How to Configure the vSphere Lifecycle Manager Remediation Settings

In the vSphere Client, you configure separately the vSphere Lifecycle Manager remediation settings for the hosts and clusters that you manage with a single image and with baselines.

The global remediation settings are valid for all hosts and clusters that you manage with images or baselines respectively. For clusters or standalone hosts that you manage with a single image, you can override the global remediation settings and use specific remediation settings for a particular cluster or host.

Hosts that are in a vSAN cluster can enter maintenance mode only one at a time. This behavior is a peculiarity of the vSAN cluster. For more information about the vSphere Lifecycle Manager behavior during the remediation of hosts in a vSAN cluster, see Remediation Specifics of vSAN Clusters.

Configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager Remediation Settings for Clusters or Standalone Hosts that You Manage with a Single Image

You can configure how ESXi hosts and VMs behave before and during the remediation of a cluster or a standalone host that you manage with a single image.

For information about automatically triggered hardware compatibility checks, which is a functionality that is also applicable only to vSAN clusters, see When Does the Hardware Compatibility Check Task Run.

Prerequisites

• Verify that you have the proper privileges. See vSphere Lifecycle Manager Privileges For Using Images.
• To use Quick Boot, verify that the ESXi host is compatible with the feature. For more information, see Quick Boot.

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. On the Settings tab, select Cluster lifecycle > Images.
3. Edit the cluster or standalone host remediation settings.
   • In the Images pane, click the Edit button.

     The Edit Cluster Remediation Settings dialog box opens.

   • In the Standalone Host Images pane, click the Edit button.

     The Edit Standalone Host Remediation Settings dialog box opens.

4. Configure the remediation settings for clusters and standalone hosts that use images, and click Save.

   Setting	Description
   Quick Boot	Quick Boot reduces the host reboot time during remediation. By default, Quick Boot is turned on. You can configure this setting for a cluster or a standalone host.
   Live Patch	Live Patch allows you to perform low-disruption upgrades of the ESXi hosts in a cluster managed with an image. When you turn on Live Patch, you can install the latest security patches and bug fixes without placing the hosts into maintenance mode or evacuating virtual machines from the hosts. See Configuring vSphere Lifecycle Manager for Live Patches. By default, Live Patch is turned off. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.
   VM power state	The VM power stateoption lets you control the behavior of the virtual machines that run on the ESXi host. You can select from the following options. Do not change power state Suspend to disk Suspend to memory To select the Suspend to memory option, you must turn on Quick Boot. Otherwise, the Suspend to memory option is dimmed. Together with Quick Boot, the Suspend to memory option provides faster host upgrades. vSphere Lifecycle Managersuspends to the host memory and not to the disk the powered on virtual machines on the host. After the Quick Boot, the suspended virtual machines are resumed from memory. Power off The default selection is Do not change power state. You can configure these options for a cluster or a standalone host.
   VM migration	You can configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to migrate the suspended and powered off virtual machines from the hosts that must enter maintenance mode to other hosts in the cluster. By default, the Migrate powered off and suspended VMs to other hosts in the cluster check box is selected. If you have virtual machines with passthrough devices on a host in a DRS cluster, make sure that you automate the migration of such virtual machines. For more information, see the VMware knowledge base article at https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/88271. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.
   Retry policy	You can configure how vSphere Lifecycle Manager behaves if a host fails to enter maintenance mode or if staging or remediation for that host fails. You can configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to wait for a specified retry delay period and to retry to put the host into maintenance mode as many times as you indicate in the Number of retries text box. You can configure this setting for a cluster or a standalone host.
   HA admission control	Admission control is a policy that vSphere HA uses to ensure failover capacity within a cluster. If vSphere HA admission control is enabled during remediation, vMotion might be unable to migrate the virtual machines within the cluster. Deactivating admission control allows a virtual machine to be powered on even if it causes insufficient failover capacity. When this happens, no warnings are presented, and the cluster does not turn red. If a cluster has insufficient failover capacity, vSphere HA can still perform failovers, and uses the VM Restart Priority setting to determine which virtual machines to power on first. Note: Deactivating HA admission control before you remediate a two-node cluster causes the cluster to practically lose all its high availability guarantees. If you select the Disable HA admission control on the cluster option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager remediates the hosts in the cluster and re-enables HA admission control after remediation is complete. If you deselect the Disable HA admission control on the cluster option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager skips remediating the clusters on which HA admission control is enabled. By default, the Disable HA admission control on the cluster check box is deselected. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.
   DPM	VMware Distributed Power Management (DPM) monitors the resources consumed by the running virtual machines in the cluster. If sufficient excess capacity exists, VMware DPM recommends moving virtual machines to other hosts in the cluster and placing the original host into standby mode to conserve power. If the capacity is insufficient, VMware DPM might recommend returning standby hosts to a powered-on state. If you select the Disable DPM on the cluster option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager remediates the hosts in the cluster and re-enables DPM after remediation is complete. If you deselect the Disable DPM on the cluster option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager skips remediating the clusters on which DPM is enabled. By default, the Disable DPM on the cluster check box is selected. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.
   Hardware compatibility issues	vSphere Lifecycle Manager performs a hardware compatibility check as part of the remediation pre-check and the remediation tasks for vSAN clusters. You can configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to prevent remediation when hardware compatibility issues exist for the cluster. If you select the Prevent remediation if hardware compatibility issues are found option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager reports hardware compatibility issues as an error, which prevents remediation. If you deselect the Prevent remediation if hardware compatibility issues are found option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager reports hardware compatibility issues as a warning, which does not prevent remediation. If the cluster is not vSAN-enabled, vSphere Lifecycle Manager does not perform a hardware compatibility check as part of the remediation pre-check or the remediation tasks. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.
   Parallel remediation	Enabling parallel remediation allows you to remediate multiple ESXi hosts simultaneously. By selecting the Parallel remediation check box, you enable vSphere Lifecycle Manager to remediate all hosts that are in maintenance mode in parallel instead of in sequence. You can also specify the maximum number of concurrent remediations manually. Note: If the hosts have NSX virtual distributed switches that are ready to be migrated to vSphere Distributed Switches, you must manually set the maximum number of parallel remediations to no more than 4. In cases when host switch migration is needed, if more than 4 hosts are remediated in parallel, the remediation might fail, because the host switch migration takes more time than the time vSphere Lifecycle Manager needs to complete the parallel remediation. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.

Results

These settings become the default remediation settings for clusters or standalone hosts that you manage with vSphere Lifecycle Manager images. For any cluster or host, you can change the default settings when you configure individual remediation tasks.

Override the Global vSphere Lifecycle Manager Remediation Settings for a Cluster or Host That You Manage with a Single Image

You can customize the remediation settings for a particular cluster or a standalone host while the global remediation settings remain intact and applicable to all other clusters or hosts that you manage with vSphere Lifecycle Manager images and that are in the same vCenter Server instance.

When you override the global remediation settings for a single cluster or host, the overrides are used during the remediation of that specific cluster or host. For all other clusters or hosts, the global remediation settings apply.

Prerequisites

• Verify that you have the proper privileges. See vSphere Lifecycle Manager Privileges For Using Images.

• To enable Quick Boot, verify that the ESXi host is compatible with the feature. For more information, see Quick Boot.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to a cluster or host that you manage with a single image.
2. On the Updates tab, select Hosts > Image.
3. In the Image Compliance card, click the horizontal ellipsis icon and select Edit remediation settings.
4. In the Edit Remediation Settings dialog box, configure the remediation settings of the target cluster or host and click Save.

   Setting	Description
   Quick Boot	Quick Boot reduces the host reboot time during remediation. By default, Quick Boot is enabled. You can configure this setting for a cluster or a standalone host.
   Live Patch	Live Patch allows you to perform low-disruption upgrades of the ESXi hosts in a cluster managed with an image. When you turn on Live Patch, you can install the latest security patches and bug fixes without placing the hosts into maintenance mode or evacuating virtual machines from the hosts. See Configuring vSphere Lifecycle Manager for Live Patches. By default, Live Patch is turned off. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.
   VM power state	The VM power stateoption lets you control the behavior of the virtual machines that run on the ESXi host. You can select from the following options. Do not change power state Suspend to disk Suspend to memory To select the Suspend to memory option, you must enable Quick Boot. Otherwise, the Suspend to memory option is dimmed. Together with Quick Boot, the Suspend to memory option provides faster host upgrades. vSphere Lifecycle Manager suspends to the host memory and not to the disk the powered on virtual machines on the host. After the Quick Boot, the suspended virtual machines are resumed from memory. Power off The default selection is Do not change power state. You can configure these options for a cluster or a standalone host.
   VM migration	You can configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to migrate the suspended and powered off virtual machines from the hosts that must enter maintenance mode to other hosts in the cluster. By default, the Migrate powered off and suspended VMs to other hosts in the cluster check box is selected. If you have virtual machines with passthrough devices on a host in a DRS cluster, make sure that you automate the migration of such virtual machines. For more information, see the VMware knowledge base article at https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/88271. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.
   Retry policy	You can configure how vSphere Lifecycle Manager behaves if staging or remediation fails, or if a host fails to enter maintenance mode. You can configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to wait for a specified retry delay period and to retry to put the host into maintenance mode as many times as you indicate in the Number of retries text box. You can configure this setting for a cluster or a standalone host.
   HA admission control	Admission control is a policy that vSphere HA uses to ensure failover capacity within a cluster. If vSphere HA admission control is enabled during remediation, vMotion might be unable to migrate the virtual machines within the cluster. Deactivating admission control allows a virtual machine to be powered on even if it causes insufficient failover capacity. When this happens, no warnings are presented, and the cluster does not turn red. If a cluster has insufficient failover capacity, vSphere HA can still perform failovers, and uses the VM Restart Priority setting to determine which virtual machines to power on first. Note: Deactivating HA admission control before you remediate a two-node cluster causes the cluster to practically lose all its high availability guarantees. If you select the Disable HA admission control on the cluster option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager remediates the hosts in the cluster and re-enables HA admission control after remediation is complete. If you deselect the Disable HA admission control on the cluster option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager skips remediating the clusters on which HA admission control is enabled. By default, the Disable HA admission control on the cluster check box is deselected. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.
   DPM	VMware Distributed Power Management (DPM) monitors the resources consumed by the running virtual machines in the cluster. If sufficient excess capacity exists, VMware DPM recommends moving virtual machines to other hosts in the cluster and placing the original host into standby mode to conserve power. If the capacity is insufficient, VMware DPM might recommend returning standby hosts to a powered-on state. If you select the Disable DPM on the cluster option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager remediates the hosts in the cluster and re-enables DPM after remediation is complete. If you deselect the Disable DPM on the cluster option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager skips remediating the clusters on which DPM is enabled. By default, the Disable DPM on the cluster check box is selected. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.
   Hardware compatibility issues	vSphere Lifecycle Manager performs a hardware compatibility check as part of the remediation pre-check and the remediation tasks for vSAN clusters. You can configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to prevent remediation when hardware compatibility issues exist for the cluster. If you select the Prevent remediation if hardware compatibility issues are found option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager reports hardware compatibility issues as an error, which prevents remediation. If you deselect the Prevent remediation if hardware compatibility issues are found option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager reports hardware compatibility issues as a warning, which does not prevent remediation. If the cluster is not vSAN-enabled, vSphere Lifecycle Manager does not perform a hardware compatibility check as part of the remediation pre-check or the remediation tasks. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.
   Parallel remediation	Enabling parallel remediation allows you to remediate multiple ESXi hosts simultaneously. By selecting the Parallel remediation check box, you enable vSphere Lifecycle Manager to remediate all hosts that are in maintenance mode in parallel instead of in sequence. You can also specify the maximum number of concurrent remediations manually. Note: If the hosts have NSX virtual distributed switches that are ready to be migrated to vSphere Distributed Switches, you must manually set the maximum number of parallel remediations to no more than 4. In cases when host switch migration is needed, if more than 4 hosts are remediated in parallel, the remediation might fail, because the host switch migration takes more time than the time vSphere Lifecycle Manager needs to complete the parallel remediation. You can configure this setting only for a cluster that you manage with a single image.

Results

These settings become the remediation settings for the selected cluster. vSphere Lifecycle Manager uses those settings for that cluster for all future remediation tasks. The global remediation settings remain unchanged and are applied to all other clusters.

In the Image Compliance card, vSphere Lifecycle Manager displays a message that the global remediation settings are overridden. Also, an option to reset the values appears in the card.

Configure the vSphere Lifecycle Manager Remediation Settings for Hosts and Clusters That You Manage with Baselines

You can configure how vSphere Lifecycle Manager behaves before and during remediation against a baseline or a baseline group. The remediation settings help ensure that vSphere Lifecycle Manager puts ESXi hosts in maintenance mode before remediation.

When you use vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines, you can configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to let other software initiate the remediation of PXE booted ESXi hosts. The remediation installs software modules on the hosts, but typically those host updates are lost after a reboot. To retain updates on stateless hosts after a reboot, use a PXE boot image that contains the updates. You can update the PXE boot image before applying the updates with vSphere Lifecycle Manager, so that the updates are not lost because of a reboot. vSphere Lifecycle Manager itself does not reboot the hosts, because it does not install updates requiring a reboot on PXE booted ESXi hosts.

Prerequisites

• Required privileges: VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager.Configure
• To enable Quick Boot, verify that the ESXi host is compatible with the feature. For more information, see Quick Boot.

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. On the Settings tab, select Cluster Lifecycle > Baselines.
3. Click the Edit button.
   The Edit Settings for Host Remediation dialog box opens.
4. Configure the baselines remediation settings and click Save.

   Option	Description
   VM power State	You can configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to power off or suspend all running virtual machines before host remediation. Alternatively, you can configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager not to change the power state of the virtual machines.
   Maintenance mode failures	You can configure how vSphere Lifecycle Manager behaves if a host fails to enter maintenance mode before remediation. If you enable vSphere Lifecycle Manager to retry to put the host in maintenance mode, you must specify the number of retries and the retry delay. vSphere Lifecycle Manager waits for as much time as you configure for the Retry Delay option, and retries to put the host in maintenance mode as many times as you indicate in the Number of retries text box.
   PXE booted hosts	You can allow the installation of software for solutions on the PXE booted ESXi hosts in the vSphere inventory that you manage withvSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines.
   VM migration	If you enable virtual machine migration by selecting the respective option, vSphere Lifecycle Manager migrates the suspended and powered off virtual machines from the hosts that must enter maintenance mode to other hosts in the cluster.
   Removable media devices	vSphere Lifecycle Manager does not remediate hosts on which virtual machines have connected CD/DVD or floppy drives. All removable media drives that are connected to the virtual machines on a host might prevent the host from entering maintenance mode and interrupt remediation. So, you can disconnect all removable media devices to ensure that the respective host enters maintenance mode successfully. After remediation, vSphere Lifecycle Manager reconnects the removable media devices if they are still available.
   Quick Boot	Quick Boot reduces the host reboot time during remediation. By default, Quick Boot is deactivated.
   Parallel remediation	Enabling parallel remediation allows you to remediate multiple ESXi hosts simultaneously. By selecting the Parallel remediation option, you enable vSphere Lifecycle Manager to remediate all hosts that are in maintenance mode in parallel instead of in sequence. Alternatively, you can specify the maximum number of concurrent remediations manually. Note: If the hosts have NSX virtual distributed switches that are ready to be migrated to vSphere Distributed Switches, you must manually set the maximum number of parallel remediations to no more than 4. In cases when host switch migration is needed, if more than 4 hosts are remediated in parallel, the remediation might fail, because the host switch migration takes more time than the time vSphere Lifecycle Manager needs to complete the parallel remediation.

Results

These settings become the default failure response settings with vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines. You can specify different settings when you configure individual remediation tasks.

Configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager Remediation Settings for vSAN Clusters that You Manage with vSphere Lifecycle Manager Baselines

You can configure what type of baseline to include in the recommendation baseline group that vSphere Lifecycle Manager generates for a vSAN cluster.

A recommendation baseline group can contain upgrades or only host patches and updates. By default, vSphere Lifecycle Manager is set to generate recommendation baselines that contain upgrades, not only patches and updates. However, you can change the default configuration at any time. For any vSAN cluster that you manage with baselines, you can also configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to generate no recommendation baseline group at all. In such cases, you can still manually create baselines and perform host upgrades.

Prerequisites

• Verify that you manage the vSAN cluster with vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines and not a single vSphere Lifecycle Manager image.
• Verify that you have the proper privileges. See vSphere Lifecycle Manager Privileges For Using Images.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to a vSAN cluster that you manage with baselines.
2. On the Updates tab, select Hosts > Cluster Settings.
3. In the Remediation Settings for this Cluster pane, click the Edit button.
   The Edit Cluster Remediation Settings dialog box appears.
4. Select what type of baseline to include in the recommendation baseline group that vSphere Lifecycle Manager generates for the selected vSAN cluster.
   • To include upgrade baselines into the recommendation baseline group for that cluster, select the Include upgrades to new ESXi versions radio button.

     The Include upgrades to new ESXi versions options is the default selection for any newly created vSAN cluster.

   • To include only patches and updates in the recommendation baseline group for that cluster, select the Include patches and updates for current ESXi version radio button.
   • To stop the generation of the recommendation baseline group for that cluster, select the No recommendation baseline group.
5. Click the Done button to save your selection and exit the dialog box.

   The option that you select becomes the default configuration for the vSAN cluster.