VMware vSphere Update Manager (also known as VUM) provides a patch management framework for VMware vSphere. IT administrators can use VUM to patch and upgrade VMware ESXi hosts, VMware Tools, virtual hardware for virtual machines, as well as virtual appliances.
As datacenters scale to accommodate more virtual resources, performance implications become more important for patch management. In this paper, VMware presents a series of performance studies that cover various patch management workflows and their performance characteristics; we also provide best practice guidelines.
In the vSphere 6.5 release, VMware vSphere Update Manager has been integrated into the vCenter Server appliance (VCSA) for the Linux platform. The integration eliminates remote data transfers between VUM and VCSA while greatly simplifying the VUM deployment process.
Thus, VMware also briefly presents the performance and deployment differences between VUM for Windows and VCSA.
In summary, this paper covers the following topics:
- Experimental setup
- Various VUM deployment scenarios
- Operational performance for VUM workflows
- Resource consumption
- Running VUM tasks with workload
