Question

ESXi patching and Files

  • 27 April 2020
  • 2 replies
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3 node cluster running vCenter / ESXi6.7

Also running Files.

Should the Files VM on the particular host to be patched be shut down or moved?

I know the Controller VM should just be shut down.

Also, I think I’ve seen mention that I could load the ESXi patches somewhere/somehow into Prism(Element, Starter, 5.10.9) and Prism would manage the moves and shutdown?

Thanks

 


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2 replies

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Hey DarrylO,

 

From what I know, the FSVM-s can be freely vMotion-ed across the cluster (this is what DRS can be doing on your cluster anyway), and they can be treated as UVMs in that sense. Happy to be corrected by experts (as going to start patching later this week).

 

With patching, that has been in a wish-list for years. The thing is, although you indeed can upload a binary in to PRISM and push via One-Click Update, you cannot upload multiple files at once. Only one at a time. So it may help in case when you deploy an ESXi Update (cumulative), or upgrade ESXi across the hosts. But with normal patching, where you can have multiple files, One-Click is of no use. I mean, well, you can push the patches one by one, waiting for rolled reboots after each patch. But from the experience, it’s quicker (and let’s be honest, more convenient) to use VUM and patch hosts one by one, but handle CVM shutdowns and starts manually, and wait for Data Resilience to return to OK in PRISM after each reboot. Still very painful. (A side note, with recent experience of 6.0->6.7 upgrade, I’d certainly refrain from rolled ESXi version push as well - too many cases when the host is up, but before moving on to the next one, you have to attend a number of things first.) In summary, One-Click for hypervisor obviously works fine for AHV, but ESXi still needs to maintained in its own way with the overhead of handling CVMs and going one-by-one.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks for the clarification on the “one file at a time” info for esx.