Create, Edit, or Delete vSphere Lifecycle Manager Baselines and Baseline Groups

You can create upgrade baselines for ESXi hosts with ESXi 8.0 images, which you must first import to the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot.

Prerequisites

• Required privileges: VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager.Manage Baselines.
• To create an upgrade baseline, verify that you have an ESXi 8.0 image available in inventory. For more information, see Import an ISO Image to the vSphere Lifecycle Manager Depot.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, click the bars icon and select Lifecycle Manager.
2. (Optional) 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.
3. On the Baselines tab, select New > Baseline.
   If you want to create an upgrade baseline, you can start the Create Baseline wizard from the Imported ISOs tab. Select an ESXi image from the list and click New Baseline.
4. On the Name and Description page, enter information about the baseline, select the baseline type and click Next.
5. Follow the prompts to finish creating the baseline.

   Baseline Type	Steps
   Patch Baseline	To create a fixed patch baseline, perform the following steps: On the Select Patches Automatically page, stop the automatic updates by deselecting the respective check box and click Next. On the Select Patches Manually page, select the patches that you want to include in the baseline and click Next. To view only the rollup bulletins in the list, turn on the Show only rollup updates toggle switch. To filter the patches that are available in the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot and find specific patches to include in the baseline, use the filter icon next to each column header. If you use several criteria to filter the patches, the relationship between those filter criteria is defined by the Boolean operator AND. On the Summary page, review your selections and click Finish. To create a dynamic patch baseline, perform the following steps: On the Select Patches Automatically page, set the criteria for adding patches to the baseline. Enable the automatic update of the baseline by selecting the respective check box. On the Criteria tab, specify the criteria that a patch must meet to be added to the baseline and click Next. Note: The relationship between the selected criteria is defined by the Boolean operator AND. For example, when you select a product and severity option, the patches are restricted to the ones that are applicable for the selected product and are of the specified severity level. Patch Vendor specifies which patch vendor to use. Note: In vSphere 7.0 and later releases, the vendor name of VMware for inbox components is changed from VMware, Inc to VMware. As a result, if you use the filter to see only components by VMware, the filtered list contains both VMware, Inc for 6.x patches and VMware for 7.x and 8.x patches. Product restricts the set of patches to the selected products or operating systems. Note: The asterisk at the end of a product name is a wildcard character for any version number. Severity specifies the severity of patches to include. Category specifies the category of patches to include. Release Date specifies the range for the release dates of the patches. (Optional) On the Matched tab, deselect patches from the ones that matched your criteria to exclude them permanently from the baseline. (Optional) On the Excluded and Selected tabs, view the patches that are excluded from the baseline and the ones that are included in the baseline. You can use the filter icon next to each column header on the Matched, Excluded, and Selected tabs to filter the patches that are available in the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot. This way, you can easily find specific patches to exclude from or include in the baseline. If you use several criteria to filter the patches, the relationship between those filter criteria is defined by the Boolean operator AND. On the Select Patches Manually page, select individual patches to include in the baseline and click Next. The patches that are displayed on this page are patches that do not meet the criteria you set on the Select Patches Automatically page. You can use the filter icon next to each column header to filter the patches that are available in the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot and find specific patches to include in the baseline. If you use several criteria to filter the patches, the relationship between those filter criteria is defined by the Boolean operator AND. The patches that you add manually to the dynamic baseline stay in the baseline regardless of the automatically downloaded patches. On the Summary page, review your selections and click Finish.
   Upgrade Baseline	On the Select ISO page, select an ESXi image from the list and click Next. On the Summary page, review your selections and click Finish.
   Extension Baseline	On the Select Extensions page, select individual extensions to include in the baseline and click Next. You can use the filter icon next to each column header to filter the extensions that are available in the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot and find specific extensions to include in the baseline. If you use several criteria to filter the patches, the relationship between those filter criteria is defined by the Boolean operator AND. On the Summary page, review your selections and click Finish.

Results

The new baseline appears in the baselines list on the Baselines tab.You can attach the baseline to a data center, a cluster, or a host.

Create a Host Baseline Group

You can combine multiple baselines of different types into a baseline group. For example, you can combine one host upgrade baseline with multiple patch or extension baselines, or you can combine multiple patch and extension baselines.

A baseline group might contain a single host upgrade baseline and multiple patch or extension baselines, or a combination of host patch and host extension baselines.

You can create a baseline group and add baselines to it later.

Prerequisites

Required privileges: VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager.Manage Baselines

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 Baselines tab, select New > Baseline Group.
   The Create Baseline Group wizard opens.
3. On the Name and Description page, enter a unique name and, optionally, a description for the baseline group, and click Next.
4. (Optional) On the Upgrade Baseline page, select an upgrade baseline to include in the baseline group and click Next .
   1. Select the Add the following Upgrade Baseline to the Group check box.
   2. Select an upgrade baseline from the list.
5. (Optional) On the Patch Baselines page, select patch baselines to include in the baseline group and click Next.
6. (Optional) On the Extension Baselines page, select extension baselines to include in the baseline group and click Next.
7. On the Summary page, review your selections and click Finish.

Results

The new host baseline group appears in the baselines list on the Baselines tab. You can attach the baseline group to a data center, a cluster, or a host.

Edit a vSphere Lifecycle Manager Baseline or Baseline Group

You can edit existing patch, upgrade, or extension baselines.

Prerequisites

Required privileges: VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager.Manage Baselines

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, click the bars icon and select Lifecycle Manager.
2. (Optional) 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.
3. On the Baselines tab, select a baseline or a baseline group from the list and click Edit.
   The Edit Baseline or Edit Baseline Group wizard appears.
4. Follow the prompts to finish editing the selected baseline or baseline group.

What to do next

Attach the edited baseline or baseline group to a data center, a cluster, or a host.

Add or Remove a Single Update from a Custom Baseline

You can edit the content of a custom baseline by adding or removing individual patches or extension from the baseline.

Prerequisites

Required privileges: VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager.Manage Baselines

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. Click the Updates tab.
   You see a list of all updates in the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot.
3. Select a patch or extension from the list, and click Add/Remove Baselines.
   The Add/Remove baselines dialog box opens.
4. Select your task.
   • To add the patch to a baseline, select that baseline in the Custom Patch Baselines list.
   • To remove the patch from a baseline, deselect that baseline in the Custom Patch Baselines list.
5. Click OK.

Delete Baselines and Baseline Groups

You can delete the baselines and baseline groups that you no longer need. Deleting a baseline detaches it from all the objects to which it is attached. You cannot delete predefined and system-managed baselines.

Prerequisites

Required privileges: VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager.Manage Baselines

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 Baselines tab, select a baseline or a baseline group from the list and click Delete.
   The Delete Baseline dialog box opens.
3. Click Yes to confirm the deletion of the selected baseline or baseline group.