For vSphere 6.0 and earlier releases, 64-bit Windows operating systems are the only supported host operating systems for Update Manager. In vSphere 6.5, Update Manager is provided as an optional service in the vCenter Server Appliance 6.5. VMware provides supported paths for migrating Update Manager from a Windows operating system to a vCenter Server Appliance 6.5.

You can migrate Update Manager in the following vCenter Server deployments:

Table 1. Supported Migration Paths for Update Manager That Runs on Windows to a vCenter Server Appliance
Source Configuration Target Configuration
vCenter Server and Update Manager run on the same Windows machine vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 with embedded Update Manager
vCenter Server and Update Manager run on different Windows machines vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 with embedded Update Manager
Update Manager run on a Windows machine and is connected to a vCenter Server Appliance vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 with embedded Update Manager

You can use a GUI method or a CLI method to upgrade or migrate your vCenter Server deployment that uses external Update Manager instance. If you use the GUI method, you need to perform manual steps on the Update Manager Windows system. If you use the CLI method, you need to add configuration parameters about Update Manager in your JSON template.

For detailed information about the GUI method or the CLI upgrade or migration configuration parameters, see the vSphere Upgrade documentation.

Important: Verify that the Update Manager source machine does not run additional extensions that are connected to other vCenter Server systems, which are not part of your migration.

Before the migration, Update Manager might use any of the supported Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle, or the Embedded database solution. After the migration to the vCenter Server Appliance, Update Manager starts to use the PostgreSQL Database.

After the migration, you can shut down the Update Manager machine. You might need to keep the Update Manager machine for roll back purposes to the earlier version before the migration.