgrade.tar root@<IAPI server>:/tmp
Note
If SSH is enabled, the default password is root.
3. Change the directory to /tmp folder.
4. Extract the upgrade package. Use the following command:
tar -xf/tmp/<iapi-vsi-upgrade.tar>
Note
The upgrade package contains the .tar file, the upgrade script, and the docker
image.
5. Run the upgrade script. Use the following command:
./upgrade_iapi.sh –upgrade <iapi-vsi-upgrade.tar.gz>
The upgrade script backs up and renames the VSI 8.0 docker image, lay down
the new docker image. The script also restores the necessary files to a backup
folder. An example for the folder name, <iapi-beforeupgrade-20190412194829>

Note
You can also restore the application.conf and SSL certificates after the
completion of upgrade. Use the restore command with the .tar file that resides
in the backup folder:
./upgrade_iapi.sh –restore ./<20190412194829.tar>
6. To upgrade the VSI plug-in, use the following command:
python3 /opt/scripts/register_extension.py -ignoressl true
Note
After upgrade, the SSL is not enabled by default. To enable SSL, see Change
settings in application.conf of the IAPI container.