VMware vSphere Update Manager Download Service (UMDS) is an optional module of Update Manager. For security reasons and deployment restrictions, vSphere, including Update Manager, might be installed in a secured network that is disconnected from other local networks and the Internet. Update Manager requires access to patch information to function properly. If you are using such an environment, you can install UMDS on a computer that has Internet access to download upgrades, patch binaries, and patch metadata, and then export the downloads to a portable media drive or configure an IIS server so that they become accessible to the Update Manager server.
Pre-requisite
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Verify that the machine on which you install UMDS has Internet access, so that UMDS can download upgrades, patch metadata and patch binaries.
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Uninstall older version of UMDS 1.0.x, UMDX 4.x or UMDS 5.x if it is installed on the machine.
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Create a database instance and configure it before you install UMDS. When you install UMDS on a 64-bit machine, you must configure a 64-bit DSN and test it from ODBC. The database privileges and preparation steps are the same as the ones used for Update Manager.
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UMDS and Update Manager must be installed on different machines.
Installation and Configuration
Mount the vCenter ISO and open it and double-click the autorun.exe file and select .
- (Optional) : Select the option to Use Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express as the embedded database, and click Install ( if you have not installed as per-requisite)
In the warning message about the disk free space, click OK.
Click Install to begin the installation.
Configuring UMDS
UMDS does not have a GUI interface. All configuration will be done via the command line. To begin configuration, open a command prompt and browse to the directory where UMDS is installed:
In my case it is installed at C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Update Manager>
# Run command vmware-umds -G to view the patch store location, the proxy settings and which downloads are enabled. By default it is configured to download host patches for ESX(i) 4 , 5 and 6. i have disabled for 4 and 5.
downloads can be disabled by running:
#vmware-umds -S -d embeddedEsx-5.0.0-INTL
Important commands:
You can enable or disable all host patch downloads you can run:
vmware-umds -S –enable-host
vmware-umds -S –disable-host
vmware-umds -S –enable-host –enable-va
vmware-umds -S –disable-host –disable-va
vmware-umds -S –patch-store c:\Patches
New URLs can be added, or existing ones removed by using:
vmware-umds -S –add-url
vmware-umds -S –remove-url
To start downloading patches you can us:
vmware-umds -D
this command re-downloads the patches between set times to reduce load during core business hours.
vmware-umds -R –start-time 2010-11-01T00:00:00 –end-time 2010-11-30T23:59:59
Once you have your patches downloaded, the next step is to how to make them available to Update Manager. There are a couple of ways you can do this depending on your environment. If you wish to export all the downloaded patches to an external drive, for transfer to the Update Manager server, you can do so by running, for example:
vmware-umds -E –export-store e:\patchs and then zip it or another way is to configure IIS web server and publish the patch location.
For IIS , Select Add Roles and Features in your Windows 2012 Server Manager and select the Web Server (IIS) checkbox.
After IIS installation is completed start Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager which is located in the Administrative Tools.Right click Default Web Site and select Add Virtual Directory , Choose an Alias for the Virtual Directory and select the patch store location as physical path.
In the MIME Types you need to add .vib and .sig as application/octet-stream type. Finally you need to enable Directory Browsing on the Virtual Directory.
and to start using this shared repository with the Update Manager, login to the vSphere Web Client go to Update Manager then to go Admin View – Settings – Download settings and click Edit. Select Use a shared repository and enter the URL (http://IP address/FQDN/VIRTUAL_DIRECTORY).
After clicking OK it will validate the repository and download the metadata of the downloaded patches and then follow your existing process like creation of baselines , attach the base lines and patch your hosts.
VMTECHIE 