VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5

5.2 5.1 5.0 4.5
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Create a vSphere Lifecycle Manager Image

vSphere Lifecycle Manager images are created in vSphere 7.0. You can create an image either on the management domain vCenter Server, or a vCenter Server external to
VMware Cloud Foundation
.
If you want to add firmware to the Sphere Lifecycle Manager image, you must install the Hardware Support Manager from your vendor. See Firmware Updates.
You first create an empty cluster in vSphere Client and then configure a vSphere Lifecycle Manager image on that vSphere cluster. During the creation of an image, you define the ESXi version and can optionally add vendor add-ons, components, and firmware.
The default cluster in the management domain is not vSphere Lifecycle Manager enabled, so you cannot use this for creating an image.
  1. Log in to the vSphere Client of the vCenter Server where you will create the vSphere Lifecycle Manager Image.
  2. Import the depot ZIP file for the version of ESXi into the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot.
    You need to perform this step only if the ESXi version listed in the Bill of Materials section of the
    VMware Cloud Foundation Release Notes
     is not present in the vSphere Lifecycle Manager depot.
    1. Download the ESXi depot ZIP file that matches the ESXi version in the Bill of Materials section of the
      VMware Cloud Foundation Release Notes
      .
    2. Click
      Menu
      Lifecycle Manager
      .
    3. On the Lifecycle Manager page, click
      Actions
      Import Updates
      .
    4. Click
      Browse
      , locate the ESXi ZIP file, and click
      Open
      .
  3. Create an empty cluster in vCenter for the vSphere Lifecycle Manager image. You do not need to add any hosts to this cluster.
    1. In the vSphere Client, click
      Menu
      Hosts and Clusters
      .
    2. In the navigation pane, click
      vCenter
      Hosts and Clusters
      .
    3. Right-click the datacenter and click
      New Cluster
      .
    4. Enter a name for the cluster.
      As a best practice, name this cluster
      ClusterForImage
      . You can keep this cluster for creating additional vSphere Lifecycle Manager images for upgrades.
    5. Select
      Manage all hosts in this cluster with a single image
       and choose
      Compose a new image
      .
    6. In the
      Image Setup
       section, select the ESXi software you uploaded in step 2.
    7. In Vendor Addon, select the vendor add-on and click
      Next
      .
    8. Review the image details and click
      Finish
      .
    The new cluster and vSphere Lifecycle Manager image are created.
Do one of the following to make a vSphere Lifecycle Manager image available in
VMware Cloud Foundation
:
  • If you created a vSphere Lifecycle Manager image in a vCenter Server managed by
    VMware Cloud Foundation
    , extract the image and apply it to a VI workload domain. See Extract a vSphere Lifecycle Manager Image.
  • If you created a vSphere Lifecycle Manager image in an external vCenter Server, export the image from vCenter Server and import it to
    VMware Cloud Foundation
    . You can then apply it to a VI workload domain. See Export a vSphere Lifecycle Manager Image.

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