How to create upgrade baseline image in VMware vSphere 6.0 ?

Or, How To Create Upgrade Baseline Image In VMware vSphere For ESXi Servers 6.0?
Or, How To Create Baseline Image For ESXi Servers Upgrade?

Imp Note: Login to your vSphere Client from the machine where you already have Update Manager plugin installed. If not sure about this, please login to vCenter Server and access vSphere client from there.

Steps To Follow For Creating Baseline:

1. Go to Your VMware Cluster> Update manager > Admin View

2. Go to Baseline and Groups > Click on Create

3. Give Friendly Baseline Name and Descriptions > Select “Host Upgrade” > Click on Next

4. Select your appropriate ESXi Image (in my case, I have only one :) ) > Click Next > Finish

5. Now you are done with creating ESXi Upgrade Baseline Image for upgrading your ESXi servers.  You may verify the Imported ESXi Image under below highlighted tab for your assurance.

Cheers,...

If you have any query or suggestions please write me in the comment box..

How To Import ESXi Images in vSphere For Upgrading ESXi Hosts Using Update Manager?

Or, How To Import ESXi Image in vSphere For Creating Upgrade Baseline Images?

Imp Note: Login to your vSphere Client from the machine where you already have Update Manager plugin installed. If not sure about this, please login to vCenter Server and access vSphere client from there.

Lets Start with Importing ESXi server .iso Image now.

Steps To Follow:

1. Go to Update Manager > Admin View

2. Go to  ESXi Images > Import ESXi Images

3. Got to Browse >  Select appropriate ESXi .iso Image > Click on Next

4. Wait for ESXi Image to be be uploaded successfully > Click on Next

5. Give Baseline Image Name > Write a short Description(Not Necessary) > Click on Finish

6. That’s it, Your ESXi image has been imported successfully. It should appear similar to the below reference in screenshot.

Cheers!!!! You are done with Importing/Preparing ESXi Image in vSphere 6.0.

If you have any query/suggestion, please write me on comment box..

How to Upgrade ESXi Hosts Using VMware vSphere Update Manager?

Or, How to use VMware Update Manager to upgrade ESXi Servers?

Imp Note: : I assume that you already have a baseline image created with latest ESXi package. If not, please create a baseline image first before proceeding with the steps given below.

Steps:

1. Login to your vSphere client from a machine where you have already installed the update manager plugins. If not sure about it, login to vSphere client from vCenter Server.

2. Enter ESXi host in maintenance mode

3. Click on “Update Manager” as shown in below screenshot.

4.  Click on “Attach” > Select your ESXi upgrade base line under “Upgrade Baselines” option > Click on “Attach” to attach the base line image to ESXi host. Reference screenshot is given below.

5. After attaching the baseline image, the update manager windows should like below highlighted screenshot.

You can see that the ESXi host, for which you have selected the baseline image to upgrade, is appearing as unknown in right side “Host Compliance” section. It should either appear compliant or non-compliant.

6. Click on “Scan” > Check mark on “Upgrades” on the pop-up window > Click on “Scan” again as highlighted in below screenshot.

7. Now the “scan entity” process will be initiated to check the compliance status of the selected ESXi host. Please wait for this scan to be completed. You can monitor the “Recent Tasks” section on vSphere client for scan completion percentage as shown in below screenshot.

8. Once the scan is completed, your selected ESXi host will be appearing as “Non-Compliant” as highlighted in below screenshot. Please verify it and proceed to next step.

9. Now follow the Remediation process to initiate the ESXi server upgrade as shown in below screenshots (Please refer the steps highlighted in numbers 1,2,3 etc..)

10. Remediate task is going to take approx 20-40 minutes (can deffer), Once the Remediate task is completed, you can see the host status. Its now appearing as Compliant and the build version of ESXi host has also been changed.

Finally, you are done with upgrading your ESXi host using VMware update manager. You may verify your ESXi host health status before bringing it back to production cluster.

Cheers guys, please write me if you have any feedback or suggestion about this post..