Welcome back! After a bit of a hiatus I’m back to work. I’m changing my format slightly in that I’ll be including new content with much shorter articles. I’ll still have the really in-depth content as well but hopefully this will allow me to get more content out.
Let’s jump into this one. Update Manager hasn’t changed much over the years. It’s typically easy to use and usually only causes problems when the host has incompatible VIBs or there’s not enough space on the host for the updates to complete. With vSphere 6.7 and vSphere 6.7 Update 1 we’ve been given a streamlined version of the same old product in the HTML5 interface. They’ve of course changed the terminology a bit around updating components but overall it’s still the same.
One big change is that you can no longer natively select both the Critical Host Patches and the Non-Critical Host Patches or any other baselines simultaneously in the HTML5 interface. You can only select one baseline and Stage or Remediate against it at a time.
Now if you switch back to the Flex/Flash interface you can still do the Critical and Non-Critical Host Patches, but who wants to use that interface if you don’t have to? Not me! For the first tip here I’m going to show you how to create a Baseline Group in Update Manager. It’s easy! Click the Menu drop down at the top of the vCenter HTML5 interface and select Update Manager from the list. From the Update Manager section select the Baselines tab and then click the New drop down. Select Baseline Group.
You’re presented with the Create Baseline Group wizard. Enter a Name for the new Baseline Group and a Description if you want to. Click Next to continue.
In this instance I do not want to include the Upgrade Baseline since I’ve already updated my hosts. Of note, it will allow you to select an Upgrade Baseline along with Patch Baselines but the Upgrade Baseline will supersede any Patch Baselines if you try to remediate hosts with the Baseline Group. It may also throw an error when you go to edit the Baseline Group. I’d recommend limiting the Baseline Group to only include Patch Baselines and possibly Extension Baselines. Click Next to continue.
Select both the Critical Host Patches and Non-Critical Host Patches baselines and click Next.
I didn’t have any Extension Baselines to test with so of course I had none to select here. I’m guessing you actually could include an Extension Baselines with the Patch Baselines without causing problems. Click Next to continue.
The Summary page details your selections and is the last step. Click Finish to complete the Create Baseline Group wizard.
Once you complete the creation of the Baseline Group go back to the Updates tab on one of your hosts. Go to the Host Updates section and click the Attach button. Select your newly created Baseline Group and click Attach. Now you will have to go back to the Overview section and click Check Compliance to scan the host against your new Baseline Group. They should really put a Check Compliance button on the Host Updates section so you don’t have to click around so much.
From here you can select the Baseline Group and Stage or Remediate against it and since it includes both the Critical Host Patches and Non-Critical Host Patches you only have to Remediate once to get your host updated. That means you should only have one reboot cycle and less downtime to do updates. The vCenter 6.7 and vCenter 6.7 U1 HTML5 interface is great and fast but some of the changes need tweaked a bit. We’re simply restoring previous functionality to Update Manager by using Update Managers own features.
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