update manager best practices

[lowemic1]

So we're running ESX 3.5 int he data center but I'm testing ESX 4. In the past to install and run updates I always just installed the update manager plugin on my client machine and ran updates throught he VI client. Now in ESX 4 the only way I could get the update manager to work was to run the update manager installer off of the Virtual Center Server disc.....which installed SQL express and seemed much more involved than with ESX 3.5 and just that small plugin install. Whats best practice in ESX 4 for setting up update manager? Should I be installing it on the Virtual Center Server? Also should I be installing the plugin on the Virtual Center server as well and remoting into that server to run updates?

[VMmatty]

Update Manager should work the same in 4.0 as it did in 3.5. You install the application on the vCenter server, and then install the plug-in on your client workstation to manage the updates. You shouldn't need to install the actual Update Manager application (with the SQL Express backend) on anything but the Update Manager server, which is usually the vCenter server.

Are you getting an error when trying to download/enable the new Update Manager plug-in on the vSphere client? Keep in mind that there are two different clients for managing ESX 3.x and ESX 4.x, along with different Update Manager plug-ins for each one.