You can use vSphere Update Manager to perform orchestrated upgrades of the ESX/ESXi hosts in your vSphere inventory by using a single upgrade baseline, or by using a baseline group.
This workflow describes the overall process to perform an orchestrated upgrade of the hosts in your vSphere inventory. vSphere Update Manager 6.0 supports host upgrades to ESXi 6.0 for hosts that are running ESXi 5.x.
You can perform orchestrated upgrades of hosts at the folder, cluster, or data center level.
Note: The last two steps in this procedure are alternatives. Choose one or the other.
Procedure
Configure Host Maintenance Mode Settings ESXi host updates might require that the host enters maintenance mode before they can be applied. Update Manager puts the ESXi hosts in maintenance mode before applying these updates. You can configure how Update Manager responds if the host fails to enter maintenance mode. Configure Cluster Settings ESXi hosts in a cluster, the remediation process can run either in a sequence or in parallel. Certain features might cause remediation failure. If you have VMware DPM, HA admission control, or Fault Tolerance enabled, you should temporarily disable these features to make sure that the remediation is successful. Enable Remediation of PXE Booted ESXi Hosts ESXi hosts. The remediation installs patches and software modules on the hosts, but typically the host updates are lost after a reboot. Import Host Upgrade Images and Create Host Upgrade Baselines ESXi hosts with ESXi 6.0 images that you import to the Update Manager repository. Create a Host Baseline Group Attach Baselines and Baseline Groups to Objects Manually Initiate a Scan of ESXi Hosts View Compliance Information for vSphere Objects Remediate Hosts Against an Upgrade Baseline ESXi hosts against a single attached upgrade baseline at a time. You can upgrade all hosts in your vSphere inventory by using a single upgrade baseline containing an ESXi 6.0 image. Remediate Hosts Against Baseline Groups
