VM /ETC

Posts Tagged ‘update manager’

I haven’t always covered all the vCenter, VirtualCenter, and ESX/ESXi updates in the past. Several updates have been released since the last time I did. VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 6’s announcement caught my attention because of a fix to uploading files with the datastore browser. This issue has been reported in one of the longest comment threads here at VM /ETC. More on that later in this post, but I received the following email notification that VMware VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 6 was released:

VMware VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 6 is Generally Available

We are pleased to inform you that VMware VirtualCenter Server 2.5 Update 6 (English and localized) is generally available as of late night January 29, 2010.

VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 6 provides the following improvements:

• Guest Operating System Customization Improvements
• Support for Firefox 3.x Browsers with VirtualCenter Web Access
• Bug and security fixes

For details regarding the new fixes and improvements, please refer to the release notes.

VirtualCenter Server 2.5 Update 6 is available for download.

For details regarding compatibility, please view vSphere Compatibility Matrixes.

Thanks,
VMware Infrastructure Product Management Team

Some of the highlights for me when reading the Release Notes are:

Read the rest of this entry »

Every once in a while I end up installing a standalone instance of SQL 2005 Express. It could be for the back end database of a virtualized vCenter or a separated instance of VMware Update Manager (VUM). In the past I have wasted time waiting to download the .NET Framework, SQL 2005 Express, and the SQL Native Client from the web, but I recently explored the vCenter 4 install DVD and discovered those components are all already there on the media! I knew all of these were automatically called by the vCenter installer, but I had no idea I could easily invoke these pieces independently and therefore eliminate the downloads.

Here is an overview for installing a standalone instance of SQL 2005 Express using the vCenter media with some screen shots. I also briefly mention using the free SQL Server Management Studio Express edition to easily create multiple databases, logins, and permissions. Finally I skim through enabling remote connections and creating ODBC connections for the vCenter and / or VUM installation. Read the rest of this entry »

This post is just a quick how to reference for manually changing the VMware Update Manager (VUM) patch repository download location. Admins usually need to do this when the vCenter server is low on disk space on the partition that VUM was originally installed on, but there is a second partition that has enough capacity. To move the VUM patch repository follow the following steps found in the VUM Administrators Guide:

When you install Update Manager, you can select the location for downloading patches. To change the location after installation, you must manually edit the vci-integrity.xml
file.

Procedure

1. Log in to the Update Manager server as an administrator.
   
2. Stop the Update Manager service.
   
   1. Right-click My Computer and click Manage.
      
   2. In the left pane, expand Services and Applications and click Services.
      
   3. In the right pane, right-click the VMware Update Manager Service and click Stop.
      
3. Navigate to the Update Manager installation directory and locate the vci-integrity.xml file.
   
   1. The default location is C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Update Manager.
      
4. Create a backup copy of this file in case you need to revert to the previous configuration.
   
5. Edit the file by changing the following fields:
   
   1. yournewlocation
   2. The default patch download location is: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Update Manager\Data\
      
   3. The directory path must end with \.
      
6. Save the file in UTF-8 format, replacing the existing file.
   
7. Copy the contents from the old patchstore directory to the new folder.
   
8. Restart the Update Manager service.
   

John Troyer has announced that the VMware website has been updated to reflect new product line names first introduced back in September at VMworld 2008. In the VMTN post Do they smell as sweet? New product line names: vCenter, View, John explains that the VirtualCenter and VDM products have are now referred to as vCenter and VMware View. Several VC add ons such as Update Manager and Converter are included along with Site Recovery Manager (SRM), Lab Manager, Lifecycle Manager, and even the file system VMFS now have slightly new names.

John provides a complete list of all products impacted by the name change which I have copied here. Read the rest of this entry »

Did you take the time to plan for VMware Update Manager (VUM) when designing your virtual infrastructure architecture? Planning focus is usually on VirtualCenter (VC) server’s requirements, but then, in my experience, Update Manager and it’s default local SQL 2005 Express database seem to be added on the VC server simply because the installer is prompted about VUM during the VC setup routine. This scenario can create a poor performing VUM implementation.

Recently on the VMware Performance Team’s VROOM blog, John Liang’s post titled VMware Update Manager Performance and Best Practices Paper Posted announced a new whitepaper that should be a must read for any virtual infrastructure administrator preparing to use (or already using) VUM. The .pdf is a 14 page discussion on the topics that impact VUM such as performance, networking, resource consumption, and even virus scanning.

I find a few of these recommendations interesting, and the whitepaper leaves me wondering how common using VUM for virtual machine OS patching really is. I’ve created two informal polls, so please take a second to complete them and maybe we can get a quick gauge on how VUM is commonly implemented.

[poll id="2"][poll id="3"]

The whitepaper is a quick, informative read that I strongly encourage, but the following list of best practices was copied from the whitepaper’s Conclusion section.
Read the rest of this entry »

In case you have not noticed, VC 2.5 now uses SQL 2005 Express instead of MSDE for it’s default database. Of course you will normally configure an ODBC connection to either a production Oracle or SQL instance for your VC server, but if you are building a lab or if you install Update Manager you will end up with a new install of SQL Server 2005 Express.

Although MSDE and SQL 2005 Express are very similar, there are some differences to be aware of. I have recreated this comparison table from Microsoft’s Upgrading MSDE 2000 to SQL Server 2005 Express page: Read the rest of this entry »