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? ...

You never know when you’ll need to script something and PowerCLI gives you the tools to do it. I decided to see if I could script some of the VMware Update Manager (VUM) tasks while I was reviewing section 5.2 of the VCAP5-DCA Beta Blueprint and found that the procedures were quite easy. My next thought was, “Why would I want to script this when I can use the GUI, and on top of that I can schedule scans and remediation already?” My answer was, “You never know.” Who knows when you’ll need to use the PowerCLI to accomplish a task. Maybe, you’re scripting something so someone else can run it without really knowing how to perform the task, or you’re trying to get a report, or who knows. ...

Unlike many operating systems, VMware ESXi gives you a nice tool to upgrade their hypervisor to the latest version. VMware Update Manager gives you the ability to grab the latest build and apply it to your existing ESXi hosts. I should mention that VMware Update Manager is not the only solution to upgrade your ESXi hosts. Hosts can also be upgraded manually by booting the host to the latest build and performing an upgrade, or by utilizing the new autodeploy features in vSphere 5. VMware Update Manager is a simple tool that can automate the installs on several hosts in sequence and is available with all editions of vSphere 5. ...