By using recommended images for your clusters, you ensure that your environment runs the latest verified software. Because the recommendations that vSphere Lifecycle Manager generates for a cluster are not automatically updated when the cluster changes or when new software is available in the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot, you must periodically perform the check for recommendations task.
A recommended image contains updates for your cluster. Recommendations are based on the ESXi versions available in the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot. When you trigger the check for recommendations task, vSphere Lifecycle Manager first determines the recommended ESXi versions for the cluster. After that, vSphere Lifecycle Manager checks sequentially for newer versions of the vendor add-on, additional components, and firmware add-on that are compatible with the recommended ESXi version and the hardware of the hosts in the cluster. So, sometimes, a recommended image might contain the same ESXi version as the ESXi version in the current image for the cluster but combined with an updated vendor add-on, component, or firmware add-on.
The check for recommendation task is non-cancellable. You must rerun the task periodically to ensure that the recommendations are valid and still suitable to the cluster.
Before you check for recommended images, you must ensure that the cluster is not being remediated. Recommendations generation and remediation are mutually exclusive operations. They cannot run simultaneously.
Prerequisites
- Verify that remediation is not running for the cluster.
- Verify that you have connection to the Internet.
- Verify that you have the proper privileges. See vSphere Lifecycle Manager Privileges For Using Images.
