As an automated patch management solution for VMware vSphere hosts, VMware vSphere Update Manager addresses one of the most significant pain points for every IT department: tracking patch levels and applying security/bug fixes.

Secure Your Datacenter Against Vulnerabilities

With VMware vSphere Update Manager, you can automate patch management and eliminate manual tracking and patching of VMware vSphere hosts and virtual machines. VMware vSphere Update Manager scans the state of the VMware vSphere hosts, compares them with baselines set by the administrator and then applies updates and patches to enforce compliance to mandated patch standards. A patch compliance dashboard gives administrators visibility into the patch status of the entire virtual infrastructure environment. This capability dramatically simplifies the patch management process while helping you protect your data center against bugs and security vulnerabilities.

Reduce the Risks Associated with Patching of Virtual Machines

VMware vSphere Update Manager reduces the risk associated with virtual machine patching failures by providing the option to snapshot virtual machines prior to patch application and allowing storage of the snapshots for a user-defined period so that administrators can roll back the virtual machine to a known state if application of the patch has unknown side-effects on the virtual machine’s workload.

VMware vSphere Update Manager securely patches offline virtual machines without exposing them to the network, reducing the risk of non-compliant virtual machines creating security issues in the production environment. Patching offline virtual machines is unique to virtual environments and enforces higher levels of compliance to patch standards than physical environments.

VMware vSphere Update Manager also lets administrators stage patches to remote sites, reducing network utilization and allowing patches to be applied on a schedule suitable to the remote site.

Eliminate Downtime Related to VMware ESXi Host Patching

VMware vSphere Update Manager works in conjunction with vSphere DRS to provide non-disruptive host patching when remediating a cluster. VMware vSphere Update Manager works with DRS to put hosts in maintenance mode one by one and migrates virtual machines live to other hosts while patching. On completion of host patching, the virtual machines are migrated back and VMware vSphere Update Manager then moves on to patch the next host in the cluster.

vCenter Server is required to use this feature.