Avi Load Balancer + License Hub upgrade

A companion to the Full VCF upgrade sequence, expanding on its Conditional phases table’s Avi + License Hub row: two separate components that travel together because License Hub licenses Avi.

Applies whenever Avi Load Balancer (NSX Advanced Load Balancer) is in use. Position: after Disaster Recovery Products, before SDDC Manager – ahead of the core NSX / vCenter / host tier.

Avi Load Balancer

Upgrade the Avi Controller cluster ahead of the core NSX / vCenter / host tier; Service Engines follow. Follow the dedicated Upgrade Avi Load Balancer to VCF 9.1 procedure.

Hard blocker: Avi 32.1.1 is the minimum for VCF 9.1. If NSX and vCenter reach 9.1 while Avi is still below 32.1.1, their own upgrades are blocked. Upgrade Avi first, not as an afterthought.

License Hub

License Hub licenses vDefend and Avi subscription license files (replacing the 25-character keys). It is needed only when vDefend or Avi is in scope – never on the strength of the Security Services Platform alone.

License Hub is not the License Server. The License Server is deployed automatically at bring-up / Phase 3 and licenses the VCF fleet. License Hub is a separate Day-N appliance for vDefend / Avi. Both exist in a fleet that runs Avi.

License Hub 2.0 (2026) ships as a single standalone OVA (~11 GB), listed under the Avi Load Balancer download page → Primary Downloads. It no longer uses the Security Services Platform Installer / .tar flow. There is no 5.1.2 → 2.0 upgrade path – a fresh 2.0 deployment.
License Hub 5.1.2 (older, if that is what is installed): three VMs (installer / controller / worker), roughly 9 IPs in two pools (installer 1, nodes 4, services 4) whose node and service pools cannot be changed after deployment, two FQDNs. Disconnected (air-gapped) mode requires a manual license-file import every six months, indefinitely; connected mode polls the Avi Cloud Console.
Confirm which version applies before re-using any 5.1.2 IP-pool / FQDN guidance – the 2.0 single-OVA deploy prompts for different inputs.

Sources

Upgrade Avi Load Balancer to VCF 9.1