Lifecycle Management enables you to perform automated updates on SDDC Manager, vCenter Server, ESXi, NSX-T Data Center, and vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. Bundles can be downloaded and applied manually or scheduled within your maintenance window.

Bundle Types

VMware Cloud Foundation includes two types of bundles.

Install Bundles

An install bundle includes software binaries to install VI workload domains and vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager.

VMware Cloud Foundation includes the following install bundles:
  • A VI workload domain install bundle is used to deploy later versions of the software components instead of the versions in your original VMware Cloud Foundation installation. It includes software binaries for vCenter Server and NSX-T Data Center.
  • The vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager install bundle is used for deploying vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager.
    Note: For other products in the vRealize Suite, you can download the installation binaries directly from vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. See "Configure Product Binaries" in the vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager Installation, Upgrade, and Management Guide for the version of vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager listed in the VMware Cloud Foundation BOM.

Update or Upgrade Bundles

An update or upgrade bundle includes software binaries to update the appropriate VMware Cloud Foundation software components. In most cases, an upgrade bundle must be applied to the management domain before it can be applied to VI workload domains.