Installation guide

You can use Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) to prevent virtual machine downtime during the upgrade
process.
Update Manager monitors hosts and virtual machines for compliance against your defined upgrade baselines.
Noncompliance appears in detailed reports and in the dashboard view. Update Manager supports mass
remediation.
See the vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide.
Orchestrated Upgrade of Hosts Scenario
Update Manager allows you to perform orchestrated upgrades of the ESX/ESXi hosts in your vSphere inventory
using a single upgrade baseline.
You can perform orchestrated upgrades of hosts at the folder, cluster, or datacenter level.
Recommendation for Static IP Addresses
VMware recommends that you use static IP addresses for ESX/ESXi hosts. During host upgrade, static IP
addresses are a requirement.
DHCP IP addresses can be problematic during host upgrades. Suppose, for example, a host loses its DHCP IP
address during the upgrade because the lease period configured on the DHCP server expires. The host upgrade
tool that you are using (either vCenter Update Manager or vSphere Host Update Utility) would lose
connectivity to the host. The host upgrade might be successful, but the upgrade tool would report the upgrade
as failed, because the tool would be unable to connect to the host. To prevent this scenario, use static IP
addresses for your hosts.
List of Upgraded vSphere Components
vSphere Host Update Utility and Update Manager upgrade multiple VMware vSphere components.
Table 10-1 lists the components that each application upgrades. For components that are not upgraded by the
listed tool, you can perform the upgrade by some other method, generally by using the vSphere Client.
Table 10-1. Upgraded Components
Component Upgraded by Update Manager Upgraded by vSphere Host Update Utility
Virtual machine kernel (vmkernel) Yes Yes
Service console, where present Yes Yes
Virtual machine hardware Yes No
Virtual Machine Tools Yes No
Guest operating systems Yes, for SP and patch releases No
After the upgrade to ESX 4.0, the service console's partitions are stored in a .vmdk file. These partitions
include /, swap, and all the optional partitions. The name of this file is esxconsole-<system-
uuid>/esxconsole.vmdk. All .vmdk files, including the esxconsole.vmdk, are stored in VMFS volumes.
Chapter 10 Preparing for the Upgrade to ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0
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