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Disabling vCenter Lifecycle Manager automatic download using vSphere API

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By default, vCenter Server will automatically check and download the latest ESXi updates that can then be used by either the deprecated vSphere Update Manager (VUM) or its replacement which is vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM), both of which can be managed under the Lifecycle Manager section in the vSphere UI.

Interestingly, I have had a number of inquiries about disabling the automatic download setting using automation, as I assume users have setup Update Manager Depot Service (UMDS) instance for consolidated and/or offline access.


Disabling the automatic download in the vSphere UI is very straight forward by going to Lifecycle Manager->Settings->Administration->Patch Downloads and clicking on the Edit button to enable or disable the setting.

Because the Lifecycle Manager section combines functionality for both VUM and vLCM, it can sometimes be confusing on which vSphere API to use and this is important becauase VUM does not have any public API and only subset of its functionality can be automated using specific VUM PowerCLI cmdlets. This is another benefit to using vLCM, not only is it the replacement for VUM going forward, but all of its functionality is available using both the vSphere UI or vSphere REST API.

With that said, the automatic download setting is actually a VUM-based configuration and as mentioned earlier, there are no public APIs for managing these settings. However, I recently found a clever workaround that would allow users to automate disabling this setting.

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ESXi on Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Ultra

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After getting hands on with the Lenovo P3 Tiny, which was my first time experiencing a Lenovo kit, I was recommended by the Lenovo team to also check out its larger and more powerful sibling the Lenovo P3 Ultra.


While many of the smaller form factor systems have gotten more capable over the years, especially the classic 4x4 kits, they do have their limits in terms resources and expandability.

It has been some time since I have looked at larger kits but after glancing at the P3 Ultra specs, I can see why the Lenovo team thought this might be of interests to the VMware Community, especially with all the additional capabilities, packed into a larger but still pretty compact form factor design.

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Quick Tip - vSphere 7.0 Update 3o also supports disabling/enabling vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS) in vSphere UI

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I recently shared that in vSphere 8.0 Update, you can now easily manage the vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS) configuration by using either the vSphere UI or a new vSphere API, which simplifies this operation if you need to disable vCLS for a particular vSphere Cluster or if you need to remediate one by disabling and re-enabling the feature. Today, the process is less than ideal as you need to add a new vCenter Server Advanced Setting for each vSphere Cluster that you want to disable vCLS on.

For customers still on vSphere 7.x, I just found out from our vCLS Engineering team, that the latest vSphere 7.0 Update 3o, which was just released less than 24 hours ago, also includes this enhancement for managing vCLS configuration (enable/disable) using the vSphere UI!


One thing to note is that the new vSphere API that was introduced in vSphere 8.0 Update 2 to manage this exact same vCLS setting is not available in vSphere 7.0 Update 3o. If you wish to automate this configuration for vSphere 7.x environment, you will need to add the required vCenter Server Advanced Setting using the vSphere API.