To take advantage of all new functionalities that vSphere Lifecycle Manager introduces in vSphere 7.0, you must switch to using vSphere Lifecycle Manager images instead of baselines.

If you switch to using images, you cannot revert to using baselines for the cluster. You can move the hosts to another cluster, which uses baselines, but you cannot change the cluster that already uses a single image.

For conceptual information about vSphere Lifecycle Manager images, see vSphere Lifecycle Manager Images.

For information about how to use vSphere Lifecycle Manager images to manage hosts and cluster, see Using vSphere Lifecycle Manager Images.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that all ESXi hosts in the cluster are of version 7.0 and later.
  • Verify that all ESXi hosts in the cluster are stateful. A stateful install is one in which the host boots from a disk.
  • Verify that all ESXi hosts in the cluster are from the same hardware vendor.
  • Verify that no unintegrated solution is enabled for the cluster.
  • Verify that you have the proper privileges. See vSphere Lifecycle Manager Privileges For Using Images.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to a cluster that you manage with baselines and baseline groups.
  2. On the Updates tab, click Image.
  3. Click the Set up image button.
    vSphere Lifecycle Manager starts checking if the cluster is eligible for using images. If no problems are reported, the Convert to an Image pane appears.
  4. If the Check cluster's eligibility to be managed with a single image tasks reports an error or a warning that requires an action, resolve the issue and restart the procedure.
  5. From the ESXi Version drop-down menu, select an ESXi image.
  6. (Optional) Add a vendor add-on to the image.
    1. Click Select.
      The Select Vendor Addon appears.
    2. Select an add-on from the list.
      An information panel appears on the right. The information panel shows information about the components that the add-on adds to the ESXi image and the components that it removes from the image.
    3. From the Version drop-down menu for the selected add-on, select the add-on version.
    4. Click Select.
  7. (Optional) Add a firmware and drivers add-on to the image.
    1. Click Select.
      The Select Firmware and Drivers Addon appears.
    2. Select a hardware support manager from the respective drop-down menu.
      A list of firmware and drivers add-ons appears.
    3. Select an add-on from the list.
      An information panel appears on the right. The information panel shows information about the supported ESXi versions and whether the add-on contains a driver or not.
    4. From the Version drop-down menu for the selected add-on, select the add-on version.
    5. Click Select.
  8. (Optional) Add additional components to the image.
    1. Click Show details.
    2. Click Add components.
      The Add Components dialog box appears.
    3. (Optional) Use the Show drop-down menu to sift out the components that are not part of the selected vendor add-on.
    4. Select one or multiple components from the list.
      An information panel appears on the right. The information panel shows information about the component that you selected first.
    5. From the Version drop-down menu for the selected component, select the component version.
    6. Click Select.
      The selected components appear in the list of components that the image contains. You can use the Show drop-down menu to sift out the additional components.
    7. (Optional) Click Hide details to hide the list of components.
  9. (Optional) To validate the image, click the Validate button.
    You validate an image to check for missing dependencies and component conflicts.
  10. Click Save.
    Saving the image triggers an automatic compliance check. All hosts in the cluster are checked against the image.
  11. In the Convert to an Image pane, finish the image setup.
    1. Click the Finish image setup button.
    2. In the Finish image setup dialog box, click Yes, finish image setup.

Results

You set up an image for the cluster. You now manage all hosts in the cluster collectively with a single image for the cluster. Upon remediation, the image is installed on all hosts in the cluster.

What to do next

To apply the image to all hosts in the cluster, remediate the cluster against the image.