Knowledge Base

These are the best practices to follow when installing Update Manager 4.x:  

• Identify a server for VMware Update Manager 4.x to be installed. Update Manager can be installed either on the same server as vCenter Server, or as a separate instance on another server. For more information on installing VMware Update Manager, refer to the section Setting Up, Installing, and Upgrading Update Manager of the vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide.
• Ensure that you are installing VMware Update Manager 4.x on a supported operating system. For more information, see the VMware Compatibility Matrix.
• vCenter Update Manager server requires a database to store and organize server data.
  
  Supported databases are:
  
  
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express
    
    Note: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express is intended to be used for small deployments of up to 5 hosts and/or 50 virtual machines.
     
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Oracle
    
    
• Create a database instance and configure it prior to the installation. Depending on the version of vCenter Update Manager you are installing, it may have different database requirements than that of vCenter Server. In addition, ensure that you create a separate instance of the Update Manager database from that of your vCenter Server database.
  Note: Ensure you create a 32-Bit DSN on a 64-Bit Operating system. For more information, see the vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide.
  
  For more information, see:
• • Installing ESX 4.0 and vCenter 4.0 best practices (1009080)
  • Installing ESX 4.1 and vCenter Server 4.1 best practices (1022101)
  • The  ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide for the version of ESX and vCenter you are installing.
     
• Make sure that there is at least 20 GB of free space on your machine to store ESX updates and patches.
• The Update Manager server can be configured to retrieve updates either from the internet or from a shared repository of UMDS data. This is an important consideration when choosing where to install update Manager.
  
• Administrative credentials are required to complete the installation.
• Ensure that the user being used to install or register the Update Manager service has the correct permissions to do so otherwise the install will fail. For further information see KB 1036055.