Installing and configuring UMDS/ Update manager download services.

Installing and Configuring UMDS

Update manager download services.

UMDS downloads patch metadata, binaries, updates repository from internet where VMware update manager does not have access to  internet. As below picture I have 2 VMware update manager instances and they don’t have access to internet, and my UMDS server configured with IIS server is behind firewall connected to internet and Update managers download patches/updates over HTTP. (This demo is from home lab if you want try it in your environment at try it at your risk)

here I get benefit of less consumed internet bandwidth, repository downloaded once only, very helpful in slow internet speed. Easy to manage patches/updates, remove old patches from patch store.

Prerequisite for UMDS

·         Windows Server 2008 server.

·         vCenter server 5.0 Media

          Internet connection

      

UMDS is available on vCenter media. 

Execute VMware-UMDS.exe from cdrom:\umds folder. 

Here I am using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express edition instance (not suggested for production, configure proper compatible SQL server, Create database and in the last configure DSN on UMDS so you can provide it while installation of UMDS), Keep all the defaults and start installation.

Next setting is for internet, how will be the internet connectivity  to UMDS server, I have direct connectivity to internet on UMDS server, keeping as it is clicking next.

Next screen leads you, where you want to keep installed files and downloaded Patches. I will suggest here to select another HDD or drive which has free space 120 GB. (I am keeping it in C:\patches folder). This location can be changed later using UMDS commandline.

If the downloading patches location does not have 120 gb free it will give below warning message, but still you can proceed with installation.

Keep other options default and finish installation. 

It's time to configure your UMDS Server.

We are installing IIS Server here, and all other vmware update managers will use http link to download  patches from UMDS server. Open server manager on UMDS server, right click roles and click add roles

Select web server (IIS) and press next

keep all the defaults and select server roles services page and press next , then press install.

Once all done, open IIS Manager.

Right click Default Web Site and click Add Virtual Directory.

Use the Patches as alias and path will be C:\Patches which we gave while installing UMDS (Make sure C:\patches has sufficient permissions for users also you can change it through UMDS command line later)

Select Default Web Site and Open MIME Types 

Add below MIME types one by one.

File name extension	Mime type
.vib	application/octet-stream
.sig	application/octet-stream

It’s a time to test your UMDS web site from VMware update manager server. Just open and make sure  "http://umds/patches/" is working in web browser (my UMDS server computer name is "umds") as you can see below it is successful.

On UMDS server Add "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Update Manager" location to windows environment.

Go to control Panel> system or go to computer properties> advanced tab.

Click Environment variables. 

Search for Path variable and click edit, Add below addition line at the end of variable value (no space)

;C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Update Manager\

click ok trice.

Now it's time to download patches and upgrades from internet on UMDS server, UMDS is configured through command line only no GUI is available for it. Open command prompt (Run as administrator)

And just type "vmware-umds.exe -D" press enter (options and parameters are case sensitive). It will start downloading all the available patche/updates for all kind of hosts versions (make sure your Internet is working) it will downloading all the patches.

You will need to run vmware-umds -D to download every time for latest patches from internet, you can scheduled the command in schedule task. 

You can configure Patches download location, patch/update source urls, Patches/updates to download (whether for different versions let's say I want to download for only esxi5 version patches/updates), for more help just type vmware-umds.exe, which gives detailed help about the command.

The last step here is to configure vmware updates manager. Log on to vcenter server (I will assume you have already installed update manager/ update manger plug-ins), go  to update manager> configuration> download settings> use a shared repository 

Type the UMDS url and press validate. Once it gets successfully connected you will see connected with green mark appeared. (There is a another way if you don’t want to deploy and manage web server,(I will recommend Web Server only as it is very easy and hassle free) you need to copy C:\patches folder from UMDS server to VMware update manger server and then give the local path ie: you copied patches on update manager to "c:\patches" type the local drive path in validate URL. (Mapped drive or shared location does not work)  you can utilize DFSR for replication or any other synchronization software for the same.)

To reconfigure Database password, proxy authentication there is tool available in the "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Update Manager", in case if there are any changes in infrastructure (DB password and proxy authentication)

Vmwareupdatemangerutility.exe 

Now you are ready to download patches/updates centrally and keep your VMware infrastructure updated. 

You can download PDF copy of this article from 
http://kunaludapi.weebly.com/3/post/2012/08/umds-aka-update-manager-download-services.html

Note: Above documentation created and tested in home lab, Trying it in production setup will be your responsibility, I will not be responsible for any damage.