A dynamic baseline is a set of patches that meet certain criteria. The content of a dynamic baseline change as the available patches change. You can manually exclude or add specific patches to the baseline.

Prerequisites

  • Required privileges: VMware vSphere Update Manager.Manage Baselines.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, select Menu > Update Manager.
  2. Navigate to Menu > Update Manager.
    The Update Manager home appears.
  3. Click Baselines.
  4. Click New and select New Baseline.
    The Create Baseline wizard appears.
  5. On the Name and description page, enter a name and, optionally, a description of the baseline.
  6. To create an ESXi patch baseline, select Patch and click Next.
  7. On the Select Patches Automatically page, select the option to automatically update the baseline with patches that match your criteria.
  8. Specify the criteria that a patch must meet to be added to the baseline.
    Option Description
    Patch Vendor Specifies which patch vendor to use.
    Product

    Restricts the set of patches to the selected products or operating systems.

    The asterisk at the end of a product name is a wildcard character for any version number.

    Severity Specifies the severity of patches to include.
    Category Specifies the category of patches to include.
    Release Date Specifies the range for the release dates of the patches.
    The relationship between these fields is defined by the Boolean operator AND.
    For example, when you select a product and severity option, the patches are restricted to the ones that are applicable for the selected product and are of the specified severity level.
  9. (Optional) From the Matched tab in the wizard, deselect patches from the ones that matched your criteria and exclude them permanently from the baseline. From the Excluded and Selected tabs, view which patches are excluded and which are included in the baseline.
  10. Click Next.
  11. (Optional) On the Select Patches Manually page, select individual patches to include in the baseline and click Next.
    The patches that are displayed on this page are patches that do not meet the criteria you set on the Select Patches Automatically page.

    The patches that you add manually to the dynamic baseline stay in the baseline regardless of the automatically downloaded patches.

  12. On the Summary page, review your selections and click Finish.

Results

The new baseline appears in the baselines list on the Baselines tab.You can attach the baseline to a data center, a cluster, or a host.

What to do next

Attach the baseline to a data center, a cluster, or a host.