ESX 4 Patch Management GuideESX 4.0
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ESX 4 Patch Management Guide
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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:
[email protected]
VMware vSphere DocumentationTheVMwarevSpheredocumentationconsistsofthecombinedvCenterServerandESXdocumentationset.
About This Book
mailto:[email protected]://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.
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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
