You can set up UMDS to download patches for ESXi hosts. You can also set up UMDS to download ESXi 6.7, ESXi 7.0, and ESXi 8.0 patch binaries, patch metadata, and notifications from third-party portals.

Administrator access is not a requirement for downloading patches if UMDS runs on Linux.

You can set up UMDS to download ESXi 6.7, ESXi 7.0, and ESXi 8.0 patches from the official VMware depot and third-party portals.

The best practice is to use a job scheduler, for example cron job, to create a job that periodically triggers UMDS to download the upgrades, patches, and notifications.

Set Up the Data to Download with UMDS

By default, UMDS downloads patch binaries, patch metadata, and notifications for hosts. You can specify which patch binaries and patch metadata to download with UMDS.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the machine where UMDS is installed, and open a Command Prompt window.
  2. Navigate to the directory where UMDS is installed.
    The default location in 64-bit Linux is /usr/local/vmware-umds.
  3. Specify the updates to download.
    • To set up a download of all ESXi host updates, run the following command: 
      vmware-umds -S --enable-host
    • To deactivate the download of host updates, run the following command: 
      vmware-umds -S --disable-host

What to do next

Download the selected data.

Change the UMDS Patch Repository Location

UMDS downloads upgrades, patch binaries, patch metadata, and notifications to a folder that you can specify during the UMDS installation.

The default folder to which UMDS downloads patch binaries and patch metadata on a Linux machine is /var/lib/vmware-umds .

You can change the folder in which UMDS downloads data after you install UMDS.

If you have already downloaded host updates, copy all the files and folders from the old location to the new patch store location. The folder in which UMDS downloads patch binaries and patch metadata must be located on the machine on which UMDS is installed.

Procedure

  1. Log in as an administrator to the machine where UMDS is installed, and open a Command Prompt window.
  2. Navigate to the directory where UMDS is installed.
    The default location in 64-bit Linux is /usr/local/vmware-umds.
  3. Change the patch repository directory by running the command: 
    vmware-umds -S --patch-store your_new_patchstore_folder
    In this example, your_new_patchstore_folder is the path to the new folder in which you want to download the patch binaries and patch metadata.

Results

You successfully changed the directory in which UMDS stores patch data.

What to do next

Download data using UMDS.

Configure URL Addresses for Hosts

You can configure UMDS to connect to the websites of third-party vendors to download ESXi 6.7, ESXi 7.0, and ESXi 8.0 host patches and notifications.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the machine where UMDS runs, and open a Command Prompt window.
  2. Navigate to the directory where UMDS is installed.
    The default location in 64-bit Linux is /usr/local/vmware-umds.
  3. Configure UMDS to download data from the new URL address.
    • To add a new URL address for downloading patches and notifications for ESXi 6.7, ESXi 7.0, or ESXi 8.0 hosts, run the following command: 
      vmware-umds -S --add-url https://host_URL/index.xml --url-type HOST
  4. (Optional) Remove a URL address, so that UMDS does not download data from it anymore.
    Downloaded data is retained and can be exported. Use the following command: 
    vmware-umds -S --remove-url https://URL_to_remove/index.xml

Results

You configured UMDS to download host patches and notifications from specific URL addresses.

What to do next

Download the patches and notifications by using UMDS.