Service in vCenter for installing, updating and upgrading ESX hosts and clusters based on a desired image. From 9.0, host upgrades cannot be done with baselines.
Also called vLCM.
Read more: Broadcom TechDocs
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains vSphere Lifecycle Manager in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
Related terms
- Compliance check
Reports whether hosts or clusters match their image or baseline in vLCM, altering nothing. Pre-checks, staging and remediation are the later steps.
- Composite image
vSphere Lifecycle Manager cluster image for mixed hardware, combining a base image with as many as four extra image definitions. Every host runs the same ESX version, while firmware, components and vendor add-ons may vary.
- HCL
Hardware compatibility list, nowadays found in the Broadcom Compatibility Guide with the vSAN HCL database. vLCM consults it before it upgrades or remediates.
- OEM
Original equipment manufacturer: a server vendor like Dell or HPE, supplying custom ESX images and add-ons that go into vLCM images.
- remediation
Applying updates through vSphere Lifecycle Manager, entering maintenance mode where needed, so that every cluster and host ends up compliant with its image or baselines. Readiness can first be confirmed by a pre-check that changes nothing.
- staging
Pre-loading image components onto hosts with vSphere Lifecycle Manager, without applying them yet, so that hosts spend less time in maintenance mode when remediation runs.
- UMDS
Utility that fetches updates for vSphere Lifecycle Manager into a common store so that sites without internet access can use them. Its role is folded into the VCF Download Tool from 9.0, and the separate UMDS is deprecated.