You can use an offline bundle in ZIP format and import updates to the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot manually. When you import offline bundles, you add both the update metadata and actual payload to the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot.

You use the import option to populate the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot with updates from an offline bundle. Offline bundles can contain patches and extensions. Starting with vSphere 7.0, an offline bundle can also contain an ESXi base image, a vendor add-on, or third-party software, for example, asynchronous drivers specific to the OEM hardware requirements. For more information about base images, vendor add-ons, and components, see Bulletins, Components, Add-Ons, and ESXi Base Images.

If you want to use vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines, you can import offline bundles that contain patches and extensions for hosts that run ESXi 6.5 and later. In that case, you can use the contents of the offline bundle only for host patching operations. If you import an OEM offline bundle that contains an ESXi image of a version earlier than 7.0, you cannot use the image for upgrade operations. To create upgrade baselines, you need an ISO image. For more information, see Import an ISO Image to the vSphere Lifecycle Manager Depot.

If you want to use vSphere Lifecycle Manager images, you can import offline bundles that contain software for hosts that run ESXi 7.0 and later. In that case, you can use the contents of the offline bundle to set up vSphere Lifecycle Manager images, which you can use to upgrade ESXi hosts collectively.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the updates that you import are in ZIP format.
  • Required privileges: VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager.Upload File.Upload File.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the vSphere Lifecycle Manager home view.
    1. In the vSphere Client, select Menu > Lifecycle Manager.
    2. Select a vCenter Server system from the Lifecycle Manager drop-down menu.
      The drop-down menu is available only when multiple vCenter Server systems are connected by a common vCenter Single Sign-On domain. By selecting a vCenter Server system, you specify which vSphere Lifecycle Manager instance you want to administer.
  2. Select Actions > Import Updates at the top of the vSphere Lifecycle Manager home view.
    The Import Updates dialog box opens.
  3. Enter a URL or browse to an offline bundle in ZIP format on your local machine.
    If the upload fails, check whether the structure of the ZIP file is correct and whether the vSphere Lifecycle Manager network settings are set up correctly.
  4. Click Import.
    The Import updates task appears in the Recent Tasks pane.

Results

You imported updates to the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot. vSphere Lifecycle Manager automatically generates new image recommendations for the clusters that already have generated recommended images. However, if the imported updates are solution components only, vSphere Lifecycle Manager does not generate new recommendations automatically.

You can view the imported patches and extension on the Updates tab in the vSphere Lifecycle Manager home view.

You can view the imported ESXi images, vendor add-ons, and additional components on the Image Depot tab in the vSphere Lifecycle Manager home view.