Update Manager - Host updates not downloading

[Eire09]

Hi,

I'm having an issue with update manager downloading Host updates. For all the Baselines created for hosts ie Critical Host Updates, Non Critical Host updates etc the number of updates = 0.

On the other hand virtual machine updates seem to be downloading fine. Please see attachment.

Can anyone think of a reason why this is? Has anyone had this issue before.

Thanks in advance.

All help is really appreciated. :smileyhappy:

PM

[kennys0]

Apologies if it is a stupid suggestion but you do have Update Manager set to download "ESX Server Updates" in the "Update Downloads" section of the Update Manager settings?

[kennys0]

I've just sent my Update Manager off to retrieve the latest patch information and it came back with "Failed to download host update packages" which suggests there is currently an issue at the patch server end.

[Eire09]

H,

Thanks for your response.

Yes, Update Manager is set to download 'ESX Server updates' along with All Windows Updates & All Linux Updates.

I now have the frequency set to hourly and the state is enabled.

When I check the baseline tab the host updates are still coming back with 0.

Any further suggestions?

PM

[kennys0]

Depending on whether you have any custom baselines defined I'd be tempted to uninstall Update Manager, delete its database and repository then reinstall. The Update Manager log files are in

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Update Manager\Logs

but I'm not sure you'll find any answers there. Saying that, you may be able to see something in vmware-vci-log4cpp.log.

[Eire09]

Ok. I'll try this. I'm sure it won't do any harm.

I'm new to VMware & Update Manager so sorry for all the questions...

By uninstalling Update Manager should I just remove it from Add/Remove Programs?

Our database for vCenter is in a SQL farm. We also use the same database for vCenter & Update Manager so I don't think I should delete the database. Should Update Manager be on its own database as opposing to using the same database as vCenter?

Thanks Again,

PM

[kennys0]

Yes, I mean remove Update Manager from add remove programs and then run the master installer from your VMware media. The installer will detect that Virtual Center etc. are already installed and will only offer to install Update Manager. As to the database question. While both VC and Update Manager may use the same database server I think it is normal practice to use a separate database but I've only used the local SQL Express and a separate SQL 2005 server so in Oracle it may be different. You can verify this by looking at the data sources on your VC server. You should see one VMware Update Manager and one called VMware VirtualCenter if you click through the configure you should be able to see whether they are connected to a separate database, in my case the databases are called VIM_VCDB and VIM_UMDB. If it is a SQL server at the back end you should be able to detach the existing database move it aside and create a fresh one which the Update Manager installer will presumably create tables in during the install.

[kennys0]

Another thought, given that the VM patch metadata comes from Shavlik and the VM patch data comes from Microsoft but the ESX data comes from VMware perhaps it is worth checking if you have an HTTP proxy which allows access to the Shavlik and Microsoft sites but not to the VMware site?

[Eire09]

Hi kenny,

After removing Update Manager for the 2nd time I can now finally see ESX updates coming down.

Thanks a million for all your help. Really appreciated.

PM

[kennys0]

You're welcome, sorry it doesn't really tell you what was going wrong so I wouldn't necessarily use that approach once you have invested a lot of time in patch maintenance using Update Manager. I've seen something similar happen which I suspect, but cannot prove, was down to corruption of a download on an HTTP proxy server, once the cache timeout had been reached a fresh copy downloaded. I've also seen something similar occur due to issues with the patch database/data and so the suggestion to reinstall. I'd recommend installing Windows Support Tools on your VC server and then using

tail - f C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Update Manager\Logs\vmware-vci-log4cpp.log

to get a feel for what's normal for your Update Manager installation. Then it should be easier to spot when something comms related is going wrong.

Regards

Kenny