You use UMDS in air-gap scenarios, where vSphere Lifecycle Manager has no access to the Internet. You first use UMDS to download software and notifications and then you export the data, so that it becomes available to vSphere Lifecycle Manager.

To use UMDS, the machine on which you install it must have Internet access. After you download the upgrades, patch binaries, patch metadata, you can export the data to a Web server or a portable media drive, such as CD or USB flash drive. Then, you must set up vSphere Lifecycle Manager to use the folder on the Web server or the media drive (mounted as a local disk) as a download source.

Download the Specified Data Using UMDS

After you set up UMDS, you can download upgrades, patches and notifications to the machine on which UMDS is installed.

Administrator level access is not a requirement for downloading data with UMDS that runs on Linux.

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. Download the selected updates. 
    vmware-umds -D
    This command downloads all the upgrades, patches and notifications from the configured sources for the first time. Subsequently, it downloads all new patches and notifications released after the previous UMDS download.
  4. (Optional) If you have already downloaded upgrades, patches, and notifications and want to download them again, you can include the start and end times to restrict the data to download.
    The command to re-download patches and notifications deletes the existing data from the patch store (if present) and re-downloads it.
    To re-download the upgrades, patches and notifications that were downloaded in November 2010, for example, run the following command: 
    vmware-umds -R --start-time 2010-11-01T00:00:00 --end-time 2010-11-30T23:59:59
    The data previously downloaded for the specified period is deleted and downloaded again.

What to do next

Export the downloaded upgrades, patches, and notifications.

Export the Downloaded Data

You can export downloaded upgrades, patches, and notifications to a specific location that serves as a shared repository for vSphere Lifecycle Manager. You can configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to use the shared repository as a patch download source. The shared repository can also be hosted on a Web server.

Administrator level access is not a requirement for exporting the downloaded data with UMDS that runs on Linux.

Prerequisites

If you installed UMDS with an existing download directory, verify that you perform at least one download by using UMDS 8.0 before you export updates.

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 export parameters and export the data. 
    vmware-umds -E --export-store repository_path

    In the command, you must specify the full path of the export directory.

    If you are working in a deployment in which the vCenter Server is installed on a machine connected to the machine on which UMDS is installed, repository_path can be the path to the folder on the Web server that serves as a shared repository.

    If the vCenter Server is installed on a machine in an isolated and secure environment, repository_path can be the path to a portable media drive. Export the downloads to the portable media drive to physically transfer the patches to the machine on which vCenter Server is installed and vSphere Lifecycle Manager runs.

    The data you downloaded by using UMDS is exported to the path you specify. Make sure that all files are exported. You can periodically export from UMDS and populate the shared repository so that vSphere Lifecycle Manager can use the new patch binaries and patch metadata.
  4. (Optional) You can export the ESXi patches that you downloaded during a specified time window.
    For example, to export the patches downloaded in November 2010, run the following command: 
    vmware-umds -E --export-store repository-path --start-time 2010-11-01T00:00:00 --end-time 2010-11-30T23:59:59

What to do next

Configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to use a shared repository as a patch download source. For more information, see Configure vSphere Lifecycle Manager to Use a Shared Repository as a Download Source.