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

Note: If you are migrating a vCenter Server system that uses an external instance of Update Manager that runs on a separate Windows machine, first run Migration Assistant on the Update Manager machine.
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.