vSphere Update Manager is an enterprise patch management automation tool that is often implemented as part of a vSphere platform to keep the ESXi hosts, virtual machine hardware, and VMware Tools up-to-date. VMware recommends installing vSphere Update Manager on a separate virtual machine to enable future expansion and for improved security. Like vCenter Server, a dedicated database for vSphere Update Manager is required, which typically resides alongside the vCenter Server database in a Windows and SQL based design. There is no reason to host another database server simply for the vSphere Update Manager database.

At time of writing, vSphere Update Manager requires a separate installation on a Windows host even where the vCenter Server Appliance has been deployed. vSphere Update Manager has a one-to-one relationship with the vCenter Server it is registered to, so a dedicated vSphere Update Manager instance is required for each vCenter Server deployed.

vSphere Update Manager can also perform orchestrated vSphere upgrades. An orchestrated upgrade allows you to upgrade the objects in your vSphere inventory in a two-step process: host upgrades, followed by virtual machine upgrades. You can configure the process at the cluster level for higher automation, or at the individual host or virtual machine level for more granular control. You can upgrade clusters without powering virtual machines off, as long as vSphere DRS is available to the cluster. To perform an orchestrated upgrade, first remediate a cluster against a host upgrade baseline, and then remediate the same cluster against a virtual machine upgrade baseline group that contains the virtual machine hardware upgrade and VMware Tools upgrade to match host baselines.

 

For further details of deployment of vSphere Update Manager, see VMware Update Manager Documentation at https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vum_pubs.html.