VMware Update Manager manager (VUM) can be used to upgrade ESXi OS. This is very efficient way to upgrade ESXi OS, It can be automate using schedule and DRS. We can specify time when OS need to be upgraded, at the scheduled time VUM (update manager) uses (if configured DRS) to migrate VM and put it in maintenance mode. In this article I am going to upgrade from Esxi server 5.5 to Esxi server 6.0. I have already downloaded Esxi v6 ISO from VMWare site.
PART 3.1 : VMWARE VSPHERE UPDATE MANAGER INSTALLATION ON WINDOWS 2012 R2
PART 3.2 : VMWARE VSPHERE UPDATE MANAGER PLUG-IN INSTALLATION ON VSPHERE CLIENT
VMWARE VSPHERE UPDATE MANAGER (VUM) - IMPORTING ESXI ISO AND CREATE UPGRADE BASELINE
VMWARE VSPHERE UPDATE MANAGER (VUM) - UPGRADE ESXI OS
In the vSphere Desktop Client (Still vsphere client is required to configure and manage VUM) navigate to Home and click Update Manager under Solutions and Applications.
New windows for Update Manager Administrator will open, On the ESXi Images tab click Import ESXi Image, here we need to upload ESXi os ISO file.
I have browsed and attached ISO file, click Next to start uploading ESXi ISO Image.
On the next screen ISO image will start uploading, once it is fully imported, there will be successful message and will be summary of ISO file what in it. While uploading I was getting error Failed to login. Error was: A web exception has occured during file upload but after rebooting my vCenter containing update manager VUM (Tried to restart services but didn't help) issue got resolved.
Next it is asking for Basline creation, Baseline is something like Profile where we can add specific updates, patches and this baseline applied to vcenter esxi or vms, I have given here meaningful name to baseline and pressed Finish button.
ESXi OS image is imported, baseline is also created for it, in next article I will be updating ESXi server.
