VMware announced vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) with the launch of vSphere 7.0. vLCM allows customers to update their ESXi hosts using a cluster image instead of traditional VMware Update Manager (VUM) baselines. The neat thing about vLCM is that cluster images can contain server firmware as well ESXi updates and drivers.
VxRail already has the ability to upgrade firmware as part of the VxRail LCM process starting with VxRail 7.0.240. However, the direction from VMware starting with 7.0 is to encourage customers to move off of VUM baselines and start using vLCM cluster images. The deprecation notice can be found in KB89519.
Enabling vLCM on a VxRail cluster is a very simple process. Think of this process as a conversion from VUM baselines to a vLCM image. After the cluster has been deployed successfully the user can enable vLCM. During the enablement process VxRail Manager validates that the cluster is healthy and that it has not drifted from a continuously validated state. More information about VxRail LCM and continuously validated state can be found here.
Start by logging into vCenter, selecting the VxRail cluster, and navigating to the configuration tab. Scroll down to the VxRail section and select updates. If a compliance check has already run, the last report will be displayed on the compliance page. It’s always a good idea to do a compliance check prior to enabling vLCM. The compliance check will run again as part of the vLCM enablement workflow, but it’s good to know ahead of time just in case.
Navigate to the settings tab and select enable vSphere Lifecycle Manager on VxRail and follow the on-screen prompts to run through validation and vLCM enablement.
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