Options for Managing theESXi Life Cycle
ESXi
Life CycleBased on your needs and environment setup, you can choose from several methods for managing the life cycle of the
ESXi
hosts. ThevSphere Lifecycle Manager
provides means for updating all hosts in a cluster or a standalone host with a desired software state. To manage the life cycle of the hosts in your environment, you can use the
vSphere Lifecycle Manager
through thevSphere Client
. See Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle. This chapter of the
vSphere
Automation
REST API
Programming Guide discusses how you can access and use the functionality provided by thevSphere Lifecycle Manager
Automation API. vSphere Lifecycle Manager Features
vSphere Lifecycle Manager
FeaturesYou can use the
vSphere
Automation
API to manage the life cycle of all hosts in a cluster or of standalone hosts by using avSphere Lifecycle Manager
image. You can access and use the followingvSphere Lifecycle Manager
functionality:
- Depot management. You can add, remove, explore the contents of different types of depots. See Software Depots. The content of the depots is provided by VMware and VMware partners. Partners can use theESXiPackaging Kit (EPK) to assemble a custom bootableESXiimage. The custom image can then be shared to other third-party customers and used through the Depot Manager service. For more information about how to create customESXiimages, seeESXi Packaging Kit (EPK) Development Guide.
- Desired software state. You can create, edit, and delete a desired software state for a cluster or a standalone host on which thevSphere Lifecycle Manageris enabled. A desired software state must contain at least a singleESXiimage provided by VMware. You can also set an add-on provided by OEMs, and one or more components by different software vendors. Furthermore, during the process of creating the desired software state, you can check the validity of the specification and compare the current state of the hosts in the cluster or the standalone host with the desired software state.
- Cluster remediation. You can apply the desired state on each of the hosts in a cluster which current state is different from the desired specification. Applying a desired state on a cluster level has the following prerequisites:
- The cluster must have thevSphere Lifecycle Managerenabled.
- All hosts in the cluster must store their data on a local or remote disk, or on a USB drive.
- All hosts in the cluster must be of version 7.0 or higher.
- All hosts must contain only components that thevSphere Lifecycle Managercan recognize and maintain. If a host contains some old content that thevSphere Lifecycle Managerdoes not recognize, the content is removed from the host during remediation.
- Standalone host remediation. You can apply the desired software state on a standalone host that is managed with baselines or on a standalone host that is managed with images but its current state differs from the desired state.