In previous releases of the VCSA, patching and updating of the VCSA was performed through what was known as the VAMI interface which provided both a UI as well as a command-line which I have blogged about here. The simplest and easiest method was of course using the UI which just required opening a browser to https://[VCSA]:5480 as seen in the screenshot below.
UPDATE (09/04/15) - In vSphere 6.0 Update 1, URL based patching is now available. You can find more details here.
In the VCSA 6.0, the old VAMI UI interface no longer exists and to update/patch the VCSA you will need to use the appliancesh command-line interface. There is a command called "software-packages" which is used to update/patch the software on the VCSA. This information is also documented here.
VMware just recently released a patch update to vSphere 6.0 and one of the updates is applicable to VCSA (Embedded) and VC/PSC (External) as noted in this VMware KB 211640. There are two patches (Third Party & Bug/Security Fix) which are available as an ISO which can be downloaded from here.
Before you can apply the patch/update, you will need to mount the patch ISO to your VCSA/PSC using either the vSphere C#/Web Client as you would with any other ISO. The second step is to login to the VCSA/PSC and if you have disable the appliancesh, you just need to type "appliancesh" and you will be prompted to login with your root credentials.
Once logged into the applianesh, the software-packages supports two options:
- Stage patches from ISO and then install
- Stage patches from ISO and install at a later time
If you wish to perform the update/patch in a single step by staging and installing, you can run the following command:
software-packages install --iso --acceptEulas
If you wish to only stage the patches but not install, you can do so by running the following command:
software-packages stage --iso --acceptEulas
Once you are ready to install the staged patches, you will need to run the following command:
software-packages install --staged
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 1: What install & deployment parameters did I use?
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 2: What is my SSO Domain Name & Site Name?
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 3: Finding all deployed Platform Services Controller
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 4: Finding all deployed vCenter Servers
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 5: New method of patching the VCSA
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 6: Customizing VCSA’s DCUI
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 7: Connecting to SSO/PSC using JExplorer
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 8: Useful ldapsearch queries for vmdird
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 9: Creating & managing SSO users using dir-cli
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 10: Automating SSO Admin configurations
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 11: Automate SSO Admin password change
- vCenter Server 6.0 Tidbits Part 12: New methods of downloading Support Bundles for VCSA / PSC
Hi William,
with VAMI it was also possible to check for updates straight from the internet, is this option still valid somehow? That was such a nice feature...
Agreed, definitely useful feature and one that I miss myself. Currently that capability is not available but is something that Engineering is looking at for a future update.
Thanks for the great post! Stupid question. Once you get the "Reboot is required to complete the installation" message, what is the command to reboot the VCSA when you are connected via SSH?
shutdown -r now
"reboot" should also work.
Without enabling BASH it looks like this is the required command:
{{{
Command> shutdown reboot -r patch
Broadcast message from root (pts/0) (Thu Apr 23 23:42:33 2015):
patch
The system is going down for reboot NOW!
}}}
"usage: shutdown reboot [-h] [-d DELAY] -r REASON
shutdown reboot: error: argument -r/--reason is required"
This seems like a step backwards with the appliance. Easy updates through the VAMI UI interface was a big advantage with it's ease of use. Now this makes it more difficult.
Also, would have been great if 6 added an easier way to backup the appliance databases.
No doubt about it, the previous method was much nicer/cleaner. The promotion of command line tricks violates the spirit of "appliance" IMO.
Does the external PSC need to be patched before the vCenter Server appliance? Can they be patched at the same time?