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ESX 4 Patch Management GuideESX 4.0

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ESX 4 Patch Management Guide

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:

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Contents

AboutThisBook 5

1 AboutPatchesandUpdates 7AbouttheesxupdateUtility 7PatchMaintenanceStrategy 8CustomizingYourPatchProcess 9

2 InstallingUpdates 11BundleZipFiles 11ScanningforApplicableBulletins 11RetrievingBulletinInformation 12VerifyingDiskSpace 13StaginganInstallation 13InstallingBulletins 14InstallBulletinsonanESX4.0Host 15

3 ReferenceInformation 17esxupdateOptionsandCommands 17esxupdateCommands 18esxupdateExitCodesandErrorMessages 19FrequentlyAskedQuestions 20

4 ESXPatchManagementTools 21AboutVMwarevCenterUpdateManager 21AboutvSphereHostUpdateUtility 21AboutvihostupdatevSphereCLI 21

Index 23

ESX 4 Patch Management Guide

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Thisbook,ESX4PatchManagementGuide,providesbackgroundinformationonprocessingpatchesforESX4.0hostsanddescribeshowtousetheesxupdateutilitytoapplysoftwareupdatesandtotracksoftwareinstalledonESX4.0hosts.

ThisbookprovidesinformationspecifictoESX4.0hostsandtheesxupdateutility.Itdoesnotdiscussthefollowing:

HowtopatchESX4.0hostsautomaticallywiththeVMwareUpdateServiceandtheVMwarevCenterUpdateManager.Forinformationonthesetools,seeESXPatchManagementToolsonpage 21.

HowtopatchESXi4.0hostswiththevihostupdatevSphereCommandLineInterface(CLI).Forinformationonvihostupdate,seeESXPatchManagementToolsonpage 21.

HowtopatchversionsofESXreleasedpriortoversion4.0.Forinformationonthisprocess,seethePatchManagementforESXServerstechnoteandtheESXServer3PatchManagementGuide.

HowtoupgradeESXhosts.Forinformationonupgrading,seethevSphereUpgradeGuide.ForalistofVMwarereleasedefinitions,seetheVMwareUpgradeandUpdatePolicybygoingtohttp://www.vmware.com/support/policies/upgrade.html.

Intended AudienceThismanualisintendedforanyonewhomustmanuallyapplypatchestoESX4.0hosts.TheinformationinthismanualiswrittenforsystemadministratorswhouseaserviceconsoletomanageESXhosts.

Whats Changed from ESX 3.xThismanualhasbeenupdatedfromtheESXServer3PatchManagementGuidetoincludenewdefinitionsandproceduresthatareuniquetoESX4.0.

Document FeedbackVMwarewelcomesyoursuggestionsforimprovingourdocumentation.Ifyouhavecomments,sendyourfeedbackto:

docfeedback@vmware.com

VMware vSphere DocumentationTheVMwarevSpheredocumentationconsistsofthecombinedvCenterServerandESXdocumentationset.

About This Book

mailto:docfeedback@vmware.comhttp://www.vmware.com/support/policies/upgrade.htmlhttp://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/r35/vi3_35_25_esxupdate.pdf

ESX 4 Patch Management Guide

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Technical Support and Education ResourcesThefollowingsectionsdescribethetechnicalsupportresourcesavailabletoyou.Youcanaccessthemostcurrentversionsofthismanualandotherbooksbygoingto:

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs

Online and Telephone SupportUseonlinesupporttosubmittechnicalsupportrequests,viewyourproductandcontractinformation,andregisteryourproducts.Gotohttp://www.vmware.com/support.

Customerswithappropriatesupportcontractsshouldusetelephonesupportforthefastestresponseonpriority1issues.Gotohttp://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.

Support OfferingsFindouthowVMwaresupportofferingscanhelpmeetyourbusinessneeds.Gotohttp://www.vmware.com/support/services.

VMware Education ServicesVMwarecoursesofferextensivehandsonlabs,casestudyexamples,andcoursematerialsdesignedtobeusedasonthejobreferencetools.FormoreinformationaboutVMwareEducationServices,gotohttp://mylearn1.vmware.com/mgrreg/index.cfm.

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubshttp://www.vmware.com/supporthttp://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.htmlhttp://www.vmware.com/support/serviceshttp://mylearn1.vmware.com/mgrreg/index.cfmhttp://mylearn1.vmware.com/mgrreg/index.cfm

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1

Softwarepatchesprovideimmediatefixesforoneormoresecurityissuesorcriticalfixesforaspecificareaoftheproduct.Forinformationaboutaspecificpatch,gototheVMwarevSphereDownloadCenterathttp://www.vmware.com/download/vi.

Typesofsoftwareupdatesandrelatedterms:

Bulletin.AgroupingofoneormoreVIBs(vSphereInstallationBundle).Bulletinsaredefinedwithinmetadata.

Depot.AlogicalgroupingofVIBsandassociatedmetadatathatispublishedonline.

Extension.AbulletinthatdefinesagroupofVIBsforaddinganoptionalcomponenttoanESXhost.Anextensionisusuallyprovidedbyathirdparty,asarepatchesorupdatestotheextension.

Metadata.Extradatathatdefinesdependencyinformation,textualdescriptions,systemrequirementsandbulletins.

OfflineBundlezip.AnarchivethatencapsulatesVIBsandcorrespondingmetadatainaselfcontaineddepotthatisusefulforofflinepatching.

Patch.AbulletinthatgroupsoneormoreVIBstogethertoaddressaparticularissueorenhancement.

Rollup.Acollectionofpatchesthatisgroupedforeaseofdownloadanddeployment.

RPM.Binarypackagesthatincludeasetofcontrolscripts,whichprovideinformationfortheRPMabouthowtoinstallthepackageandanypostinstallationconfigurationthatisneeded.

Update.AperiodicreleaseofanESXimage,whichcontainsmultiplefixesandsupportfornewhardware.

VIB.AVIBisasinglesoftwarepackage.

Patchesdonothaveinstallationwizards.Youinstallthemwithapatchupdatetool.ThepatchupdatetoolforESX4.0hostsisesxupdate.ForinformationaboutpatchupdatetoolsforotherESXversions,seeESXPatchManagementToolsonpage 21.

About the esxupdate UtilityYouusethepatchmaintenanceutility,esxupdate,toretrieveinformationaboutupdatesandextensionsfromVMwareandthirdparties,totrackinstalledsoftware,andtoapplysoftwarepackagestoESX4.0hosts.YourunesxupdatefromtheserviceconsolewhileyouareloggedontoanESX4.0hostasuserroot.YoucanrunonlyoneinstanceatatimeonthesameESX4.0host.

Arecordofeachinstalledbulletiniswrittentothe/etc/vmware/esxupdatedirectoryonthehost.TherecordincludesthebulletinID,theinstallationtime,theVIBsinstalled,andotherdetails.Thisdirectoryactsasapatchdatabaseandisusedbyesxupdatetoquerythepatchesinstalledonthehost.

About Patches and Updates 1

CAUTIONThisdirectoryisreadonly.Ifyouchangethecontents,whenesxupdateperformsanintegritycheck,itwillfailforthechangedfiles.Insuchcases,esxupdateexitswithanIntegrityErrormessage.Formoreinformation,seeesxupdateExitCodesandErrorMessagesonpage 19.

http://www.vmware.com/download

ESX 4 Patch Management Guide

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ForESX4.0hosts,therearefourbasicmodesofesxupdate:Inspectionmode,scanmode,testmode,andupdatemode.

Inspectionmode.Queriesyoursystemforbulletinsandbulletindetails.Youusetwocommandstoretrievebulletininformation:esxupdatequeryandesxupdateinfo.

UsetheesxupdatequerycommandtodisplayalistofbulletinsinstalledonESX4.0host.Theoutputliststhebulletinsinascendinginstallationorderandincludesthebulletinname,installationdate,anda40charactersummaryofthebulletin.Allbulletinsthatareinstalledarelisted.Bulletinsthataresupersededbyanotherbulletinareconsideredobsoleteandarenotdisplayedinthisoutput.

Usetheesxupdateinfocommandtodisplayinformationonthecontentsofoneormorebulletins.Theoutputincludesthebulletinname,releasedate,anddetailsaboutthemetadatafiles,includingtheVIBpackagesthatarepartofthebulletin.

Youcanusetheinfocommandforbothinstalledanduninstalledbulletins.Formoreinformation,seeRetrievingBulletinInformationonpage 12.

Scanmode.DetermineswhichbulletinsareapplicabletotheESX4.0hostbyqueryingthebulletinsinadepotandthebulletinsinstalledonthehostforbulletinandsystemdependencies.Usetheesxupdatescancommandbeforeyouinstallbulletinstodeterminewhichonesareapplicabletothehost.Formoreinformation,seeScanningforApplicableBulletinsonpage 11.

Testmode.Enablesesxupdatetogothroughallinstallationoperationswithoutinstallingthespecifiedbulletins.Testmodedownloadstheappropriatefiles,preloadstheesxupdatedepotcacheforHTTPandFTPservers,checksforRPMpackagedependencies,anddetermineswhichRPMstoinstall.Formoreinformation,seeStaginganInstallationonpage 13.

Updatemode.InstallsbulletinsonESX4.0hosts.Usetheesxupdateupdatecommandtoinstallindividualbulletins,abundlezip,oranonlinedepot.Updatemodescansthedepotfordependenciesandhandlesthem,ifpossible,beforeinstalling.Formoreinformation,seeInstallBulletinsonanESX4.0Hostonpage 15.

Forinformationonesxupdatesyntaxandcommands,seeesxupdateOptionsandCommandsonpage 17

Patch Maintenance StrategyUsethefollowingguidelinestomanagepatchingforyourESX4.0hosts.

Keepyourenvironmentascurrentaspossible.Determinewhetheranybulletinsarenecessaryforyourenvironmentandapplythosebulletins.Minimizethechangetoyoursoftwareenvironmentwheneverpossi