Updating HP ESXi Hosts with VUM

As you may well know, when installing VMware ESXi on an HP server, it is best practice to get a specific image of the hypervisor with the vendor’s drivers included.  This will prevent issues such as having missing network cards once you’ve installed ESXi.  But what about keeping the server up to date?

Many companies update their servers on a monthly basis for compliance reasons or just best practices.  It has been my experience that VMware patches are usually deployed at the same time.  VMware Update Manager (VUM) can push updates to the ESXi hosts with the latest patches from VMware, but did you know that you can also use it to patch HP Drivers and CIM providers?

Open the VMware Update Manager plugin and go to the download settings.  Choose “Add Download Source…”

Add the Source URL http://vibsdepot.hp.com/index.xml and give it a description.

When you’re done, you’ll see an additional download source added.  You can then choose to download the updates immediately by hitting the download now button, or simply wait for the next scheduled download.

Obtaining the Updates is done.  Now, if you want to assign these updates to ESXi hosts, you’ll need to create a new baseline.

We would choose a dynamic baseline so that we can patch hosts on a monthly basis with any new patches.

Choose the Hewlett-Packard Company and whatever VMware product

Choose any patches to exclude from the baseline.

Add any additional patches.

Now once you’ve created the baseline, you’ll need to attach the baseline to a host or cluster.

In case you’re wondering, yes you can use these vibs with a custom VMware Image.  Chris Wahl has recently posted about doing just that.

http://wahlnetwork.com/2012/10/22/utilizing-vsphere-esxi-image-builder-with-partner-software-depots/