Configure URL-Based Patching

For URL-based patching, the vCenter Server Appliance is preset with a default VMware repository URL for the build profile of the appliance. You can use the update.set command to configure the appliance to use the default or a custom repository URL as the current source of patches and enable automatic checks for patches.

By default the current repository for URL-based patching is the default VMware repository URL.

Note: You can use the proxy.set command to configure a proxy server for the connection between the vCenter Server Applianceand the repository URL. For more information about the API commands in the appliance shell, see vCenter Server Appliance Configuration.

If the vCenter Server Appliance is not connected to the Internet or if your security policy requires it, you can build and configure a custom repository. The custom patching repository runs on a local Web server within your data center and replicates the data from the default repository. Optionally, you can set up an authentication policy for accessing the Web server that hosts the custom patching repository.

Procedure

If you want to configure a custom repository URL, build the repository on your local Web server.
1. Log in to VMware Customer Connect at https://customerconnect.vmware.com/patch/.
2. Select VC from the Select a Product drop-down and the vCenter Server version from the Select Version drop-down.
3. Click SEARCH.
4. Download the ISO image.
5. Confirm that the md5sum is correct by using an MD5 checksum tool.
6. On your Web server, create a repository directory under the root.
  For example, create the vc_update_repo directory.
7. Extract the ZIP file into the repository directory.
  The extracted files are in the manifest and package-pool subdirectories.
Access the appliance shell and log in as a user who has a super administrator role.
The default user with a super administrator role is root.
To see information about the current URL-based patching settings, run the update.get command.
You can see information about the current repository URL, the default repository URL, the time at which the appliance last checked for patches, the time at which the appliance last installed patches, and the current configuration of automatic checks for patches.
Configure the current repository for URL-based patching.
- To configure the appliance to use the default VMware repository URL, run the following command:
```
update.set --currentURL default
```
- To configure the appliance to use a custom repository URL, run the following command:
```
update.set --currentURL https://web_server_name.your_company.com/vc_update_repo [--username username] [--password password]
```
  where the square brackets [] enclose the command options.
  The repository URL must use a secure protocol such as HTTPS or FTPS. If the custom repository requires authentication, use the --username username and --password password options.
To enable automatic checks for vCenter Server Appliance patches in the current repository URL at regular intervals, run the following command:
```
update.set	--CheckUpdates enabled [--day	day] [--time	HH:MM:SS]
```
where the square brackets [] enclose the command options.
Use the --day day option to set the day for performing the regular checks for patches. You can set a particular day of the week, for example, Monday, or Everyday. The default value is Everyday.

Use the --time HH:MM:SS option to set the time in UTC for performing the regular checks for patches. The default value is 00:00:00.
The appliance performs regular checks for available patches in the current repository URL.
To disable automatic checks for vCenter Server Appliance patches, run the following command:
```
update.set	--CheckUpdates disabled
```

What to do next

If you configured the appliance to perform automatic checks for available patches, you can regularly view the vCenter Server Appliance health status for notifications about available patches. See vCenter Server Appliance Configuration.