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Disabling vCenter Lifecycle Manager automatic download using vSphere API

10.02.2023 by William Lam // 1 Comment

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.

[Read more...]

Categories // Automation, PowerCLI Tags // vLCM, vSphere Lifecycle Manager

Quick Tip - Downloading ESXi Image (ISO or ZIP) from vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM)

09.27.2022 by William Lam // 4 Comments

Prior to vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM), the creation of an ESXi Image Profile was done separately using the vSphere Image Builder service. If you needed to download a specific ESXi Image Profile (ISO or ZIP) for importing into another environment or to simply create a bootable installer, it was intuitive to download the image within the vSphere UI.

With vLCM, both the ESXi Image and Configuration has been combined and it is now managed at the vSphere Cluster level. A couple of weeks ago, I needed to download a specific ESXi ISO from vLCM and it actually took me a bit of time to figure out where to perform this operation.

I recently came across a VMTN post where the user had the same challenge and realized I was not the only one who could not find the functionality in the vSphere UI.

[Read more...]

Categories // vSphere 7.0, vSphere 8.0 Tags // vLCM, vSphere 7.0, vSphere 8.0, vSphere Lifecycle Manager

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William is Distinguished Platform Engineering Architect in the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Division at Broadcom. His primary focus is helping customers and partners build, run and operate a modern Private Cloud using the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform.

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