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For a list of all objectives see the VCP5 page.

Objective 5.6 – Patch and Update ESXi and Virtual Machines

See also: Objective 5.6 – Patch and Update ESXi and Virtual Machines.

Identify patching requirements for ESXi hosts and virtual machine hardware/tools (similar as vSphere 4.x)

Each piece of software need to be patched for different reasons… but the most important are usually the security reasons.

For ESXi a patch need that the host is put in maintenance mode and require a host reboot after the patch operation. All those operations can be orchestrated by VUM.

For VMware Tools a new version is usually related to a new major release or also of some update (in most cases related to vmkernel update). On most guest OS (like Windows) a VMware Tools patch need a VM reboot. All those operations can be orchestrated by VUM.

For VM virtual hardware this upgrade is related to new major relases (for example with vSphere 5 the new virtual hardware is v8 ) e richiede di fatto due riavvi della VM. It require first the VMware Tools upgrade, and usually two VM downtime. All those operations can be orchestrated by VUM.

Create/Edit/Remove a Host Profile from an ESXi host (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Host Profiles Guide (page 8). Usually you can start from a base ESXi and use it as a template.

Attach/Apply a Host Profile to an ESXi host or cluster (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Host Profiles Guide (page 12).

Perform compliance scanning and remediation of an ESXi host using Host Profiles (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the vSphere Host Profiles Guide (page 16).

Install and Configure vCenter Update Manager (similar as vSphere 4.x)

See the Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager guide (page 31). Note that you can install or upgrade the Update Manager server on 64-bit operating systems. Even though Update Manager runs on 64-bit operating systems, it is a 32-bit application and requires a 32-bit ODBC DSN.

Configure patch download options (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager guide (page 66).

Create/Edit/Delete an Update Manager baseline (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager guide (page 81).

Attach an Update Manager baseline to an ESXi host or cluster (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager guide (page 95).

Scan and remediate ESXi hosts and virtual machine hardware/tools using Update Manager (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager guide (page 99 and 115). Note that Update Manager 5.0 does not support virtual machine guest patch operations.

Stage ESXi host updates (same as vSphere 4.x)

See the Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager guide (page 119).

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Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.