VSphere Update Manager

[TSher]

Hi, I have installed ESX v4 Update 1 and VCenter 4 Update 1. I want to install the update manager, can I put this on to the same server as VCenter or does it have to be on a seperate PC / Server? I am just going through the documentation, but how do you control the update manager? Is it via a web browser?

Thanks for any guidance.

[Linjo]

Yes, Update Manager can be installed on the vCenter Server.

Once it installed you need to go to the plugins section of the VI Client and download/enable the VUM Plugin.

One thing to keep in mind is that VUM takes a lot of diskspace, so install it on a separate disk with plenty of space is recommended.

Best regards,

Linjo

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[golddiggie · Accepted solution]

Once installed on the vCenter Server (or it's own server and configured to connect to the vCenter Server) you'll need to install the plugin on your instance of the vSphere Client. Once you do that, it will be another tab available to you (when selecting different inventory items, or from the home tab).

I would always follow best practices when setting up servers (vCenter included). That's having a 20GB C drive for Windows ONLY, and then additional drives for software installs. Such as a 20GB D drive for vCenter, or whatever size you decide. Planning ahead is rather important when setting up servers. You don't want to toss everything onto a 20GB (or even 40GB) C drive only to have it fill up in x months and then you cannot connect to it. Depending on how many host servers, and VM's, you'll be using Update Manager with, I would add another 40GB to the install location. Or create a dedicated drive (an E drive) to have Update Manager use to store the updates it pulls down. Adjust the drive sizing to meet your environment, but the above is a good baseline.

Network Administrator

VMware VCP4

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[TSher]

Thanks for the help. I will be trying this over the weekend.

[eclipse4ever]

Hi Golddiggie

We have a lot of problems with our VMware update manager after decentralizing it from our vCenter server installation.

We decided to remove the update manager from the vSphere vCenter before upgrading it to U2 to free some resources on the vCenter server.

I then created a new VM, installed the update manager and connected to the vCenter, no errors so far.

But the problem I have now is that I don't get the download / install plugin option within the vCenter Client as I did before.

I can see that the update manager download patches for the vCenter server every night, even though the plugin is not available to download / install.

I have verified that the FW doesn't block any communications between the update manager and the vCenter, the two servers have full access to each other.

Do you have any idea where to start looking / reconfigure the setup?

Is it because there is something on the vCenter server from the old update manager setup making errors / problems?

Best regards

Tim