The Update Manager installation requires a connection with a single vCenter Server instance. You can install Update Manager on the same computer on which vCenter Server is installed or on a different computer.

Prerequisites

  • See installation prerequisites in Prerequisites for Installing the Update Manager Server on Windows.
  • Check the compatibility and interoperability of the vCenter Server server with VMware Site Recovery Manager®. Use caution when connecting the Update Manager server to a vCenter Server instance to which the Site Recovery Manager server is also connected. Connecting the Update Manager server to the same vCenter Server instance as Site Recovery Manager might cause problems when you upgrade the Site Recovery Manager or the vCenter Server, or when you perform daily operations.

Procedure

  1. In the software installer directory, double-click the autorun.exe file and select vSphere Update Manager > Server.
    If you cannot run autorun.exe, browse to the UpdateManager folder and run VMware-UpdateManager.exe.
  2. (Optional) Select the option to Use Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express as the embedded database, and click Install.
    Note: Skip this step only if you plan to use another supported Oracle or SQL Server database.
    If the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express is not present on your system from previous Update Manager installations, the installation wizard for the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express opens.
  3. Click Install.
  4. Select a language for the installer and click OK.
  5. Review the Welcome page and click Next.
  6. Read and accept the license agreement, and click Next.
  7. Accept the terms in the license agreement and click Next.
  8. Review the support information, select whether to download updates from the default download sources immediately after installation, and click Next.
    If you deselect Download updates from default sources immediately after installation, Update Manager downloads updates once daily according to the default download schedule or immediately after you click the Download Now button on the Download Settings page. You can modify the default download schedule after the installation is complete.
  9. Type the vCenter Server IP address or name, HTTP port, and the administrative account that the Update Manager server will use to connect to the vCenter Server system, and click Next.

    You can provide an IP address to a vCenter Server instance running on Windows, or a vCenter Server Appliance.

    In vSphere 6.5, the default administrative user account is [email protected].

  10. (Optional) Select the database, and click Next.
    If you selected to use the embedded Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express database, the installation wizard skips this page.
    1. Use an existing supported database, by selecting your database from the list of DSNs. If the DSN does not use Windows NT authentication, enter the user name and password for the DSN and click Next.
    Important: The DSN must be a 64-bit DSN.
  11. (Optional) Select the database options.
    • If the system DSN you specify points to an existing Update Manager database with the current schema, you can either retain your existing database or replace it with an empty one.
    • If the system DSN you specify points to an existing Update Manager database with a different schema, on the Database Upgrade page, select Yes, I want to upgrade my Update Manager database and I have taken a backup of the existing Update Manager database, and click Next.
  12. From the drop-down menu, select the IP address or the host name of your Update Manager instance.
    If the computer on which you install Update Manager has one NIC, the Update Manager installer automatically detects the IP address. If the computer has multiple NICs, you must select the correct IP address or use a DNS name. The DNS name must be resolved from all hosts that this Update Manager instance will manage.
  13. Specify the Update Manager port settings, select whether you want to configure the proxy settings, and click Next.
    Note: Use caution when you specify the Update Manager port settings, as you cannot modify them after installation.

    For the SOAP port, you have no limitations to the range of ports used, as long as there are no conflicts.

    For the Server port, you can use the following range: 80, 9000-9100. Update Manager automatically opens ESXi firewall ports in this range to allow outbound HTTP traffic to the patch store.

  14. (Optional) Provide information about the proxy server, the port, and whether the proxy should be authenticated, and click Next.
  15. Select the Update Manager installation and patch download directories, and click Next.
    If you do not want to use the default locations, you can click Change to browse to a different directory.
  16. (Optional) In the warning message about the disk free space, click OK.
    This message appears when you try to install Update Manager on a computer that has less than 120 GB free space.
  17. Click Install to begin the installation.
  18. Click Finish.

Results

The Update Manager server component is installed, and the Update Manager Web Client plug-in is automatically enabled in the vSphere Web Client.