Tag: Patching

Jul 08 2011

Patching VMware ESXi Installable

ESXi 4.1 brought changes to the patching process. Previously, the Host Update utility — an application included with the vSphere Client — could patch ESXi 4.0 hosts. VMware removed Host Update from ESXi 4.1, presumably to encourage users to upgrade to paid versions that are managed and patched with vCenter Server’s Update Manager. As a result, the only method left to patch the free version of ESXi is with the vihostupdate command-line utility, which is included in the vSphere Command-Line Interface (CLI).

Before using this method, it’s important to understand how the patches work and where to find them.

Read the full article at searchvmware.com…

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May 07 2009

Patching Links

Patch Management for ESX Server 3.0
Patch Management for ESX Server 3.5
Autopatching ESX host
Patching and updating Vmware ESX Server 3 (VMworld 2006)
Auto-patch Script
VMTS Patch Manager
Determining Detailed Build Number Information for VMware ESX Server 3.5 and ESX Server 3.0.x Hosts
How to update your ESX Server using esxupdate
The Art of Patching your Virtual Infrastructure (Part 1)
Best Practices for Patching VMware ESX/ESXi
Managing Patches and Updates for Hosts and VMs (VMworld 2007)
VMware ESX Server 3 Patch Management (VMworld 2007)
Strategies for ESX Server Update Management (VMworld 2007)

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Feb 11 2009

Top 10 things you must read about Patching and Monitoring ESX & ESXi hosts

  1. Best Practices for Patching VMware ESX/ESXi – This best practices document from VMware gives a brief explanation of patching and the different mechanisms for applying patches for the VMware ESX 3.5 product line. It focuses on the ESX patching model, patch packaging, and deliverables- key topics you need to understand to maintain your ESX systems.
  2. Performance Monitoring and Capacity Planning – A VMworld 2006 presentation that covers the different aspects of performance monitoring in detail and what statistics that you should be aware of.
  3. Update Manager Administration Guide – Documentation from VMware that provides information on how to configure Update Manager including how to install the product and configure it for use in your environment.
  4. Patch Management for ESX Server 3.5 -Documentation from VMware that provides background information on processing patches for ESX Server 3.0.3 and ESX Server 3.5 hosts and describes how to use the esxupdate utility to apply software updates and to track software installed on ESX Server 3.0.3 and ESX Server 3.5 hosts.
  5. Interpreting esxtop Statistics – A great document that describes how to use the esxtop utility and how to interpret the various resource statistics that it reports.
  6. Getting VMware Hardware Alerts into HP/Msft Ops Manager – A VMworld 2007 session (free registration required) that describes the options available to ensure these physical server hardware-based alerts are communicated into MOM. This session also discusses options specific to Dell, HP and IBM hardware.
  7. Use SNMP with VMware ESX to monitor server statistics – A tip written that covers how to setup and configure SNMP to monitor ESX & ESXi hosts so you can send alerts and traps to applications that have SNMP receivers.
  8. VMware Update Manager Performance and Best Practices – A white paper from VMware on the Update Manager patching application that covers configuration and deployment tips, resource consumption, guest operating system tuning and network latencies.
  9. The Art of Patching your Virtual Infrastructure – An article that describes patching techniques to use with ESX and how to use the new Update Manager application to patch your hosts.
  10. VMware ESX Server 3 Patch Management -A VMworld 2007 session (free registration required) that covers the esxupdate utility, patch information, using patch repositories, scripting patch installation and troubleshooting and cleanup.
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