Installation guide

The base path directory contains directories for the SCR Tool binary files, configuration files, logs.
Prerequisites
Configure the machine group mapping for VCMto use to patch the target managed machines. See
"Configure the Machine Group Mapping to Use the Patch Staging Configuration" on page 167.
Procedure
1. In VCM, click Administration.
2. Select Settings > General Settings > Patching > UNIX > Additional Settings.
3. Verify that the value for the Default UNIX/Linux package repository SCR base path setting value is
the location on the patching repository machine where you installed the SCR Tool, such as /SCR.
4. Verify that the value for the Default UNIX/Linux package repository path setting value is the
location used in the Red Hat properties file properties file, such as /var/www/html/vendorfiles.
For example, # mkdir /var/www/html/vendorfiles /SCR/cacherequest.
What to do next
Deploy patches to managed machines. See "Deploying Patches with Automated Patch Assessment and
Deployment" on page 169.
Deploying Patches with Automated Patch Assessment and Deployment
VCM supports automatic, event-driven and scheduled patch deployment in distributed environments for
Linux, UNIX, and Windows patching. Automatic patching helps you stage and deploy patches with ease to
ensure that your managed machines always receive the current updates. When certain events occur, VCM
triggers an automatic patch deployment.
When any of the following events occur, VCM deploys the patches in the patch assessment templates
associated with a machine group, with any exceptions applied to the machine group and the assessment
results of the template. The exception is applied to the assessment results, and the machines are exempted
from the patch deployment.
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New downloaded patch content matches the filter used in a dynamic patching assessment template, or
you edit the template to change the bulletins included in it. VCM updates the bulletin membership in
the patching assessment template and triggers an automatic patch deployment. If the template is
assessed after a collection, the change in patch applicability triggers an automatic patch deployment.
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You add a machine to a machine group and the membership is updated for any machine group that is
associated with an automatic deployment. VCM begins the automatic patch deployment, and the
results are updated for static or dynamic patching templates.
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You collect the patch status from managed machines, and run a patch assessment on those machines. If
the machines are part of the machine group that is mapped to an assessment template in the automatic
deployment wizard, VCM determines which managed machines require patches and begins the
automatic patch deployment.
n
You scheduled VCM to run an automatic patch deployment later, and collected patch data or scheduled
the patch data collection after you created the automatic deployment but before the scheduled time to
run the automatic deployment. VCM begins the automatic patch deployment at the scheduled time.
During event-driven patch deployment, managed machines obtain the patches from the patching
repository machine or from an alternate location machine. If you use one or more alternate location
machines to store the Linux and UNIX patches for deployment to managed machines, the managed
machines obtain the patches from the alternate location machine during the patch deployment.
Patching Managed Machines
VMware, Inc.
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