As defined in the VMware Cloud Foundation Administration Guide and vSphere Lifecycle Manager official documentation, the correct way to upgrade VMware Tools at scale across multiple clusters and without initiating a VM reboot is as follows:
B. Use vSphere Lifecycle Manager in the VI workload domain vCenter to initiate the upgrade.The official guidance is to use vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) for managing VMware Tools versions across VMs. This tool allows you to select multiple clusters or the entire workload domain and execute VMware Tools upgrades centrally.
D. Select the Upgrade to Match Host option.The "Upgrade to Match Host" setting in vSphere Lifecycle Manager is specifically designed to align the VMware Tools version in the guest with the version included with the ESXi host, and can be applied without a forced VM reboot. The upgrade will complete the next time VMware Tools starts or during the next guest OS reboot or shutdown initiated by the user or other processes.
F. Select the Set Auto Update option and set its value to On.The "Auto Update" option for VMware Tools, when set to On, allows VMware Tools to automatically update to the latest version whenever the VM is powered on or rebooted, without requiring the administrator to intervene or force a downtime event.
Why Not the Other Options?
A. Selecting the VI workload domain alone does not guarantee a compliant upgrade process; the upgrade must be triggered via Lifecycle Manager with the proper options set.
C. Selecting a single cluster would not meet the requirement for VMs spread across multiple clusters.
E. SDDC Manager does not manage or trigger VMware Tools upgrades at the VM level.
Summary:
To upgrade VMware Tools on all relevant VMs in a VCF workload domain, and to do so without forced reboots, the administrator should:
Use vSphere Lifecycle Manager in the VI workload domain vCenter (B),
Select the Upgrade to Match Host option (D),
And enable Auto Update for VMware Tools (F).This method is fully supported by official VMware best practices and documentation.
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