Advice on recent patch releases for vSphere ESXi v5.1

[PaulB7]

I have a number of ESXi v5.1 hosts that I would like to patch with the latest updates via Update Manager. Current build version is 1065491 (Update 1). I'm fine using Update Manager but wanted to get advice on which are the minimum number of updates to apply to get the latest important/critical patches applied.

I believe the following 2 updates are all I need to apply to achieve this but be grateful if someone could confirm:-

1. Apply ESXi510-201404001 (build = 1743533 / date = 04/29/2014) "critical" update. I am assuming this will include any bugfixes present within update-from-esxi5.1-5.1_update02 (build = 1483097 / date = 01/16/2014). Correct?

2. Once the patch in Item 1 is applied, apply latest "Important" ESXi510-201406001 (build = 1900470 / date = 06/17/2014).

Is the above approach correct and could the two patches be applied together or do they need to be applied in the above order?

Any advice very much appreciated. Thanks

[vfk]

If you are using update manager, there is a default baseline which includes all the latest patches, else you can create a new baseline with just update 2.  All the patches metadata in update manager repository, you don't need to download individual patches.   Are you looking to apply specific patch or do you just need to apply all the latest patches that apply to your system?

[PaulB7]

Hi

Sorry, I am aware that I can download all patches and then create a baseline to apply them (or a selection) but we would rather just download the latest patch level every quarter (primarily to avoid a huge list within Update Manager).

This is not perhaps the method that most people use but we were advised to adopt this method by a number of VMware Support Engineers as well as training staff we have met.

[vfk]

I have not heard of that, the updates are not that huge and I don't expect huge amount of changes after the initial seeding.  Doing things manually defeats the purpose of having update manager, and to me, it seems a little counter-productive to suggest doing this manually in age of automation. Also, most companies, Dell, HP and so on now have online depot that connect integrate into update manager to download the metadata and patches.  If there is such advice, there would have a supporting documentation or KB, I have yet to come across anyone offering similar advice either on blogs or community forums, I maybe wrong. we're only human.

[PaulB7]

Hi VFK

Thanks for your replies.

Your stance sounds logical to me, I was simply relaying advice I had been given from more than one reputable source. I'll adopt your approach.

Thanks again.