remove expired patches from update manager repository

[osc]

hi,

over the time there are some old expired patches in the update manager repository. is there a function to automatically remove old (expired) files from the repository and meta database?

thank you for response.

[hollandwl]

I too would like an answer to this question. If not automated, then a manual process would be fine.

We are using the Update Manager Download Service process to download from a machine that is connected to the Internet, exporting from there, and then importing into our non-internet connected system. It would be VERY beneficial to NOT download patches that do not pertain to our systems. We do not have any ESX 3.0, we are entirely ESX 3.5. We do not have any versions of Windows prior to Windows XP and Windows 2003.

It would also be beneficial if the Linux patches included Ubuntu and not just RedHat.

At any rate, my non-internet connected system now contains a bunch of ESX 3.0 and RedHat updates that I do not need. I didn't bother trying to import the Windows patches as there are just too many of them and take up too much space.

[denizmis1]

Hi There,

I would also like to clean up the update manager repository.

Have you managed to find a way to do this yet?

(We are running vphere and vcenter update manager, version 4 I guess)

Kind Regards

Deniz

[GFFG]

I to would like to know.

Once one upgrades to esx 4.0, I can't see why one couldn't find a way to delete the old 3.5 files?

any ideas?

[danm66]

Ok, I know we all like to beat up on Update Manager, but keep in mind that Update Manager is a

relatively new utility and is maturing in features with every release,

but it's original purpose was to fill a gap in patching hosts and VM's

that was badly needed. With that said...

Update Manager, by

default since 2.5 update 2 iirc, downloads all patches for all host

versions that are in the vcenter inventory. So, if you have 3.5 and no

4.0 hosts, it should only download patches for 3.5 and ignore

any 4.0 patches when downloading updates. Once you have upgraded all

of your hosts to 4.0 and have no 3.0.3 or 3.5 hosts in your inventory,

you should be safe to manually remove the 3.5 patches from your hard

drive. There is no way to do it through the GUI and if you want to not

see the patches in the Patch Inventory window, you will have to wipe

the VUM database and recreate your baselines. Default patchstore

location is c:\documents and settings\all users\application

data\vmware\update manager\da ta\hostupdate\... for win2003 and

c:\programdata\vmware\update manager\data\hostupdate for win2008.

delete only the folders under 3.5.0 or 3.0.3 directory.

The

download patches operation just goes out to the vmware website and gets

all of the patches for whatever version is in the inventory. There's

no checking for obsoleted or superceded patches... so it's all or

nothing.

The only thing close to smart patch depository

management is with vSphere in that it only downloads the actual ESX4 host

patch files when you do a stage or remediation. 3.5 still get downloaded whether you need them all or not, if you have 3.5 hosts. With VM patching, in

all versions, it only downloads the application/OS patches that are

required for a remediation operation; otherwise, it just downloads the

metadata file.

vmware won't download or install patches for RedHat as they have their own paid subscription service (Up2date).

[GFFG]

Thanks for the great reply!

Regards, Kyle

[wbednarzyk]

BUMP especially for M$ patches that are superceded by roll-ups. I wouldn't mind understanding how to remove this info from the metadata and tell VUM to never consider those executables...